4/21/26- Greek Education

Today, I learned about the process of becoming a doctor in Greece. I talked with the medical students about the entire process. She informed me that they begin medical school right out of high school! I could not imagine having to make that big of a decision at such a young age. I do not think I would have ended up in medical school if I had to make that decision at 18 years old. The students expressed the pressure they felt from the system to choose a path so early on. It is also very difficult to switch career paths if you decide to do something else. In order to get into medical school, you must get high grades and high standardized test scores. They have a SAT equivalent that is the limiting step for students to get into medical school. Many students attend regular school and then an additional 3-4 hours of extra studies to perform well on this exam. In this case, students will decide to either do these studies or extra curriculars since there is no time to do both. After taking these exams, they can apply to any of the seven medical schools in Greece, or medical schools in other countries since it is very competitive getting into medical school in Greece. If they apply to other countries, they must meet the requirements of that territory to enter. For example, some students apply to medical school in the US but have to complete the MCAT and other undergraduate class requirements. Once accepted into medical school, students begin more broad didactic learning in the first 4 years out of 6. However, they do have clinical requirements that exposes them early to the clinical setting. More clinical time is integrated into the curriculum each year of medical school and studies become more medically-specific. They have exams at the end of each blocks and medical rotations. However, they do not take any board exams. We discussed this concept with the students. My initial reaction was “that must be nice” but then I thought about the accountability of the system to ensure doctors were meeting certain standards. The students expressed the same thoughts and said that it is up to the universities to ensure the competence of the students but there are no standardizations throughout the schools. They also mentioned that some 6th year students begin to panic since they do not feel completely prepared to handle the information and responsibilities of being a doctor. In some ways, I like that students get early, focused exposure to the medical field but I also feel that college in the US provides opportunity for growth and exploration to be sure you are choosing the correct field for you. The medical field in the US has many barriers to becoming a physician with tests, scores, volunteering, extra-curricular activities, and one of the biggest-cost. Once thing I appreciated about the Greek system was access to free education. The US makes education a privilege where in Greece, they feel it is a right. The amount of debt that medical students accrue nearly made the one Greek student pass out in disbelief. It is truly sad how much money medical students, in particular, must pay just other dedicate their lives to service for others. While I appreciate this part of the Greek system, I do feel that the universities should have some standardization to ensure the readiness and competency of their physicians. I feel there should be some form of test or examination of skills/knowledge for the students, residents and physicians. Overall, it was extremely interesting to learn about how the systems were similar and different.