Quality issues in Politechnika Wroclawska. Planning for Politechnika Warszawska. Suggestions.

Is there some reason why you could not study for it now to get a high grade and apply to a good engineering school in the US?

Pardon me for saying so, but I'm seeing an unambitious whiner who likes to complain about the bad situation he's in rather than doing something concrete and practical about improving it. Perhaps returning to India is indeed your best option. I don't see a rosy future for you in Poland, and I expect that you will eventually quit anyway, so why not right now? Why prolong your suffering when there is no or little hope in sight? Why chase good money (and time) after bad?

I had an offer from Ireland. Tuition fee costs five times more than that of Poland. I am paying here EUR 4000/year. In Ireland, it is EUR 20,000/year.


Your statements seem to be disoriented and clueless. One time you are becoming mad at anti-Polish facts and the other time you are becoming too truthful.


I got the visa after one month of the start of the semester. So, I am in trouble from the very beginning. So, I am wondering it would be better to start from the scratch. Moreover, I am not a very fan of theoretical study. It gives trouble in the job market and doesn't feel interesting to study.

My whole plan was to complete an MSc and then apply for a scholarship in the USA or Canada or UK. But, right now, I am in a mess.

@OP: As I said, I do not know about Ireland.

As to my other statements, they are absolutely true. I have lived long enough in Poland (among Poles) to know what's wrong and what's good (very little unfortunately) about the place. I suppose you don't know much about Poland.

Unfortunately, studying in English-speaking countries cost an arm and a leg. Ideal would be to get financial aid but if you don't try, you'll never get any. You could perhaps get a teaching assistant's job at some kind of university (my case in the USA) which would reduce the cost (I paid instate tuition, so a huge difference).

Although difficult, there are ways besides ending up in a "rathole"

Indeed. It would probably be better for you to go back to India, study your sweet little tush off for the GRE, and apply for a merit scholarship to a good engineering program in the US. Or to get into a good engineering school in India. Either way, you'll probably be more satisfied than if you were to stay in Poland.

Good luck with that!

You people have posted hundreds of answers in this thread. But, still I am finding it hard to understand what you people actually meant, are you really meaning it or just kidding. Coz, every answer of you people differs in tone and information from the other.

I'm dead serious about everything I wrote. I don't do irony. Also, I've been very consistent in the tone and content of my answers. Can't see why you would think otherwise.

To be clear: Yes, I do think that it would be best for you to quit your studies in Poland, return to India, and study hard so that you can get into a good Indian or American university with a scholarship.

I am also serious about you becoming even less satisfied with your studies in Poland in the coming years should you stay. I was serious about not seeing a rosy future for you in Poland.

Ok. What is the specific problem to complete my study here in Poland and then try for USA?

The problem I see is that you will continue to grow even more dissatisfied in the coming years and eventually quit your studies in Poland anyway, so that time and money would be wasted in a place where you don't want to be. From what you have written above, you are going to eventually hate studying in Poland, and it could have a major demoralizing effect on you.

I would be happy. For me it's much easier to remember the lecture when the teacher explains everything on the blackboard/whiteboard than when he quickly goes through slides.

I study Telecommunications and Computer Science in Politechnika £ódzka. Of course, in English. We have many common classes with Computer Science. And, as for me, the quality of education is quite low (and the problem is often a wrong order of courses, for example we had a course in a more advanced branch of electronics before we had a course in basics of electronics, so the first one was difficult to understand), but definitely not so low as you describe Wrocław. This is a BSc programme though, but I think that the quality of the MSc one doesn't differ much.

You may consider £ódź - the quality of education isn't high here, but it's also not that low. For example - most of the teachers don't have problems with speaking in English, even though the level of English of some teachers is very high, in case of some other teachers - your ears hurt when you listen to their English. We had also one teacher, a young women conducting tutorials in Physics for a half of a semester, who couldn't even differentiate the singular and the plural form, but she was an exception. And all the courses in English are assigned to a special university unit, which has its own building and you may meet many foreign students there.

But if you are able to move to the US or to any other western-European country - I think it would be a better choice. I also think that the quality in Warsaw might be higher than in Wrocław and in £ódź, but I have no experience in it and I know nobody studying in the Politechnika Warszawska. I know a person who moved to the Computer Science programme in Polish in Uniwersytet Warszawski, and he said that the quality is there much higher. But I know nothing about the programmes in English and about Politechnika Warszawska. The universities called "politechnika" are generally more recognized in Poland than those called "uniwersytet", but it may have nothing in common with the quality, and this rule rather doesn't work abroad. No Polish university is recognized much there.

@DominicB, What I have written, if it is only a matter of emotion, then I need to correct myself. If it is the reality, then comes the question of leaving the country. But, still, I don't believe that I should leave the country. Coz, there are hundreds of students from different countries studying here. All of them cannot be wrong. I have only written those which I felt. But, I still don't know what the reality is. Because, three of you people said three types of things.


How are you measuring the quality of your school? What parameters are you using to measure it?


Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees, Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii knowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

But, I don't have the money. So, I was planning to complete my MSc here and then apply for any kind of scholarship.

The same way as you...

That's what lemmings think when they are jumping over a cliff. Sorry, buddy, for a computer science student, this is a HUGE logical failure. I do believe, though, that most of them made a poor choice, especially those from India. And I believe that most of them eventually realize it, and regret it, as you do.


I don't see that much disagreement. Nobody has suggested you stay in Poland and slug it out to the end. In fact, that is the one thing on which we probably agree. For what it's worth, I help Polish students get into American universities with scholarships, and spent twelve years working with Polish universities, including your school. I'm pretty aware of the state of education in Poland.

Having lived in Poland twelve years myself and having seen many, many foreigners from all parts come and go, I can tell you that if you are discontented now at such an early stage in the game, it will only grow worse, especially in your second and third year when you are doing your research project using Commodore 64s and Apple IIs held together by duct tape and bubble gum while your friends who went to study in the West are actually helping design the next generation of petacomputers. Perhaps a bit of an exaggeration, but that's how it's going to feel. That's what I mean about going where the R&D dollars are.

Secondly, if I understood you correctly, you said you were getting a non-engineering degree. This would be the perfect time to reset and get that engineering degree. Shucks, you're doing the math, anyway. Might as well get something more out of it than a piddling MSc in computer science. And since your switching into engineering anyway, might as well switch to a field that has much brighter employment prospects like petroleum, geological or biomedical engineering.

I'm sorry, but the only reasons you have given for staying in Poland are lack of ambition, lack of initiative, lack of imagination and lack of self-esteem. And desperation. You seem to be driven by inertia like the Titanic into the iceberg, or like a desperate gambler into the poor house. Or like a lemming into the sea.

Snap out of it. Get a grip on reality, talk to some of your colleagues who are studying in the rich countries of Western Europe or the English speaking countries, as well as those studying at the better universities in India. There is nothing wrong in quitting a game you will most probably end up losing anyway. Prepare for the GRE, beef up that math and English, explore high-quality engineering programs at top schools flooded by R&D dollars rather than wasting away in someplace where you are unhappy and dissatisfied, and never will be happy and satisfied.

First, I think most of the answers for your question here OP are complete bollocks :) Especially like you wan't be able to find a job after Computer Science in Poland (not implying that you would like to), since I know a couple of foreigners who do not speak any proper Polish yet they are working in Poland in IT. I guess in the long run though, Polish is a must if one would like to go for higher positions.

As for your experience I have a problem with proper assessment of your issues. It saddens me a little because I'm a graduate of department you are talking about (long time ago). So my first reactioin was to write to you to send there a complaint before you go just to let them do better in future. But after I read this:


Well.. dude... come on, you've choosen Computer Science and you are not used to math... Math is a basic of software engineering. Clearly you didn't know what you singed for. As I remember corectly and it seems it didn't change, first year on PWr is mostly about math, physics, basics, then second, third... In time more vocational courses starts prevail over theory, so in the 3, 4, 5 year if you choose you will learn more things like developing software in some tool, etc. Still, this is an Uni not some technical school or school extension of some vendor. The aim there is (or at least should be) to do science in the first place, secondly only to that to teach some tools used in the market. And I can tell this is a very good approach because if you mastered some tool at first year it will be obsolete in IT in a few years anyway. So you should rather ask yourself what is your goal, if it is to learn some tools real quick to start working - first, second year on Uni is not a place for that, rather some secondary technical school.

As for non-Polish students, there is not much one can do about it. I guess Uni shouldn't advertise itself as an English friendly if it is not prepared to do that with good quality - though I have no judgment on that - as english quality of this post clearly indicates I studied in Polish.

As for Warsaw Unis they have a little better ranking, still as far as I know there is plenty of math and physics there to... Again math, at least discrete math is a foundation of Computer Science. You can hardly have any deeper understanding what it is all about without it. If you don't like it I guess you should think about some other profession. Even if you end up in some regular IT job from time to time you will face a problem where this theory will come handy, not mentioning R&D. I admit, most of this theory you will find useless - it is just impossible to tell which part. Last but not least, guess what, how do you think all those tests for a job looks like? Yeap... maths, algorithms, patterns, basics... I've done that when applying for Polish companies, I've done that when applying for foreign companies... It seems that all those geeks in IT don't care if they are looking for simple web developer or embedded systems engineer or whatever... Looks like one must know the basics to be admitted to the group even if in the end someone is implementing tax deduction regulations or something even more boring :)

@DominicB,
........

What do you think about MSc in Bioinformatics in Austria?

If it is not an engineering degree, you are wasting your time. Also, you are aware that bioinformatics would involve a lot of math, and you seem to be weak in math. Go back to India, take a year to really study up on your math 16 hours a day every day, and then apply to a good engineering program in India or one of the richer countries I mentioned above, and study biomedical engineering, which is a thousand times more useful than a non-engineering degree in bioinformatics.

I am not going anywhere near India.

I now have 3 months' vacation to mend my math weakness.

Which would be better: CE in Warsaw U of Tech vs Bioinformatics in JKU, Linz, Austria?

I have patiently explained, in great detail, out of the goodness of my heart, what the best options were for your future education and career.

Apparently, I have wasted my time. If you want to make it in this life, kid, learn to listen and think very hard about what people far more experienced than you have to say. That's my final word to you.

My family will not take it easy. I have talked to my parents. And, I am a poor guy. My father saved his hard-earned money to send me Europe. He is not ready to admit my return. Probably he will become ill. Here I found an Indian student whose name is Vijay. He even went further. He took bank-loan to come here to study mechanical engineering.

And, India is not like USA or Europe. In certain countries, they don't even need visa. It is very hard to get North-american or European visa from India.This is third world man! You can't do anything about us.

I appreciate your effort. And, knowing that you are a university teacher, I nod you with respect. But, alas, I am unable to follow your instructions. Thank you very much sir for your effort.

Best regards for you and bye.