# Dow International Medical College/ Shifa College Of Medicine



## Shehzada (Nov 20, 2013)

Hi everyone! I currently have a decision on my hands that I need to make fast, and I would really appreciate if someone could help me with it. I'm a Pakistani "future" medical student currently living in Bangkok, and I have just been accepted to two Medical Schools in Pakistan (Shifa College of Medicine in Islamabad and Dow International Medical College). My Dilemma is that I am trying to figure out which of the two would be the best for me to attend. Thus, I am asking a few questions about both universities that would help my decision. Unfortunately, I did not find a lot of answers to these questions, and the ones I did find seemed somewhat outdated. Anyways, here I go. 

Firstly, I am not very familiar with the city of Karachi. How is the general location of DIMC? Are there places for leisure nearby? Would there be, say, a fitness gym that I could work out at within or close to the university? Second, how are the boys dorms at DIMC? I heard that they were poorly maintained, but then again, that bit of information seemed to have been posted a few years ago. Also, how is the yearly calendar like for a DIMC student? Like summer and winter holidays? When and how long are they?

Concerning Shifa, I have the same questions about the calendar. How long and when are the summer and winter holidays? Will I be able to easily spend a large period of time outside of Pakistan during those times (around a month or so)? I am perfectly familiar with the city of Islamabad, so that is not an issue for me. Also, how is the daily schedule at Shifa for a first year student? What time do classes start/end?

I apologize for the long post, and I would really appreciate it if anyone can leave me any answers. Thanks!


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## tahirtayyab (Jun 14, 2013)

I'm not really in a position to make a direct comparison between the two colleges since I have never been to DIMC or the original DMC but I believe you should be aware of the fact that DIMC is relatively new and doesn't have much of an alumni group (I don't think the first class has even graduated yet). Shifa, on the contrary, has had graduates getting very competitive scores on the USMLEs and getting into US residencies. You might not know that the creator of this forum and one or more moderators here went to Shifa and have gotten electives at John Hopkins and other acclaimed universities! Then again, I can't tell you anything about DIMC and the hostels/gyms/calender since I never went there. Weather in Karachi doesn't change much due to it being a coastal city; my cousins who live in Islamabad found it to be very uncomfortable there since the former has a variety of weather ranging from really hot and rainy summers to dry and pretty harsh winters. It all comes down to what you prefer. Another thing to point out is that Karachi currently is much less safe than Islamabad and you might want to be careful there assuming you're leaving the college alone or with friends (better to be together). That's not to say that Karachi is all bad; it's a much more livelier place than Islamabad with all the malls and entertainment venues.
I'm not sure about the schedule for vacations at Shifa; I think it's uniform across all the medical colleges. I think Shifa gives students some more time to do electives...just a thought. 
Moving on, the old DMC has a very good name among the government colleges and DIMC might later come to be as good or in the near future...who knows? 
I didn't apply to colleges in Karachi simply because my family lives here in Islamabad and for security reasons as well. 
I got accepted at Shifa and for your info, the 1st of December is the orientation..just a bit more than a week left! 
Hope this helps answer some, if not all, of your questions. Best of luck on your admission and do inform us of your final decision  

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk


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## Shehzada (Nov 20, 2013)

Yep I know that classes start very soon. I lived in Islamabad for 7 years so I am very familiar with the city. My main concern with Shifa are the summer/winter holidays, mainly because I need to travel to see my family who live oversees. Thanks for your help!


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## Acer (May 24, 2013)

if your main concern is holidays then i'd suggest you choose shifa. Not because it gives more holidays but because you are already familiar with Islamabad and its a safer place than Karachi. The number of holidays wont differ much in many colleges and during your course of study you wont regret not choosing the other college just because "it gives a few extra holidays". Shifa is not way better than DIMC but as Tahir said earlier that Shifa is more experienced compared to DIMC. Hope it helps


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## Dark Knight (Sep 16, 2013)

Well i hve read on this forum a lot, and people from outside karachi always say about how dangerous of a place it is. I disagree, on the news you only see the dark side of karachi. Karachi is a huge city, and yes i agree there are unsafe places, yet many places are very safe! Sadly the media paints a very different and grim picture of karachi only talking about those unsafe places. I have been living in karachi since i was born, and well i have never experiened any incident (be it street crime, etc). My conclusion is tht Karachi might be dangerous, but u'll be safe if you know how to live it !


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## Acer (May 24, 2013)

Dark Knight said:


> Well i hve read on this forum a lot, and people from outside karachi always say about how dangerous of a place it is. I disagree, on the news you only see the dark side of karachi. Karachi is a huge city, and yes i agree there are unsafe places, yet many places are very safe! Sadly the media paints a very different and grim picture of karachi only talking about those unsafe places. I have been living in karachi since i was born, and well i have never experiened any incident (be it street crime, etc). My conclusion is tht Karachi might be dangerous, but u'll be safe if you know how to live it !


i agree with you bro but for your information I am from karachi too  and i must still say that overall its a dangerous place..about 8-10 people getting shot everyday is not a joke right? On the other hand its true media just portrays the negatives of our country mostly, because you know who controls them. Trust me you are very lucky if you still have not experienced any crime! I know places like Defence, Clifton and some others are comparatively safer but life is not restricted to only these places of the city. 
May Allah make it a safe place to live again!  in my eyes its the most liveliest city of Pakistan and ofc theres nothing like home


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## Iamabcd (Jun 2, 2013)

Well, the truth is everyone will say their college is better because either they went there or are going there. In my case, I have decided to go to DIMC. DIMC is a new college, however it is under Dow University of health sciences which has produced great doctors who are practicing all around the world including America/Canada. DIMC's acceptance requirements might be low compared to other colleges in Pakistan, but it does not mean that the students are slackers or lazy. There are students who are passing each year, and some who have already taken USMLE part 1 in 3rd or 4rth year. The reason why I chose DIMC is because its a college for us foreign Pakistanis, the environment, attitude, etc is different as any other college in Pakistan. There is less segregation, ragging, and grouping because the students are all foreigners who are in the same boat. Karachi is a SAFE city. My father's company is moving there from U.S. Karachi is Pakistanis economic hub, whatever new comes to the country first comes to Karachi! The media is just filled with bs. Lastly, DIMC has a fully equipped gym, basket ball/volleyball court, and a large field. Since its a new college, I have heard that they are planning in building a swimming pool for the students as well. Overall its a tough decision. Medical is a field in which one has to study every day, if family is going to be a distraction you might want to rethink if you can live close to them. Good Luck!


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## kriz95 (Oct 23, 2013)

DIMC is for international students from all over the world, mostly from the usa, if you wanted to be surrounded by people like that, then go for DIMC.
The life between the 2 colleges are different, because one has international students, and the other has mostly local. in other words, different communities. Although most of us are pakistani, the way most of us were raised in our countries is different, so even international pakistanis going to pakistan have a culture shock/ hard time sometimes. 
The environments are also different
i know DIMC has air conditioned dorms, gyms as well as classrooms, and i saw photos of DIMC and it looks very high class. not sure about shifa though.


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## tahirtayyab (Jun 14, 2013)

Shifa has all of the above ^. Except it doesn't have much of a campus!  And it actually does have a pretty significant number of foreign students considering the fact that foreigners had sat for the entrance exam and gotten on the local seat. I have to admit that would be a pretty hard dilemma but in the end, it all comes down to how much effort you put in. You should work hard and have good study skills; without them, it would be a waste of time wherever you'd be studying whether DIMC or Shifa.


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