Things could get tight in some lecture halls at the University of Regensburg next week: 110 additional medical students will start there. You have enrolled in “Medicine Lower Bavaria”, a new course of study that sends prospective doctors to clinics throughout Lower Bavaria for the practical part of their training. In the best case scenario, some of them will remain in the region for the long term, it is hoped. There is already a shortage of doctors there today. “The Medicine Campus also sees itself as an invitation to students to practice as doctors in Lower Bavaria after graduating,” says the information page of the University of Regensburg. However, in the selection process, universities are not allowed to limit themselves to candidates from the region. The Abino grade remained the most important criterion in Regensburg with 55 percent. A personal interview also counted for 30 percent. A survey by the SZ shows that the program is also attractive for students from further afield.
“Maybe I can make a little difference”

Anna-Maria Gotowos, 20 years old, from Hamburg: “That I, as a Hamburg resident, want to study in Regensburg and the Bavarian rural clinics? Crazy, right? But I was drawn south, towards the mountains. I also like the concept that we are trained in rural clinics. I have already gotten to know large, fully equipped houses during my time as a paramedic in Hamburg. Everything is always ready there. Patients are flown back and forth. And yet I had the feeling that often only the symptoms and not the cause of illnesses were treated. I can therefore imagine becoming a country doctor. I would like to accompany my patients on a long-term basis and would like to teach children to do sports. That probably sounds very idealistic. But maybe I can make a small difference. I am the first in the family to study medicine. The desire comes from very deep, from personal matters, illness in the family and so on. I’m not afraid of the Bavarian province. I also liked Regensburg right away. In the summer everyone sat by the Danube.”
“I am a country person”

Lisa Hacker, 19 years old, from Schöllnach: “Based on my NC and the medical test, I would have had a free choice. However, I consciously decided to study at the Lower Bavaria Medical Campus because I want to go to the Deggendorf Hospital after my studies. I already did an internship and my voluntary social year there. I’m not drawn to Munich or other cities. I am a country person. I come from Schöllnach, a town with 4,000 inhabitants 30 kilometers from Deggendorf. In my free time I go to the mountains as a competitive athlete. I won gold in the giant slalom at the Federal Winter Games in 2015. My desire to become a doctor arose in biology class – when we dissected pig eyes in ninth grade. That totally fascinated me. Now I can start my dream – studying medicine at the University of Regensburg. I even have a job as a student assistant in Prof. Dr.’s working group. Silke Härteis, who I met in the selection interview. I am also supported by a scholarship from the Deggendorf Clinic. To achieve this, I committed myself to working there for three years after completing my studies. I like the idea. I already know a lot of nice colleagues there. And it is a rather small rural hospital. This makes everything feel more at home there.”
“I find training in rural hospitals exciting”

Gabi Obermeyer, 29, from Bayreuth: “I applied to many other universities, but Regensburg was high on my priority list. I’m happy with it: the city is beautiful. The university itself, not so much, but you can easily study medicine there. And it’s not infinitely far from home. Yesterday we had our first freshmen seminars. We went around town, drank, laughed a lot. Everything went well. I found the idea of the medical campus, where you can do your training in rural hospitals, exciting. I come from Bayreuth, but have a lot of relatives in Straubing, so maybe the Straubing Clinic would be a good option for me. The fact that you could also apply for this course via interview and collect points in the interview also gave me a chance. I don’t know if it would have worked without an interview. I have a good high school diploma, but it still wasn’t enough for medicine at first. That’s why I trained as a physiotherapist in Bayreuth and worked in the profession for more than two years. I am now happy that I can study again. I want to try this now. I would regret it if I didn’t.”
“No matter where I get a place to study: I’ll move there”

Janna Bertram, 19 years old, from Ennepetal in North Rhine-Westphalia: “I ended up in Regensburg because I got a place here. You can specify priorities when applying. I ranked the universities in North Rhine-Westphalia higher on the list. But Regensburg came right after. The university was recommended to me during my voluntary social year. I worked in a hospital near Dortmund. The doctors there said Regensburg was good for medicine. The beginning was of course a little difficult: saying goodbye to my parents, who furnished the apartment with me. But I wanted to be a doctor since I was a little child. It was clear to me that no matter where I got a place to study, I would move there. And here at the university everyone is friendly and nice: yesterday we had a short introduction and then a city rally. However, I don’t know yet whether I want to become a country doctor. I come from a rather small town in North Rhine-Westphalia: Ennepetal is an hour from Dortmund and has around 30,000 inhabitants. I really wanted to go to a slightly larger city like Regensburg. That’s the nice thing about this program: unlike the rural doctor quota, you don’t have to contractually commit to going to the country, but are a little flexible.”
“I can also easily imagine staying here in the region”

Annika Burkard, 20 years old, from Kaufbeuren in Allgäu: “Studying at the Lower Bavaria Medical Campus was my chance, because here it’s not just the Abi and the medical test that counts for admission, but also a personal interview. I did well there and so I was able to start here. Otherwise I might have had to wait. If you want to study medicine, you have to be persistent. Many of the students here are older and have been waiting for a place for a long time. With my average of 1.8 I was already prepared for it. After graduating from high school, I started training as a surgical assistant in order to collect points for my studies. Then I heard about the new course on the radio. At the beginning I wasn’t sure whether I was even allowed to apply. Because it was said that the program was aimed at high school graduates from Lower Bavaria. But it is open to everyone. I am now very happy that I can study here, only two and a half hours from my home in the Allgäu. I can also easily imagine staying here in the region. I have grandparents in Franconia, my parents live in Allgäu. In Bavaria you can reach everything quickly. I could have gone further away to study medicine.”