General differences between Poland and the USA?

What I feel personally about the situation has nothing to do with the subject.

It's quite scary that the school has used such draconian punishments for teenagers that did nothing wrong.

Of course it does. Why would you have a double standard for your own children and others. They both interact with each other and eventually you will have to share society with them.

personally drink more vodka, but yes beer is insanely popular also :)


WHAT!?!? that is crazy. Where was this video made Poland? But I don't really see whats that bad about it, is it any worse than taking a video of you and your friends jumping around singing in your bikinis? I get the lyrics aren't good, but to get into that much trouble i think is way over reacting. You can't see most of the girls faces anyway so it's not really bad personally.

So then are there a lot of chain restaurants like we have in the U.S or are they more mom and pop type places?

Also I hear that in Germany they don't really use credit cards you have to carry cash on you, is that true in Poland?

UGH that is a HORRIBLE video...

not to mention on school grounds : they are videoing probably without permission and against policy and trespassing I bet

I would never have been caught dead disrepecting my self OR my school uniform doing hoochie $h1t like that!
Eh! Everytime I get a bit uptight and think my kids could be better; I see stuff like that and siiiiiigh in relief! -they are just fine. Whew!

Poland has so many career Brit English teachers and none in the USA:)

Check out the ' How difficult is it to get into Wrocław University of Technology' thread, if you haven't already looked, there are relevant bits of info in there regarding quality of courses etc. To get into a Polish Uni, you need to pass the Matura, which is on a par with the International Baccalaureate. Not sure what the US equivalent of this is, or if a Polish University will recognize the US equivalent, you would have to check. Bear in mind though that if you are accepted, and complete your degree in Poland, as a non-native speaker, you will be at a disadvantage when it comes to employment. However you'll have plenty of time to learn :). You also need to consider that if you return to the US for employment, how well regarded would a degree from a Polish University be? Just couple things to think about!


On the plus side for you, Poland does have Mcdonalds, KFC, Pizza Hut etc.......but you'll be a poor student and watching your pennies!

You will probably find Polish food very bland in comparison to food in US. Depends what you eat. Polish food is heavy on meat/potatoes/cabbage.

Don't expect to find a lot of spicy food on offer. Typical dishes: Kotlet Schabowy, Gołąbki, Pierogi, Bigos. Poles are also fond of soups, Barszcz, Rosół etc. Polish cakes and desserts are to die for!

Good luck if you decide to go for it, sure it'll be a great experience for you :)

This is actually changing really quickly :) The Czechs are terrible, but the Poles are starting to figure out that "ostry" can actually be that!

really? the food I grew up mostly with was very similar to Mexican and Portuguese dishes.. is that only American Czechs that eat spicy goulashes?

Pretty much. Czechs are dreadful for not using spices - I've been there so many times, and anything in a Czech-run restaurant that claims to be spicy most definitely isn't. The Vietnamese there at least understand that you should put chili sauce on tables!

In the U.S you don't have to take a specific test to get into University, you usually take something called the S.A.T which gives you scores and based on those schools will deny or accept you. But colleges are starting to learn that these tests may not be adequate and so now many don't make you submit scores anymore, its really based off of your high school grades, extra extracurriculars and on who you are and who you know. I would also not be expecting a degree from their only if I decided to grad school. I would just have to transfer back the credits into my college.

And ill check out that thread right away :)

Also how expensive is school there?? Is it any more than it is here? That would be hard to believe as my school I currently go to costs $38,000 a year, and I don't qualify for many scholarships so my parents pay about 25,000 out of pocket and through loans.


haha McDonalds, personally hate cabbage but love pierogi's, and Barszcz. Never had a lot of polish food other than on Christmas, we don't have any polish restaurants around here. But I am in love with Polish bread.

Actually - could be quite cheap for you. You're still a Polish citizen (do you have a Polish passport? if not - you should get one!) - and depending on the school, it could be quite cheap for you to attend. Find me in the chat room some evening and I'll tell you all you need to know!

In some cases Polish laws are more fair then American ones.
After listening to some whining of one American acquaintance of mine, talking about the aftermath of his divorce, his prenup voided and stuff, one thing occurred to me.

Polish laws aren't really strong as far as enforcing alimony is concerned, also you only pay it per kid. If the ex can't live on his/her own he/she gets to die out of hunger :-) .

Also unlike in USA, Polish laws do protect all the assets you acquired before you got married, and if you can prove in court that the things you bought in theory as a couple were financed by just you yourself you can get them back. You don't need a prenup although it does help as it cuts down on time needed to prove what you own and they're never voided.

The legal system is actually more or less fair and just when it comes to marriage, except maybe for the case of custody over children.

Studies here are free in Polish for EU citizens in public schools. Courses in English are mostly not free.
Prices of studies in private schools usually differers for EU citizens and not.
They range from 1000 to 15000 eur per year. Average is around 2000 probably. above 10000 costs only medical studies.
Here some example:
eng.vistula.edu.pl/Admissions/Bachelor-s-Degree-Programs/Tuition-and-scholarships

Yes I believe I still am, I have to still look into that too make sure, and I only have my passport from when I was 4 lol.


What about driving laws? How much are speeding tickets, do you guys get pulled over a lot in Poland? We always have cops patrolling to pull everyone over, and give out tickets.


Is that a really hard thing to do?


Is this for the semester, with room and board?? Do you also happen to know how many credits? Like in the U.S we can take up to 18 credits per semester without having to pay extra, the average is 15 credits. But some schools like mine is dropping that down to 16 credits next year.

Europe has a lot more credit card fraud than the US because of how they handle transactions.


As a matter of policy the US, for the most part, has open enrollment (except for the most competitive Universities). Two completely different educational philosophies.

In USA prices usually cover food and accommodation? Here not. You should expect so pend from 1000zł in smaller city to 2000zł in biggest for all basic needs ( accommodation, food, transport, cheap beer in pub ).

In Europe we have en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Credit_Transfer_and_Accumulation_System and there is 60 points per year to gain. University gives you list how many points you need to have each year to pass to next one. The list shows also value of each class. If you don't gain enough than you have to ask the dean for repeating last year (although you don't repeat classes which you passed). In my public politechnika there was only 1 free course to repeat per whole bachelor. For the rest you had to pay according to price per hour. (if course had more hours then it was more expensive). But it could change now and could vary from school to school.

If you've ever had Polish passport, then technically you are citizen, so you can look at lower prices for EU/Polish citizens. Another difference Poland vs America is that here public universities are better than private. Are you planing to study in Polish or English? There is bigger choice of courses in Polish and many English courses in public schools are lower quality as in Polish (easier to pass).

or maybe you're only asking theoretically and not planning to move here ?

No I really want to do, they problem I was seeing is that my college doesn't have anything in Poland. So I would have to set up everything and transfer back the credits for them to count. I was also thinking that it would be very expensive, but if what delph said was true and that since I am still a citizen it would be very cheap then it is more likely to happen. As for classes I don't really know much polish right now, but plan on learning so I would probably have to take english classes and take a polish learning class.

So do university their not have dorm rooms? Here all freshman who don't already live in the area are required to live in a dorm room on campus, this charge is already put into your tuition

costs same with food costs.


So does Poland use credit cards?

I don't know if Europe has more credit frauds. We use debit/credit cards here, but there are places where cards are not accepted: small convenient stores when shopping for less than 10zł, bazaar, small hairdresser, bus driver.

Universities and polytechnics do have dorms, but nobody is forced to live there. Actually in biggest cities it's hard to get place in one, because they have cheaper prices than free market rooms. When there is less space than applicants, then priority is given for students who are poor and have farther to home.

I don't know if it's possible to transfer your credits, because America doesn't have European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System.

Application deadline for new year will be soon. For example Jagielloński has earlier deadline for students in English:
( 13th of May )


rekrutacja.uj.edu.pl/start?p_p_id=56_INSTANCE_1c3Nc8bwnKc0&p_p_lifecycle=0&p_p_state=normal&p_p_mode=view&p_p_col_id=column-3&p_p_col_pos=1&p_p_col_count=2&groupId=1458734&articleId=19193780

For polish students it will until end of September I think.
And new ranking if you are interested: static.presspublica.pl/red/rp/pdf/kraj/ranking/Ranking-Uczelni-Akademickich-2013.pdf

Well I'm not planning on going next fall as that would be pretty much impossible to plan out with my school lol. I plan on going in after next year so my senior year.


My school said it can be done even though we don't have a program with Poland, its just gonna take a lot of work on my end to find classes that will meet the requirements my school has for those classes.

What about getting a job. Is it really hard to find jobs right now in Poland? And what about opening a business that's my dream so is it a good time to be doing that? Is the economy in Poland strong?

Economically Europe is on it's back right now. Poland has a 14% unemployment rate. Germany is the best economy @ 5% unemployed.

Oh how I love reading these posts. I currently live in the United States, but I've lived in Poland also so I know both sides of the story. Either way if anyone wants to know something please ask :)

Czekam na pytania!

@Meathead: according to Eurostat Germany has 6% and Poland 10% unemployment. 14% is according to Polish measuring system which not comparable with German. For comparisons use Eurostat data.

To answer question, there is always space for good business. In Poland knowledge of Polish language is required to work, except of IT maybe. And university degree in Poland has lower value than in USA, because close to 50% people are studying, so to get graduate job it must be wanted specialty. On one side we have more graduates than European average and on the other less advanced economy, so less jobs for specialists.

Actually it's the other way round. The American reliance on the magnetic strip is bewildering to many of us here.


It can be ridiculously cheap - if you just want the experience, then a good private university should only cost you around 2000 dollars for a year at the most.


Another completely factually incorrect post.

Poland is doing well economically at the minute, and quite a few other economies are too.

Actually you show you know very little about trends in both America and Europe hence your own bewilderment of the modern world. It sounds more a case of you being disenfranchised from being routinely turned down by banks for a card.

Here is an article of one of many European nations ditching coins and notes for the magnetic strip: aljazeera.com/video/europe/2012/09/20129812148701922.html

Sweden aims to be cashless society; With just three per cent of all financial transactions involving cash, country moves to eliminate physical legal tender.

Not a magnetic strip actually: EVS chips and RFID chips.


Modern? EVS has been standard over here for a decade and RFID arrived good six or seven years ago. Are there banks which still rely on the old magnetic stripe and signature? Really?

You too show you know very little about trends in both America and Europe. Do you work or do you stay at home collecting benefits?

You're missing the point, they're not ditching coins for the magnetic strip, they're using cards with embedded microchips, something US merchants have been reluctant to adopt. Magnetic strip is an obsolete technology and the only reason it's still around is the US reliance thereon.

EVS isn't a trend in the Europe: it has been industry standard for more than a decade. Has it even arrived in the USA?


That's not an option in Poland.

You didn't answer the question.

You are British and there was a big debate recently about how many UK expats who now live overseas, pay no tax but collect pensions and other state benefits from the British government. Having your benefits sent directly to your bank account is most definitely an option if you decided to leave Britain and go to live in lower cost Poland.

Since this thread is about differences between the US and Poland tell us what you have done personally and professionally to make Poland distinguish itself on the world stage. You have posted many times a challenge for others to come to Poland and help out. So now here is your chance to tell us all how you did it.

Over to you.

The UK state pension is not a state benefit. Care to try collecting UK dole in Poland? Good luck with that.


It was basically the same as Peace Corps, but without the support structure and benefits package. I was doing precisely the same job as Peace Corps and VSO Canada people where I was working.

Now, perhaps you can tell us what you are going to do to help Poland? Or will you instead change the topic just as you did when your ignorance of US vs EU banking practice was revealed?