In Sweden, all of the applications for higher education are accepted by UAS (University Admissions in Sweden), the agency officially recognized by the government.

Therefore, you need to submit all of the documents to UAS, including common documents and assignment documents required by individual universities to submit.

Then, each university accesses to UAS and check them all. In other words, you’re not allowed to send the documents directly to individual universities.

The result is announced 2 times as “First Notification” and “Second Notification” at the end of March and April respectively.

1. Register on UAS.
2. Choose up to 4 programs which you would like to take
3. Rank the programs from the 1st to 4th choice. *Very important
4. Pay the SEK900 application fee   *Only Non-EU citizens
5. Upload required documents or send them by regular post
6. Check your status on your page.
7. The announcement of merit rating.
8. The announcement of the 1st notification.
9. The announcement of the 2^nd

1. Register on University Admissions in Sweden

Go to the website and click “Log in”.

Choose → “Create account”.

Choose → “NO I don’t have a Swedish personal ID number”.

Fill in your information and click  “Create an account”.

2. Choose up to 4 programs

Search for programs.

Available programs are shown.

You get to check each detail and choose up to 4 programs.

3. Rank the programs from the 1st to 4th choice

You can set up from 1st to 4th choice and this is the most significant part because eventually only 1 offer will be given to you (you can be offered only one study place).

This means that if you are offered a place in a program with a higher ranking, the programs with a lower ranking will be deleted.

This is my example for Autumn term in 2016 (Entrepreneurship program).

1. Lund University
2. Uppsala University
3. KTH
4. Chalmers

It means my first choice was Lund and this was followed by Uppsala (2nd), KTH (3rd) and Chalmers (4th).

A variety of speculations about this ranking have been flowing back and forth on the Internet. For instance,

“Universities take this ranking into account as a way of judging students’ motivation.”

“You are unable to receive better merit rating from lower ranked schools like 3rd or 4th choice.”

etc…

However, I personally think that these are unreliable. I will explain it with my example later.

4. Pay the 900-SEK application fee    *Only Non-EU citizens

Non-EU applicants are obligated to pay SEK900 as an application fee. Credit Card is available for the payment.

Once you finish the payment, this can be seen on your page.

5. Upload required documents or send them by regular post

When you want to submit documents, click Documents.

You can see 4 different categories.

Based on my experience, required documents are divided into 2 types (common and required documents).

Common documents (every university requires you to submit)

・A copy of certificate of graduation
→ Certificates, diplomas and transcripts

・A copy of transcript
→ Certificates, diplomas and transcripts

・CV（Curriculum vitae）
→ Other documents

・Motivation Letter (Personal statement)
→ Other documents

・A copy of passport
→ ID documents

・A copy of certificate of English exam (IELTS, TOEFL, …etc)
→ English language proficiency

・Letter of reference
→ Other documents

・A copy of certificate of award related to your major in a broad sense
→ Certificates, diplomas and transcripts

・Essay, video presentation, etc
→ Other documents

・GMAT
→ Other documents

Click  Upload documents  and upload each document based on above.

*People from some specific countries are required to send certificates, diplomas and transcripts to UAS by regular post. I (Japanese) just needed to upload them, but just in case, I did both and it worked out.

6. Check your status on your page

The status changes like “In progress → Qualified → Merit Rating” in case you meet all the requirements.

Merit Rating … …??

According to UAS, merit rating (grade tariff) is sort of the index set up by them, and is used just among them.

For each applicant, a merit rating is calculated by University Admissions. Based on it, students are placed in a ranked order, from the highest merit rating to the lowest.

The higher the merit rating you have, the better chance you have of being offered a place in the course or programme you have applied to.

There are various speculations about it as well as the ranking, but as I mentioned earlier, any speculation which you can see on the internet is unreliable.

For master’s admissions, universities decide what the criteria are when assigning a merit rating. Examples of what may be considered are:

• Number of previous university credits
• Previous grades
• Other requested documentation such as essays, motivation letters, etc.

7. The announcement of merit rating

What merit rating is needed to be accepted?

There are usually more eligible applicants than spaces available. As the number of applicants for each course and programme, and the merit rating of these applicants, changes from semester to semester, it is impossible to say what merit rating is needed for entry into specific courses and programmes.

Look at the example of mine below.

1. Lund University 885/900 (=98.3%)
2. Uppsala University 999/999 (=100%) DA (Direct Admission)
3. KTH 55/75 (=73.3%)
4. Chalmers Deleated

I got 885/900 (merit rating) from Lund University, which is very high. So I was expecting to be admitted to the school.

Nevertheless, I was unable to receive an offer from Lund at the end of the day, as Lund’s entrepreneurship was one of the most competitive programs to get into.

However, my application was admitted to Uppsala University although I didn’t rank it as my first choice.

So, we never know what’s going to happen.

8. The announcement of the 1st notification

The result is announced on your page. This is my case.

1. Lund University/ Reserve number 6 on the waiting list
2. Uppsala University/ Conditionally admitted
3. KTH/ Deleted
4. Chalmers/ Deleted

1. I was the one who would’ve received an offer if 6 admitted applicants had rejected their offers.
2. My application was admitted. (Conditionally = Paying tuition fees)
3. As I was able to receive the offer from my 2^nd choice (higher ranked school), my 3^rd choice was deleted.
4. My application was deleted as I did not submit an assignment.

9. The announcement of the 2^nd notification

After the announcement of the 1^st notification, some applicants keep their offers and others decline them.

Therefore, there is a high likelihood that your reserve number goes up and you would be offered a place which you couldn’t succeed for the 1^st notification.

These are the things that you must know in order to apply to Swedish universities. I hope that you all will make it.

Good luck!