The ABC on How To Apply To KTH Royal Institute of Technology (Sweden)
By: Johanna Gruszka
Today I am starting a new series of posts, remembering the process of coming to Stockholm and KTH and getting settled here: from A like Applications till W like “Welcome to KTH”. I hope this make the way to Sweden and KTH for all future students a bit easier.
If you have further questions, doubts, advices or ideas what else I should write about, please let me know. I’m glad about any input :)
Applying to KTH
One month and one week. That’s how much time you have left if you want to apply to study at KTH or any other Swedish university next autumn. This means things are getting serious. The good thing about applying to Sweden is that they have a very organized system (though it’s still tricky enough!).
1. One for all
No matter what university and program you apply for, all applications are handled centrally through the website universityadmissions.se. They receive your application and check if you fulfill the basic requirements.
The website offers a lot of information and support online. If you have further questions you can contact them directly as well. When I did so once, they replied within a week.
Daniel has written a nice blog post about how to apply and the deadlines you need to consider, and another one about the eligibility documents (he’s doing a really good job, applause for Daniel!) ;)
2. Scholarship?
When applying for the programme, you might also want to consider applying for a scholarship or grant, either in your home country or in Sweden.
If you are required to pay tuition fees in Sweden, make sure to have a look at KTH’s offers for scholarships here. Furthermore, there are other funding opportunities, also for those who are not required to pay tuition fees.
3. Language Requirements
The biggest challenge for me during the application was taking the TOEFL test. However, have a close look at the exact requirements for English proficiency. Depending on your studies and earlier education you might not have to take one of the (difficult and expensive) English language tests.
Since the Master programmes in Sweden are completely in English and almost every Swedish person knows English very well, you don’t have to speak Swedish before coming here. Once in Sweden, you have several options to learn Swedish, but I will dedicate another blog post to this subject.
4. Letter of Motivation
KTH gives directions for the supporting documents. Even though these aren’t requested by every programme, they are good guidelines.
Some weeks ago I got advice on how to write a good Cover Letter for the job market during an event from KTH Career. They said you should answer three questions in the cover letter:
I think that these are easily adaptable to the motivation letter for a Master application:
Why the university
A year ago, even Obama found a reason to come to KTH, so this shouldn’t be so hard to answer ;) If you want to ‘show you have done your research’, the best place to do so is probably the KTH website with the latest news and facts.
Why the programme
When I answered this question it helped me a lot to look at the programme description on the KTH website, and especially the detailed descriptions of every course you will have to take during the Master. If you want to go a step beyond this, check the other international student blogs or ask a KTH student of your desired Master programme.
Why you
The KTH directions give some good hints: What do you want to do in your future? How will your Master help you with this etc.? And well, as they said at the KTH Career event: let them know your advantages.
This article originally appeared on KTH blog: ABC to KTH: Application
