How hard are Swedish universities to get into?

[...] sweden is a great place to study especially if your main choice is Lulea; the most northern university in the world.
[...]

Lulea is not the most northern university in the world. Without checking for others, there is The University Centre in Svalbard, which is 400 miles north of Norway. I have checked for a more obvious one: Murmansk is further north than Lulea, and has two universities as far as I am aware.

Sorry for being pedantic.

Hi there markusmerkus,
sweden is a great place to study especially if your main choice is Lulea; the most northern university in the world.
one thing i will let you in on though, is the fact that most studies in swedish universities is purely independent. i mean this with a whole new meaning of independent study .... and i mean directly from a text book and mostly in your own time. the cultural approach to the education system in sweden is very different to that of the uk.

my intention is not to knock you down or patronise you in anyway, but just merely to share some of my personal experience of studying in sweden. However, it will be a great opportunity and you should jump to the chance if available.

oh it may not be free for non-swedish residence now, but i can't be sure on that. it would be way cheaper than paying the going rate of £9000 in the UK though. the cost of student housing was much cheaper than that of the uk too (believe it or not), i was paying £260 per month for an ensuite room (massive) and a shared kitchen of 6 and a balcony with an awesome view. plus, students are not obliged to pay energy bills either.

if you express an interest and sincerely want to study in a swedish uni then you will make it without the shadow of a doubt. but be prepared to learn Svenska, its not too hard and you will be respected a lot more.

anything else you need to know just ask, i'l be happy to help you.

good luck and kind regards.

Ok never mind the most northern university debate. You don't want to go there, it's cold.

The Swedish universities are generally rather easy to get into as long as you don't pick the most popular course. It tends to be a huge gap in the entry requirements between the most popular and the rest. The MA entry process is of course a bit different from Undergrad but in general you apply through www.antagning.se and you'll have to send different documents such as references etc depending on the requirements of each university and course. So check which courses you'd like to apply for and then their requirements. I don't think a 2.2 will stop you for most courses. People at uni tend to get quite crap grades in Sweden as there is a mentality that grades does not matter.

And keep in mind that finding a place to live might end up being more difficult than being accepted to make sure you check the terms regarding accommodation

Hope this helps a bit

Now that Umea has a campus in Kiruna, it is not even the northernmost university in Sweden!

Would political science and such courses be considered "popular" in Sweden? I really wouldn't know...

Kiruna city is ready to be destroyed and rebuilt.

Why? Is it the mine?

hi again,
when i was over in sweden, i remember getting into a deep conversation regarding students going into higher education. one of the guys who i lived with mentioned that higher education in sweden is not as popular as in the uk; this is predominantly down to people going straight into work after they finish school... there is quite a bit of work out there.
the student number are in general quite small compared to the uk and you will probably find no more than 15 people to a single class. personally, i don't think your going to experience any problems whatsoever. just get the ball rolling and you'll probably find that you will be right in there.

another thing, don't let people put you off going. your going to hear many complaints about weather, this and that. i got it, but half of those people complaining had never actually been and i found they were totally wrong about everything. i say go for it and learn yourself; not from wikipedia troll monsters .

regards.

hi again,
when i was over in sweden, i remember getting into a deep conversation regarding students going into higher education. one of the guys who i lived with mentioned that higher education in sweden is not as popular as in the uk; this is predominantly down to people going straight into work after they finish school... there is quite a bit of work out there.
the student number are in general quite small compared to the uk and you will probably find no more than 15 people to a single class. personally, i don't think your going to experience any problems whatsoever. just get the ball rolling and you'll probably find that you will be right in there.

another thing, don't let people put you off going. your going to hear many complaints about weather, this and that. i got it, but half of those people complaining had never actually been and i found they were totally wrong about everything. i say go for it and learn yourself; not from wikipedia troll monsters .

regards.

People at uni tend to get quite crap grades in Sweden as there is a mentality that grades does not matter.

Do you mean that in the sense that people are marked harshly because professors don't expect it will hurt their prospects, or in the sense that students perform poorly because they don't care how they do in their degree?

Usually people don't study that hard. They are happy just to graduate and presume they'll get a job without good grades.

But I think that if you have a 2.2 you'll find a course that you'll get accepted to. Especially if you look at "less prestigious" universities (anything except SSE, Royal Institute of techn., Chalmers, Karolinska Institute, Uppsala, Lund).

And regarding accommodation, I know that some universities have extra accommodation for foreign students. (Like with the grades, you are more likley to get accommodation at less prestigious unis as long as they located outside Stockholm).

I'm not applying, I just find it interesting. The stereotype here is that Sweden has a very good education system, and that Swedes are conscientious and hard-working. Interesting (but not surprising) to hear that the result of grades-don't-matter culture is that most people don't bother doing any work.

That said, I like the sound of a place where you can get jobs without a degree. I think most here will never use their degree in employment, despite fact that that's the reason most to degrees.