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Applied to Swedish university - unsure what my A levels/GCSEs equate to

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[Hi there! No when I mentioned I had an E in maths I meant the level would be an E, I got a grade C at A2 level. My main concern is whether they will accept my biology grade D at A2 level when they only want biology to AS level, what is your opinion? And wishing you the best of luck. I was thinking about Denmark låst year also, I think you are going to love it! :smile:

QUOTE=Ronove;52968709]If you're still wondering about the subject levels/how your grades are taken into account, if it's anything like Denmark (looks a little more complex, looking at that table you uploaded - in Denmark the levels are A, B and C and they equate to A2, AS and GCSE-ish, regardless of subject, much simpler!), the subject level requirements just have to be met, and you will be admitted based on your translated grade point average. Admission is literally just based on the available places being awarded to the top however many applicants, when ranked according to their grade point average. The subject levels are a tick-box exercise, so you can in theory have got an E in them - but that would obviously seriously negatively impact your GPA, which is what determines whether you get in or not.

I'm starting at Copenhagen in the next week or so and am feeling like I might have bitten off more than I can chew! I know I'll manage, but I feel very alone in the undertaking right now - I've hardly ever heard of a Brit studying a degree in another language, and I've certainly not talked to any who have. :s-smilie:
Reply 21
Original post by Hexaneandheels
Hi there! No when I mentioned I had an E in maths I meant the level would be an E, I got a grade C at A2 level. My main concern is whether they will accept my biology grade D at A2 level when they only want biology to AS level, what is your opinion? And wishing you the best of luck. I was thinking about Denmark låst year also, I think you are going to love it! :smile:

Oh, I didn't even see you'd mentioned an E anywhere - I just said that because it's the lowest passing grade! They will absolutely accept a **** grade at A2 when they only want a pass at AS. Usually you can see what the required GPA was for the last few years on the web page advertising the course. It'll be called the English or Swedish equivalent of adgangskvotient. All I (think I) know is that the Swedish grades go up to 20, and that quite a lot of Swedes get 20, compared to the number of Danes getting the top score in their system (which means the Danes can be a bit grumpy about them applying to Medicine in Denmark). There's something called Eksamenshåndbogen for translating EU grades to Danish ones, I'll have a look in a second to see if there's an indication of what Swedish grades are compared to Danish ones (which will mean I can get an idea of how a Dane would translate English grades into Swedish ones).

Edit: Ok so, I think a vague idea would be: English grade D = Swedish 12, C = 15.7, B/A = 19.78, A* = 19.95
The B/A thing is because the Danish system views an A and a B as the same Danish grade when they come from a system where A* was possible. Obviously in the Swedish system they probably place a B somewhere between 15.7 and 19.78. And they probably don't view an A as 19.78 and an A* as 19.95 - seems too crazily bunched up to actually be the case, but it certainly gives me an idea of why the Danes think the Swedish system is so warped!
(edited 9 years ago)
[you've definitely made me feel more optimistic now, thank you! I think it is crazy how they haven't designed a smoother translation of grades system in the EU, especially if they want to attract more! My grades were Physics B (A2), maths C (A2), Biology D (A2), General studies C (A2), Law,D (AS) and I'm currently taking Chemistry distance and achieved grade B at AS and now working to A2 in that so I hope they will look at the school printout of my AS grade and accept it as official as I've not completed the whole thing yet!
How easy do you think it really is to get into programmes in Sweden and Denmark?
Thank you for your time!!
QUOTE=Ronove;52969591]Oh, I didn't even see you'd mentioned an E anywhere - I just said that because it's the lowest passing grade! They will absolutely accept a **** grade at A2 when they only want a pass at AS. Usually you can see what the required GPA was for the last few years on the web page advertising the course. It'll be called the English or Swedish equivalent of adgangskvotient. All I (think I) know is that the Swedish grades go up to 20, and that quite a lot of Swedes get 20, compared to the number of Danes getting the top score in their system (which means the Danes can be a bit grumpy about them applying to Medicine in Denmark). There's something called Eksamenshåndbogen for translating EU grades to Danish ones, I'll have a look in a second to see if there's an indication of what Swedish grades are compared to Danish ones (which will mean I can get an idea of how a Dane would translate English grades into Swedish ones).

Edit: Ok so, I think a vague idea would be: English grade D = Swedish 12, C = 15.7, B/A = 19.78, A* = 19.95
The B/A thing is because the Danish system views an A and a B as the same Danish grade when they come from a system where A* was possible. Obviously in the Swedish system they probably place a B somewhere between 15.7 and 19.78. And they probably don't view an A as 19.78 and an A* as 19.95 - seems too crazily bunched up to actually be the case, but it certainly gives me an idea of why the Danes think the Swedish system is so warped!
Reply 23
Original post by Hexaneandheels
you've definitely made me feel more optimistic now, thank you! I think it is crazy how they haven't designed a smoother translation of grades system in the EU, especially if they want to attract more! My grades were Physics B (A2), maths C (A2), Biology D (A2), General studies C (A2), Law,D (AS) and I'm currently taking Chemistry distance and achieved grade B at AS and now working to A2 in that so I hope they will look at the school printout of my AS grade and accept it as official as I've not completed the whole thing yet!
How easy do you think it really is to get into programmes in Sweden and Denmark?
Thank you for your time!!

You need to stop typing your post inside the QUOTE brackets. :tongue:

It really depends which programmes you're looking at. I think the more vocational ones can usually find a way to get you in with what you've got, though I think you need to be prepared to do your own research and make sure they're translating your qualifications properly. A friend of mine started a Hospitality type course here in Copenhagen and from what she said, they were umming and ahhing over her HND from the UK for a while. Maybe she didn't do A-levels and I just never asked - it sounded very odd that they weren't sure they could let her on the course she wanted, given that it was so vocational rather than especially academic.

When I applied to KU, they initially missed out all my AS grades from AQA (so three subjects), resulting in me having a GPA way lower than expected. I ended up sending them a multiple-page word document with screenshots of Eksamenshåndbogen to show them how I calculated my GPA from it, so they could compare that with what they'd done to get the figure they came up with. If I hadn't sorted it out, I would not have got in to my degree - the GPA they finally gave me was one decimal point below the 'safe' score, so a large degree of luck must have been involved in me getting one of the (presumably not very many) places handed out to those with my GPA.

The good thing about the way the system works in Denmark is that the scores required are dictated almost entirely by demand. You can get onto some degrees that I would totally have considered when I was 18 and in the UK, with a not particularly impressive GPA. Unfortunately that also means that some of the subjects are surprisingly popular and thus have sky-high GPA requirements.

I've had a look on ki.se and looked at the entry statistics to see if I could find the GPA required to get on Biomedicine (I'm guessing that's what you applied for at Karolinska as well as the other place you mentioned on the first page?) but it just doesn't appear anywhere in the stats. The page for it says it's been open since Autumn 2014 but perhaps there was no intake at that point to go into the stats? Either way, hold tight.
Reply 24
What is referred to above - as in Math D is the level of math needed. Same with the other subjects. With regards to the grades needed, Swedish schools tend to be flexible according to pressure to get in. There are also plenty of students who apply using a standardised exam, which further complicates things.
There are a lot of Swedish students who choose to study in English as it helps an international career or post grad studies. There are loads of secondary schools entirely in English, and most people are bilingual, so the pressure on these courses tend to be higher.
Also EU law dictates that 'home' students are all EU nationals. So if the ratio is 40 home, and 10 international, then it is 40 EU and 10 non-EU. If the administrator told you otherwise they were probably mistaken. Most administrators in schools in Sweden are terrible, give misleading information and are just inept. I wouldn't trust them, though information on home pages and central advice forums are more reliable.
Reply 25
Original post by ThydaB
What is referred to above - as in Math D is the level of math needed. Same with the other subjects. With regards to the grades needed, Swedish schools tend to be flexible according to pressure to get in. There are also plenty of students who apply using a standardised exam, which further complicates things.
There are a lot of Swedish students who choose to study in English as it helps an international career or post grad studies. There are loads of secondary schools entirely in English, and most people are bilingual, so the pressure on these courses tend to be higher.
Also EU law dictates that 'home' students are all EU nationals. So if the ratio is 40 home, and 10 international, then it is 40 EU and 10 non-EU. If the administrator told you otherwise they were probably mistaken. Most administrators in schools in Sweden are terrible, give misleading information and are just inept. I wouldn't trust them, though information on home pages and central advice forums are more reliable.

This is my experience of them in Denmark as well. I tried to enquire about how my grades would be translated and the process etc and I pretty much only ever got 'uhhhh just apply and see what happens'. Great. Thanks.
Reply 26
Original post by Ronove
This is my experience of them in Denmark as well. I tried to enquire about how my grades would be translated and the process etc and I pretty much only ever got 'uhhhh just apply and see what happens'. Great. Thanks.

hahaha - classic!
yeah, have to say these countries are great in a lot of ways, helping people with problems that slightly fall outside of the box is not one of them! :smile:
Thank you both of you for your input that is probably great news to hear that 40 will be nationals including EU applicants, fingers crossed then. Can I ask your opinion both of you, it said on admissions website to mail or upload transcripts/certificates, so I mailed them my completed A level certificates and
GCSEs. But as I'm currently doing A level chemistry I had no certificates to send. So then I had a brain wave, i asked the school if they could email me an official printout of what i got last year for the AS level which was a grade B, and i decided to submit this letter to them. My question is, do you think they will even consider this, or will they only look at certificates from completed course?
It's frustrating because they want Kemi B which according to Lund university is AS level Chemistry, and I'm working towards A level and so I'm sitting on those AS results as they don't issue certificates until A2 complete!
Yes btw, I'm applying to the Biomedicine course at Karolinska, and I'm nervous as to whether they will even consider me at this stage!! :smile:
PS the Swedish system is TERRIBLE you are right, when it comes to anything remotely outside the box - frustrating !!






Original post by ThydaB
hahaha - classic!
yeah, have to say these countries are great in a lot of ways, helping people with problems that slightly fall outside of the box is not one of them! :smile:
Reply 28
I would say, wait for a reply from what you have sent. If you do not hear anything in 5 working days ask them to confirm receipt and if they need anything else.
Also, if you do your research you can probably find the professor and their contact details and speak with them directly. I would suggest waiting until the admin don't get back to you, or don't answer your questions, then email the professor and ask them directly, and thank them for their support.

be careful though - don't say anything negative - formulate it more along the lines of:
I received the attached email as an answer and I am afraid I am still not clear. [summarise your story]. Any guidance you could provide would be most appreciated, and I sincerely hope to be at Karolinska in the fall.
Many thanks for your time and kind consideration,
xxxxx
Reply 29
Original post by Hexaneandheels
Thank you both of you for your input that is probably great news to hear that 40 will be nationals including EU applicants, fingers crossed then. Can I ask your opinion both of you, it said on admissions website to mail or upload transcripts/certificates, so I mailed them my completed A level certificates and
GCSEs. But as I'm currently doing A level chemistry I had no certificates to send. So then I had a brain wave, i asked the school if they could email me an official printout of what i got last year for the AS level which was a grade B, and i decided to submit this letter to them. My question is, do you think they will even consider this, or will they only look at certificates from completed course?
It's frustrating because they want Kemi B which according to Lund university is AS level Chemistry, and I'm working towards A level and so I'm sitting on those AS results as they don't issue certificates until A2 complete!
Yes btw, I'm applying to the Biomedicine course at Karolinska, and I'm nervous as to whether they will even consider me at this stage!! :smile:
PS the Swedish system is TERRIBLE you are right, when it comes to anything remotely outside the box - frustrating !!

Have you already applied? Because the site says the deadline was 15 January - there's another deadline in April where applicants have a second qualification to be considered but I have no idea whether you can apply then or not.

They should certainly take the school results printout into consideration if they understand how AS/A2 works. Either way they should have a way to deal with the fact that you don't get your final certificate until later - if you can prove you meet the requirement in some way then they should hopefully just require you to submit the certificate to them when you have it, before course start, as a formality.

At my school we got our AS level certificates in Year 12, and KU counted the grades achieved towards my GPA (had they not considered the AS grades my GPA would have been too low, as I said earlier), so it does seem to differ from school to school. I don't know whether or not they'd have used the grades in the calculation had my school not opted to do it that way (and I therefore had no certificate).
Hahaha I'm definitely not adding those kiss marks to it hahaha! But I see what you are saying although I have contacted the professor, however, they told me to just apply through university admissions central application site so I've just uploaded the letter from the sixth form where I've been doing this Chemistry A level.
Can I ask, how likely is it for them to accept an English educated person without the to grade A levels? Do you know of many failure stories?
Original post by ThydaB
I would say, wait for a reply from what you have sent. If you do not hear anything in 5 working days ask them to confirm receipt and if they need anything else.
Also, if you do your research you can probably find the professor and their contact details and speak with them directly. I would suggest waiting until the admin don't get back to you, or don't answer your questions, then email the professor and ask them directly, and thank them for their support.

be careful though - don't say anything negative - formulate it more along the lines of:
I received the attached email as an answer and I am afraid I am still not clear. [summarise your story]. Any guidance you could provide would be most appreciated, and I sincerely hope to be at Karolinska in the fall.
Many thanks for your time and kind consideration,
xxxxx
Reply 31
Original post by Hexaneandheels
Hahaha I'm definitely not adding those kiss marks to it hahaha! But I see what you are saying although I have contacted the professor, however, they told me to just apply through university admissions central application site so I've just uploaded the letter from the sixth form where I've been doing this Chemistry A level.
Can I ask, how likely is it for them to accept an English educated person without the to grade A levels? Do you know of many failure stories?

hahahah :smile:
If you have straight As then I think you are good. Karolinska is extremely competitive so you should have a plan B :smile:
Hey! Yes I submitted it before deadline :smile: Do you receive a certificate for AS when you are continuing it to A2 level? You know what, I think so too that they should consider the printout from the school. It's just a piece of paper they printed off from the
AQA site using school login which states the three units and what i achieved in them, with my name, UCI number, institution number and that is all. God this stuff is nerve wracking! Well done for getting into your programme!


Original post by Ronove
Have you already applied? Because the site says the deadline was 15 January - there's another deadline in April where applicants have a second qualification to be considered but I have no idea whether you can apply then or not.

They should certainly take the school results printout into consideration if they understand how AS/A2 works. Either way they should have a way to deal with the fact that you don't get your final certificate until later - if you can prove you meet the requirement in some way then they should hopefully just require you to submit the certificate to them when you have it, before course start, as a formality.

At my school we got our AS level certificates in Year 12, and KU counted the grades achieved towards my GPA (had they not considered the AS grades my GPA would have been too low, as I said earlier), so it does seem to differ from school to school. I don't know whether or not they'd have used the grades in the calculation had my school not opted to do it that way (and I therefore had no certificate).
No straight A's sadly, a few A* at GCSE but at A level I had BCCD plus AS D, but I'm currently redoing A levels in maths, physics and added Chemistry will be finished in June and it's likely to be all As. But useless for this application.


Original post by ThydaB
hahahah :smile:
If you have straight As then I think you are good. Karolinska is extremely competitive so you should have a plan B :smile:
Original post by #freegaza
Well number 1 is that I was born and raised in Sweden expo in Stockholm so I do have the grades (hogskolan) which is like gcse, do they emphasize a lot on the grades?
Well when I looked up what maths D in Sweden was on Google I found a past paper and most of the maths there was pretty much c3/c4 so since alevels it regarded highly in Europe and America I think they may not see as bad as you may think
If I am confident on if am going to get in ?? I don't know applied for ucas and Sweden universities just to maximise my chances of going to university but always kelp your head up and hope for the best.



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My brother actually studies at lunds university..
Reply 35
Original post by Hexaneandheels
Hey! Yes I submitted it before deadline :smile: Do you receive a certificate for AS when you are continuing it to A2 level? You know what, I think so too that they should consider the printout from the school. It's just a piece of paper they printed off from the
AQA site using school login which states the three units and what i achieved in them, with my name, UCI number, institution number and that is all. God this stuff is nerve wracking! Well done for getting into your programme!

We received AS certificates, yes. I think it has to do with the 'cashing in' vs not 'cashing in'.
Ah yeaaaa I see what you mean! I didn't cash in I just said to continue the full A2. So do you think they'll accept the print out of my AS grades last summer from the AQA website?

Original post by Ronove
We received AS certificates, yes. I think it has to do with the 'cashing in' vs not 'cashing in'.
Reply 37
Original post by Hexaneandheels
Ah yeaaaa I see what you mean! I didn't cash in I just said to continue the full A2. So do you think they'll accept the print out of my AS grades last summer from the AQA website?

Not sure they'll count them without the certificate, no, since they don't seem to count as a separate qualification without it.
Damn it! i submitted it anyway so fingers crossed they look at it! :wink:
Original post by Ronove
Not sure they'll count them without the certificate, no, since they don't seem to count as a separate qualification without it.
Hi guys :smile: so I just had a quick look on that UHR statistik page for Sweden and I saw that for this programme I've applied to, 144 applied, and out of that 144, only 36 ranked it their first choice. I'm not sure how important the ranking is, but does the fact only 36 ranked it first choice including me, boost my chances of successful entry? There are 50 places available in total, I understand there is a second round in April also.
Any insight would be great, thank you again

Original post by Ronove
Not sure they'll count them without the certificate, no, since they don't seem to count as a separate qualification without it.

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