Apply for a bachelor's programme
Karolinska Institutet offers one bachelor's programme in English, the Bachelor's Programme in Biomedicine. You submit your application to Sweden's central application portal universityadmissions.se. Here is our step-by-step guide on how to apply.
1. Check what admissions round you should apply to
There are two admissions rounds for the Bachelor's Programme in Biomedicine at KI.
The first admissions round is open for non-EU and EU/EEA citizens with completed upper secondary studies.
It is open from 15 October 2024 to 15 January 2025 for studies starting in the beginning of September 2025. The deadline for the supporting documentation is 3 February 2025.
Please note
- Admissions is based on final upper secondary school qualifications. University Admissions in Sweden must have received your final upper secondary school documentation by the deadline for the supporting documentation.
- If you are a non-EU/EEA citizen in your final upper secondary school year you need to take a gap year before you apply.
- If you are an EU/EEA citizen in your final upper secondary school year you can apply to the Second admissions round.
The second admissions round is open primarily for national and EU/EEA citizens.
It is open 17 March 2025 to 15 April 2025 for studies starting in the beginning of September 2024. The deadline for the supporting documentation is 19 June 2025*.
*If you are completing your upper secondary studies in an EU/EEA country (other than Sweden), Switzerland or an IB/EB programme, you have until 5 July 2025 to submit your documents. All other supporting documents should be submitted together with your application.
Please note
- Admissions is based on final upper secondary school qualifications. University Admissions in Sweden must have received your final upper secondary school documentation by the deadline for the supporting documentation. If your upper secondary school qualifications are awarded after the deadline for the supporting documentation, you will need to take a gap year.
- Non-EU/EEA citizens should not apply to the second round as there will not be enough time to apply for and receive a residence permit.
2. Check the entry requirements
To be eligible for the bachelor's programme you need to meet the general and specific entry requirements and prove your English language proficiency.
To meet the general entry requirements, you must have been awarded an upper secondary school/high school education (post-16) which qualifies you for higher education in your country.
You can find out what qualifications from your country of study meet the general requirements on the country specific pages on universityadmissions.se.
The specific entry requirements for the Bachelor's Programme in Biomedicine are courses equivalent to the Swedish upper secondary level courses Biology 2, Chemistry 2, Mathematics 4, or the equivalent courses.
Your upper secondary school courses will be assessed by University Admissions once you have submitted a complete application.
University Admissions primarily uses country handbooks developed by the Swedish Council for Higher Education in the assessment of foreign upper secondary school courses and grades.
KI is not involved in the assessment of your upper secondary school credentials. If you have any questions on how your credentials will be assessed please contact University Admissions.
The English language requirement is a level of English equivalent to the Swedish upper secondary school course English 6. There are three ways of proving your English language proficiency:
- Certain upper secondary school studies
- Certain university studies
- An internationally recognised English test
3. Apply
You apply at universityadmissions.se.
Good to know
- Your application will not be processed until you have paid the application fee (non-EU/EEA) or submitted proof of your EU/EEA/Swiss citizenship.
- Ranking your programmes is important! If you are offered your first choice, all other programmes with lower ranking will be deleted from your application. This also applies to programmes you may have applied to at other universities.
- Documents received after the deadline for the supporting documentation will not be considered.
- If you already have university level studies, you must also check the documentation requirements for master's applicants.
4. Follow your application
Once you have applied check for messages from University Admissions in your account. University Admissions will notify you if you are missing any documents. However, it may take several weeks for University Admissions to assess you documents, and there is no guarantee that they will notify you before the documentation deadline.
Good to know:
- By applying early, you increase the chances of getting notified about missing or incorrect documents before the documentation deadline.
- The status you can see at your account on University Admissions is not a final admissions result.
What happens now?
University Admissions reviews the documentation and the eligibility requirements. University Admissions also calculates a merit rating for all eligible applicants. The better the merit rating, the better chance you have of being awarded a place. If you have any questions on the documentation requirements, the entry requirements and how your merit rating is calculated, please contact University Admissions in Sweden directly.
Good to know
- In the first application round the selection among eligible candidates is based on the merit rating. In the second application round applicants can also compete for a seat with a result from the Swedish Scholastic Aptitude Test (Högskoleprovet). The test is arranged twice per year in Swedish, and the test is not mandatory.
- Motivational or recommendation letters are not considered.
After admissions selection, you'll either be accepted, placed on a waiting list, or deleted from the programme.
First round
- You don't need to accept or reply to your admissions offer to confirm your place.
- KI does not admit reserves in the first round
Second round
- You must reply to your admissions offer in your account at universityadmissions.se to confirm your place.
- Usually only a few applicants on the reserve list receive an offer. Reserve means that you are currently not admitted but that you may be admitted in case KI needs to fill the seats for the programme. KI admits more students than the number of seats for the programme, and when an admitted student decline their admissions offer, this does not automatically lead to an offer for an applicant on the reserve list.
Good to know
- In your account, you can find a PDF-file called ”Notification of Selection Results”. This document is the official copy of your admissions results. No other admissions letter will be sent to you.
Admissions results on universityadmissions.se
You can appeal decisions regarding eligibility after you have received the Notification of Selection Results. You submit your appeal in your University Admission’s account.
Before you submit an appeal, please contact the admissions office at KI regarding your case.
If you need to postpone your study start you can apply for a deferral if you have a valid reason.