The hardest and the most boring bit - documentation.

So after I have chosen my places of education I had to gather the required documents to support my application. Because there is no entry exams the decision whether the applicant is successful or not is based upon your college or high school results. By that I mean the extra 2-3 years you do after compulsory school. A levels at Sixth Form College in the United Kingdom or specifically England for example. Usually if you want to do business at the university level in Sweden you have to have done that subject at your college, A level in business for example. This isn’t the case in England you can do business if you have no previous knowledge of the subject.

To support your application you usually need the following documents:

• Certified copy of your passport
• Certified copies of your college/school certificates
• Transcripts of your studies
• English proficiency certificates.

Let me begin with briefly explaining what certified copies mean. At first I was really puzzled by this, all it means is that you have to photocopy your certificates. And then let your local notary public or a solicitor certify them. This means putting a stamp on them and saying that the following photocopies haven’t been tampered with i.e. you haven’t changed your grades with a little bit of photo shopping. This is especially applies to countries with a lot of fraud, you know what those are!

 Myself personally I couldn’t certify just the first page of my passport, which is also they require really because it states all the main bits of info about you. In Russia, where I’m originally from they require the whole thing to be copied and certified but it isn’t a problem if you send the whole thing to their admission office, at least it wasn’t for me. But you do, however, need to include any residency permits you may have in other countries.
 To save myself a little bit of money I went to the college where I got my A levels, to certify my certificates. There chief student advisor photocopied all my certificates and stamped them with college logo and wrote on every single one of them that he has seen the originals and they do not differ. I also got the director of sixth from college to sign them as well as writing a quick letter explaining that he seen the originals, just in case. I wouldn’t recommend doing this in countries that have a lot of fraud, you know who you are! I was able to do that because my certificates are English.
Even now that I have sent all me documents I’m not sure about the transcripts that they need evidence of. They are not common in England and probably more common for people with university degrees (Bachelors) to apply for masters. This is where a lot of universities mix their application procedures with master degrees by copying and then simply pasting from one section to another. So I’ve simply send every grade I ever received during my 3 year college exams, yes including retakes. Not sure if that’s good enough but that’s all I had. If anyone knows what those are in context to English education I would really like to know what they are.
  And the last one was a little bit easier for me because I completed all my education in the United Kingdom in English I wasn’t required to provide evidence of my English proficiency saving me a lot of time, nerves and money in doing them. A lot of universities require you to send your test scores directly from the test centre where you take your exams. Again, this is done to prevent fraud.
 Having organised all those in order I sent them by verified mail where the recipient required to sign for the letter and you can then see it online. Jönköping University did send me an email telling me that they have received my documents which is very handy.
  And then the waiting game began. You don’t get to hear if you have been admitted until the middle of April I’m not sure why it takes them that long but it would have been a lot easier if they could tell you the results earlier. Jönköping uni sends you and email and if you applied through the central application system then you can find out on their web site in “your page” section. I assume that then they send a hard copy to your home address that you will need to get your residence permit.