Thoughts of a Dying Atheist

A total of 4 , out of which 3 new.

2008-04-16T02:10:00.001+01:00

Well a little update in my studera account.

Three new messages all 3 saying that I:

You have been granted an exemption from the basic requirements for this course/program. The decision applies to this term. (New)

My SG (Selection Group) is BG for all programs and MR is 17,00 for all of the programs.

Any changes to your then?

Currently Listening - Hard-Fi - Empty Streets.

Umea Surprises us

2008-04-12T16:08:00.001+01:00

You have been granted an exemption from the basic requirements for this course/program. The decision applies to this term.

SG - BG (don't know what that means.)

MR - 17,00 (this maybe out of 20)

Currently Listening - Hard-Fi - Unnecessary Trouble

Looks Like It's All Over!

2008-04-11T11:59:00.001+01:00

This morning as usual I checked my email on my iPod. But without actually looking at my emails (I wanted to see how many new ones I've got, If you have iTouch you know what I'm talking about.) But after a little hesitation, being a Friday I just couldn't resist. And what do you know an offer from Jonkoping University! That's right they bet the studera by a couple of weeks! I'm really happy, it was my first choice after all.

Hope I'm not the only one folks, do tell us.

Currently Playing Snow Patrol - How to be Dead.

More on studera statuses.

2008-03-05T00:14:00.001Z

Well once again, filtering all the rubbish in the comments here

TJS put a gem out there! Once again a direct quote:

****For everyone:

My understanding ( which could be a bit off) regarding how the status changes goes like this.

–No paperwork scanned:
Under Assessment & Not Processed

–Paperwork scanned without transcripts:

SG -Unqualified

MR -Specific requirements not fulfilled

Requirements not fulfilled.:

Requirements in English and/or academic under graduate level are not yet recognised.

–Everything scanned in and sent to universities:

SG - “-”

MR - Application in process

Also if you get this:

SG- Unqualified
MR- Exception

You’re under special review for special circumstances….which in my case being in my final semester of study w/o bachelors degree at the time of assessment.

As the man says it is not a 100% fact just educated guesswork, but that sound about right, to me anyway.

And it looks like some people are starting to get rejection letters, based on the documents they've sent.

P.S. I do hope you resolve your issue with them, don't just give up without trying, that's too easy.

Currently Listening to Athlete - Wires - Tourist

Making an enquiry.

2008-02-27T14:17:00.001Z

I've just read if you want to talk to someone from studera.nu about your supporting documents you should be asked to put through to their handling department. Here's a direct quote:

Hey All,

So I just got off the phone with Studera. First off, anyone who calls should ask to be transfered to handling as they can look at your documents and be much more specific in telling you whats wrong with your application than the initial people you talk to. that being said the issue turned out to bet that hey haven’t scanned in my transcripts as of yet because they are 22 days behind she said. I guess I fell victim to my impatient and the silly generic and rather vague messages they use! =) I agree with whoever posted above that they should have a listing of what they have scanned and whats missing or uncertified etc…or at least have more detailed options to put up for messages. I will say everyone was very nice and pleasant to talk to for sure.

Thanks to TJS, found here

Once again, phone numbers for studera.nu are:

+46 or 0046 is the country code and then 854551545

0046854551545 or +46854551545

Once again I recommend investing into voipdiscount to make that phone call for free.

Currently Listening to: Foo Fighters - The Pretender - Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace

My Current Status

2008-02-25T13:09:00.004Z

So I thought I'd post my current status at studera.nu it's as follows:

This is for bachelor degrees, if you don't know that by now.

Sent my documents on 24th of January from the UK, studera acknowledge email on the 7th of February.

Some thoughts on studera.nu

2008-02-08T10:15:00.000Z

Well it isn't the best system in the world. The site only works in IE and Firefox, Opera won't let me login. Then there is their suppoort. There is a lot of copy and paste as well as some wrong info.

Dear Kirill,

You can't apply for basic level education in february. The application round will open in the middle of march and the last application date is in the middle of april.

Always write your civic registration number/date of birth and application number in the mail back so we can help you.

Kind Regards,
Frida Eriksson

Well thanks for that!

Well just incase you are confused the deadline was the first of Feb!

The amount of info on studera.nu in English is very very limited, the majority of info that I found was on the websites of universities that I applied to. I would then have to piece all that into something meaningful.

I think there could be one easy solution, just make people pay money for the service. 10 euros a go is not a lot, but will go towards paying for better support and a quality website. I think this is definately something they should do next year.

Pigeon Mail

2008-02-07T12:14:00.001Z

Dear student,

Thank you for applying for our International Courses and Programmes!

We have received your application. Provided it includes all the necessary documentation
it will be passed to an admissions officer for consideration. Your documentation must reach
"University Studies in Sweden" no later than February 15.
Assessments for courses and programmes starting in August is made February-April.
It is important that you log on to your personal account at www.Studera.nu
during the assessment period. There might be messages addressed to you
concerning your application.
The decision regarding admission will be communicated to you through
your personal account at www.Studera.nu by April 22, 2008.
Unfortunately, it is not possible for us to answer individual e-mails
during this process.

Well after all that hassle yesterday I think my douments have been processed, just in time btw, I was gonna send another batch of documents on monday.

Chasing it Up

2008-02-06T12:57:00.000Z

Well after sending all my documents using Royal Mail's Signed For service and after numerously checking online if they arrived to their destination in Sweden on Royal Mail's website I found out that I wont actually know if they arrived or not! That doesn't make any sense I've paid around 5 euros for nothing!
And after calling Jonkoping Uni, they confirmed that they had in fact receieved my supporting documents but that can't be said for studera.nu central service. They said that I have to call my first choice uni and they would be able to tell me, the guy in the phone said that there is some sort of backlog of documents as they get a few of them (quite a few I imagine!) So all not lost yet, but hopefully they turn up in the system in the next couple of days, otherwise I'll need to send them off again!

Some useful numbers:

0046854551545 studera.nu switchboard press 1 for bachelors 2 for masters, all speak very good english.

004636101000 Jonkoping University ask for JIBS' admissions office.

Royal Mail (just in case haha)

00441752387112

So has anybody else's documents not arrived/not processed yet? Put me at ease haha

UPDATE: I've used voipdiscount to make all those phone calls for free. You do have to stay on hold for some time.

Travel

2008-02-06T12:42:00.000Z

Because of your residency permit you are allowed to travel freely in the European Union, excluding some countries though, like the UK and Ireland and some others. You can drive your own car if you are over the age of 18 and have a valid driving license from your home country, it is valid for one year but then you would have to get Swedish license to continue driving legally. Anyone under the age of 26 can get standby or last minute tickets on an airplane and train which costs 30 SEK single anywhere in the country. But this is only possible if there are any spare seats that are not taken. Which is a very good idea why have them unoccupied when you can earn a little bit of money which is still better than nothing. Students also get 30% train discounts with their student/union card. It is a lot cheaper if you book well in advance and online. If you have flexible dates then it is even better. There are night trains to Denmark, Germany and Norway leaving from Stockholm and other train station on the way.Sweden also has double decker high speed trains which is mad.

University unions organise a lot of trips for students to neighbouring countries such as Finland, Russia, Estonia and so on. Those are usually cheaper than if you would have went on your own because of bigger groups of people.
There are also tickets that are valid all over the country or the whole EU, depending on which one you buy.

The popular InterRail Global Pass grants entry to 30 different countries. You can choose either five days' unlimited travel in any ten-day period (€249/£187 for a 2nd class adult ticket, €159/£119 youth), ten days' unlimited travel in any 22-day period (€359 adult/€239 youth), continuously for 22 days (€469 adult/€309 youth) or one month (€599 adult/€399 youth). Supplement fees from €2 to €25 are applicable on some trains.

- An InterRail One Country Pass allows you to explore the ins and outs of a single European country for one month. This pass has extra benefits, such as discounted travel in the country you explore (except Britain) and prices vary from country to country. For example, it costs €71 to visit Austria, or €32 for the Czech Republic. Again, prices are lower for youth travellers.

Residence Permit

2008-01-29T23:58:00.000Z

If you are not a citizen of the European Union then it’s very likely that you will need to get a residence permit from one of Swedish embassies in your home country. In order to get this permit, issued for one year you will need to fill in their application form, enclose your admission letter, a copy of your passport and proof that you have 7300 SEK in your bank account for 10 months of EVERY year of your studies. So in order to get this residence permit you will need to have 219,000 SEK (7,300*10*3=219,000 SEK) in your bank account. Once again you will need the whole sum for all three years just to get the residence permit for your first year, even though theoretically you will only need 7300 SEK during you first year. That sum is bare minimum needed to live in Sweden if you have more will not only benefit you but the chances of getting your permit.
It costs 1000 SEK to process your application which you have to pay when you apply and it is not refundable. Unlike your initial application which has to be formally applied to in your home country, renewals can be done in Sweden online, it still costs the same amount though. And you still need to show your bank balance.
When you apply to get your residence permit the embassy sends your application to Sweden to one of their four centres, depending on which university you have been applied to. And they decide whether to allow you to come or deny the application. It has been reported by some as quite a lengthy process because of summer holidays and so on. So it is worth chasing it after 6 weeks. They do not guarantee that you will get you permit in time if the application you give to the embassy is incomplete or there is less than 6 weeks left till your studies. So the deadline for fall 2008 is around beginning of July.
Once you get your residence permit you are allowed to work in Sweden and travel freely in the schengen zone.

The hardest and the most boring bit - documentation.

2008-01-29T01:13:00.000Z

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.

My Choice.

2008-01-29T01:02:00.001Z

Now a little bit about my personal choices. Once again I am applying to do a business related degree to become a bachelor of science. My first choice was Jönköping university. Jönköping is relatively big town for Sweden with around 85,000 people it is based just on the edge of Vättern lake, I think it’s even visible from the campus. The town has several nightclubs which is always a positive in my book. After all this is what university life is all about!
There is also a lot of foreign students because of their exchange program, over 200 partner universities. That certainly helps when you don’t speak Swedish, I assume they don’t as well. Because of the high number of foreign students the staff should have a lot of experience with dealing with such students. Meaning that you won’t end up one of the 15 foreign students in the whole university, with no information pack in English and such. I should also mention their website which for me is the only way to “feel” the university what is a about, the way they deal with things and so on. In my opinion it was quite informative and very helpful even thought they tend to mix bachelor and masters degree together, especially their FAQ pages. I have also emailed them a couple of times with my questions and the replies I received were quite quick. Maybe not as informative as I would have wanted but nonetheless they replied to me.
Because their application process is separate from the studera.nu pages I had to send a different pack of documents that I would send to the central application system.

I have also applied to study at Mälardalen University. They have 2 campuses in Vasteras and Eskilstuna. Both are located close to Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, it is about an hour trip on the train. Vasteras is also located on the edge of another big lake in Sweden it might even be the third biggest in the whole country but I’m not sure about that. Also probably worth noting is that they have a small skyscraper 24 floors I think. The university itself was opened in 1977 and looks quite modern by the looks of it, you can have a look on flickr.com here.

I think the deciding factor in choosing this uni as my number one choice (but after Jönköping ) was the location as it is very close to Stockholm. And it is quite close to the rest of Europe. So travelling is that a little bit easier and more importantly for any students cheaper! From what I have read on their official website students at Mälardalen university get free train pass to travel between 2 campuses should they need to.
And my second choice (third overall) was Umea University; located up north, where it is colder and it’s around 11 hour trip by train just to the capital. It is quite close to Kiruna in Lapland, though.
It has the official status of university and is the biggest uni of the ones that have English bachelor degrees. The university also has its own hospital one of five in Sweden (don’t confuse with normal hospitals.) For those really thinking of applying there or just out of interest can view their real time webcam that shows the temperature outside. The university has its own business department – Umea School of Business, USBE. I think they named it USB at first but then realised that they would end up lost in Google’s search results because USB is also very popular cable for computer. Umea is a university town the big part of its population are students from the university and the official website says that there are approximately 110,000 people living there with the majority of its population under the age of 35. There is also one subway sandwich place! The city is also promoting itself as the capital of European culture 2014, mainly because of it jazz scene.
I would have chosen Umea as my first choice anytime because of it official university status and the high number of students, but its location far north is a little bit off putting as I want to travel. And also as a rule of thumb if any world known band come to play to Sweden they play in the capital, which is a little bit tricky to travel to. But I’ll try to tell a little bit more about travel later.

That hard second step or "Research"

2008-01-29T00:51:00.000Z

So I started doing my research. So many things to find, out so much difference, so little time... After looking at several websites/forums I found that several universities do bachelor degrees in English, there aren’t that many because the majority of English instructed degrees are for Master students, almost every university in Sweden offers those. Since I’m applying to do a business oriented degree I found the following universities to be offering bachelor level education in English:

1. Jönköping University
2. Mälardalen University College
3. Dalarna University
4. University of Gävle
5. Umeå Universty

All of the above are högskola or in English university colleges, in other words not real universities as we like to know them (I’m thinking Oxford, Cambridge) More info on this can be found on Wikipedia here. Even though they don’t have the usual name of university they are allowed to conduct bachelor and master degrees and some even do PhD degrees.
There is also Umea University which is a proper university and has a lot of programmes in English it is also fifth oldest in the country, formed in 1965 and has around 29000 students. It is however, located in the north part of the country some 400 km south of the arctic circle.
The other exclusion is Jönköping University, it is a university but its International school of business (JIBS) – separate from the university itself has a lot of programmes in English. And as of 2007 you can’t apply to their courses through the central application system – studera.nu so if you are thinking of applying there you will need one more set of documents, more about that later on.

A little introduction

2008-01-29T00:44:00.000Z

This year I’m going to apply to study in Sweden at bachelor level. Hopefully I would be able to express the whole process on this blog for others to see. Ideally this would be like a step by step guide for future applicants. The main reason for this is that there isn’t enough information on the official studera.nu site. And it was very frustrating whilst I was applying myself. First a little background into all of this.

My dad suggested to me to do my higher education abroad I could see several benefits of this:

1. Experience Swedish culture.
2. Travel a little bit whilst still in education, because it’s really close to other European countries.
3. Several bachelor degrees in English.
4. Internationally recognised degrees (ECTS points system like the rest of Europe)
5. Sweden has no university fess for foreign students. (as of 2008-01-29)
The list goes on and on. One of the deciding factors was the nature/climate of Sweden, even though I have never been before, it looks amazing, in fact all Scandinavian countries do. And the snow in winter lest we forget.