6 brilliant steps to secure a spot in Sweden’s top universities.
Writing my first post on Study in Sweden Student’s blog is a surreal moment for me because it was just the other day when I was reading posts here relentlessly to get a glimpse of Swedish life. Given that it’s that time of the year when the first round of applications is open, I feel it is only right that I share with you how I secured a spot in one of Sweden’s top universities. It all started with a little scruffy note with my new year’s resolutions, one being: ‘Do my Masters abroad’ . Whether you are looking for new networks, an experience abroad, an education and career upgrade or a new challenge, pursuing a degree in Sweden allows you to do all these. You are encouraged to think creatively and critically, question, build your opinions and back them up. This level of free thinking is the ultimate mark of quality education if you ask me. It is the best thing education can do for you as a person. That’s why Sweden stuck out for me. If you need more convincing then this video beautifully sums up 26 reasons Sweden is the best place to study. Here are the 6 steps on how I did it.
1. Discovering:

Photo credits: Hendrik Morkel on Unsplash
The first phase for me was filled with discoveries and reflections. It’s the time I got to discover the different universities in Sweden, how they rank internationally, which cities they are located in and what their areas of speciality are. I discovered programmes that were of interest to me and dug deep into each of the coursework summaries. I looked into future career prospects of each of the programmes and went ahead to look up the lecturers who would be coordinating the courses and what their backgrounds were. At this point, shall I clarify that I am not a stalker 🙂 Taking this simple step opened my eyes to all possible options and allowed me to confidently narrow down to 4 courses that stood out and aligned with my personal goals and vision.
2. Being realistic about your finances:
Sweden is a great destination and its free education policy for EU citizens goes to show the extent to which education here is valued. As I am not from the EU and could not enjoy these benefits, I had to be intentional about my applications right from the beginning by thinking of funding alternatives from the get-go. Scholarships are a great way to fund your Master program abroad and can be awarded based on an array of merits. After selecting the 4 programme choices, I listed against each of them all the eligible scholarships I could apply for if I got acceptance to the programmes. One of the scholarships that stood out for me was the Swedish Institute Study Scholarship because of how all-inclusive it was. I listed alternative scholarships for each programme that were either offered by the university or awarded to people from my country. This doubled my chances of getting a scholarship. Lastly, I looked for more scholarships that targeted specific groups that I subscribe to, like Women in Technology. It is imperative that you critically analyse what is offered by each of the scholarships and are realistic about your financial capabilities. If you happen to get a partial scholarship for instance, would you be in a position to support yourself financially? If yes, would you do this for 1 year or 2? Asking these questions at this stage allowed me to prioritise my university programme selection based on the programmes that had a higher chance of receiving funding.
3. Letting Sweden know about your interest:
Next step involves getting acquainted with the Application process. You will come to realise like I did that making applications to universities in Sweden is the EASIEST and most straightforward application process you will come across. Hands down! All you need to do is create your account on Sweden’s central applications portal. On this portal, I got to add my personal information, list and prioritise my 4 selected programmes. Later on, I uploaded all the necessary documentation and paid the application fee.
4. Getting your documentation ready:

Photo Credits: Matt Ragland on Unsplash
Let’s face it, you can’t get a scholarship if you have not been accepted to a university, therefore, the groundwork begins here. The application has general documentation that can be uploaded once across all the 4 university choices. This includes language requirements, proof of identification, CVs and university certificates and transcripts. However, the Statements of Motivation requirements may differ from one program to the other. In my opinion, motivation letters are the backbone of your applications. Showing that you have a good understanding of the programme you are applying for, how it will benefit you and what your contribution to the program will be is the primal way of going about it. Many people assume that programmes are taught in Swedish but that is far from the truth as most programmes are taught in English. Since language requirements differ per country, the student admissions portal suggests documentation for English language proof based on your country of origin. This is the best time to reach out to your former university so as to get an original copy of certified official transcripts. Gathering documentation was the longest step for me and my advice is that you start on this early so that you submit all documents before the deadline.
5. Organising it all:
To avoid getting overwhelmed with the tasks I had to do, different deadlines, a list of scholarships and scholarship details, I resorted to using an organizational tool. I found Trello to be a handy tool that allowed me to organise my university and scholarship applications. With Trello, I was able to structure and group tasks, add reminders, upload documents and set subtasks. Taking time to map out all the tasks that were expected of me and when they were due made it possible for me not to forget anything. I still use Trello to manage my current Master’s workload – goes to show how useful this tool is.
6. Submitting gloriously:
You should note that several parts of the application have different deadlines. While the deadline for submitting your 4 choices is mid-January, the deadline for paying the application fee and uploading the documents is the end of January. It is great to do everything at once at a date earlier than the final deadline so you can get started on open scholarship applications. Your final checklist should constitute of the following:
- Submission of 4 programme choices
- Documentation submission
- Application fee of about 900 SEK ($100)

Photo Credits: Luke Bender on Unsplash
After submitting all the above, I would urge you to sit down, pour yourself a glass of wine, play your favourite song and congratulate yourself! You, my friend, have taken the time to invest in a dream. Better things are coming.
Comments (15)
Hi Coco,
You are God sent :-),
I tried applying for the masters some years back but when it didn’t go through I gave up – now I realised I was doing the wrong thing. A little nudge is what I needed :-).
Thanks
Thank you. Very informative
Thanks Coco.. Very informative
Thank you Lydia!
Can you please suggest me some of the top universities for bachelor program in bio medical engineering and how can I apply for my scholarship as I am non EU student Thankyouin advance.
Hej! You talked about submitting CVS , letter of intent and motivation letter . Are they to be submitted along with the documents or on demand by the individual universities.
Hej Gloria!
You should be able to submit all your documents in the central university admissions portal along with other documents. Some programs will have the letter of intent/motivation letter as a compulsory document and some will not but it is always good practice to add the motivation letter for whichever program you are applying for. CVs are mandatory and should be uploaded on the central portal as well. Hope this helps and all the best in your application!
Hi Concillier,
That is a great and informational article. I came across your article on linkedin and surely you have put time to give us more information on how the application works. I am planning to apply for a Masters programme and I think I have the info to kick start this journey 🙂
Hi Beth!
Thank you for going through the article and glad you found it informative.
I hope you will get the ball rolling by opening your account on https://www.universityadmissions.se and confirming which courses you want to do to start with.
All the best with your application!
Coco, this came just in time! I am also looking to pursue my masters next year and this has given me a guideline on where to start.
Hi Becky!
Thanks for taking the time to read the blog and glad that it provided the necessary guideline on where to start.
All the best with your applications and just for reference: https://www.universityadmissions.se
Hi Concillier,
I read your post about studying in Sweden. Your thoughts I must say, increased my interest to studying in Sweden the more.
I will be glad if you would help me with your contact to get more information needed to gain admission in Sweden and especially the Swedish institute scholarship.
Thanks alot for this post.
Kind regards.
Kingsley ( Nigeria)
Hi Kingsley!
Glad that you are more interested in studying in Sweden. Unfortunately, I do not work directly with admissions at the universities or the scholarships, however, https://www.universityadmissions.se provides solid information about both the processes and registering there is a great first step to your application.
Wishing you all the best!
Nice one Dear…
Thank you! All the best with your application.