Student blogs

Are you ready prospective students? Applications for the Joint Master’s Programme in Health Informatics is open! In this blog, I’m going to write about what I did to prepare for and apply to this programme.

Familiarise yourself with the programme

First, I wanted to get a clear idea of what the master’s programme entailed. This involved a lot of reading and researching. I read the programme page inside out. I went through the programme syllabus, past student blogs, and other health informatics (HI) programmes to get an idea of what other HI programmes entail and how it compares to KI. I made sure the fees and 2 year commitment suited me and did a lot of googling and youtubing about the topics and career prospects. I found the LIME (Learning, Informatics, Management and Ethics) department and got a great idea of KI’s involvement in health informatics. Albeit, it was quite difficult getting my head around what kind of career opportunities were available after the programme, but I knew that the marriage between the ever growing healthcare and IT industries would provide with great opportunities.

Specific entry requirements

Then I made my way down the programme page and made sure I met the specific entry requirements. I was most concerned about my lack of IT experience. That is, I had NO experiences in coding of any kind and was even afraid of the prospects. The master’s programme ‘Specific entry requirements’ is very clear about the number of credits required and in what area, and the level of English required. So, after checking with my country specific requirements and ascertaining that I had met the 180 credits, I happily moved on to the ‘Selection’ section.

Selection

This is the section that I spent the most time on. I think I worked on my application sporadically for about two weeks to a month. This included getting people to proof read my work, collecting papers, going back and forth on my application because I had just remembered something that I could add. Anyway, there were a few things I noted here in the selection section of the programme page, “previous education, relevant work and/or research experience”, but one thing stood out most for me – the statement of intent. My previous education and relevant work all involved community pharmacy. I felt like a one trick pony! Also, knowing that KI was famous for research in the medical field, I was a little worried that I didn’t have any experiences in research. So, I knew I had to pour my heart out in the statement of intent to stand out. And that’s what I did. I also added anything I could find, related to health or informatics, and tried to add it into my “relevant work” section. It wasn’t much but I had nothing to lose here.

In the end, I said to myself, I’ve met the specific entry requirements and felt like I gave it my all in the statement of intent. From the deadline date, all I could do was enjoy the rest of my life wherever it decides to take me.  

Contact

In my case, the specific requirements was quite straight forward and fees and deadline worked in my favour. The programme page is very clear and there’s a plethora of information online. I didn’t feel the need to contact anyone for extra information. However, I know that there are some complicated cases out there. So, if you require more information about the application process, please contact the Admissions Office at Karolinska Institutet or Nadia Davoody, nadia.davoody@ki.se, for more information about the programme.

Good Luck!

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at helen.nguyen@stud.ki.se or https://www.linkedin.com/in/helen-nguyen-539782aa/