Student blogs

I remember very well how stressful it was applying to different universities, programs, and then getting back acceptances and having absolutely no clue which options is the “best.” How could you possibly, without ever having studied at university or ever lived in any of those countries?

Here’s a list of reasons why I chose KI, out of my other university options. And it includes some reasons that I found out throughout the course of living and studying here. Even though I had my worries (read what I worried about in this blog) upon reflection I am now quite confident that KI was the best option for me. 

1. KI is a leading, prestigious medical university

Embarrassingly, when I was on the hunt for universities, I stumbled across KI’s program sort of by chance. I hadn’t heard of the university before, I remember just seeing: “Biomedicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden” and thinking, huh, Stockholm would be a pretty cool place to study.

And then I googled the university and was shocked to read about their rankings. Their low acceptance rate actually surprised me so much that I almost didn’t apply. (So happy I did.)

“In the 2025 QS World University Rankings, KI is number 10 in the world and number 5 in Europe in the broad subject area of Life Sciences and Medicine.”

https://ki.se/en/about-ki/facts-about-karolinska-institutet/ranking-and-karolinska-institutet

2. No tuition fees for EU students

That was naturally a plus for KI, as although other universities in Europe offered discounts for EU/EEA students, no other university I had applied to were “free.”

3. KI offers a variety of research opportunities (even for Bachelors students!)

I was lured into applying to KI because my ambitious high-school-self wanted to start working in a “real lab” doing “real science” as soon as I possibly could. And the fact that KI was this grand medical research institute, with over 800 research teams— I was sold. Besides, I had also heard of many bachelor’s students at KI already getting internships throughout their first year. This is usually not possible at many other universities, or definitely more challenging than at KI. If you’re looking for proof, here’s a blog featuring my classmates and their lab work experiences: Q&A: Internship opportunities at KI as a biomedicine bachelor’s student)

On top of that, the KI also organizes a Summer School in Medical Research that I participated in this year. It was an absolutely amazing experience! Read about it here: KI Summer School in Medical Research (KISS): My Experience & What You Should Know

4. The program’s structure lets you do many things on the side

I find that the way the program is structured makes it so much less stressful and easier to cope with the study material. We only study one course at a time, have an exam at the end of the course, and then begin a new course. For me, I actually felt like this gave me a lot of time to participate in student organizations from which I met a bunch of people not only at KI, but outside of KI too. And that brings me to the next reason…. great networking opportunities.

5. Great networking opportunities

If you’re eager to meet top researchers, entrepreneurs, or managers in pharmaceutical companies- attending career events at KI and putting your KI email to good use will get you to them. Seriously, I cannot stress enough what a single email expressing interest can do for you. I’ve heard of many positive experiences of students contacting people working on a project that interested them and asking to meet for a coffee to get to know more about it. And some really do end up meeting those people, they exchange contacts- and there you have it, another connection to build up your network.

Plus your classmates, and other students at KI are also likely to end up with some crazy successful careers, so keep in touch with them! (Check out what Carlos Valverde is up to in this blog: A KI success story: an interview with KI alumni Carlos Valverde, an entrepreneur at Oxford.)

6. Student life

This was one of the reasons I was going to NOT choose KI. I was worried I’d get into this university and go there for its excellent research and academic reputation…but at the cost of a student life.

And I was wrong. If you want to be engaged in student life, then you will. So student life at KI DOES exist, and it’s been really fun too!

7. The opportunity to meet Nobel Laureates

KI is the institution responsible for awarding the Nobel Prize for the category of Physiology and Medicine! Not only are you able to, for free, attend the lectures of the winning Nobel Laureates during Nobel prize week- you are also able to attend re-visiting lectures. I even got to speak with the 2019 Nobel Laureate, William G. Kaelin after his lecture. (As well as get his signature.) What a unique opportunity! This year at the Lucia ball Dr. Ramsdell attended and seemed to love the Swedish sittning experience.

If you’re interested in what more you can do to get close to anything related to the Nobel prize, read my blog 5 ways to get close to the Nobel Prize as a KI student.

8. Stockholm is a beautiful city to live in

Another reason I chose KI was its location. Stockholm is a very beautiful, clean, and organized city, and getting to live here has been amazing. But aren’t the winters so sad, depressing and dark? Not to me. I have strategically kept myself super busy with SNNC (the Students’ Nobel NightCap) during November and December, and have been surrounded by great friends that make me forget about when it gets dark.

Ok, quit exaggerating, what do you really think of KI?

By now you’re probably thinking “Calm down, we get that you’re supposed to paint the prettiest picture of KI– you’re paid for it.”

I know there’s no way to prove this to you (until you meet me in person) but I, in all honesty, am loving my studies here! All that I write in my blogs is my genuine opinion. It just happens to be that I am very happy with the program, KI, and most importantly the people I’ve met here.