Student blogs

Hello and welcome back!

In this blog, I will be going through the final process of applying for a Bachelor Thesis abroad in semester 6 of the Biomedicine programme. I will also be sharing my own experience of the application process!

So, the university that I got nominated to is Heidelberg University in Germany. I am quite happy as this was the university I ranked as first choice in the application process for KI as you can read in my old blog.

• Start applying to research groups!

The day you recieve your placement and if it is your favourite University then start looking for lab groups! This is very important as you will need to start planning which field you potentially want to write your thesis in Neuroscience, Oncology, Immunology or a combination for your research group! Some universities sometimes have a database that you can use to look for labs which already are accepting students or you need to browse for the research groups in the different departments.

I personally had a lab group by July. I applied to around 15 lab groups and got replies from 5 from which I chose the lab that sounded the most interesting.

• Get nominated by Karolinska Institutet

This is a very simple part of the process and something that the International Coordinator has to do. It simply involves informing the exchange studies department at the partner university that you have been nominated by KI to go to their university. Simple and easy!

• Apply to the partner university

After the nomination from KI, depending on the university they will either send you the application formto apply to the partner university, immediately or after a few months. This is a very important step as you have to be accepted by the partner university to actually be able to go for the exchange. Therefore, be in contact with the university and get the application as soon as possible. Once you have the Letter of Acceptance from the partner university and all the other information you are done with one of the most important part!

For my case, I got the application really late, in November, which made it quite stressful for me. I had been in contact with the university since August however due to miscommunication and differences in semester durations I faced some problems. However, the problem got resolved but this highlights the importance of the Univeristy administration to also be able to send the necessary documents in time.

• Start looking for accomodation

This is pretty obvious! Unless you are offered accomodation from the partner univeristy, it is always good to look for accomodation on the market. This should be done well in time before you have to leave.

There are other few steps documents involved such as for stipends and scholarships but they depend on the university you get nominated to and also the country. In terms of insurance, the good thing is that apart from your personal Health insurance that you can obtain, KI also grants insurance for it’s students. This is only granted once the letter of acceptance arrives.

All in all, if everything is done well in time the process is not very difficult or stressful. Of course, all my classmates had different application experiences as we all got nominated to different universities. I am very much looking forward to the experience of working in a lab in Germany, completing my thesis and listening to the other presentations as well.

That’s all for now!

See you around.

Nishi.

nishi.dave@stud.ki.se

Cover photo- CC BY CCO OpenClipart-Vectors