Andrei Neculau

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Paper Documents

The following are the documents needed for Masters applications, but they are the same for Bachelor applications unless stated otherwise.

1. Cover Sheet
   • produced by studera.nu
2. Bachelor Diploma/Certificate
   • This should be in its original language, and translated to English, Swedish, French or German. Both certified by a notarius publicus.
     In case you are allowed to apply for a masters while you are in your final year of your bachelor studies ¹, you should provide a summary of your degree project, if you have one. Write this in English, Swedish, French or German.
   • Also, if indeed you can apply during your final bachelor studies, you need a letter from the dean of your department assuring that under normal circumstances, you will finish your bachelor degree at a specific date, allowing you to continue with your masters. If you have this one in another language, you must translate it into English, Swedish, French or German, and provide both of the versions certified by a notarius publicus.
   • For Bachelor applications: School Certificate
     This should be in its original language, and translated to English, Swedish, French or German. Both certified by a notarius publicus.
3. Transcript of Records²
   • This should be in its original language, and translated to English, Swedish, French or German. Both certified by a notarius publicus.
   • If you were an Erasmus student, it might not hurt to have them as well. Usually those are provided in English, so you only need to get a signed&stamped copy or one certified by a notarius publicus.
   • For Bachelor applications
     Of course, you need your pre-university Transcript of Records, but if you are already enrolled for bachelor studies, you can attach a partial Transcript of Records for your bachelor also. It may help with ranking you on a better position.
     This should be in its original language, and translated to English, Swedish, French or German. Both certified by a notarius publicus.
4. Copy of your Passport/European Union ID
   • This should be certified by a notarius publicus
   • Applicants that are not born in EU/EEA countries, but have EU/EEA citizenship or a Swedish residence permit, can apply during the second stage (with the first notification in July), but they need to send a copy of their passport or an identification card that proves the citizenship or a copy of the residence permit.
   • If you are not an EU/EEA citizen, the you must apply during December-January (first stage). Applications during the second stage will be ignored.
5. Other paper-based requirements
   These documents are programme/university specific. Look for them on the university websites! Even so, these are often:
   1. Summary of Degree Project
      • In both cases, if you have your Bachelor degree, or you are in your final year, programmes may require this summary. The later is most often the case to provide a summary, even if you are not asked to.
   2. Letter of Motivation (also called Letter of Intent or Personal Statement)
      • In my opinion this should be a general Letter of Motivation, and not specific to each university/programme. This should be easy to do because generally you apply to programmes inside a certain domain, and not to a specific university/programme. In case you apply to quite different programmes, I would feel it’s appropriate to put one letter of motivation for each domain, but that’s a very narrow case I guess. Otherwise, just put “To: Swedish Universities - Masters Programme” as header. This is what I did. Have one very good general Letter of Motivation, than spending time on figuring out how to butter up the reviewers for each and every programme.
      • Chalmers, though, formulates this requirement by stating that this is “A letter explaining your interest in the programme(s) you are applying for and what you expect from your studies at Chalmers. You may add more than one letter, each directed to a specific programme.”
        

        Siniša Bratulić from Croatia (2008 prospective student)

        If you are applying for a bachelor programme, I agree that the letter should be general.
        But when applying for graduate studies you’re supposed to demonstrate some kind of ‘academic’ maturity. Saying that you’re interested in a certain domain is not enough, you’re demonstrating your general interest already by applying to a programme.

        Nowdays it’s easy to apply to a programme, you just tick a few boxes in a form. That also means that a lot of other people will be applying. To secure a position you need to somehow ’stick out’ in a positive way. The easiest way of doing that is through a letter of motivation.

        It’s probably a good idea to do some research about the programme plan, to state your weaknesses and strenghts and say how they relate to the programme. Saying from which courses you will benefit the most is a good way of showing that you’ve done your homework. Also, showing that you have specific goals in life says a lot about you and your motivation.

        The above statements are all correct, but what I would like to be clear in your mind as a prospective student is that the Letter of Motivation will not “secure” (like Siniša says) your position. Not when the system makes it so easy to apply to so many programmes and thus when the number of applicants got so high.This letter doesn’t give you a seat, but can shed some light over your future potential, will and realism. Therefore it can make a difference, no matter if it’s small or big, but it cannot do miracles.

   3. Two (2) Letters of Reference/Recommendation
      • In my opinion these should not be directed to a specific university/programme. I strongly believe that the argument that you have letters from people who are better known to a certain university is not a real argument per say. Applications to different jobs, programmes, etc. is also a time to prioritize and to make decisions. Your CV will show the broad possibilities of your skills, even if you do not put 10 Letters of Reference from all “the Nobel Prize Laureates” who can recommend you. One Nobel Prize Laureate is enough!
      • The exception for having more than 2 Letters of Reference would be implied from the previous bullet point stating the domain of your masters programmes. If you are apply to more than one domain, say Journalism and Management, you might have a third, fourth, etc. person that can give you specific references for one of the two, so you might end up having 2 Letters of References for your Management focused programmes, from two people that can bring your Management skills forward, and another 2 Letters for you Journalism focused programmes, from two other people that can highlight your Journalism skills.
   4. Curicullum Vitae/Resumè
   5. Relevant work experience
6. Proof of English Skills
   • Certified by a notarius publicus.
   • Please note that for TOEFL (and IELTS) you are required to send your scores directly through the TOEFL Test Center, and you are not required to attach a certified copy to your application. You go online and make a request for that, or you can put the National Admissions Office among the 4 institutions that should get your TOEFL score, right after you take the exam. Either way, it doesn’t hurt if you put a certified copy by a notarius publicus of the paper certificate, though it would be regarded as a not-required document. If not, have a printed paper stating your score, examination date, institution code to which you sent it (it should be 9520), your TOEFL ID along with your signature.
7. Swedish Institute scholarship
   • Fill in the form that you will find here (Guest Scholarship), print and sign it. Questions are to be answered within a limit of 300 characters, if not specified otherwise.This is only required when you are applying to a Swedish Institute scholarship.

Just to highlight once again.. except for papers in your own national language, you should have all of the above in English, Swedish, French or German.

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