KI-studenten Isabelle

If you know Swedish and are a Swedish citizen, this does not apply to you.

The reason why this blog is written exclusively in Swedish (with the exception of this post, that is), is because the Medicine undergraduate program at Karolinska Institutet is given only in Swedish. Therefore you must have a good knowledge of Swedish. In fact, all Medicine undergraduate programs in Sweden are given only in Swedish, because Sweden’s Medicine program is quite different from other countries’:

1. The Medicine program is 5 and a half years long or 11 semesters. In comparison, most other EU countries’ Medicine programs are 6 years long. It is an undergraduate program, so you can begin fresh out of high school. In the US and Canada, you need a bachelor’s degree before attending the graduate Med School.
2. However, when you graduate in Sweden you do not yet have a doctor’s license. The license is earned through an internship of 1 and a half to 2 years at a Swedish hospital, which is called allmäntjänstgöring. The internship is paid and you are stationed at different departments during it. Once the internship is completed you have earned your doctor’s license.
3. Doctors with an international education usually have to do the allmäntjänstgöring-internship to be able to practice here in Sweden, no matter how much experience they have. Some even have to begin studying Medicine at a Swedish university again.
4. The education is free for Swedish, Nordic and EU citizens although the cost of a Medicine student is estimated to be roughly 1 million Swedish Kronor per academic year, discounting the government financial support and loans. Actually, every academic program in Sweden is free for the citizens listed above, as long as they are offered at a public university (like Karolinska Institutet!).

If you are an international student who would like to study at Karolinska Institutet, the Biomedicine Bachelor program is offered entirely in English. All of KI’s Master programs are also in English, as well as the PhDs. These programs also have blogs, written in English, that you can find here. If you have further questions surrounding international admissions at Karolinska Institutet – DO NOT ASK ME! Instead, e-mail antagning@ki.se.