Friday 22 January 2010

Finally some answers!

Got an e-mail from Anna Skarpeke about a meeting on the 16th feb at the International Office (Studentcentrum, 3rd floor.) Finally! :)

About a week ago, when I realised that Robert was told he had to do a second, separate application to the university he was nominated for in Canada, I got really stressed out.. Nobody had said anything about this! Was I supposed to have made a second application to QUT as well? I thought that since I had sent in 3 copies of my application, had been told that I was nominated and all was dandy, that MAH would automatically send my application along to QUT.. I e-mailed around and got no answers.. Was seriously freaking out and worried about losing my place in the exchange! But then this golden e-mail came, several months after our nomination-letters, saying that it was time to do the next step in the application - the one to QUT.. *phew* :)

I was told later that the International Office hadn't answered my e-mails because they had had their hands full with the international students arriving in Malmö, and I know now that I needn't have stressed.. but it would have been really nice to know that! Even if they can't answer my questions, it would be nice to have some sort of date or schedule available somewhere so that we know what's going on..

Aaanyway.. the meeting. This is what we have to bring:
  1. A list over the courses you want to study. I printed out the form from QUT's website and filled in my chosen courses there directly. Here it is if anyone is having trouble with it.
  2. LADOK-printout in English, printed and certified by Kristina Regnell (since we are K3 students).
  3. A certified copy of your high-school grades (which must include both English A & B, or equivalent).
  4. A certified copy of your passport.
  5. Your Statement of Purpose. This time it should be specific for your particular university, motivating why you want to study there, etc etc. Since I only applied to QUT, I used the same Statement of Purpose as before.

Sunday 10 January 2010

The application process.. baby steps.

The first part of this blog will be devoted to telling about the application process and all that it entails. I had quite a hard time figuring out everything we were supposed to do so as to not miss any deadlines. I also often found myself stressing because I thought I was behind schedule and had so many questions and noone to answer them - and when I finally did get an answer - it was often something along the lines of, "Don't worry, you're way ahead of time, you'll get your answers in due time." But for someone who needs to plan everything and whose life is composed of list after list, this is very frustrating! :)

So that's why I decided to start this blog a few months before my actual departure. Here's what I've been up to from beginning to end, complete with tips and lists for all you who will be in the same position as me, and who are dying for some more information..

First up: the application to Malmö University for nominations. The deadline for this if you want to study outside of the EU is the 15th of October! Our class only really realised what applications we needed to fill in, as well as when the deadline actually was, about 2 weeks before it. We were also in the middle of a big assignment in class, so those last few days were pretty hectic! So make sure you do the application on time! Just a little tip ;)

After a few days of confusion we finally found the pages that listed what we needed in our applications, so to save you a little headache and a lot of time, here they are:

In short, just so you don't miss anything, this is what you need:
  1. Statement of Purpose: I thought this was kind of tricky to write so I asked Frida (from the year above me at DVK and who also went to Brisbane) if i could take a look at hers.. You can see mine here if you need help with yours too :)
  2. LADOK-printout in English.
  3. Study Plan for every university you want to apply to (The form is available for download from the Bilagor-link above, or directly here.)
  4. Proof that you speak fluent English. (A copy of your high-school grades in English A & B or TOEFL / IELTS results are fine.)
  5. CV in English, max an A4 page.
  6. A copy of your online application, available from the Utbytesstudier-link above. (Or directly here.) A little tip about this one, make sure you've researched all the Universities well before you do this step, because once you've filled it in, you can't change it..

THREE copies of your entire application need to be handed in to the coordinator at your faculty. For us at K3, that was Kristina Regnell - we simply dropped it into her mailbox in the staff-room. I got my nomination-letter in the mail a few weeks later.

If you have any questions about anything, the international coordinator at K3 is Anders Høg Hansen. You can find him with the other staff in D123. You can also e-mail him at: anders.hog-hansen@mah.se. If your question is specifially about Australia, e-mail Anna Skarpeke who is in charge of the students going to Aus and NZ: anna.skarpeke@mah.se. And if all else fails, all the contact-people from the International Office can be found here.

Thursday 7 January 2010

Blog up and running!

Alright, so the blog is now up and running..
It will, however, be mostly uninteresting until the summer when I pack up and fly down under. But bookmark the page, good folks, and I shall keep you updated!
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