Hey you! I see that you are interested in going to London, and maybe specifically to King's College? Well, in that case, I can tell you a bit of this and that!
I already knew before applying for the biomedical program that I wanted to go to London. Therefore, the choice of university was not really that important to me. I heard from others before travelling, and also when coming back to Sweden, that King's has a great neuroscience department. Since I am very interested in neuroscience, this was a great opportunity for me.
It was actually super easy to apply for going abroad. One reason for this was because KI has a great international co-ordinator, and the co-ordinator at King's was super kind and supportive. I pretty much got a lab handed to me, which was great. Use their expertise, and also your classmates to help each other and be supportive. I know that there is some competition amongst you to get the spot that you want, but it is also important to help each other.
When applying
for going abroad:
When you
know for certain that you have been nominated for a university, it is great to
start looking for a supervisor. The coordinator responsible for your exchange
at Karolinska will give you the email to the international coordinator at
King’s, and you can ask questions to this person if you do not know where to
begin. It was actually through the international coordinator I got the email
address to the supervisor that I ended up with! For me, it took 20 minutes from
sending the email to the supervisor until getting an email back saying I am
welcome to his lab.
This is
something that is not really to be expected. Expect that you will have to email
for a while, and start as soon as you have been nominated. I do think that is
the wisest. Some supervisors will need to Skype with you, and take that
opportunity to see how they’re like before meeting them for the first time!
When applying
for your specific university (in this case King’s College London):
First of all, of course you have to be nominated
by Karolinska Institutet. You cannot apply for a university that you have not
been nominated for.
- Go in to
the website http://www.kcl.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/apply/faqs/applying.aspx to see what is actually required
from you, and what do need to do. You will find all the required documents
here.
-Register
an account at King’s application portal
system at https://apply.kcl.ac.uk/ to be able to create an application
- Add
personal details like first name, surname, address, a school email (the
stud.ki.se) and other details
- create a
new application where you fill in that you are a study abroad student doing
undergraduate studies full time, and that you are not applying via a study
abroad coordinator (for some reason)
- select
the time period of your stay
- start
filling in all the required information. This starts with education. State all
your education (that is the easiest) starting from high school, university
studies and so on (I did not include my elementary school however I guess you
could do that as well). State which year you attended the education, which
courses you took, what your average grade was, and also your transcripts for
each of them.
- Add
previous employment history. Here, I added for example things that I have done
within the union and also research internships. Maybe that is not what is
supposed to be there, but I just wanted to add as much information about what I
have done as possible, and no one ever complained. I think it is better to put
more of what you have actually done, than to leave anything out.
-
Supporting statement. This is a text that should not extend more than 4000
characters, and should answer the specific questions required. Look at the
website for more information
-
References. You will need two references for King’s, and you will have to add
their names, telephone number, position and relation to you as a student.
- Funding.
Basically, they are asking who is paying the tuition fee and who will pay for
accommodation.
After that, you can look through your
application and then submit it!
Regarding English proficiency test- if you do not have one, it is fine.
I did not have one, but contact your coordinator at Karolinska to write a proof
document that the bachelor’s programme is in English and that you are well
familiar with English. That will do just fine. You can then send the document
in an email through the King’s login application portal. Easy!
You will
get emails when something has been changed or added to your application, and
when they have decided, you will receive an offer letter if you have been
accepted. You will have to accept your offer so you need to click that you
accept it.
When you
have been accepted, you will have to fill in a Module Request Form (MRF).
Since it does not work the same way at King’s with credits, the thesis project
is not actually enough to do when going to King’s. You will have to register
for an additional course of 15 ECTS points. However, you will not need to do
the exam in this course. If it is manageable, it would be great if you managed
to do the exam anyways! But there is no need in pushing yourself too far, after
all you are abroad and should enjoy yourself just as much as you are putting an
effort into your studies.
If you have
a hard time understanding which modules that you can actually pick, ask your
international coordinator. Visit the website with module information: http://www.kcl.ac.uk/study/abroad/at-kings/modules.aspx
It is
important to include the times and days that the courses that you are applying
for are running, otherwise they will not look at your MRF.
Before
travelling:
- Buy flight ticket. My tip is to look at
SAS “Ungdom”, which offers people below the age of 25 to travel with SAS for a
cheaper price. However, the cheapest tickets do not include a baggage.
If you are
a silver member in Eurobonus (SAS) as I am, you can get one baggage (23 kg) for
free, and also access the fast track and the lounge that offers free food.
However, the lounge and fast track is only valid until the 8th of
January for silver members.
- Apply for CSN. I almost forgot this
actually, silly me. The thing is that when you are going abroad doing your
thesis project, you do not have to apply for CSN for studies abroad, which is a
relief. Therefore, do only apply for CSN like you normally do. You do not have
to provide CSN for a document that you are going abroad, which saves you time!
- Find a place to live. London is a
vicious city when it comes to lodging. Never trust anyone, or at least do not
trust someone blindly. My friend’s tip who’s living in London was to actually
come and look at the place before renting it and signing the contract. If you
have a friend in London, take advantage of that! Make the friend to go and look
at the place, it is worth it. More information about living in London, look
further down.
- Get the European Health Insurance Card.
This little piece of blue plastic may not look like much, but you will need it.
They will mention this in the welcoming lectures that take place in the
beginning of January.
- Rent out your place. This is especially
applicable for SSSB students. If you are travelling abroad for such an amount
of time, rent it out! Do not forget that the person renting it has to be a
member of a student union and has to take 15 credits or more in a semester. You
will need to provide a proof that you are going abroad from Karolinska
Insitutet on official university paper with a watermark, and you also have to
provide your grades.
- Download
the app citymapper. This will be
your modern bible – it shows all the routes that you can take for any direction
you’re going; for train, bus, walking and biking. Use it well!
- Get your
KCL login and student card.
And what else?
London, or the UK overall, is not really infamous of their poisonous animals or diseases. Therefore, there are no important vaccines that you have to take. It is good to have cover of tetanus and maybe hepatitis, which you can get for free from KI, great isn't it?