Is studying medicine your ultimate dream? Then read everything you need to know about the admission requirements for this university study in this blog.
What prior education do you need?
If you want to study medicine, you need a high school diploma with one of these profiles:
- Nature & Health with physics
- Nature & Technology with biology
Admission is possible with both Mathematics A and Mathematics B.
If you do not meet these requirements, you are deficient and you must make up for the missing science courses and request an admission decision. You do this at the admissions committee of the degree program you have chosen. You will receive a statement of admission from your chosen study program as soon as you have passed your deficiencies (missing courses).
In the best case scenario, you will of course have the right diploma in your pocket by 15 May. If that is not the case, you can request a 15 May statement from the university. With such a statement you show DUO that you are still passing the compulsory courses. You must have passed all compulsory courses before 15 August.
Does your previous education not meet the above requirements because you miss physics or mathematics, for example ? Do not panic! There are still opportunities to catch up on these courses. You have various options for this, such as passing the college entrance exam or a university partial certificate via the state exam. Read our blog here to see what options you have to be admitted.
Admission to medicine: decentralized selection
Medicine is a degree program with a maximum number of places available. This is called a numerus fixus. If more people register than the number of available places, a selection procedure will apply. You are therefore not simply admitted to the medical program.
Admission is only possible if you meet the admission requirements and have successfully participated in the selection procedure, also known as decentralized selection.
Decentralized selection means that each university can determine for itself which qualities you need to have in order to be accepted. Medicine training also works with this system. The selection committee does not only look at exam results, but also at other qualities. These will appear in your CV and a cover letter. Graduating is therefore no longer necessarily a guarantee of admission.
The application deadline for a numerus fixus program such as medicine is 15 January. You may also only register for the decentralized selection at one university for the Medicine programme.
You can register for two different numerus fixus programmes, for example Medicine and Dentistry. But you are not allowed to apply for Medicine at two universities.
Side entry
You can also start studying medicine as a lateral entrant. With a suitable previous education you can then complete this study in a relatively short time (4 or 5 years).
As a lateral entrant, you first follow a transition year, after which you progress to the regular master's degree in medicine. The admission requirements for this path differ per faculty. For example, not everywhere you need a bachelor's degree. If you want to participate in selective medicine masters or medicine research masters, you follow a different process. If you are admitted there, you will end up in a separate track, separated from regular medical students.
If you want to be admitted to a study of medicine as a lateral entrant, you will face a tough selection procedure. First of all, you must have an appropriate previous education. For example, consider a bachelor's degree in which you have obtained sufficient credits (ECTS) for the biomedical courses. Whether your previous education is sufficient depends on the university where you apply.
How the lateral intake process works differs per faculty. That is why you should thoroughly familiarize yourself with the possibilities within the various universities, so that you know where you have the best chance of being hired. Of course, the latter does not only apply to lateral entrants. In all cases, it is good to look at which faculty gives you the best chance of being admitted to a study of Medicine textbook pdfs.