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Admission Requirements

UNDERGRADUATE APPLICATIONS

Application Procedure:

Future International Students should submit their application as follows:

  1. The applicant should fill in the online application form 
  2. The applicant should upload required documents to the online application form. In urgent cases, you can reach us international@bilgi.edu.tr or the following email addresses below.

3. The required documents for Undergraduate Applications are:

  • Photocopy of high school diploma (with the official transcript)
  • All High school Transcripts/Grades (last 4 high school years)
  • Passport photocopy
  • Equivalency Certificate
  • The “Name Equivalency” document for applicants who received the Turkish citizenship following an original citizenship which confirms the original name/last name matches the Turkish name and last name.
  • Blue Card and Certificate of Identity Register Copy
  • If available, a record of scores for one English Language Competency Examinations (for example TOEFL or Cambridge Certificate) . The English Language requirements are detailed below.
  • Residence Permit (if you reside in Turkey)


NOTE: For international students who are applying with the SAT exam score, please send officially the score report using our Designated Institution (DI) code: 7293 - Istanbul Bilgi University.

Future International students can follow-up on their application status by contacting the International Student Admissions Office.

The English Language requirement:

The medium of instruction at Istanbul  Bilgi University is English, therefore the students’ English proficiency will be evaluated as follows:

  1. If the future international student had obtained a sufficient score from one of the following English Language Competency Examinations, Then the student will be exempt from the ‘English Preparatory Program’ for one academic year at Istanbul Bilgi University:

  • Cambridge Certificate in Advanced English (CAE) : Minimum Score C
  • Cambridge Proficiency Exam (CPE): Minimum Score C
  • First Certificate in English (FCE): Minimum Score B
  • TOEFL IBT : Minimum Score 75 (*TOEFL Home Edition is not accepted)
  • PTE Academic : 60

NOTE: International students should forward the TOEFL score report using our Designated Institution (DI) code: 8256 - Istanbul Bilgi University, as detailed in the TOEFL IBT Information and Registration Bulletin.

  1. If the future international student  did not obtain a sufficient score from one of the English Language Competency Examinations, or did not take any test, then the student will be required to take the Istanbul Bilgi University -Institutional Exemption Test (BILET) upon arrival/registration.

  2. Those who fail the Institutional Exemption Test must register to the English Preparatory Program at Istanbul Bilgi University before beginning their academic studies. This preparatory year is not included in the total number of years of study required for graduation. The annual tuition fee for the English Preparatory Program is 8250 USD (taxes included).

Additional information on the English Language Program can be found as follows:


Applications’ deadline and processing time:

The International Student Recruitment Office at Istanbul Bilgi University is always working on processing and evaluating students’ applications within a short time span.

Applications’ deadline is set to August-end regarding fall-semester applications. Future international students are required to submit their applications as soon as their official documents are ready.

The students who haven’t graduated from High-school and who want to send their application early and during their senior/last year of high school, can do so as follows:

  • The evaluation will be done over the complete high school transcripts (3 or 4 years) and if accepted will be issued a ‘Conditional Acceptance Letter’.
  • Once the student has graduated and obtained the high-school diploma with the corresponding official transcripts, the student should forward these last documents to the International Student Recruitment Office to issue the ‘Final Acceptance Letter’.

The Registration Procedure:

After evaluation and if the application is accepted, the International Student Admissions Office will forward the ‘Acceptance Letter’ to the international student.

The ‘Acceptance Letter’ will be used to obtain the ‘Education Visa’ at the closest Turkish Embassy or Consulate from the student’s home/residency country.

Once the ‘Education Visa’ is granted, the student is required to proceed with the registration with the Student Registrar Office at Istanbul Bilgi University, by providing the following original documents :

  1. Original High School Diploma (in English or Turkish) - (Apostilled)
  2. Original High School Transcript (In English or Turkish) - (Apostilled)
  3. Original Passport
  4. Blue Card and Certificate of Identity Register Copy
  5. Tuition fee bank receipt
  6. if available, a certified copy of an English proficiency test (TOEFL, BİLGİ-BILET…)
  7. Equivalency Certificate
  8. The “Name Equivalency” document for applicants who received the Turkish citizenship following an original citizenship which confirms the original name/last name matches the Turkish name and last name.
  9. Residence Permit (if you reside in Turkey)


The High-School Diploma Equivalency

This is an easy procedure where the Provincial Department of Education in Istanbul (and in some cases a Turkish Embassy/Consulate) will provide the ‘Equivalency Letter’ (in Turkish ‘Denklik Belgesi’) certifying that the foreign High-School diploma is equivalent to its counterpart, the Turkish high school diploma.
This document is delivered by applying in person and providing the original foreign high school -diploma, its official Turkish translation and the student’s passport.

* According to the decision of the Turkish Council of Higher Education dated 16/11/2015, Turkish Universities can only admit international students once a year. Therefore there is only one intake which is Fall of each academic year. Change of department or re-entry applications can only be accepted for the next Fall term. 

* Maximum period of studies ;

  • English Preparatory Program : 2 years
  • Undergraduate Programs : 7 years

Student who fail to complete their studies within the above mentioned time periods will loose their student status.

Please contact International Student Admissions Department for further information.

GRADUATE APPLICATIONS

All Graduate level (Masters and PhD-Doctorates) applications should be submitted online. Please note that each Graduate program follows its own application procedure as detailed in each program’s menu. (additional information is available here )

 

Once the online application is submitted, applicants must provide all the required documents without any delay  to the related program coordinator and the Graduate Programs Admission Office ( graduate@bilgi.edu.tr ). Online applications with missing documents will not be evaluated by the program coordinator.