2024-2025 Academic Year “Economics” and “Economics and Finance” Honors Programs Application Process And Admission Conditions

Admission Conditions:

Admission conditions for the Honours Programs vary according to the undergraduate program in which the student is enrolled:

1.     Admission Conditions for Students Applying to the Honours Program Affiliated with Their Enrolled Undergraduate Program:*

• The student must be applying to the Honours Programs for the first time.
• The student’s first enrolled undergraduate program at Istanbul Bilgi University through the ÖSYM (Student Selection and Placement Center) exam must be either “Economics” or “Economics and Finance”.
• The student must have successfully completed all courses in the curriculum of the first two semesters in the “Economics” or “Economics and Finance” undergraduate programs at Istanbul Bilgi University and must have completed at least 60 ECTS of course load (exemptions will be considered).
• Mathematics Competency: A minimum of B- grade on average in mathematics courses taken at İstanbul Bilgi University or a minimum of 70/100 grade on average in the final year of schooling before university entrance,
• English Proficiency: The student must have obtained an IELTS score of 6.0 or equivalent.  Other accepted tests*** and required minimum scores are as follows: BILET/Level 5 AT 70, TOEFL 87, FCE B, CAE C, CPE C, KPDS/ÜDS/YDS/YÖKDİL 75, PTE Academic 70.
• The student’s cumulative GPA must be at least 2.70/4.00.
• The student must participate in the preparation camp and interview to be held in July 2024 (Mathematics and economics courses will be offered at the preparation camp, and attendance is mandatory). Applications of students who do not attend the camp and interview will be considered invalid.

*These conditions apply if students enrolled in the Economics undergraduate program are applying to the Economics Honours Program, or if students in the Economics and Finance program are applying to the Economics and Finance Honours Program. For all other applications, the "Admission Conditions for All Other Students" listed in Section 2 below will apply.

** All courses in the Honours Programs are compulsory. When students wish to apply to the Honours Program at the end of their 3rd, 4th, 5th, or 6th semester, courses taken beyond  2^nd semester cannot be counted for the courses in the Honours Programs’ curriculum.

*** TOEFL Home Edition and IELTS Indicator tests are not accepted. Moreover, exams taken outside of Turkey must be conducted at an authorized exam center and under supervised conditions.

2.     Admission Conditions for All Other Students (Including External Transfer and Vertical Entrance Students):

• The student must be applying to the Honours Programs for the first time,
• The student must have successfully completed all courses in the curriculum of the first two semesters of the program they are enrolled in at Istanbul Bilgi University and must have completed at least 60 ECTS of course load (exemptions will be considered),
• External Transfer and Vertical Entrance students from other universities must have taken and passed all the courses in the curriculum of the first two semesters of the undergraduate program they are transferring from and completed the course load for at least 60 ECTS. The content of the courses in the curriculum of the first two semesters is examined by the Honors Program commission. If the commission decides that these courses are not sufficient, then the student's application is not accepted.
• Mathematics Competency: A minimum of B- grade on average in mathematics courses taken at İstanbul Bilgi University or a minimum of 70/100 grade on average in the final year of schooling before university entrance,
• English Proficiency: The student must have obtained an IELTS score of 6.0 or equivalent. Other accepted tests** and required minimum scores are as follows: BILET/Level 5 AT 70, TOEFL 87, FCE B, CAE C, CPE C, KPDS/ÜDS/YDS/YÖKDİL 75, PTE Academic 70,
• The student’s cumulative GPA must be at least 3.00/4.00,
• The student must participate in the preparation camp and interview to be held in July 2024 (Mathematics and economics courses will be offered at the prep camp, and attendance is mandatory). Applications of students who do not attend the camp and interview will be considered invalid.
• The student must be deemed successful in the interview conducted by the Honours Programs Commission based on the criteria set by the Honours Programs Commission.

*All courses in the Honours Programs are compulsory. When students wish to apply at the end of their 3rd, 4th, 5th, or 6th semester, courses taken beyond 2^nd semester cannot be counted for the courses in the Honours programs’ curriculum.

** TOEFL Home Edition and IELTS Indicator tests are not accepted. Moreover, exams taken outside of Turkey must be conducted at an authorized exam center and under supervised conditions.

Application Process:

Students who wish to apply to Honours Programs can submit their applications between 15 May 2024 and 3 July 2024 by sending the following documents to econhonours@bilgi.edu.tr via email. Applications with missing documents will be considered invalid.

• Statement of purpose (should be at least one page or 300 words long and written in English)
• National Exam Scores (If Any)
• Official documents showing English Competency, (BILET certification should include the grade taken at the exam)
• Profile (To Be Printed From Student Page),
• Course Status (To Be Printed From Student Page),
• Application form

Application Evaluation Process:

 All applications will be pre-screened and evaluated by BİLGİ Honours Program Commission and the students who meet the application requirements are invited to the preparation camp.

Participation in the preparation camp, consisting of mathematics and economics courses, is mandatory for all candidates. The camp will last for 4 days and will take place between the dates July 8-11, 2024. 

At the last day of the preparation camp, all applicants should submit “Profile” and “Course Status” documents that are updated during the resit exam period.

All applicants who complete the preparation camp and submit their documents will attend the interview on July 12, 2024. Interview is mandatory for all applicants.

After the interview and all other evaluation processes, admitted students will be informed via e-mail by July 17, 2024, at the latest* (It is the student’s responsibility to submit a valid e-mail address and check his/her e-mail account regularly). 

Students who would like to transfer to Honours Programs are expected to reply to the e-mail by filling out the attached forms until July 22,  2024, 17:00. Students who fail to reply before the deadline will be considered “to be disapproving to transfer” to Honours Programs.

 * Students taking course/courses in the summer school will receive conditional acceptance. Applications of the students who do not meet the application requirements after summer school are considered invalid.

Remarks:

• Meeting the application requirements or being invited to the interview does not guarantee admittance to the Honours Program.
• Admission to Honours Programs does not necessarily mean admission to UoL. UoL evaluates each application independently.

Important Dates: