What would you say is the fastest way to get into a programme within medicine or engineering?

[Klopp]

First off I have no idea about the norwegian education system that's why I ask such a straight forward question. I tried looking through samordnaopptak and Youtube but it's a little unclear what the fastest way would be? I see on SSB that 35.3% of the people attending higher education is 19-24 year olds in 2018?

[Marcus Halberstram]

In this post I will omit some details that I believe are of lesser importance.

 

At the most basic level, medical students fall within two disjoint categories:

 

Category 1: Consists of the top 5%-ish graduates of high school. These students are 18-21 years old.

Cateogry 2: Consists of students with a «modified» high school diploma. That is, students who have re-taken high school courses/exams in order to obtain a better grade. Most of these students are in their mid 20s.

 

What the two categories have in common is the level of competition.

In the first category you are basically competing against the brightest people in the country. In the second category you are competing against the most stubborn and ambitious ones. Either way it’s gonna be tough to get in. 

To give you an idea of how hard it is to get in, students in category 2 usually spend several years trying to improve their high school grades. Some may need only one or two years, others spend up to five years, or whatever is needed.

In Norway all that counts towards your application are your grades + some extra points. In other words, it’s not possible to directly buy yourself in, or qualify via a university degree. High school exams are graded from 1 to 6, with 6 being the best grade and 2 being the lowest passing grade. To have a chance at all at getting into medical school, you have to obtain an average grade point of about 5.5. This might not seem intimidating for some foreigneers, but it should be noted that the norwegian grade 6 is a lot harder to obtain than the american A, which is more like the norwegian 5. 

 

So to answer your question, there is really no fastest way. You either have to be really smart/efficient in your late teens, or retake several exams in your twenties. 

 

Regarding engineering programs, the level of competition is somewhat lower with the exception of a handfull of programs at the best technical university, NTNU. Some of the less popular universities/colleges accept everyone, as long as they fulfill all formal requirements. That is, having passed the most advanced mathematics courses in high school + introductory physics. For medical programs, intermediate math will suffice, but you will have to have passed advanced chemistry and introductory physics.

Endret 10. august 2019 av Marcus Halberstram

[Klopp]

In this post I will omit some details that I believe are of lesser importance.

 

At the most basic level, medical students fall within two disjoint categories:

 

Category 1: Consists of the top 5%-ish graduates of high school. These students are 18-21 years old.

Cateogry 2: Consists of students with a «modified» high school diploma. That is, students who have re-taken high school courses/exams in order to get obtain a grade. Most of these students are in their mid 20s.

 

What the two categories have in common is the level of competition.

In the first category you are basically competing against the brightest people in the country. In the second category you are competing against the most stubborn and ambitious ones. Either way it’s gonna be tough to get in. 

To give you an idea of how hard it is to get in, students in category 2 usually spend several years trying to improve their high school grades. Some may need only one or two years, others spend up to five years, or whatever is needed.

In Norway all that counts towards your application are your grades + some extra points. In other words, it’s not possible to directly buy yourself in, or qualify via a university degree. High school exams are graded from 1 to 6, with 6 being the best grade and 2 being the lowest passing grade. To have a chance at all at getting into medical school, you have to obtain an average grade point of about 5.5. This might not seem intimidating for some foreigneers, but it should be noted that the norwegian grade 6 is a lot harder to obtain than the american A, which is more like the norwegian 5. 

 

So to answer your question, there is really no fastest way. You either have to be really smart/efficient in your late teens, or retake several exams in your twenties. 

 

Regarding engineering programs, the level of competition is somewhat lower with the exception of a handfull of programs at the best technical university, NTNU. Some of the less popular universities/colleges accept everyone, as long as they fulfill all formal requirements. That is, having passed the most advanced mathematics courses in high school + introductory physics. For medical programs, intermediate math will suffice, but you will have to have passed advanced chemistry and introductory physics.

Thank you very much Marcus for the answer!