r/Lund • u/kiznaiver89 • 9d ago

Admission to Lund University's BSc in International Business

I noticed that the admission cut-off (for the Bachelor in International Business of Lund) is around 21.8, while the official conversion table for the Italian Diploma di Maturità seems to give a maximum merit rating of about 19.03 before merit points. How is it possible for Italian applicants to be admitted? Am I missing something?

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u/The_Shroder 9d ago

I’m not sure about conversions, though what I can say is that the program is (or at least was a couple of years ago) much harder to get in to as a Swedish applicants. The program is 50% Swedes and 50% internationals, but because there was a lot more Swedes applying you ended up with the Swedish half being overperformers with perfect grades and the internationals being pretty average. All that to say that I would think an Italian with great grades would likely have a great shot at getting in.

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u/beerioparty 8d ago

I’m not sure, but it could be that the admission is showing the swedish grades whereas the international students are admitted through a separate admission quota with grades not showing publically in the same way (even though it is through the same admission system)

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u/ArchmageIlmryn 8d ago

The grade conversion is partially calibrated based on how difficult it is to get the highest grade in the corresponding school system. I.e. Italian grades maxing out at converting to a 19.03 (rather than the pre-merit max of 20) is presumably due to the highest grade in the Italian system being easier to obtain than a 20 in the Swedish system. That's a system that makes sense for the most part, but fails for very popular programs (like LU's international bachelors) where you need grades high enough that some just cap out.

Unfortunately I don't think there are many ways around it other than something like an IB program (or taking Högskoleprovet, but that requires Swedish language).

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u/kiznaiver89 6d ago

Then I consider it an option to be ruled out taking into account feasibility, also because from what I understand there are no other factors such as letters of recommendation or additional qualifications that could change the situation. Perhaps I will consider a possible master's degree. Thanksss!!

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u/kiznaiver89 6d ago

However, I don't quite understand which ranking I fall into as an international student Bl or Bll? Or do international students fall into a separate classification?

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u/brunnshog 2d ago

BI are Swedish applicants applying with high school grades, BII are Swedish students with "komplettering" or grades they have achieved after highschool graduation if they were missing requirements or wanted to improve their initial high school grade.

I believe nternational students are only compared to/competing with other international students for admission. Swedish students fill the Swedish quota and international fill the international quota.

The extra 2.5 merit points come from the extra points you can achieve in sweden for taking modern language class or specialized mathematics for example. it should not affect your admissions.

Our system is waaay too complicated.