The IMAT ranking & scrolling system can be quite confusing for prospective international medical students. In this article, I want to establish all of the facts about the scrolling system and debunk some commonly misunderstood conceptions.
This article, while still touching on non-EU issues, will focus on scrolling for EU candidates. You can check out Non-EU IMAT Ranking and Scrolling to learn more about that specifically.
First of all lets understand what each status means when it comes to the ranking, by looking at the image below containing all of the definitions.
When you are ASSIGNED to a university, it means that you have been given an offer from your highest possible choice university. It means that there are no longer any seats available in any of your higher choice universities as candidates above you in the ranking have all accepted and enrolled into their offers.
Let’s try to clarify this with an example:
If I have Medicine in English at La Sapienza as my first choice, and Tor Vergata as my second choice, but every single seat available for La Sapienza has been filled because higher ranking candidates have enrolled into them, I become ASSIGNED to Tor Vergata. As long as there is still 1 seat remaining in La Sapienza that hasn’t been filled by an enrolled student, I will not become assigned to Tor Vergata. I will be BOOKED into Medicine in English at Tor Vergata, and remain BOOKED for subsequent rounds until every single La Sapienza seat is filled. This follows through all the way down to your last choice; if there are no remaining seats in one of your higher choice universities you become ASSIGNED even if it was your eighth or ninth choice.
When you are BOOKED into a university, it means that you have received an offer from a university that isn’t your highest possible choice, but given your score it is the CURRENTLY highest available choice for you. There are still unassigned seats remaining in one of your higher choice universities.
Following the same example from above: imagine my score is 45 with Sapienza University as my first choice, and Tor Vergata as my second choice. Currently the candidate above me in the ranking (that has Sapienza as a first choice) is offered a seat and has a score of 45.1, but the candidate below me who has Tor Vergata as a choice has a score of 44.9. I am BOOKED into Tor Vergata, as my current score is competitive enough to receive an offer from them, but only slightly below that needed for Sapienza. I now have 2 options.
- I enroll and accept my seat that I have been BOOKED into, so to start medical school at Tor Vergata OR
- Wait in case a candidate ranking above me who has been offered a seat in La Sapienza renounces it, allowing me to receive an offer in the next round.
Will I lose my seat in a booked university if I wait?
NO YOU WILL NOT LOSE YOUR SEAR IN A BOOKED UNIVERSITY IF YOU CHOOSE TO WAIT FOR A HIGHER CHOICE.
You can wait for weeks and even months with a BOOKED status for a seat from a higher choice university to open up. However, if you become ASSIGNED while waiting you will only have 1 week to accept your offer before you lose it to another candidate below you in the ranking.
THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO REMEMBER IS TO CONTINUE CONFIRMING YOUR INTEREST IN THE NEXT ROUND, OTHERWISE YOU WILL BE SKIPPED DURING THE SCROLLING. This is just a button you need to press when you log-in to your reserved area on Universitaly.
If your score is not high enough to receive an offer from any of the Italian medical universities in the first few rounds this doesn’t mean you should lose hope, especially as an EU student. The scrolling for EU students continues for months (2016 scrolling lasted until March 2017, and the 2020 scrolling lasted until August 2021) with every week a new round offering seats to new students. In 2016 there were just under 200 seats being offered to the top 200 ranking candidates, however the last person to get a seat in March of 2017 was 825th on the ranking. This means that over 600 candidates gave up their seats over a couple of months.
You may be wondering, why does this happen anyways? (read on in Part 2)
13 thoughts on “EU Scrolling for the IMAT Explained”
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If i enroll in a university now is it possible for me to transfer in the first year?
Theoretically possible yes, realistically it’s quite difficult as the competition is incredibly high now.
Do you know how many choices that the EU applicant can have? I heard someone told they have 5 choices but the other said 16 choices
EU applicants can select all universities, and have a chance to enter all of their choices. Non-EU students can only choose 1 university.
Hi Serra,
I am an international student, but regarding my living status, I have finished first two years of my high school in a non- EU country and I am finishing last two years in the UK. So, the reason I am writing this message is to ask you what diplomas do I need in order to apply to Italian universities? Additionally, how can I certify my diplomas so the Italian universities can approve them during my application?
Kind regards!
You will need to apply for a DoV
Hi Serra,
I am an Eu-student, and I have finished 2 years of high school in Serbia, and now I am finishing the last year of an A- level program in the UK. I would like to study Medicine at the university of Milan, but I am not quite sure about the validity of my grade certificates. First thing I would like to ask you is about the verification of those diplomas, as some diplomas are from Serbia and some of them from the UK and where should I verify them? My second question wold be, considering the fact that A level exams are sat in June of 2024 and results are released around the August 20 2024, would I be too late to apply for the university as I would have to verify my grades in first place? As I am an Eu- student, but I am not an Italian resident, when is the deadline for my university application?
Kind regards!
As long as you’re an EU student you don’t need to provide any grades/results etc. verification until you enroll. To get them certified you would need to apply for a DoV in the local consulate of where you completed your final schooling. It’s best to shoot an email to the Italian consulate in your own EU country, and in the UK to find out what’s the best way.
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Hi Serra.will you not ,miss the start of the semester? Also if a really want a certain school how many weeks should i wait for scrolling?
Hi Rian, there’s an article written by a student who started a whole semester late because of scrolling and still graduated at the top of the class. You can wait for scrolling as many weeks as you want as long as you keep confirming your interest, and haven’t been “assigned”.