Entering medical school in Italy is not just as simple as passing an admission test. There are plenty of other things you need to do to secure enrolment as an international student. Make sure you are familiar with all the steps, since missing a deadline can cost you your admission.
This article will cover what you need to do as an international student.
Pre-register on University Websites
Certain universities require you to pre-register on their website. Make sure to have your high school documents ready for this, and in translated into the correct language if needed. Please note that not all Universities have this step. Turin, Pavia and Messina have had this step, and others may also have it this year. Make sure to not miss out on the deadline.
Pre-Enrolment (Non-EU Only)
If you are a non-EU student you will need to pre enrol. This is done on Universitaly’s website. Upon the announcement of the pre-enrollment date for the IMAT by MIUR (Italian Ministry of Education) typically in April, you will need to visit your nearest consulate/embassy as well as set up an account on Universitaly.
For educational credentials and legalization, it is necessary to reach out to the embassy overseeing the region where the diploma was obtained, and not just the embassy that is most convenient for you. This is important to take into account if you have moved to another country since you graduated
You will need to…
- Create an account on Universitaly
- Fill out Form A
- Legalize and translate your education documents
- Submit ID documents/photos on Universitaly
- Submit language certificate
Declaration of Value (DoV)
The DoV is mandatory for any international student who has not graduated in Italy. The DoV encompasses various details, such as your academic record, the total years spent in formal education, where the education was obtained, and your highest educational attainment. It is not something you need to submit when applying for the IMAT exam itself, but you will need it when enrolling in your university.
It requires translation into Italian and must be notarized. In Italy it is a legal requirement that you have completed 12 years of schooling or more before you can study at university level. To qualify for admission to study medicine at an Italian university, you must thus demonstrate completion of a 12-year educational curriculum. You will be able to get this document from the embassy where you completed your education. Thus even if you live in a country different from the one where you graduated high school, it is the Italian embassy in the country that you graduated that will issue the DoV.
We recommend getting this document early since embassies can take time to arrange appointments.
Language Certificates
You do not need any Italian language certificates, but an English language certificate is officially mandatory. While many times universities do not actually check for this certificate upon enrolment, it is technically a requirement. It may also be required during pre-enrolment for non-EU students. You are thus advised to get one. Check out our article on language certificates if you want more information.
Register for the IMAT 2024
Booking the test is an essential step since you cannot take the exam without a booking. To do this you will need to…
- Have an account on Universitaly
- Pay the registration fee (roughly 150 euros)
- Fill out your university choices (non-EUs have only one choice)
- Select a test venue
If you are selecting a test venue outside of Italy, make sure to book as soon as possible. Venues outside of Italy often fill up very fast. This is especially true for certain venues with a lot of applicants, such as India and Turkey.
You will receive two important emails after successfully booking your exam. You need to print and bring BOTH copies to the test venue on the day of your exam…
- Receipt of payment
- Confirmation of your booking (with date, time and place of test mentioned)
Pass the IMAT
This is the most obvious step, you need to get a score high enough for your chosen medical school. How high is high enough? It varies each year and is increasingly getting more competitive. However, as a general trend, 60+ is considered safe for non-EUs (except perhaps for the most competitive universities). For EUs, 50+ is considered safe. Be aware that competitiveness can change year to year, and that less competitive universities often have significantly lower cut offs than more competitive universities.
We have plenty of articles and content to help you pass the IMAT, so take a look at our news page and subscribe to our newsletter if you have not already done so.
Accept Your Offer
Assuming you pass the IMAT, you will be given an offer to a university. For non-EUs either you will have passed the IMAT and secured your first and only choice university, or you will not gain admission.
For EU students, if you do not get in straight away, you can partake in the ‘IMAT Scrolling’ whereby the entry score progressively lowers each week. You will need to manually submit your interest to remain in the scrolling, if you do not do this, you will no longer be eligible for consideration. You have 4 days to express your interest after each new round starts, after which you are automatically removed from the scrolling if you do not express interest to remain.
For EU students this process takes place on Universitaly, for non-EU students, this takes place on the university website.
Enrollment
Once you have accepted your choice, you need to enrol in the course. This is done on the university website and requires you to submit ID documents, passport photos, and other documents you have received during the entire process. You will also need to pay a fee. You only have 4 days from receiving your offer as an EU student to enrol, so make sure to not delay!
Once you are enrolled, you have gained admission to medical school in Italy.
Visa (Non-EU Only)
Unlike the case for your diploma legalisation, the visa application needs to be made in the Italian embassy of the country you currently reside in. If the country you finished high school in and currently live in are not the same then be aware these are two separate embassies.
There are various requirements for the visa, which you need to meet, in order to not get rejected. You will need to meet certain financial requirements. This typically means having at least around 6000-7000 euros worth of funds in your or your sponsor’s bank account. This amount should not be put in your bank account at the last minute. You will also need to have health insurance and will need to submit various other documents.
You will need to…
- Prove that you have adequate funds (typically around 6000-7000 euros)
- Fill out the Application Form D
- Submit recent passport-style photographs
- Confirm your admission
- Submit ID document copies
- Submit language certificates
- Submit your high school documents
- Submit financial documents of you and/or your parents
- Prove you have medical insurance
- Prove you have a flight ticket
- Prove you have a place to stay in Italy¨
There will also likely be a visa interview.
Please note that the visa process may differ on a country-wide basis, and the list above may not be exhaustive.
Once in Italy
You are now enrolled and have the right to reside in Italy, but the journey is not yet over. You now need to get your residence permit (non-EU only) and your fiscal code. The fiscal code is required for many things, such as getting an apartment. Obtaining these things involves visiting various Italian institutions. Be prepared to spend a whole day obtaining one of these documents, since the bureaucratic process in Italy can be quite intense.
Finding an apartment in Italy is of course very important. Not only because you need a place to stay, but things like scholarships and residence status may be influenced without an official residence. Finding an apartment can be quite challenging for an international student since real estate agents in Italy are often not that eager to rent to non-Italians. Nevertheless, you will get one eventually, but be prepared for some headaches.
Need Help with The Entire Process?
This process is long and difficult, with many tedious steps to follow and deadlines to meet. It can be overwhelming for many to keep on track with all this while also studying full-time for the IMAT. Unfortunately, every year many students mess up on small details and thus lose the chance to gain admission to Medical School. The risk of this is quite high as well, given the confusing nature of the Italian bureaucratic system.
If you want peace of mind and want to spend your time studying for the IMAT instead of worrying about this confusing process, we are here to help! We can be your personal guide through the entire process and ensure that everything runs smoothly. Check out how we can help you successfully study medicine in Italy.
44 responses
What is the difference between IMAT pre enrolment and IMAT pre registration?
Pre enrolment is a process that all non-EUs need to do on Universitaly. It involves the embassy in the country of your schooling. EU students do not need to do it.
Pre-registration is something completely different, and not every university requires it. Here you need to visit the university website, pay a small fee and upload some documents. These documents do not need to be legalised by a notary, but need to be in the accepted language as stated by the university. Both EU and non-EU need to do this if they want to apply to the universities that have this step.
When is the IMAT pre enrollment deadline?
what is the IMAT date 2024?
October 17
This was the date for 2023. The date for 2024 is not yet announced, so be prepared for earlier dates as well at this point
When does pre-enrolment for the imat 2024 open?
Usually in April
It is open now
When can we start the IMAT 2024 application?
I think September
It can vary year by year. Most years it was July, so do not assume that it will be September
Is studying medicine in Italy in English difficult?
Medicine is generally one of the harder degrees to study. It involves a lot of content to memorize, and will require a lot of effort. If we compare medicine in Italy to other countries, it is generally more content heavy, but at the same time it is more flexible. You can generally retake exams, sit exams at flexible dates, among other things. It is a big question to answer, feel free to message me for more details
Is studying medicine in Italy for international students possible without Italian?
Yes, you need no Italian at all to secure enrolment. You will need to learn it at a reasonable level for your clinical years (usually start of third year) if you want to make the most out of your education.
Is the IMAT 2024 going to be the same as the IMAT 2023?
It is common for the mark allocations to change from year to year, so this could happen in 2024. However, the syllabus itself is not expected to change.
Will the IMAT 2024 results be used to enter medical school in October 2024 or in October 2025 ?
It will be for 2024. Please note, while the test was held in October last year, it might not be the same month this year. Another likely month is September
Hi… Wanna ask my case is kinda different from others I have Italian Nationality but I have got my high school degree from a non eu country . Wanna ask just am I consider eu student ?? Do I need to go through that lengthy process or not ?? Kindly reply
Hi! You will be considered an EU student if you have Italian citizenship. So you will not need to pre-enroll, get a visa, or be limited to just one university choice. Since you graduated high school outside of Italy you still need your DoV however.
Hi as a Non-Eu residing in Italy and studying a different course in Italy. I wish to take the IMAT 2024. I applied for the permesso late last year November. I have the receipt but my appointment date was set in October 2024 can I apply as an EU candidate?
Just to make sure I understood you correctly, you do not have the permesso, only the receipt?
Hi.. I sat for IMAT2023 but unfortunately i didn’t make it. I have a good foundation but i need to work on advance level. So i want to know if i only study through IMAT Buddy for IMAT 2024, will it be enough or do i need to study from books and other courses as well?
IMAT Buddy is generally enough. For Critical thinking you have everything you need on the course. For Problem Solving, the same can be said, but you must practice past questions regularely since this section does not have ‘content’ to study for in the same way as other sections. There is plenty of material to be found on our site for this. For Reading Skills and Knowledge Acquired During Studies (Aka general knowledge) it is not possible to be 100% prepared, since this section by nature tries to test you on your level of general knowledge. But we still explain what topics are high yield for this section. For Biology and Chemistry, we cover everything except things that we deem are not worth your time to study for. For Math and Physics we cover high yield content, but do skip some things, some of which again are considered by us to be time wasters to study for. If you want to cover absolutely everything in math and physics you can use free material alongside the course (for most students, knowing everything in the math and physics section can be a waste of time and effort however, since it is a lot of study for not that many marks as compared to biology and chemistry).
Make sure as well to study the content correctly. You will need to take detailed notes and Anki flashcards on what is covered, and revise them regularly. You cannot just passively watch video lessons and do quizzes and expect to memorise everything we cover.
If you have textbooks you can study these alongside the course as well. Free online material can also be a good idea to use now and then, since it can be good to get things explained from a different angle as well.
When is registration for IMAT and when is the exam. Universitaly.it is say registration was April and exam in July? Everyone seems to be say registration is in July onwards and exam in september. Please can someone clarify.
It will likely open soon, make sure you are registered to our newsletter as we will send a notification when it is announced.
The registration in April you are talking about is most likely for the medicine test in the Italian language.
Hi! Is the registration to apply is closed? Or not open yet?
Registration for the IMAT test itself is not yet open
When is the deadline for Pre-Enrollment? And is there any benefit to doing it early instead of later?
Pre enrolment deadlines vary between universities. It is always better to do it earlier, since if the university requests more documentation than you initially submitted, you have time to obtain these documents.
I was in contact with the Italian embassy in my country (Norway) and they requested an admission letter for me to obtain a DoV. They also said the process could take up to 30 days. Do I need the DoV when enrolling? I don’t see how that is possible if the process to get the DoV can take up to 30 days…
Contact your chosen universities and ask them when they require the DoV, as this can vary based on the university. If they require it upon enrolment, or very soon thereafter, ask if they accept a CIMEA certificate instead of the DoV. If they accept this, then you can get a CIMEA certificate, which you can apply for online.
Hi, I need to pre register to the Uni Messina. Does it have a payment? What is the website I should pre register on? Is it applicant portal? Kindly reply
Registrations are done on their portal, you can find it on their applications and admissions page. If you are a non-EU student you also need to pre-enroll on Universitaly. There is no fee for either process.
I want to get fully funded scholarship
No comment
If I studied social sciences in highschool so it was not very focused on chemistry, biology, and for my final exam I didn’t take any of these subjects (I took my native language, history and logical reasoning) will I be able to apply to medicine in Italy? Or did I have to take the baccalaureate exam on one of the mentioned subjects?
It depends a lot on what country your schooling was in. For some countries the subjects studied are largely irrelevant for admission to medical school in Italy, for others it can be important to have certain subjects
How much fees for pre registration and pre enrollment for turin uni?
Pre-Enrollment does not have a fee. The pre-registration fees for Turin are not yet announced for this year
what do i do about pre enrollment, DOV and pre registration if i have yet to graduate? i will graduate this summer and i do not have a final diploma. i will get my a level final grades in august and i will be fully graduated and have my grades and diploma before the fall term begins but i dont have it yet for some of the processes. also, is cimea necessary because it requires me to have a full diploma, or can i use some other method of verification such as notarisation by the embassy or something?
This is a common situation. You can request documents from your school that state what subjects you have done, are currently doing and when you expect to graduate, as well as anything else the university might request. This is usually fine for pre enrolment and pre registration. The final qualifications do however need to be ready for enrolment. The DoV and Cimea certificate are not usually required for pre enrolment, although in some select universities it is asked for (in this case it is good to explain to the University why they are not available)