Applying to master’s programmes

Bachelor's degree 

You are eligible to apply in master's admissions if you have a bachelor’s degree.

The bachelor's degree must:

1. be equivalent to 180 ECTS credits or three years of full-time study;
2. give eligibility to apply for master’s degree studies at a university in the awarding country; and
3. have been awarded by a higher education institution recognised as part of the official national education system of the country, accredited as a degree-granting higher education institution by the country where it is located or by a relevant international organisation (such as UNESCO).

You cannot apply on the basis of a previous master's degree. Only bachelor’s degrees give eligibility for master’s programmes at Aalto University.

An exception to this is a ‘long-cycle’ master's degree that has been granted without a bachelor’s degree. Such a degree can be, for instance, a degree awarded in Finland prior to the adoption of the two-cycle degree system in 2008 or a licentiate of medicine degree.

Other eligibility for higher education (only in the field of art and design)

In the field of art and design, if you do not have a higher education degree you may apply on the basis of sufficient knowledge and skills, gained by means of other studies and/or work experience, that correspond to a relevant bachelor's degree.

If you apply on the basis of sufficient knowledge and skills, you must provide evidence of these skills with work and/or study certificates. See Other eligibility for higher education for document instructions and application requirements.

Please note that if you have completed (or will complete by 31 July 2025) a bachelor's degree that makes you eligible to apply to a master’s programme, you cannot apply based on Other eligibility for higher education.

Additional degree can be included in your application

In addition to the degree granting eligibility to apply (i.e. bachelor's degree), you can include one other higher education degree (e.g., master's degree) in the section Other Higher Education Degree on the application form.

If you choose to include another higher education degree, you must upload the required application documents related to this degree to your application form. 
For further information, see Application and the required application documents.

Supplementary studies

Admitted students may be assigned supplementary studies.

Only applications that are complete and fulfil the general eligibility criteria will be evaluated by the study option.

Study options may have their own eligibility criteria, for example, requiring prior studies in a relevant field. Study options indicate their study-option-specific eligibility criteria on their webpages. Their evaluation criteria are also listed on their webpages.

Check your study option's eligibility and evaluation criteria on the study option's webpage.

Study option staff will not comment on the relevance of prior studies in advance. Read the evaluation criteria carefully and assess whether you meet the criteria.

Read both the general eligibility criteria on this page and the study-option-specific criteria on the study option’s page.

You can apply to a master’s programme with an incomplete bachelor’s degree, provided that you will graduate by 31 July 2025. If you are accepted to the University, you must deliver a certified copy of your degree certificate by 15 August 2025 at 15.00/3pm (UTC +3).

In case you are not able to graduate or fail to deliver your degree certificate by the deadline, your conditionally granted study right will be cancelled.

When applying with an incomplete degree, please be aware of the graduation schedules of your own faculty or school to ensure that you will graduate by 31 July 2025.

Only completed studies for which an official transcript of records has been uploaded to the application form by the deadline (3 January 2025, 15.00/3pm UTC +2) will be taken into account in the evaluation. Updated transcripts or any studies completed after this deadline cannot be taken into consideration.

For the study options of the School of Business, a relevant degree awarded abroad may also be a degree earned through completion of an American-type, internationally accredited university-level MBA programme.

If you have completed a Master of Science (Economics and Business Administration) degree from a university in Finland, you are not eligible to apply to the study options of the School of Business.

Admission groups in the field of business and economics and GMAT/GRE

Applicants to the School of Business study options are divided into two admission groups based on the degree that grants them eligibility to apply for the master’s programme.

1. ADMISSION GROUP 1: Bachelor’s degree from a university in Finland
   Finnish universities are listed on the webpage of the Ministry of Education and Culture.
2. ADMISSION GROUP 2: Bachelor’s degree from a university of applied sciences in Finland or from a higher education institution outside Finland 

In Admission Group 2, all applicants are required to have taken either the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) or the Graduate Records Examination (GRE), with the exception of the study option of Yritysjuridiikka (taught in Finnish). 

For information on taking the tests and submitting the test scores, as well as the deadlines, see the webpage on GMAT/GRE

If you are already an Aalto University student, first find out about the possibilities of changing your major or programme internally. Do not fill in the external master's admission application form if you can transfer or change major internally. You should not, as a rule, apply in the master’s admissions to the study options of your current Aalto school or programme. It may also be possible to continue studies in a programme at another Aalto school. Check the rules for changing your major / programme or continuing from bachelor's programme to a master's programme in the Student Guide (choose the programme first). If you are not sure whether you need to apply in master’s admissions, please contact your bachelor's programme.

Aalto University students cannot be granted a right to pursue a degree in a study option from which they already have earned a degree or for which they have a valid right to pursue a degree.

You may have only one valid study right at Aalto University towards a given degree. If you accept a new study right in a master's programme leading to the same degree at the University, your old study right will be cancelled. In addition, if you already have a study right in the interdisciplinary programme International Design Business Management or Creative Sustainability, and you accept a new study right in the same programme leading to a different degree, your old study right will be cancelled.

1. Read the application instructions, the general eligibility criteria, the evaluation criteria of the study option and the required documents carefully.
2. Prepare your application documents in advance. Obtain official translations (if required). For document instructions, see the Application and the required application documents section below.
3. If you are required to submit a language test score, book and take a language test well in advance so that your official test scores arrive at the University before the deadline.
   For information on language tests, see Language requirements in Master's admissions.
4. If you are required to take a GMAT or GRE test, book and take the test well in advance so that your official test scores arrive at the University before the deadline.

You can find all the Aalto University study options on the Study options page.

You may apply to a maximum of two study options, which you must rank in order of preference on your application form. You can change the study options or their order of preference only during the application period. You cannot change the order of preference once the application period has ended.

Preference order means that if you are admitted to your first preference option, your second study option will be automatically cancelled.

In addition, you can apply to Erasmus Mundus, Nordic Master or other master’s programmes organised through international cooperation, which have different application periods and procedures (for more information, see the programmes’ webpages).

If you apply in several admissions and are offered admission to more than one degree programme beginning in the same term, you can only accept one offer of admission. The ’one study place per term in higher education’ rule applies to all degree-granting education in Finnish universities and universities of applied sciences.

Application form is in the national Studyinfo.fi service.

You can fill in the application form only during the application period, from 28 November at 9.00 to 27 December 2024 at 15.00/3pm (UTC +2).

You may have only one application form; do not fill in several forms. You may apply to a maximum of two study options with your application form. Rank your study options in an order of preference on your application form.

Please note that you cannot save the application form as a draft but can edit it during the application period.

Editing your application form after submitting your application

You can edit your application during the application period and upload attachments before the document deadline. If you edit your application form or upload attachments, save the changes by clicking "Save modifications".

Your application is incomplete until you have uploaded all the required documents.

Accessing your application after submitting it:

1. If you have Finnish online banking credentials (e-identification must be enabled), a Finnish electronic ID-card or mobile certificate and you filled your application form with e-identification, you can access your application through My Studyinfo.

2. If you applied without Finnish e-identification, you can access your application through the link in your confirmation email that you will receive from Studyinfo after submitting your application form. If you do not receive the email within one day, check all your email folders, including spam. If you do not receive the email within one day of submitting your application and you have checked all your email folders, contact Admission Services ([email protected]).

   The link to your application in your confirmation email is valid for 14 days; if it expires, you can click on the expired link and order a new one. The link is for single use only; once you have used the link, you can order a new link by clicking on the link in the latest email you have received. Check all email folders, including spam, if you do not receive the email to your inbox.

The required application documents are listed in the section Application and the required application documents.

Submit the electronic application form during the application period. Upload all the required application documents to your application form before the deadline for documents.

• Carefully scan the original documents in colour and save the files in PDF format.
• Scan the documents in the correct orientation so that a horizontal document is displayed horizontally, and a vertical document is displayed vertically.
• Name the files as instructed (e.g. Transcript-lastname-firstname).
• Upload the documents separately to the correct sections provided for each document on your application form.
• If you apply to two study options, upload the study-option-specific documents separately for both study options. For example, if both study options require a motivation letter, it needs to be written separately for each study option. The study-option-specific document requirements are described on the webpage of the study option.

If a required application document is missing after the document deadline, the application will be rejected as incomplete. The applicant is responsible for submitting the documents in the required manner and meeting the deadline.

• Apply and submit all the documents as early as possible.
• Do not leave submitting the application form or uploading the documents to the last day.

Please note that, at the application stage, electronic copies of the original documents are sufficient. After admission results, the admitted applicants are required to submit officially certified (attested) hard copies of their study documents by the given deadline. For more information see section 8.

Each study option evaluates and ranks the applications, that are complete and fulfill the general eligibility criteria, according to their own evaluation criteria. The study-option-specific evaluation criteria are indicated on the webpages of the study options.

The study option evaluation criteria may include, for example, the relevance of previous studies, academic performance, motivation, and, in the fields of art and design and architecture, portfolio.

The applicants are compared to each other and the best applicants are admitted. Since the number of study places is restricted, not all eligible applicants can be offered admission. Study options are not obligated to fill all available study places.

No information on the progress of individual applications will be given during the evaluation.

Fields of art and design and architecture: two-stage evaluation process

Study options in the fields of art and design and architecture may have a two-stage evaluation process. This means that some of the applicants are invited to a second stage after a first round of evaluation. If the admissions process has only one stage, this is mentioned on the webpage of the study option.

In the first stage, selection committees evaluate the application documents. The applicants are notified by email of whether their application made it to the second stage or was rejected. The results of the first stage are sent to applicants no later than 11 March 2025. The second stage consists of an interview. The interview may be conducted remotely.

In addition, applicants may be asked to submit more work samples or complete further entrance examination assignments. Any additional work samples, entrance examination assignments, and time of the interview will be communicated simultaneously to all applicants who made it to the second stage.

The date of the second stage varies by study option; time and place will be specified in the invitation to the second stage.

Interviews may also be held for study options in the field of business and economics and technology. The possibility of an interview is indicated on the webpages of the study options.

The admissions results will be published on 9 April 2025 at the earliest. Applicants will receive an email notification once the results are published. 

If you apply to two study options, you can only be admitted to one of them. You cannot change your order of preference of the study options after the application period.

Waiting list

The study place of applicants who do not accept their admission offer by the deadline will be filled by the highest applicant on the waiting list of that study option, if such list exists. Applicants can be admitted off the waiting list until 12 June 2025. 

Feedback on evaluation

If you wish to receive feedback about the evaluation of your application, please contact the Aalto School of your study option after the admission results have been published. 

The contact details for each study option will be published closer to the publication of the admission results.

Requesting rectification to the admission decision

It is possible to submit a written request to rectify the admission decision within 14 days of the publication of the results. The purpose of the written rectification request procedure is to allow applicants to appeal against the admission decision on the grounds of a possible error in the decision-making, and thereby have an erroneous decision corrected. 

An admission decision may only be rectified if Aalto University has made an error in the admission procedure and the error in question entitles the applicant to have the admission decision rectified. 

The procedure is not for requesting feedback or additional information on the admissions results. If you wish to have feedback, contact your study option.

Read carefully: Instructions for requesting rectification. Read the frequently asked questions on the page before requesting rectification.

Successful applicants must accept the offer of admission by the given deadline. Accepting (or declining) an offer of admission is binding and it cannot be changed afterwards.

More information and instructions to admitted applicants: Information for new masters students.

If you have any questions about accepting the offer of admission and starting your studies, please contact the school responsible for the study option or send an email to [email protected].

The ‘one study place per term in higher education’ policy

If you apply in several admissions and are offered admission to more than one degree programme beginning in the same term, you may only accept one offer of admission at a university or university of applied sciences in Finland. The ‘one study place per term in higher education’ policy applies to all degree-granting higher education programmes, whether applying through: joint application procedures, separate admissions procedures, or applying to doctoral education (to earn a licentiate or doctoral degree).

If you are offered admission to more than one degree programme in different admissions, you may only accept one admission offer. You cannot cancel the acceptance of a study place.

Admitted applicants are required to submit officially certified (attested) hard copies of their study documents by the given deadline. If you are required to submit certified (attested) hard copy documents, it is written in your admission letter.

• For applicants admitted between 9 to 13 April, the deadline for the officially certified study certificates is 15 May 2025 15.00/3pm (UTC +3) .
• For applicants admitted between 14 April to 12 June, the deadline is 15 August 2025 15.00/3pm (UTC +3).

The documents must be received by the deadline.

• Read the instructions for certified documents after admission results.
• Admitted applicants must note the country-specific document requirements.
  There is a country-specific document requirement also for studies completed in Finland.

Applicants are conditionally admitted until the certified documents have been received.
If the certified documents, or the documents required according to the country-specific document requirements, are not received in the required manner by the given deadline, your conditional study right will be cancelled.

We strongly recommend submitting the certified documents as soon as you receive your admission offer; postal or courier service delivery takes time.

Certified documents will be compared to the electronic application documents that have been uploaded to the application system.

The degree certificate must include the name of the student, the name of the degree, the name of the institution awarding the degree, and the date the degree was awarded.

Provisional degree certificate

In the case there is delay before the final degree certificate is issued to graduates, provisional degree certificate can be accepted. Provisional (or temporary) degree certificate can be issued to a student who has graduated by successfully completing all the studies included in the degree. The provisional degree certificate must include same information than the degree certificate would, that is the name of the student, the name of the degree, the name of the institution awarding the degree, and the date the degree was awarded. A statement of completion of the studies is insufficient. The date of graduation must be by 31 July 2025.

Transcript of records must be official. The transcript of records must include the individual courses you have taken, the grades and credits awarded, and the date of completion. Original transcripts are generally easy to obtain from student service department of your home institution. The transcript of records must be uploaded to your application form in PDF format.

If your transcript of records does not include the grades for each course, submit an official document issued by your university that lists your grades for each course. If your institution does not award grades for courses, submit an official document issued by your university that explains the evaluation system.

If your degree contains studies completed in some other higher education institution (e.g. transfer studies), the required information must be submitted also of those studies (individual courses, grades, credits, date of completion of courses). If this information is not in your transcript of records, submit a transcript of records issued by the institution where the studies were taken at.

This requirement applies to top-up -degrees as well. You must submit transcripts of records including the required information for the whole duration of all studies that your top-up -degree is based on. Studies must be equivalent to 180 ECTS credits or three years of full-time study.

Official Aalto University transcripts for Aalto students

If you are an Aalto University student, you can download an official transcript of records in PDF format from the SISU information system. In SISU, go to My profile and Completed credits tab.

Upload the official electronic transcript of records to your online application form in Studyinfo.

A diploma supplement cannot be submitted instead of a degree certificate. A degree certificate is required. 

A diploma supplement in English can be submitted as a translation of a degree certificate, if it contains the name of the student, the name of the degree, the name of the institution awarding the degree, and the date the degree was awarded.

You can also submit a diploma supplement instead of a transcript of records if it contains the information required of a transcript of records (individual courses, grades, credits and the date of completion of courses).

You can find more information on diploma supplement on the European Commission webpage.

The documents must be in Finnish, Swedish or English. If the original degree certificate or transcript of records was written in another language, you must submit an official translation of the document.

The translation is official if it has been done by the higher education institution that awarded the degree or by a certified translator (authorised translator). The translations must have the certified translator’s stamp and signature.

The Finnish National Agency for Education (www.oph.fi/en) maintains a register of authorised translators who are based in Finland.

A Diploma supplement in English can be submitted instead of a translation of a degree certificate, if it contains the name of the degree, the name of the institution awarding the degree, the date of awarding the degree, and the name of the student. For more information, please see above (Diploma supplement).

A copy of a valid passport or an official government-issued identification card with photo that includes information on citizenship is an obligatory application document.

Driver’s license does not have information on citizenship and is therefore not accepted.

If passport or identification card has expired

If you do not have a Finnish personal identity code, a valid passport or an official government-issued identification card is required.

If you have a Finnish personal identity code, but do not have a valid passport/ID card, you can upload a copy of an expired passport/ID card or driver’s license to the application form. Your information can be checked from the Finnish Population Register with your Finnish personal ID number.

If name details are different in study documents and passport

If your name has changed after your studies and your name in the passport does not match your study documents, an official proof of name change is required. Submit a copy of an official document of your name change issued by a governing body. This can be, for example, a marriage certificate if your family name has changed in marriage.

If you have a Finnish personal identity code, it is sufficient to have the same code on the study documents and your passport. If your personal identity code has changed or it does not show for example on your transcript of study records, you need to submit a copy of an official document of your name change issued by a governing body.

If official identification card is issued in a language other than English, Finnish or Swedish

If your official identification card is issued in a language other than English, Finnish or Swedish, you must submit a translation of the document. You can translate the document yourself. The translation must be accurate.

Admitted applicants must submit certified (attested) hard copy documents by the given deadline. Admitted applicants need to note the country-specific document requirements. There is a country-specific document requirement also for studies completed in Finland.

Admission is conditional until the certified hard copy documents have been received. Conditional study right will be cancelled if the certified documents are not delivered according to the country-specific document requirements; or not received in the required manner by the deadline.

The certified documents will be compared to the electronic documents uploaded to the application system.

See the instructions for certified documents and submitting them after admission results.

We strongly recommend using a courier service for shipments from outside the European Union instead of regular mail.

Most non-EU/EEA citizens are required to pay tuition fees for master’s degree studies.

Citizens of the EU, EEA or Switzerland are not required to pay tuition fees.

In addition, students who have any of the following documents issued by the Finnish Immigration Service do not have to pay tuition fees (starting from 1 December 2024):

• a permanent residence permit in Finland, marked P on the residence permit card
• a continuous residence permit in Finland granted on grounds other than studying, marked A on the residence permit card, if the following cases do not concern you:
  - If your first residence permit in Finland was granted for the purpose of studying, you must pay tuition fees, even if you later obtained a continuous residence permit (type A) on other grounds.
  - If you have a continuous residence permit (type A) based on family ties in Finland, and your family member originally came to Finland on a residence permit granted for studying, you are also required to pay tuition fees. 
  - If your continuous residence permit (type A) is granted for studying, you are required to pay tuition fees
• an EU residence permit card in Finland for third-country nationals with long-term EU resident status, marked P-EU
• a residence card in Finland of a family member of an EU citizen
• an EU Blue Card in Finland
• a Brexit residence permit card, type SEU-sopimuksen 50 artikla = Right of residence under the withdrawal agreement, or P SEU-sopimuksen 50 artikla = Right of permanent residence under the withdrawal agreement 
• a residence permit on the basis of temporary protection in Finland, as referred to in the Aliens Act. The permit has to be valid at the beginning of the study right, and the permit cannot have later been revoked.

The fee-exempting residence permit must be valid at the beginning of the academic year (1 August 2025) to be exempted from tuition fees for the academic year.
If your residence permit expires before August, you are considered liable to tuition fees at the time of applying. In case you receive a document that exempts you from tuition fees after the application period, you must submit a copy of the document to the university as soon as possible.

If you are exempted from tuition fees on the grounds of your residence permit, upload copies of both the front and back sides of your residence permit card to your application form. In addition, a copy of your valid passport, or national ID card on which your citizenship is indicated, is required to prove your citizenship. A residence permit card itself is not a valid proof of identity.

For more information about determining your liability to pay tuition fee and about tuition fee exemptions, see Studyinfo (studyinfo.fi). 

For more information on residence permit card types, see the Finnish Immigration Service (migri.fi) website.

How much is the tuition fee?

Aalto University's tuition fees vary by study field. Tuition fees are: 

*At the moment, Aalto University has the following multidisciplinary master's programmes: Creative Sustainability, International Design Business Management and Urban Studies and Planning.

Normative duration of master's degree studies is 2 academic years.

Read more about tuition fees at: Scholarships and Tuition Fees.

Aalto University Excellence Scholarship

Aalto University offers a small number of scholarships to fee-paying students. Aalto University Excellence Scholarships are granted in the form of a tuition fee waiver.

Scholarships can be awarded to the best applicants admitted to the programmes. Applicants are ranked according to the evaluation criteria that is on the study options' webpages.

Aalto University scholarships do not cover living costs. Students need to cover all living expenses (at least 800 euros per month) from their own financial resources. 

How to apply for a scholarship?

Applicants from outside the EU/EEA countries or Switzerland who are liable to pay tuition fees can apply for the Aalto University Excellence Scholarship directly on their Master’s programme application form. To apply for a scholarship, you simply have to answer "yes" to the application form question "do you apply for scholarship". You cannot apply for a scholarship after the application period.

The scholarship decisions and the admission decisions are given together. According to the Universities Act, scholarship decisions cannot be appealed.

For more information about scholarships, see: Scholarships and Tuition Fees.