Before Arriving in Ankara
You will need to complete a number of bureaucratic steps before and upon your arrival in Ankara, before you can enroll at METU. We have prepared an overview that will help you with these in particular and your arrival in Ankara in general. Do not forget to bring your passport and other important documents. And it's always useful to have a few extra passport photos with you.
Please have a look at the METU Academic Calendar for important dates and holidays.
Get Your Student Visa
A student visa is required to register as a student in Turkey. Exceptions are those who are legal dependents of someone in Turkey on a diplomatic visa or with a work visa. Students who come to Turkey without a student visa will not be able to register as a student nor will they get residence permits. Student visas must be obtained from a Turkish Consulate - generally the one nearest your place of residence. Student visas cannot be obtained within Turkey. The acceptance and enrollment letters will help you to apply for a student visa.
Get Your Health Insurance
All international students can apply for health insurance during the period of document submission to the International Students Office. The monthly cost for health insurance is about 35 TL. Please note that if you do not have any health insurance before and during this application in Turkey, you will be without coverage for about 2-3 weeks until you receive a valid insurance. Besides this, students enrolled in METU on a degree program have partial medical coverage. This coverage extends only to those services offered by the Medical Center on campus, which includes some of X-ray and laboratory tests, general medical examination, and simple first aid care, and covers 90% of the cost of medication prescribed by the METU Medical Center's Medical Doctors. However, it does not pay the cost of referrals and hospitalization. The medical doctors at the center consult their patients from 9:00 to 12:00 and from 13:30 to 16:30 Monday to Friday. Emergency service is available 7 days a week 24 hours a day.
Get Official Documents Ready for Registration
- Notarized copy of the Bachelor's/Master's Diploma (Students can submit the photocopy of their diplomas without notarization by showing the original during registration)
- Original copy of transcript (except METU graduates)
- LES/ALES/GRE/GMAT notarized copy (International Students can conditionally register without a Graduate Exam result)
- Original copy of English language test scores (TOEFL/IELTS/METU EPE) - All students have to declare a valid exam result. According to METU regulations it is not possible to register a graduate program without a valid English language test score, unles you are a native speaker.
Those who took METU English Proficiency Exam can get their scores from here.
Passport (Only for international students)
Passports should be shown to the officials during registration. Photocopies of the pages that include identification information and "Student Visa" should also be submitted. Students who come from other countries can get the "Student Visa" from the Turkish Embassy in their country. Students who live in Turkey should give the photocopies of the first seven pages of the Student Residence Permit (instead of Student Visa). It is not possible to register without a student visa or a valid residence permit.
6 photos (Male students should appear beardless and female students should appear without a headscarf - without any covering on the head and neck) in their photos. Photocopies are not accepted.
Health Insurance documents: All new international students (except the ones who have a scholarship) must submit a valid one-year health insurance document during registration. Those who do not have health insurance may consult with the officials during the registration.