How to Apply to Universities in Turkey: Requirements, Deadlines and Portals
By Muntasir Minhaz • Published Jan 04, 2025 • Guides, Study in Europe, Country & City Guides, Admissions & Applications
You apply to Turkish universities directly through each institution, not one central portal, using your TR-YÖS score, an accepted exam like the SAT or GCE A-levels, or your high school diploma. Deadlines run roughly from January to August depending on the university, and you need your diploma, transcript, passport and exam or language scores.
📩 Apply directly to each university's international office, no shared national portal
Accepted routes: TR-YÖS, SAT, ACT, GCE A-levels, IB, Abitur or your high school diploma alone, depending on the university
⏱️ Deadlines vary by school, commonly between January and August for the fall intake
Required documents: diploma, transcript, passport copy, exam or language scores
Apply for your student visa only after you receive an acceptance letter
Two separate admission tracks
Turkey runs two distinct systems for entering a bachelor's degree. Turkish citizens who finished high school in the country sit the national YKS exam, organized by the national testing body ÖSYM, and get placed into programs through a centralized system based on their score.
If you are applying from another European country, or you completed secondary school outside Turkey, you fall under the international student admission route instead. Here, there is no single national application system. Each university runs its own process, sets its own foreign-student quota and decides which qualifications it accepts, so plan to apply separately to every school you are interested in.
What qualifies you to apply
Universities in Turkey typically accept one of the following from international applicants: a TR-YÖS score (a foreign student exam some universities run themselves or share results for), an internationally recognized exam such as the SAT, ACT, GCE A-levels or the International Baccalaureate, or in many cases your high school diploma and final grades alone. You must be in your final year of secondary school or already hold your diploma to apply, according to the Study in Türkiye government portal.
Check the admission requirements page of each target university before you apply, since accepted qualifications and minimum scores differ by program, and competitive fields like medicine and engineering often set higher thresholds or require the university's own entrance exam.
Typical application timeline
Application windows spread out across the first half of the year and vary widely by institution. Istanbul Technical University runs its international undergraduate application period from June to mid-August for entry the same year, according to its official admissions page . Koç University splits its fall intake into an early application window from January to March and a regular window from March to May, per its international admissions page .
Start researching your target universities six to nine months before you want to begin your degree. International quotas fill on a rolling basis at some schools, and gathering translated and certified documents takes time.
Selection differs by university and program
Some universities select purely on your TR-YÖS or SAT-equivalent score, ranking applicants and filling seats top-down. Others weigh your high school GPA alongside the exam result, and a handful of programs, particularly art, music and architecture, add a portfolio review or interview on top of your academic scores. Confirm the exact selection method on the program page before you apply, since this shapes how much weight your exam result carries.
Documents you need
High school diploma and full transcript, often required in Turkish or English with a certified translation
Passport copy valid through your planned study period
TR-YÖS, SAT, ACT or equivalent exam result, if the university requires one
English or Turkish language proficiency certificate, unless you qualify for an exemption or plan to take the prep year
Passport-size photos
Application fee, set individually by each university
Universities that accept students from abroad without their own foreign-student exam still ask for the same core paperwork, so prepare certified copies and translations early, since document processing is the step most applicants underestimate.
After you get an offer
Once a university accepts you, request your acceptance letter and use it to apply for a student visa at the Turkish embassy or consulate in your home country before you travel. After arrival, you register with the local authorities and apply for a residence permit, which you need for the full length of your studies.
If your diploma needs formal recognition, for example to continue studying or working elsewhere in Europe later, apply for an equivalence document through YÖK or the relevant national ENIC-NARIC center once your studies finish, since Turkish universities themselves handle admission recognition separately from this process.