Applying online: seven portals, no central clearing house, and a €5,000 trap

⏱️ Reading time: 11 minutes · Verified 31 July 2026

There is no Romanian equivalent of UCAS or Parcoursup. Seven universities, seven portals, seven accounts to create, seven non-refundable payments.

And one trap few applicants see coming: you are admitted to București on 13 July, with 48 hours to pay €5,000. The Cluj results come out on the 28th. Waiting costs you the București place; paying costs you the deposit if Cluj then accepts you.

This guide covers the technical process end to end — and the strategic decision you need to have made before the first answer arrives.

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🧰 What to prepare beforehand

On the email address: this is not fussiness. You will be corresponding with a university registry for months, and a jokey address makes a lasting impression from the very first contact.

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🔐 Creating your account

Each university has its own portal, generally under “International” or “Admission”.

Write down your login, password and file number carefully — you will be coming back to them for weeks.

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📝 Filling in the form

The form covers three blocks: identity (name exactly as it appears on your passport, birth details, nationality, contact details), academic background (qualification, year, institution, subjects, average) and programme choice.

That last block deserves a slow re-read. Selecting “Pharmacy” instead of “Medicine”, or “Romanian” instead of “English” as the language of instruction, produces either a rejection or an offer for a course you never wanted. These mistakes are more common than you would think, because the labels are in English and sometimes ambiguous.

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📎 Uploading the documents

The principle is the same everywhere: one field per category, one file per field, and an upload confirmation to wait for before closing the page.

Always preview after uploading. Most platforms allow it, and it is the only way to spot an upside-down scan or an illegible apostille.

A naming convention that works

The numbering is not obsessive-compulsive: it lets you see at a glance what is missing, and it makes life easier for whoever opens your file.

Format

PDF only, except for the photo. In colour — an apostille scanned in black and white is often illegible, and the document is then rejected. Under 5 MB per file (SmallPDF and iLovePDF compress for free). And check the orientation before you send.

If your translations are not ready yet, our apostille guide explains the order of operations — and why reversing it means starting again.

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💳 Paying the fees

Three precautions. Check your card limit: a €500 payment is frequently blocked by a low remote-payment ceiling — call your bank to raise it temporarily. Keep the confirmation, both screenshot and PDF receipt: some platforms ask for it afterwards as supporting evidence. And remember that the payment is never refunded, including if you are rejected.

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📊 Tracking your application

Log in at least once a week. Requests for additional documents often carry a 48- to 72-hour deadline — miss it and the file is closed without further action.

This point is underrated: universities notify by email, but emails get lost, land in spam, or arrive in the middle of your final exams. The dashboard does not lie.

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⚠️ Confirming your place — and the calendar trap

“Admitted” settles nothing. The offer stays conditional until three things happen: the deposit is paid (50% of the annual fees, so €3,500 to €5,000), the signed study contract is returned, and the physical originals are handed over in September.

The full dates for each round are in the 2026 admission calendar.

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🔧 Common technical problems

The checklist before you click “Submit”

Your next two actions

Before you touch the first portal, do two things.

Create the dedicated email address and rename all your scans to the convention above. One hour of work that will save you five, spread across seven platforms.

Then write down, in black and white, your order of preference between the universities, and the rank from which you accept on the spot. That is the only real protection against the 48-hour trap.

Only then open the portals. And check one last time that nothing is missing, using the 14-document checklist and the five mistakes that get a file rejected.

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🛡️ If you would rather not do it alone

Seven portals, seven formats, seven deadlines. We check every document before it goes out, handle the sworn translations and the apostille, file at the university registry and follow the application through to confirmation.

See how we handle an application →