Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore Admissions Guide

This guide covers the entrance exam for the English-taught Medicine and Surgery programme in Rome. Università Cattolica's Italian-taught programme uses a separate, differently structured in-person test, so if you're applying to that track, its content isn't a match for this guide.

65 scored questions in one continuous 65-minute sitting, plus 7 unscored reserve questions in a further 7 minutes: Logical Reasoning 20, Biology 18, Chemistry 12, Ethics and Religious Culture 5, Mathematics 4, Physics 4 and General Culture 2. A correct answer scores +1, a wrong one −0.25 and a blank 0, and you need at least 20 of 65 to be admissible at all. For 2026/27 it was sat online from home under remote proctoring, on 25 March 2026.

For 2026/27 there were 40 EU-quota and 70 non-EU-quota places, each ranked separately, and the test fee was €210. Quotas are confirmed each year by the Italian Ministry, so check the new figures once the 2027/28 guidelines are out.

Yes. It's updated for Università Cattolica's 2027/28 call, published on 14 October 2026. The call keeps the same test (65 questions in 65 minutes, the same subject split and scoring), the same places (40 EU, 70 non-EU) and the same €210 fee; applications close on 17 February 2027 and the online exam is on 17 March 2027. Two things in the content changed, and the guide follows both: the physics syllabus was rewritten (fluid dynamics and Bernoulli, angular momentum, equipotential surfaces, capacitor energy, AC period and frequency, the magnetic field of a current and more), and the ethics reading list now names Magnifica Humanitas, Pope Leo XIV's encyclical, in place of Laudato si'.

Yes. The simulator includes Cattolica-format questions that align with the guide's topic coverage.

Within the EU, yes. It's a standard Italian medical degree (LM-41), automatically recognised for practice across the EU/EEA under EU law. One Italy-specific point worth knowing: the old separate state licensing exam (Esame di Stato) no longer exists for this degree. Since a 2020/2021 reform, the practical assessment built into the final year of the course itself confers the right to register with the local Ordine dei Medici and practice. For the UK, the Medical Act 1983 (sections 21B and 21C, as in force on 12 October 2026) spares holders of an Italian medical degree the knowledge test other international graduates take through PLAB/UKMLA, but the UK's list pairs the laurea with the Diploma di abilitazione all'esercizio della medicina e chirurgia, which Italy stopped issuing in March 2020, when the practical training moved inside the degree. The GMC's Italy page therefore offers graduates since then provisional registration on the laurea, for a UK Foundation Year 1 post, and asks for evidence of supervised practice, such as a 12-month internship, for full registration. US recognition follows the standard international-graduate route (ECFMG certification via USMLE) rather than an automatic Cattolica-specific pathway.