PhD thesis in Turkey and the YLSY scholarship: a guide for Turkish students

Turkish students meet the PhD in two forms. One is the doctorate at a Turkish university, which runs on national entrance scores, a qualifying exam and a thesis monitoring committee. The other is a doctorate abroad paid for by the Ministry of National Education through the YLSY scholarship. The two routes use different rules, and the figures below come from university regulations and the ministry's published 2025 guide. The ministry issues a new guide every year, so check the current one before you plan around any number.

The document at the center of this degree is called a thesis in most of the English-speaking world and a dissertation in the United States. This guide uses "thesis" and treats the two words as the same piece of work, so everything here applies to your dissertation too.

Part one: the PhD at a Turkish university

Admission

A doctoral applicant normally holds a thesis-based master's degree, although each institute sets its own conditions. The national requirements published through universities and the European Commission's Eurydice system include:

• ALES. The Academic Personnel and Graduate Education Entrance Exam. The national floor for doctoral programs is 55, and many universities set the bar higher, for example 60 or 70 in some institutes. ALES results remain valid for five years.
• Foreign language. A score of at least 55 in YDS or YÖKDİL, or an equivalent score in an international exam the Interuniversity Board accepts. Some departments, including programs taught in English, ask for 65 or 70. Language scores are also valid for five years.
• Interview or science exam. Many departments add one, and the weights differ. One university's regulations weight an interview-based ranking as 50 percent ALES, 15 percent master's grade average, 15 percent language and 20 percent interview. Another, without an interview, uses 50 percent ALES, 30 percent master's average and 20 percent language. Read the announcement of your own institute.

Each university publishes its quota and its minimums every admission cycle. Those figures replace any general number.

The stages

1. Coursework. A set credit load, including a seminar course. Undergraduate courses taken during the doctorate do not count toward it.
2. Qualifying exam. Written, oral or both. It tests whether you hold the basic concepts of the field and understand the depth of research in it.
3. Thesis monitoring committee. After you pass the qualifying exam, a committee of three faculty members is formed within a month. It meets you at set intervals, and regulations require at least three meetings across the thesis period. Treat each meeting as an examination, because the committee reports on your progress.
4. Thesis proposal. Presented to the committee, which must accept it before you proceed.
5. Thesis writing.
6. Defense before a jury. The institute appoints the jury. If you complete the courses, qualifying exam and proposal but cannot finish the thesis within the maximum period, regulations grant extra periods of at least six months in which to defend.

Terms and numbers differ between universities, and between institutes of the same university, so read the graduate education regulation of the one you apply to.

Language of the thesis

Many Turkish programs run in Turkish, and others in English. If you write in English, the language exam you took for admission does not prepare you for a 200-page argument. Clarity problems in a first draft come from sentence structure, article use and the shape of paragraphs, and they are easy for an examiner to misread as weak thinking. TDM's editing corrects that and leaves the argument to you.

Part two: the YLSY scholarship for study abroad

YLSY is the Ministry of National Education's program for sending Turkish graduates abroad for master's and doctoral study under Law No. 1416. The ministry has run it since 1929 to supply universities and public bodies with trained staff. The 2024 call offered 668 places, and the 2025 call offered 811, with applications in December and January through the ministry's REBUS system.

Who can apply, as in the 2025 guide

• You must be a Turkish citizen with a bachelor's degree. The guide states that applications are made on the bachelor's degree alone, and you cannot apply with a master's or doctoral degree, though people who completed a master's under Law 1416 and served their term may apply for doctorate-only fields.
• You need an ALES score of at least 75 in the score type the program accepts. ALES results from 2021 to 2025 counted in that call.
• Your bachelor's grade average must be at least 2.50 out of 4 or 65 out of 100.
• Age limits applied by birth year: 1995 or later for fields leading to a master's, and 1992 or later for doctorate-only fields.
• You must be fit for study abroad and for service anywhere in Turkey, and have no outstanding compulsory service.

How selection works

Your application score combines 40 percent of your ALES score with 20 percent of your bachelor's grade. The ministry invites candidates in order of that score, up to three times the quota in each field, to an oral exam. Your final YLSY score then adds the oral exam, so ALES counts 40 percent, the oral exam 40 percent and your grade 20 percent. Candidates with a final score of 70 or more may choose from the quota in their field and place their institution preferences. You do not need to show a language score to win the scholarship. If your English is below your target university's requirement, the ministry has funded language study, up to twelve months in Turkey or up to six months abroad in the UK pre-sessional programs.

Funding period and obligations

Doctoral study is funded for up to four years and master's for up to two. The scholarship is reciprocal, meaning you take on a compulsory service obligation. You return and serve the sponsoring university or public body, and the guide sets the terms of that obligation. Read that section carefully before you accept. The contract binds you for years after the degree.

Where YLSY holders study

YLSY scholars have completed degrees in the United States and the United Kingdom, among other countries. Your university choices must come from the ministry's list for your field, and your admissions work runs in parallel with the scholarship. How students from Turkey and the Gulf apply to US and UK universities covers the application steps, and the US and UK guides show what the degree looks like once you are there.

A plan for the next twelve months

1. Check your ALES date. Scores expire after five years.
2. Take YDS or YÖKDİL, or an international test such as IELTS or TOEFL, at the level your target programs request.
3. Download the latest YLSY guide from the Ministry's Directorate General for Higher Education and Overseas Education and read the field tables.
4. Draft your research proposal early. See how to write a PhD research proposal for international applications.
5. Contact supervisors abroad before you submit applications.
6. Have your proposal and your personal statement read by an editor who works with non-native English writers.

TDM provides that review, along with formatting to your university's template when the dissertation is ready.