Filling In the University Preference Form: Turks Leave It to the “Writing on the Forehead”
Turkey’s supplementary placement round for university applications opened on 16 September 2026. That day the Turkish examination authority ÖSYM issued a notice: candidates who were not placed in the first round may fill in their preferences once more and compete for places the universities have not filled (per ÖSYM’s official notice). For many families this is the heaviest week of the year.
In Turkish, though, the word for fate is written very concretely: alın yazısı. Alın means forehead; yazı means what has been written — literally, “the writing on the forehead” (per Turkish dictionary definitions). A person is “written” from the moment of birth. That gives the act of filling in preferences a peculiar weight in local speech: what you fill in is a preference, but what you are talking about is fate.
The idea does not stand on its own. The amulet Turks carry most often in daily life is the “blue eye” (nazar boncuğu), a bead of blue and white glass that looks like an eye, hung at doorways, on prams and on pins, and said to block other people’s envy and unwelcome attention. Before an exam, some students tuck one into their pencil case. Its logic complements alın yazısı neatly: fate has already been written, but “who happened to look at you” can still be blocked.
Chinese has a matching line of its own: “what is destined for you will come in time.” What is interesting is that the two sayings land in different places — one puts fate on the forehead, the other puts fate in time — yet both are spoken aloud for the same purpose: to comfort the person still waiting for a result.
On 占卜迷指, one of the most common questions is “should I just wait a little longer?” There is no standard answer to a question like that, but if you write your situation out clearly and let a method lay the variables out one by one — cast the chart, read the interpretation, export it — at least you know what you are waiting for.
Sources
- ÖSYM official notice (2026-YKS supplementary preference round, 16 September 2026): https://www.osym.gov.tr/2026-yks-ek-yerlestirme-icin-tercih-islemleri
- Turkish media summary of the timing and procedure for the supplementary round (Hürriyet, 15 September 2026): https://www.hurriyet.com.tr/bilgi/galeri/yks-universite-ek-tercih-yerlestirmeleri-ne-zaman-yapilacak-2026-universite-tercih-tarihleri-43306099
- Turkish dictionary definition of alın yazısı (Wiktionary): https://tr.wiktionary.org/wiki/al%C4%B1n_yaz%C4%B1s%C4%B1
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