Germany offers a lot of master programs taught in English for international students. A major attractive factor is that there are no tuition fees for studying in public universities in Germany. Therefore, you have the privilege of obtaining the world-class education at an affordable cost.
Applying to German public universities is not a tiring process if you understand it correctly. Here, I am providing everything you need to know about applying to universities in Germany.
Before we dive into the details, let me explain a little about the German education system. There are only 2 intakes in any university – winter, and summer.
Winter semester usually spans from October to February and summer semester spans from April to July. After each semester you will get a vacation of one month/2 month with a vacation in summer longer than in winter.
If you want to apply for winter semester, the deadline will be usually July 15 of the same year. If you want to apply for a summer semester, a deadline will be Jan 15 of the same year. This implies clearly that you have to prepare well in advance to apply to universities.
Now, let’s break down the process of applying to universities into 3 steps:
Finding the right university and course
Preparing the documents for applying
Sending the documents to the university
Don’t get overwhelmed by the steps. These are easier than you think it is. I will walk you through each and every step of this process.
Finding the right university and course: There is a one-stop solution for finding the university – DAAD. You can go to the website of daad and use the search feature to filter based on your field, term etc. It gives the list of universities, courses, intake, course details and almost everything you need to know. You can also visit university website for further details if you want. When you do sufficient research with daad, you will be able to shortlist 5-7 universities and courses in your relevant field. This will also help you to get an idea about the universities well.
Preparing the documents for applying: Generally, each university will have their own specific requirements. Still, there is a mandatory list of documents needed for applying. They are:
Degree certificates, transcripts
IELTS/TOEFL score card to prove your language efficiency with a minimum score of 6.5/90
CV
SOP (Statement Of Purpose), explaining your motivation for choosing Germany and the course
Work experience certificates if any in the relevant field
Details of higher secondary educationAdditional Documents: This includes any additional documents that an individual can add to prove hic competitiveness or skills in the related field like:
GRE/GMAT score
Recommendation letters from Professors/ EmployerDepending on the university, they might ask for more documents and this is a general list of documents that you need for applying.
Sending the documents to the university: Once you have shortlisted universities and prepared all the documents, you are ready to send the documents to universities. You have to either send your documents directly to the university or to uni-assist. This you have to check on the university website. By sending documents, you are finished with the initial phase of the application procedure.It will take approximately 6 weeks for the application to be processed by the university. Some universities will have additional proceedings like an assessment test/ skype interview etc. But this depends on the universities that you choose. When you get the acceptance letter from a university, then you can start with the visa procedures. I will not go into the details in this article as it deserves to be another article.Therefore, if you carefully read through the instructions and follow the steps mentioned above, I am certain that you will not have to stumble through the entire process!