I A - Office of Student Affairs

Allocation Procedure for Study Places

Free admission master's programs

Upon submission of a complete and timely application, your first university degree will be reviewed by the Office of Student Affairs and relevant examination boards to see that it fulfills both the general and subject-specific admission requirements. An allocation or selection process is not held at this point.

Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis until the semester begins. If you fulfill all subject-specific admission requirements, you will be offered a study place and can enroll.

Restricted admission master’s programs (NC)

Allocation process

Upon submission of a complete and timely application, your first university degree will be reviewed by the Office of Student Affairs and relevant examination boards to check if it fulfills both the general and subject-specific admission requirements. If an application fulfills all the requirements, it takes part in the selection process of the respective Master’s program.

The review process for master’s programs with restricted admission may take place 4 to 8 weeks after the application deadline.

Study places are then allocated pursuant to the Act on the Admission to Higher Education Institutions in the State of Berlin to Degree Programs with Restricted Admission (Berliner Hochschulzulassungsgesetz - BerlHZG) and the General Study and Examination Regulations of TU Berlin (AllgStuPo).

Two ranking lists are then created: the first lists the results of the prior selection process and the second ranks applications by waiting time. It is only possible for you to receive a study place through one of the ranking lists. This means if you receive a study place through the waiting list ranking, you will not be included in the ranking of the selection process.

80% of the available study places will be allocated by the result of the selection process and 20% by waiting time pursuant to § 18 of the General Study and Examination Regulations of TU Berlin (AllgStuPo).

Advance quota:

5% of the available study places are reserved for applicants who both fulfill the subject-specific admission requirements and submit an approved hardship case. All remaining study places after deduction of this advance quota will be allocated following the processes and quotas described above.

If there are fewer suitable applications than places on a Master's degree programme with restricted admission, all applicants will be admitted. The selection process and the allocation process described above will then be omitted.

Selection process (more applications than study places)

All master’s programs with restricted admission must conduct a selection process if there are more complete and qualified applications than study places available. The results of this process determine the allocation of study places.

Only applicants who fulfill the subject-specific admission requirements can participate in this selection process. You can learn more about subject-specific admission requirements on the following page.

The selection process is conducted by the responsible office of the faculty.

In the selection process your average grade and at least one additional criterion are assessed. These are weighted and aggregated and result in a ranking list for the allocation process.

The subject relevance of your previous studies and/or relevant internships may serve as additional considered criteria. This means selection can be made based on both the regular and additional application documents as well as selection interviews or aptitude tests.

The selection procedure for your chosen degree programme can be found in the relevant study and examination regulations or admission regulations.

Legal basis:

Clearing procedure (if initially denied a study place)

Were you initially denied a study place? The clearing procedure provides an opportunity to enroll even after being denied a study place. If applicants who ranked above you do not accept their study offer, you can be offered their place instead. If you have already enrolled in another degree program, you can easily switch.

No application is necessary for this, all applicants who have been positively examined in terms of form and content automatically take part in the clearing procedure.

Lottery system (if study places remain)

If study places remain available after the allocation procedure has been completed (primary procedure, clearing procedure), these will be allocated using a lottery system. You may only submit one application for participation in the lottery system. Only those allocated a place will be notified.

To participate, please first register on our online portal and send us the application to participate in the lottery procedure together with all the required documents by e.mail no later than 01.04 or 01.10. Please only submit this application to TU Berlin - Graduate Admissions and not to uni-assist. In the online portal you will still read that documents have to send by post. Please ignore this information.

Please send the scanned documents as one PDF by e-mail. Please use the following subject for your e-Mail: Antrag auf Teilnahme am Losverfahren Master

If you do not have a scanning device, you can also use an app on you smartphone to scan the documents.

You can see which degree programs still have places available at the beginning of September for the winter semester and the beginning of March for the summer semester using the national study place database (bundesweite Studienplatzbörse).