Application and Admission

The online application form usually opens for applications approx. 4 to 5 weeks before the final deadline, 15th of May.

Usually, the admissions office and the department need about one month to proces the applications and to take a decision. We try to inform the applicants within one month after the application deadline about the result of the process.

According to the admission rules, a series of soft and hard criteria decide on the admission of a candidate. The following critera do play a role for the admission committee:

• What is the candidate's former study programme?
• At which institution did he/she study before?
• What grades were achieved?
• Who has written the reference letters and how emphatetic is the recommendation given?
• Is the motivation letter substantial?
• What other professional/academic experiences does the candidate have?

In principle yes. However, you need to hand in an application to the examination board during the first two semesters of your studies. You can drop off this application at the study advisor's office during office hours.

No - You first apply for the general MA programme and usually spend the first year of studies at the University of Konstanz. During that year, you apply, through an internal application procedure, for one of the options offered. This means that students collect information about these options during the first months of their studies and apply on the basis of the inspiration gained. The application deadline for the exchange to the US and Canada is the 2nd of November, for the European programmes the 1st of February.

We would like to avoid that you have extra costs having to take English tests offered by commercial providers. Instead, it would be sufficient to hand in the following documents:

• High School leaving certifice AND
• Confirmation of former University that you took academic classes in English language (e.g. through Transcript of Records) OR
• Confirmation that you did an Erasmus exchange at a University where the teaching language is English OR
• Certificate of language proficiency issued by the Language Centre of your former University.

Yes - we also accept reference letters issued by postdoctoral researchers and lecturers. It is more important that the author can say something substantial about the applicant.

A recommendation letter should be one page maximum.  It should include the following elements:

- how does the professor/instructor writing the recommendation know the applicant?
- what class(es) of yours did the applicant attend?
- how did the applicant do academically in that class?
- how does the professor/instructor evaluate the applicant academically?
- what accomplishments of theirs do you find noteworthy?
- why is the applicant especially fitting for this degree programme?

The reference letters can be handed in together with the rest of the application documents. It is not necessary to deliver them in a sealed enveloppe. Alternatively, the academic staff or the candidate can also send the recommendation letter by e-mail or regular mail to the study advisor.

You have to fill out the online application and to hand in all relevant documents by the 15th of May. For the application process, it is not necessary to send documents via regular mail (it might be necessary to hand in original documents or certified copies of some documents at some later stage, for the enrolment process).

Missing application documents such as recommendation letters still can be sent to the study advisor by e-mail until the 31st of May.

Yes, this is possible - as we understand that at many universities and in many countries, it is not usual that students do an internship during their BA studies. If an applicant has done one or more internships that were, each one, shorter than two months, we can also take them into account.

Usually, applicants for a study place have worked previously in one of the following areas:

• Public administration, on the local, regional, national or international level, e.g., city governments, ministries, embassies
• NGOs, public foundations
• Private businesses , e.g. management, HR department or inhouse consulting
• Development aid
• Media and press

Besides proper internships, we also can take into account if applicants worked as research or teaching assistants or had a job.

Yes - all core courses of the programme are offered in English. There are some elective courses that are offered in German. However, students will always find a sufficient offer of courses offered in English. ATTENTION: One of the four fields of specialisation, Management and Public Administration, does require German language skills, as many courses in that area, especially those dealing with the German public administration, are offered in that language. We recommend all international students to learn German during their stay in Konstanz and e.g. take part in the GoKonstanz-programme, a one-month intensive language course offered in September by the international office.