Information for Applicants

Dear Applicant,

thank you for your interest in the International Master of Science Program in Earth Oriented Space Science and Technology (ESPACE) at the Technische Universität München (TUM). In this section you can find infromation on application, admission, errollment and financial aspects of your future studies.

Before applying

Please review our website before applying for ESPACE. Particularly, please read sections: "About ESPACE", "Applying" and "Program Structure" in "Studying" section. Please make sure, that the contents of ESPACE fulfill your expectations! It is very important for us, that you are happy with your choice.

TUM Asia Assistance Centre offers assistance for applicants in form of Basic Counselling and Evaluation Service, APS Preparatory Course and Premium Application Support Service.

Application and admission

Applying to ESPACE is to be done via the TUMonline web portal. To learn more about the online application using TUMonline, please click here. The website contains useful information on the application procedure and all future ESPACE applicants are recommended to visit the website!
TUMonline will require you to create a TUMonline account to be able to access and up-date your application information and to submit your personal data (i.e. address, email, etc.) as well as upload certain required documents. Some documents will be required to be sent by post. TUMOnline will indicate which documents are to be sent to the admission/enrollment office (German: “Immatrikulationsamt”) by post.

Application dates

The application for ESPACE opens on January 1st. The deadline for the application is on May 31st. For non-EU citizens, we highly recommend you to send the application until March 15th in order to avoid visa issues due to late admission.

Admission requirements

A bachelor degree or diploma from a recognized university in engineering, natural science or a related field as well as very good previous academic performance is required for admission to the ESPACE program at the TUM. ESPACE is taught in English, therefore also an English certificate is required. ESPACE applicants are expected to show the ability for profound methodological scientific work. Admission requires a solid mathematical and physics background and basic knowledge in programming. German language proficiency is not required for the admission, but basic knowledge of the German language is helpful for everyday life.

Documents

Please note: You do not have to submit any hardcopies before your application is reviewed and you receive an offer of admission. All documents have to be uploaded via TUMonline.

For the documents to be submitted, the deadlines and procedures please look here and here.

Please prepare and submit your application by yourself and do not submit your application through mediators such as educational consultants, agencies, or professors as these will not be considered. Applications or documents of application submitted by fax or e-mail cannot be accepted.
List of the documents needed for admission:

Application for admission - you need to download and sign it and re-upload it to the application wizard.
Detailed, up-to-date curriculum vitae in English
If you have obtained your qualification for postgraduate studies (usually a bachelor's degree) outside the EU/EEA or Switzerland you need a preliminary docmentation (VPD) before applying to TUM. Further informations can be found here.
A short self-written essay (500-700 words) on a scientific topic in the field of Earth oriented space science and Technology (in English). Applicants are free to select the topic. All sources have to be referenced.
Statement of purpose (motivation letter) including your reasons for undertaking graduate work in ESPACE at the TUM written in English. Please keep it short - one page is enough!
Transcript of records *) (semester mark sheets), listing your subjects and grades. If you are still finishing your Bachelor's degree, you can submit the preliminary transcript with at least 140 ECTS. Please note: you have to sumit original transcript with university seal or a certified copy of it. The seal on the envelope is not sufficient!
Recognised English language certificate. If you have acquired at least 30 credits in English modules in your undergraduate studies or if your final thesis in your undergraduate studies was written in English, you should submit a sealed document confirming this aspect. Otherwise you can prove English langugage skills by submitting a recognised English test like the "Cambridge Main Suite of English Examinations", the "Test of English as a Foreign Language" (TOEFL) with the minimum requirement of 88 points or the "International English Language Testing System" (IELTS) with the overall band score of 6.5 and higher. More information can be found here.
Chinese applicants must submit a valid APS certificate *). It is also possible to obtain APS Certificate in a special process initiated by APS and TUM. A registration at the APS before January 1 of the year of application is required. More information can be found here (in Chinese).
GRE General Test *) (recommended but not required)
It is recommended (but not required) for Indian applicants to submit their recent GATE *) (Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering) results of papers in either:
- engineering (codes XE, CS, EC, EE, IN, IT, ME, MN, AE)
- mathematics and natural sciences (codes GG, MA, PH)

Please also check special condition for certain countries.
List of the documents needed for enrollment:

Passport style photo (as for ID)
Passport *)
Evidence of student health insurance (issued by a compulsory health insurance company, usually a German one)
Degree certificate *)
Diploma *)

Those documents should be submitted together with documents needed for admission, but if you don't have them by the application deadline, you can submit the later, aven after arriving in Munich in October.

*) Original document or certified copy required. Information on certifying documents can be found here. IMPORTANT: Please make sure that your documents are certified as required. Otherwise your application has to be refused. Some universities issue their transcripts in a sealed envelope. If no seal is placed in the original document, such a document won't be accepted. You have to notarize such documents by an authority in your country.
Finally, please ONLY SUBMIT the documents that are required or mentioned as optional. Do not send extra/supplementary certificates that are not required. They will not help you to get admitted!

Application and admission procedure (aptitude test)

After submission of the required documents, an application review is carried out. First, the documents are formally checked by the TUM Admission Office. If all documents needed for admission are complete and correct, your applications is forwarded to the ESPACE office. Selection for the Master of Science program ESPACE will be made by the Admission Committee on the basis of the documents of application (Assessment of Aptitude). Admission to the ESPACE program is highly competitive. In some cases, skype interviews with applicants might be necessary. Each applicant can gain up to 100 points (where 100 points is the best possible result) considering:

a) Average grade from the transcript of records. The original average grade as given by your home university is converted into the German grading system by the TUM Admission Office. The German system reaches from 1.0 (best) to 4.0 (sufficient). The conversion formula maps your grading system onto this scale. Then, the average grade is converted into a point scheme, which is used for ESPACE admission. From the average grade, you can earn 30 points as a maximum. In detail the points are computed as follows:

0 points for grade 4.0 and 30 points for 1.0 (in German grading system)
# of points = 50 - 20 * grade if the grade is ≤1.5
# of points = 32 - 8 * grade if the grade is >1.5

b) Competence in mathematics (up to 10 points), physics (up to 7 points) and programming skills (up to 3 points). The number of points is calculated as no_of_points=sum_of_ECTS/1.5, where the sum_of_ECTS is the sum of ECTS completed during the previous studies in mathematics, physics and programming respectively. For computing the competence points the grades obtained in the relevant courses are not taken into account, but only the credits. You can earn up to 20 points.

c) Motivation letter and essay are assessed with up to 50 points.

Applicants:

are directly admitted if they have at least 81 points,
are rejected if they have less than 60 points,
are invited to an interview if they have a score between 60 and 80 points.

In the interview, the applicants can get up to 50 points replacing the points obtained from item c above. The final score is calculated as a sum of the points from the average grade (item a), competence in mathematics, physics and programming (item b) and the score from the interview (again the maximum score is 100 points). Applicants with the final score ≥ 81 points are admitted, while applicants with the final score ≤ 80 are rejected.

Enrollment

If accepted to the ESPACE program, you have to acceppt the study place in order to you receive an official acceptance letter via your TUMonline account including information on your day of enrollment. This letter that you print out from your TUMonline account is considered official (the German version is the only legally binding letter) and is what you would use to apply for your student visa. This means you will not receive a hard copy via regular mail of your admission letter.

If your local German embassy requires an admission letter with a TUM seal or stamp, please inform us immediately! Otherwise you may have a long delay and ultimately not receive your student visa on time!

Once all your required documents for enrollment are received at the TUM Admission Office ("Immatrikulationsamt") and you have paied the student union fee, you will be automatically enrolled into the TUM as a student and will be able to print out your enrollment confirmation via your TUMonline account. There is therefore no longer an official "enrollment day" at the TUM. Nevertheless, please note that you are expected to be in Munich by the end of September/beginning of October for orientation week! All steps of the admission and enrollment procedure can be followed in the TUMonline system.

For more information concering tuition fees, housing and living, etc. please click here.

For more information concering formalities for first semester students please click here.