Application Requirements and Procedure for the Master's program Quantum Science and Technology

Application periods

For a start in winter semester

• January 1 to May 31

The closing dates are absolute deadlines, i. e. the online application has to be completed in TUMonline. All necessary documents have to be uploaded by then.

For the 'Early Bird' option, please see ' section Early application to avoid visa problems.

Selection procedure schedule

First stage

The results of the first stage of the aptitude assessment are published approximately eight weeks after the application deadline.

Second stage

Applicants who are not directly admitted in the first stage will be invited to a selection interview. The dates will be determined following the announcement of the results of the first stage. Individual dates will be arranged with the applicants.

Admission is based on documents uploaded online. Certified copies must be submitted for enrollment only after admission. It is important that all documents relevant for admission are uploaded, otherwise the application is not considered complete. This also applies to TUM-internal applications!

Which documents are necessary in your case will be specified during the online process. Please also consider the information given by TUM Student Admission Office.

Some additional information on some of these documents is provided below.

• CV

Please provide a curriculum vitae without chronological gaps up to the time of your application at TUM. Please feel free to use the template from the European Union (europass).

• Statement of reasons (Motivation letter)

The written grounds (in English) for selecting the desired Master's program of the TUM should not be longer than two DIN A4 pages. In this, explain

(1) why you are suitable for the program (reference to admission requirements), and

(2) which reasons led to select this degree program at the TUM (objectives, envisaged specialization fields).

The statement of reasons letter has to be connected to the chosen Master's program, a general statement about your interest in the subject is not sufficient. It must be written independently and without outside help and the ideas taken from outside sources must be identified as such.

• Verification of successful completion of a module in quantum mechanics

Please make clear in the documentation submitted for this purpose which module(s) are to be examined for evidence of a Quantum Mechanics module. For example, please mark the module on your transcript that you consider to be equivalent to the required module.

• Academic Records

You have to hand in your transcript, diploma and degree certificate. If the original language of the documents is other than German or English, you must submit your documents (i) in the original language and (ii) in certified translations into English or German.

You are required to submit the academic records from each university or college you have attended, including the official transcript of records (mark sheets) and evidence of all degrees awarded.

If you are applying before graduation, please send us the official transcript of records together with a list of the courses to be completed by the time of graduation and provide us with your degree certificate as soon as possible, latest one year after starting your studies at TUM (see also the remark at admission in advance).

• Analysis of your curriculum

The curricular analysis is an overview of the skills you have acquired in your previous studies and how you think you meet the required subject-specific prerequisites. Please carefully compare the modules of your Bachelor's curriculum point by point with the required modules and use the program-specific analysis of your curriculum form for your self-assessment.

• Module catalog / curriculum

The Module catalog contians Module descriptions with information about the contents and competences taught in your studies. At least the contents and the learning outcomes of your courses should be included, if possible also the workload or teaching hours.

If your university does not provide descriptions in English or German, but only in the local language, you have to translate the descriptions yourself and submit them together with the original descriptions (weblinks to the corresponding place on the official website of your university is sufficient).

• Language certificate

Undergraduate students whose native language or language of instruction in university is not English, according to §36 (1) S. 2 of the exam regulations have to provide a proof of adequate knowledge of the language in order to be admitted to the English language Master's degree program Quantum Science and Technology.

The certificates accepted for English language skills are institutional at TUM.

In addition to these certificates, it will also be accepted if at least 10 ECTS in your underlying Bachelor's degree program were taught and examined in English. This can be provided e.g. as an English-language Bachelor's thesis. For this proof, compile the English-language modules in a list using the provided PDF. And do not forget the proof that these modules are in English. Please note that proof of language skills must be available by the application deadline.

German language skills in English-taught programs?

Although knowledge of the German language is not relevant for your admission in English-taught programs, the Bavarian State Government requires all international students to acquire at least a basic level of German during their studies (CEFR Level A1 or higher). Therefore, applicants not providing proof of German language skills can only be granted admission on condition to complete one module providing them with integrative knowledge of the German language within the first two semesters of their studies. For this purpose, you may take language German courses before leaving your home country or do so during your studies. The offer of German language courses at TUM is limited to availability of places, please check out regular offer of TUM Language Center.

If you already have German language skills at level A1 or higher, please submit the proof of proficiency together with your application (as an “appendix” to the curriculum vitae).

• Special conditions for certain countries

For individual countries, special requirements apply regarding the documents to be submitted. You do not need a GRE for this program.

The academic requirements for admission to the Master's degree program in Quantum Science and Technology are:

• You have completed the TUMonline application in full and on time (uploading all documents relevant to admission).

• You passed a course in Quantum Mechanics providing competencies equivalent to PH0007 Theoretical Physics 3 (Quantum Mechanics).

• You have a qualifying Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent).
  To find out whether your Bachelor’s program is sufficient for admission, the courses you passed are compared to the following core modules at TUM or LMU. If it has been established that there are no significant differences in the skills acquired, a maximum of 120 points will be awarded. In the absence of part of the equivalent competencies, points will be deducted. Only whole points are awarded. The resulting points are included later in the aptitude assessment as a base score.

  Subject Group	POINTS
  Basic Experimental Physics (maximum 2 of 2) (Mechanics, Electrodynamics, Thermodynamics, Oscillators, Waves and Optics) Reference: the following mandatory modules of the TUM Bachelor’s program in Chemistry PH9002: Experimental Physics 1 (10 points) PH9003: Experimental Physics 2 (10 points)	20
  Basic Mathematics (maximum 4 of 4) (linear algebra, calculus) reference: the following mandatory modules of the TUM Bachelor’s program in Physics MA9201: Mathematics for Physicists 1 (Linear Algebra) (10 points) MA9202: Mathematics for Physicists 2 (Analysis 1) (10 points) MA9203: Mathematics for Physicists 3 (Analysis 2) (10 points) MA9204: Mathematics for Physicists 4 (Analysis 3) (10 points)	40
  Qualification in theoretical sciences (maximum 3 of 5) (canonical courses in theoretical Physics, numerics and discrete structures) reference: the following modules from the TUM Bachelor’s program in Physics, Informatics, as well as Electrical Engineering and Information Technology PH0005: Theoretical Physics 1 (Mechanics) (10 points) PH0006: Theoretical Physics 2 (Electrodynamics) (10 points) PH0008: Theoretical Physics 4A (Statistical Mechanics and Thermodynamics) (10 points) MA9410: Numerics (EI) (10 points) IN0015: Discrete Structures (10 points)	30
  Qualification in experimental sciences (maximum 3 of 5) (classic courses in advanced experimental Physics as well as organic and inorganic Chemistry) reference: the following modules from TUM’s and LMU’s Physics Bachelor’s programs and the modules of TUM Department of Chemistry PH0016: Introduction to Nuclear, Particle, and Astrophysics (10 points) PH0019: Introduction to Condensed Matter Physics (10 points) P 12: Atomic and Molecular Physics (E4) see Module handbook of B.Sc. Physics at LMU, page 25 (in German) (10 points) CH1090: Introduction to Organic Chemistry (10 points) CH0575: General and Inorganic Chemistry (10 points)	30

   

• If it has been established that there are no significant differences in the skills acquired, a maximum of 120 points will be awarded. In the absence of part of the equivalent competences, points will be deducted. Only whole points are awarded. The resulting points are included later in the aptitude assessment as a base score.

• Anyone who has achieved less than 57 points will not be admitted to the aptitude test.

• If you have achieved a minimum of 57 points with your qualifying Bachelor's degree and have submitted the necessary documents on time, you will be admitted to the aptitude assessment.

The procedure is divided in two stages:

1. In the first stage,the admission board rates the submitted documents on a scale from 0 to 200 points, where 200 points is the best possible result and the following scheme is applied:
   • The qualifications' score comes from the review of above-mentioned competences. The maximum possible awarded points are 120.
   • Final grade on your Bachelor’s degree: for every one-tenth of the grade above 3.0 (German grading system), two points are added (max. 40 points). Negative points are not awarded. For international degrees, the grades will be converted. If at time of application a grade report with more than 130 CP is available, the best possible grades with a total of 130 CP are used. It is the applicant's responsibility to list these in the application (second page of the curricular analysis). If this information is missing, the overall average grade submitted by the applicant will be used.
   • The letter of motivation is graded on a scale from 0 to 40 (maximum value) by two members of the board. The average of these two values is added in full points. The grading is done by the following criteria
     1. Discussion of your qualification with respect to the QST program requirements (max. 20 points),
     2. Discussion of your anticipated goals within the QST program; Which modules/courses from the QST program are of special interest to you? (max. 20 points).
   The total points will be the sum of the three components.
   Applicants reaching at least 160 points have passed the selection procedure.
   Applicants reaching less than 137 points will not be accepted
    
2. If the total awarded points is between 137 and 159, the applicants come to the second stage, in which they will be invited to an interview (duration of 20 to 30 minutes). Based on this, our admission board decides if the applicant would be able to successfully complete our Master’s degree program. The interview will help also to discuss the applicant's motivation, ground technical knowledge and its own personal assessment. The dates for the interview will be announced with the invitations to it. The interviews will take place from end of July to mid of August.

In the case that you do not have finished your Bachelor's program or you do not have received your final documents yet, you can get admission when you have reached at least 130 CP in your underlying Bachelor's program (according to a 180 CP Bachelor's degree program). According to the study regulations early admission is possible on reasonable request for students who are enrolled in a Bachelor's degree course which fulfills the admission requirements (see above). You must then prove this Bachelor's degree at the latest two semesters after the start of the Master's program. A request can only be justified if the successful completion of the Bachelor degree is (at least) theoretically possible until the end of the first semester of the Master studies. With an application, the request is considered implicitly made.

In TUMonline, the bachelor's degree documents are among the documents that have to be submitted for enrollment. If you submit the enrollment application without final documents (for example, because you are still waiting for them to be issued), this will be considered an application for provisional enrollment. The subsequent submission deadline for the final documents is then one year, whereby TUM degrees are automatically accounted for internally and do not usually have to be submitted explicitly.

Usually, admission remains valid for a future application for the same program. For detailed information, please see here.

Possible problems

The provisional admission does not guarantee that studying a Bachelor's and a Master's program in parallel is possible. It is your own decision to accept the place of study. Therefore, you take the responsibility to manage possible conflicts.

Starting the Master's program in advance makes sense, when you have already finished the Bachelor's degree, but you did not receive the final documents yet. If you still have to take exams for your Bachelor's degree, it is not recommended to start the Master's program, especially if you have to take the exams in another university.