FAQ Admission

FAQ on admission to the Master's programmes

The Institute of Computer Science of the University of Bonn offers Master's programmes in Computer Science and Cyber Security and contributes to the Master's programme for high school teaching. On our website you can find →information about contents, goals, and structure of these programmes.

Below you find answers to frequently asked questions about admission to the Master's programmes in Computer Science and Cyber Security.

On eligibility

I am a Bachelor's student at the Institute of Computer Science or the Mathematical Institute of the University of Bonn. What do I need to do to be admitted?

Please check what modules you need to complete to satisfy the admission requirements.
Apply on time: here are the deadlines, and here is the application procedure.
As long as you are still registered as a Bachelor's student, please make sure to re-register for the upcoming semester.
Three weeks after the start of the semester (that is, by 21 April or 21 October) at the latest, we should have received your Bachelor's degree certificate and the proof of your English proficiency. If your Bachelor's degree certificate is not there yet, we will ask the examination office for confirmation that you have completed your Bachelor's studies.
If all requirements are met, you get a letter of admission. Please send this letter to the student registry within one month after the start of the semester and ask them to transfer you from the Bachelor's to the Master's programme.

Step 3, your registration as a Bachelor's student, is your back-up plan. If your transfer to the Master's programme is not possible because successful completion of your Bachelor's studies cannot be confirmed on time, then we may still allow you to start taking Master's courses – under certain conditions – provided you are still registered as a student.

Cyber Security applicants please note: From step 4 onwards, procedures for the Cyber Security programme might be different because we have a limited number of places that must be assigned to students on a tight schedule. A priori there is no guarantee that you will get a place. Within two weeks after the application deadline, we will inform you about the details of the following procedures.

I am a Bachelor's student from another institute or university. Am I eligible for admission?

Please check here.

What are the GRE requirements for your programme?

A GRE test is not required. In fact, if you took a GRE test anyway and tell us about your results, this will have absolutely no effect on your application whatsoever.

I am still unsure whether I am eligible. Can you check my transcript and tell me if I am eligible?

If you are currently doing your Bachelor's in Europe and want to plan ahead, we can try to have a look and we will give you an answer that amounts to "tentatively yes", "probably not", or "we can only say once you have completed your application in the application portal".

If you are doing your Bachelor's outside Europe or if you have completed your Bachelor's ready, then, no, sorry, we really need you to provide the necessary information by filling out the application form in the application portal. Due to the high number of applications and the added complexity of applications from different education systems, we cannot afford to check eligibility in e-mail correspondence with individual applicants.

My Bachelor‘s program did not include a Bachelor's thesis. Can I still apply?

As a rule, if you do not have a Bachelor's thesis (or a Master's thesis from another programme), your application will be rejected. You might convince the commitee to make a rare exception and accept you if you can prove in another way that:

you can complete a scientific project with a substantial work load (at least one third of a semester) and
you know how to write a substantial report about it that adheres to standards of scientific writing.

For example, an honours' project in combination with recommendation letters from your professors might work. Unfortunately, before we have received your completed application form, it is impossible to say whether there is a realistic chance that you will be accepted.

I have X years of work experience. Can I make that count for the eligibility criteria?

No, sorry.

I did not have much training in X in my degree programme but I learned a lot about X through self study or through training in industry. Can I make that count for the eligibility criteria?

We can only consider knowledge and skills that have been certified by examinations on, at least, Bachelor's level and that are officially recognised as such by the authorities in your country and in Germany. If these examinations were not part of a regular Bachelor's or Master's degree programme, your application has to include all documents and references that are necessary to convince us that these examinations fulfil these requirements.

Are German language skills required?

For our Master's programmes, German skills are not required. Nevertheless, if you know some German, it will make your general life easier. We advise you to take German classes.

If I do not fulfil all requirements for admission, could I then be admitted under the condition that I catch up on some modules from the Bachelor's programme in the first semester?

No, sorry. Our examination regulations do not allow conditional admission.

On costs

What are the tuition fees?

Tuition is free, but you have to pay a modest fee to contribute in the costs of certain collective services for students, such as public transportation. For more information on the costs of living and studying in Bonn, check out this page of our international office.

Do you offer scolarships for international students?

Please check out this page.

On applying

How can I apply?

Applications must be submitted using the online application portal of the University of Bonn. Please check here for more information. We do not accept applications by mail oder e-mail.

I can't find the University of Bonn on Uni-Assist. How can I apply?

We do not work with Uni-Assist. You can apply directly to us.

What is the application fee?

There is no application fee.

What documents are required for my application?

Please check here.

I can provide proof that the language of instruction during my Bachelor's studies was English. Will you accept this as proof of my English language skills?

No. You can find the list of accepted proofs here.

What are the application deadlines?

Please check here.

Can I apply when some of my documents are not available yet and send them to you later?

Please check out this list of required documents: It also explains which documents can be submitted later and under what conditions.

I cannot find the Computer Science / Cyber Security Master's programme in the application portal. Where is it?

Please check the application periods. Outside the indicated periods, the application form for the respective programme is not available.

Why do I get an error message when I complete/submit the application form?

Please contact the technical help desk at appsupport@ticket.uni-bonn.de.

I did my Bachelor's at a university outside Germany, but the form only lets me select the name of German university. How do I put in the name of my university?

This happens when you first answer "Germany" to the question "Origin university degree". Even if you correct that later, the form remains adapted to German students. We will not be able to process your application if it stays like that. Please contact us at application@informatik.uni-bonn.de so that we can reconfigure the form for you.

I am enrolled in another Master's programme in Germany. How can I change to the University of Bonn?

You should apply in the same way as any other applicant. On the application form you will be asked whether you have received a letter of admission from another application process. Answer "no" (your acceptance letter from the other university is not valid for the University of Bonn) and fill out the rest of the application form. Please upload your transcript of records of your current Master's programme with your application, even if you did not complete any courses yet.

After admission

My visa appointment is only after the start of the semester. Can I get an official letter to confirm that I can still be admitted?

The Computer Science and Cyber Security Master's programmes are on-campus programmes, not online programmes. Your physical presence in Bonn will be required. If you arrive in Bonn after the start of the semester, you will miss important course meetings and it will be much harder to get started with your studies. If you cannot arrive within a month after the start of the semester, please apply for the next semester instead (see our web page on applications, under admission and enrolment). Your admission letter basically includes the previous four sentences.

I was admitted but I need to defer the start of my studies for one or two semesters. How can I do that?

Please see our web page on applications, under admission and enrolment.

Can I get a dormitory room?

There are dormitories run by an organisation affiliated with the university (Studierendenwerk), and we can usually reserve a number of their rooms for our international students. However, they do not have enough rooms for all international students, and shortages vary a lot between semesters. Therefore we can really not estimate the chances that we can get you a room. We strongly recommend that you start looking for (private) accommodation by yourself as soon as you know that you are admitted. The international office of the university has a website with advice on how to find accommodation.

After non-admission

Why did I not gain admission?

Much to our regret, due to the high number of applications we receive, we are generally unable to correspond with you about the reasons for rejection. The most common reasons for rejection are:

Applying for the wrong semester or at the wrong time. Please check the deadlines and make sure that you apply for a semester for which the application deadline has not passed yet, considering your nationality and visa status.
Bachelor's thesis not up to our standards. Please check the requirements. Note that this does not mean that your final-year project is bad – often it simply means that your university has a different focus and taught you other useful skills than those that we want to see in a Bachelor's thesis.
Not enough credits in theoretical computer science (for the Computer Science programme) or not enough credits in IT security (for the Cyber Security programme). Please check the requirements.
Not enough computer science in the prior education.
Incomplete application form. If, accidentally, you have said you have got a Bachelor's from Germany whereas you have not, then you got a simplified form without the questions that need to be answered by applicants from abroad, and your application cannot be processed.
Trying to use a proof of medium of instruction as a proof of English skills. We do not accept proofs of medium of instruction. We require English tests from almost all nationals of countries outside the European Union. For exceptions, check here.

Can I apply again for the same semester in the second application phase?

No. If your application was rejected in the first application phase for a particular semester, you cannot apply again for the same semester in the second application phase.

Contact

How can I contact the admissions office?

Please contact us by mail at application@informatik.uni-bonn.de. Behind that address is a team of three that who will do their best to answer your mail as soon as possible. If you have any questions about admission, please refrain from sending mails to other addresses in the Institute of Computer Science: they will not be able to help you.

We cannot be reached by phone.