Application Requirements and Procedure for the M.Sc. Quantum Science & Technology

Application periods

January 1 to May 31

Selection procedure schedule

First stage

Generally, results of the first stage of the aptitude assessment are published approximately six to eight weeks after the application deadline (expected in July/August). Exceptions: see section -Early application to avoid visa problems-.

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 will be based on the documents uploaded online. Certified copies must then only be submitted for enrolment after admission.
It is important that all documents relevant to admission are uploaded, otherwise the application will be considered incomplete. This also applies to TUM-internal applications!

The following list gives you some additional information on some of these documents:

Curriculum Vitae

The submitted CV must be current and complete without chronological gaps. The document can be uploaded when applying online.

Letter of motivation

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 why you are suitable for the program (reference to admission requirements), and which reasons led to select this study program at the TUM (interests, previous knowledge from the Bachelor, desired specialization fields). The motivation letter has to be connected to the chosen Master’s program, a general statement about your interest in the subject is not sufficient. See section "aptitude assessment" for the criteria by which the letter is graded. You can upload your letter of motivation during the online application process.

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. Just uploading the transcript is not enough.

Academic records of Bachelor’s degree¹ (or equivalent)

A proof of your qualifying university degree must be submitted.

If you are applying before completing your Bachelor’s degree, please send us the certified official transcript of records together with a formal list of the courses to be completed by the time of graduation (a link to the corresponding position on the official website of your university is sufficient). Provide us with your degree certificate as soon as possible, at latest one year after starting your studies at TUM (see also the remark at admission in advance).

If your Bachelor’s degree is from a non-German university, please fill out the analysis of your curriculum and also provide official descriptions of all your completed courses - a link to the relevant website of your university may also be sufficient.

Language proficiency

Please, read the information on Language Proficiency. If you cannot provide proof of German language skills in your application documents, please refer to the section 'Additional requirement for integrative German skills' at the given information website.

Special conditions for certain countries

Special requirements apply for documents if you come from one of the following countries: China, Georgia, Iran, Mongolia, and Vietnam. You do not need a GRE for this program.

(¹It is not required to add if you have completed your Bachelor’s degree at TUM as the documents will be already available.)

Health Insurance

For enrollment you also need a certificate of health insurance.

ATTENTION! Starting with the application period for the winter semester 2023/24, there are new point limits for the application process, see also the change statute of the FPSO dated 15.12.2022

The academic requirements for admission to the Master’s program in Quantum Science & Technology at TUM and LMU are:

• You have submitted all the required documents online on time to the TUM Enrollment Office .
• You passed a course in Quantum Mechanics providing competencies equivalent to PH0007 Theoretical Physics 3 (Quantum Mechanics). If no corresponding competences are available, no admission to the aptitude assessment takes place..
• 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. Those who have received less than 57 points will not be admitted to the aptitude assessment.

  Area	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

ATTENTION! Starting with the application period for the winter semester 2023/24, there are new point limits for the application process, see also the change statute of the FPSO dated 15.12.2022

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: graded exams with 130 CP in total are averaged; 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. For every one-tenth of the grade above 3.0 (German grading system), two points are added (max. 40 points). For international degrees, the grades will be converted.
   • 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 Bachelor’s program. According to the study regulations (§36 (5)), 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 during the first semester of the Master’s studies.

For admission TUMonline shows at first that the final documents of the Bachelor are required. The deadline for submission by the end of the 2nd semester is only set "to be handed in until ..." when the application for enrollment is submitted. All other requested documents are required.

An admission can be transferred to a future application for the same program, given that the criteria for admission (as set forth in the Academic and Examination Regulations) have not changed substantially.

Admission to Master's programs usually takes place about eight weeks after the application deadline, i.e. July/August. According to our experience, for some countries it is then no longer possible to obtain a visa in time for the start of the lecture period. For the international study program M.Sc. Quantum Science & Technology there is therefore the possibility to be informed early about an admission.

Apply right at the beginning of the application period in TUMonline. If your application is complete by March 15 at the latest and your application documents have been reviewed by the Admissions Office (status ok for all required documents incl. VPD via uni-assist if you need for this; excl. the verification of successful completion of a module in quantum mechanics which is reviewed as part of the aptitude assessment), your application will be reviewed early by the Admission Committee. You will probably receive the information about the admission at the end of April.