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Updated: 2021-02-04 | Duration: 5:00 min.

Step-By-Step: Apply Via Hochschulstart for EU Students

From Registration to Admission and Enrollment

The following paragraphs detail the application procedure for the applicant group of EU students. If you are in this applicant group and find out that a program you like is administered by Hochschulstart, you will have to follow 6 steps in the application and admission process.

Step 1: Register and create an account on Hochschulstart.de

First, you have to create an account on the hochschulstart.de platform. To do so, follow the link to the registration area. After filling out some basic information and setting your user name and password, you will receive your application confirmation via email. It is important that you activate your account within the first 72 hours.

Screenshot: Registration confirmation on hochschulstart.de

Source: hochschulstart.de.

When creating your account, please keep the following in mind:

 

  • You can only create one account with Hochschulstart. If you create various accounts, all of them and your pending applications will be deleted.
  • It is essential to take note of your identification data, i.e. your applicant ID (BID) as well as your applicant authentication number (BAN). You can find your BID in the registration confirmation email and both numbers in your user account under MyData -> Personal Data.

Step 2: Create your fixed application components

In your application account, you have the opportunity to view “fixed application components” in the MyData section. Here, you can provide information on documents that you will have to present for all of your applications, such as your secondary school leaving certificate. Taking some time to create fixed application components can make the application process faster and easier for you.

Step 3: Create up to twelve applications

Through the DoSV procedure, you can apply to up to twelve programs. Making use of this opportunity can significantly increase your chances of getting admitted. Since applying via Hochschulstart does not cost money, you only have to invest some time and energy.

 

To start creating your applications, you should, first of all, go to the Courses Offered section in your user account where you can select the programs you would like to apply to. Note that once you submit an application, it cannot be deleted. Therefore, we recommend that you already have a good overview of which courses to apply to at this stage of the application process.

 

You can start creating your applications as soon as the application period begins. All bachelor’s programs that are managed in the DoSV procedure of Hochschulstart have the same application periods:

  • Summer semester: December 1st - January 15th.
  • Winter semester: April 15th - July 15th*.

* For the winter semester 2020/21, the application period was adapted because of the Covid-19 pandemic from July 1st, 2020 - August 20th, 2020.

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Advice Box

Limitation of 12 applications

You can hand in up to twelve applications in the DoSV procedure via Hochschulstart. One of them can be an application to study medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, or veterinary medicine at various locations, which still only counts as one application. Another special case may be that a university you are interested in only allows applicants to hand in a limited amount of applications for a semester so that you can apply to up to twelve programs via the DoSV, but only to one program at a specific university. In addition to the twelve applications via Hochschulstart, you can send applications to programs that do not cooperate with Hochschulstart.

Step 4: Prioritize your applications

After you handed in up to twelve applications via the Hochschulstart platform, it is important that you indicate your preferences and priorities. You need to communicate to Hochschulstart which of the programs you are most interested in and which of the programs you are least interested in.

 

To do so, please go to the My Applications area in your user account and view all your submitted applications. Here, your applications will initially appear in the order in which you have submitted them. To change that order, you will find arrows beside your application that you can use to order your applications according to your preferences: Your first preference should go in the first position. After you are done with the sorting process, remember to click “save”.

 

You get the opportunity to organize your applications starting after the end of the application period:

  • For the summer semester, you can prioritize your applications from January 16th - 22nd.
  • For the winter semester, you can prioritize your applications from July 16th - 22nd (watch out for changes due to the pandemic).

Throughout this period, you may already receive your first offers from universities and you have the opportunity to rearrange your priorities as often as you want while taking into account all offers that were made to you thus far.

 

After this time period, you still have the chance to change your priorities. BUT, starting on the 23rd of January for applications in the summer semester and on the 23rd of July for applications in the winter semester, only the highest-ranked offer will be available to you. All lower-ranked priorities that you receive an offer for will be excluded from your application portfolio. Therefore, we recommend to really spend some time thinking about your priorities and wishes regarding your applications.

 

One thing to keep in mind is that a university is NOT more likely to admit you if you put them as your first priority. The priorities you set for the individual programs do NOT affect your chances of getting admitted. Therefore, you can prioritize your applications exclusively according to your own preferences.

Step 5: Observe your pending applications throughout the coordination phase

The coordination phase lasts from:

  • January 23rd until February 24th for the summer semester.
  • July 23rd until roughly one month later for the winter semester. Due to the pandemic, this period might change for the winter semester 2021/22.

That means it begins precisely when your prioritization of applications starts to really matter. Throughout this time period, you will receive all possible offers that you can. In the end, however, you will only get the opportunity to accept the highest ranked offer, since all other offers will be excluded.

 

Let’s illustrate that a bit for you: The following table gives you an overview of a scenario in which you handed in four applications and on how your prioritization influences your options.

Application Application status Your possibilities to act
First priority. Pending. You can wait until the end of the coordination period. If you get an offer to this highest priority program, all other offers will be excluded.
Second priority Offer. You have the chance to accept this offer until you potentially receive an offer from the first priority. If you accept this offer throughout the coordination phase, you will not be considered for other pending applications.
Third priority. Offer (excluded). You have the information that you received an offer to this program, but cannot accept it, since it is not the highest priority that you received an offer for.
Fourth priority. Pending. You have not heard back from this program yet. Even if you get an offer, the application will be excluded since you have a higher prioritized offer already. You still have the chance to move this program up to a higher priority.

 

Universities use the coordination phase to rank the applications they receive. So for any of the programs you applied to, you will be ranked on a list with other applicants. Often, applicants are ranked according to their GPA. Other factors can include extracurricular experiences or work experiences. To find out the exact ranking and admission criteria, you should read about it on the program websites directly.

 

These ranked lists of applicants are then forwarded to Hochschulstart, and Hochschulstart communicates to the applicants if they can get an offer or not. If a study program has 50 study spots available, only the top 50 ranked applicants will receive an offer. All other applicants will receive the information that no offer is possible at the time. Throughout the coordination phase, this information can change, since not all top 50 ranked applicants will accept the offer, for example, because they have an offer from a higher-ranked priority in their application portfolio. Therefore, it is worth closely observing your applications throughout the coordination phase.

 

For many applicants, the application process ends here, because they will receive and accept an offer to one of the programs they applied to.

Step 5b: Coordinated moving-up phase

For applicants who did not receive an offer throughout the coordination phase, the coordinated moving-up phase provides another opportunity. If this is the case for you:

You will be sent an email and you will have the chance to register to take part in the coordinated moving-up phase up to 72 hours after the end of the coordination phase.

In this phase, Hochschulstart goes back to the ranked lists of the universities for those programs that still have empty study spots. They go through this list to see if you fall into the admissible area for any of the programs you had applied to. While on the side of Hochschulstart, this process seems a bit complicated and rather technical, it is pretty easy on the applicant’s side: If you are ranked high enough on any of the remaining programs’ lists, you will automatically receive admission to that program. You will find this information in your user account.

  • The coordinated moving-up phase lasts from February 25th until March 31st for the summer semester.
  • The time period for the winter semester has not been announced yet.

Step 6: Enroll at your university in Germany

Once you get your offer and accept it through the DoSV procedure, your application process with the platform Hochschulstart ends. Now you know where you will study in Germany and can inform yourself on how to enroll at a German university and plan your travels to Germany. Congratulations!