Admission Procedure

Admission to undergraduate studies (Bachelor, first law examination)

Basically, a distinction is made in the award procedure between open-admission subjects and restricted-admission subjects. Restricted-admission subjects are marked on our homepage about our study programs if you click on the respective degree program. If there are specific requirements for your study program, they must be fulfilled before you can enroll. This applies regardless of whether your degree program is open-admission or restricted, i.e. if you do not meet such requirements on time, you will not receive a place to study.

Open-admission subjects

For subjects that do not have restricted admission, so-called “open” subjects, there are enough places for all applicants. Anyone who submits an application with all the required documents by the deadline will be allocated a place to study.

Restricted admission subjects

For restricted admission subjects, so-called Z subjects, there are only a limited number of places available. For Z subjects, 80% of the study places are awarded on the basis of theaverage or weighted school-leaving grade. (Exceptions are the study places awarded according to special quotas). From the applicant list sorted by grades, the so-called ranking lists, as many as study places are allocated as available. The grade of the last student admitted is the “NC” of the respective procedure. The NC is therefore not a fixed value, but results every year anew depending on the number of applicants and the number of study places that can be awarded.

20% of the places are allocated on the basis of waiting lists. A waiting period is the period after high-school graduation during which an applicant was not enrolled in Germany. For example: An applicant goes abroad as an au pair for a year after graduation or undertakes a three-year period of vocational training: This results in 2 or 6 waiting semester respectively.

Applicants with the best average grades or the longest waiting times will get a study place. Applicants who have waited more than 8 semesters will be placed in a random order. Waiting times are being counted, regardless of whether you have actually applied for a place to study. Waiting times and average grades are NOT offset against each other.

Ranking lists in dialogue-oriented service procedures

As soon as the University has created and activated the rankings, you can see under your login at www.hochschulstart.de how many places are allocated, what your rank is, and how many persons have withdrawn their application. As soon as an applicant withdraws from the procedure, the dialogue-oriented service procedure automatically awards the vacant place to the next applicant in the ranking list.

What was the minimum grade requirement?

The minimum grade requirement values ​​from the last admission procedures provide an orientation for the chances of admission, because the minimum grade requirement is the grade or waiting time up to which there were allocations of study places in the previous year. However, the minimum grade requirement only says something about the limits of past allocation procedures; never about future! The limits always reflect the relationship between supply (places) and demand (applications). Depending on the relationship between supply and demand, thresholds vary considerably from semester to semester and from university to university.

Please note that from winter semester 2024/25, the result of a study aptitude test (website in German) will be taken into account in the selection procedure for the Bachelor's degree program in Psychology. The registration deadline for the aptitude test is February 15.

The limit values ​​of the last admission procedures (in German):

• Minimum grade requirement values for winter semester 2023/2024
• Minimum grade requirement values for the winter semester 2022/2023
• Minimum grade requirement values for the winter semester 2021/2022
• Minimum grade requirement values for the winter semester 2019/20 and 2020/2021
• Minimum grade requirement values for the winter semester 2019/20
• Minimum grade requirement values for the winter semester 2018/19
• Minimum grade requirement values for the winter semester 2017/18
• Minimum grade requirement values ​​for the winter semester 2016/17
• Minimum grade requirement values ​​for the winter semester 2015/16

Admission to study with two or three subjects

If you apply for a Bachelor's degree course with two or three subjects, you will only be admitted if you are offered a place on all courses. No offer in one subject will result in the rejection of your entire desired course of study; enrolment in a partial course of study is not possible. In the course of your application, you can apply for various subject combinations with one subject.

A special case exists in the case of music education (teaching degree for grammar schools, elementary school and inclusive education in the primary sector). If you pass the music entrance examination, you are guaranteed admission to the subject combination you have specified with music, even if the other subjects are subject to admission restrictions. To do this, you must apply for preferential admission when you apply and upload proof that you have passed the entrance examination.

If you are already enrolled at the University of Bremen and wish to change to another subject, you will be transferred if you are admitted. Exmatriculation is not required for a change of subject within the University of Bremen! In the event of rejection, you will remain enrolled in your previous degree program.

Hardship cases, military and community service, second degree, and age

In some cases special rules have to be taken into account. In detail these are:

• Hardship cases if the applicant is bound to Bremen as a place of study due to serious health, family or economic reasons or because he or she belongs to the group of top athletes.
• Preferential admission following military or voluntary service and after the care and support of a relative
• Second degree after completing a university degree
• 55 years or older

Admission to a master’s program

A master's is a new / second degree. Graduates from bachelor’s studies are therefore new students in the master's program and not “advanced students”. For a master's degree, a successful bachelor's degree is prerequisite. Selection for a master's program takes into account the grade of the bachelor's degree, a letter of motivation or the applicant’s professional proximity to the content of the master's program. Waiting times do not count. Which criteria do play a role in the selection can be found in the respective admission regulations for the master's program in question.

A quick overview of application deadlines and the respective admission regulations can be found in the Master-Portal.