Facts

• Start of programme: 1 April each year (summer term)
• Recruitment starts in late summer for the following summer semester, application periods are announced shortly before their starts. 
• Entry condition: two-stage ability assessment passed
• International candidates please note: Check out the information for international students first, it contains important information for non-EU international applicants.
• We require each accepted candidate to be on location in Kiel from the start of the semester. Check visa regulations and processing times to evaluate whether applying for a study place makes sense. To acquire a study visa takes 6 to 8 months in many cases, sometimes even longer. No visa - no studies. We do not accept late comers. 
• Apply as early as possible, we will assess applications from the first day of the application period. Interview invitations will be issued during the applciation period to applicants who pass the first stage of the ability assessment. The later you apply, the bigger the risk of not be able to obtain a visa.
• Duration of prgramme: 4 semesters|Degree: MSc

Procedures

Stage 1: You submit an application in English. Inform yourself what is required knowledge before deciding whether you should apply. Also check the FAQ section.

To apply, your documents have to be submitted before the deadline.

Submit the following documents in the order given below via email as one PDF attachment, not larger than 5 MB, unzipped, with no more than 30 pages in good resolution. Attachments without a coherent email text accompanying your application file are relegated to the SPAM folder for security reasons and deleted.

• Application form: The application form can only be downloaded during application periods. If you fill it in electronically, make sure your entries have been saved before you send the form. Empty forms cannot be considered for assessment. If you fill in the form manually and scan it, entries need to be legible. Partly filled-in application forms or illegible entries lead to applications not being considered. 
• Motivation letter: Explain your motivation in YOUR OWN words, use of AI tools is not permitted. Chat GPT and other AI tools produce letters in a clearly discernible style. If you are invited for an interview and do not match the fluency of your written English in oral communication, the interview will result in a rejection.
  Write to the point. We do request a letter, i.e. the format of a letter with ALL its parts needs to be there for the letter to be acceptable.
  Explain why you want to study Medical Life Sciences, why you would be a successful student. Texts copied from the internet or fellow applicants with adaptations are not acceptable. The letter must not exceed two A-4 pages and use the following specifications: font Arial 11 pt, line spacing 15 pt, all margins 2 cm. 
• CV: Provide a current CV with the following specifics: Font = Arial, font size = 11 pt, line spacing = 15 pt, all margins 2 cm
• University degree certificate(s) and transcripts: Enclose your Bachelor certificate and the transcripts for your entire university career; if you have not yet completed your Bachelor's studies, you need to include all transcripts up to date. If you have already completed a Master's degree or have done an additional Bachelor's degree, we need all the transcripts and your certificate as well. Transcripts for degree courses you have not finished need to be included, too.
• Languages accepted for transcripts, physiology course descriptions and certificates are German, English, Russian, French, Dutch and Spanish (the four latter ones are in order for the application, BUT be prepared to hand in a certified translation into German or English for enrolment should you be accepted).
• Course description vertebrate/human physiology: Physiology skills need to be proven. Hand in an official course description issued by your university detailing scope, workload and the topics of the vertebrate physiology course you have passed (no other course descriptions). An entry on a transcript is not enough. Neither is plant, developmental or cell physiology a substitute for vertebrate/human physiology. Self-written descriptions are not accepted. Not including a vertebrate physiology course description leads to the application not being considered.

Stage 2: After evaluating the suitability of each candidate, we invite those candidates whose applications we want to follow up for an interview. Please be prepared to take part at short notice if you receive an invitation. Because of the many interviews across different time zones and tight schedules of interviewers dates and times cannot be shifted.

The interview will be held in English. Your language skills will be assessed, the scientific knowledge you need to have acquired during your Bachelor's studies will be thoroughly checked.

We also take it for granted that you are informed very well about Medical Life Sciences, your desired study location and what happens in the world currently. We ask questions accordingly.

The decision on suitability will be made by the programme committee (whose members are the convenors of the interviews) and communicated to the respective candidates as quickly as possible.**

** If you pass the assessment and choose not to enrol, you have to submit a new application should you want to take up MedLife at a later point in time.