Application Tips

 

We are pleased that you are interested in studying mechanical engineering or a related subject at RWTH Aachen University.

In order to provide you with more information on whether you can expect to be admitted to the course of your choice and to make the assessment process more tansparent, we have compiled the most important details on the assessment procedure on these pages.

 

1. Use the Self Test to Review Your Chances of Admission

Only a third of external applicants fulfill the admission requirements for a Master's at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. Please use the self test to review in advance, whether you can fulfill the admissions requirements and what additional requirements may await you.

You can find descriptions of the subjects at RWTH Aachen University in the self test or on the RWTHonline website.

 

2. Determination of Additional Requirements

In order to determine if you have to complete any additional requirements, we review the content and scope of your academic performance to see how they compare to the content of the Bachelor's of Mechanical Engineering or Business Administration and Engineering with a Specialization in Mechanical Engineering at RWTH Aachen. If you have not completed the necessary content or the number of credits, you will be required to complete the RWTH Bachelor's module.

If we determine that you would have more than 30 CP to complete in order to be accepted, your application will be rejected, as you can no longer be expected to move forward academically in timely manner.

 

3. Application of Fundamentals Not Taken Into Consideration

The fundamental modules are RWTH are focused theoretical fundamental knowledge and not on the application of the fundamentals. The subjects in your application will be compared to this theoretical content. Application-oriented content, such as in the following examples, will not be taken into consideration.

Examples:

Matlab Applications → no control engineering
Design in aircraft or automotive construction → no machine design
Production engineering → no machine design
Facilities in thermal processes → no heat and mass transfer
Fluid plants → no fluid mechanics

 

4. Statistics and Numerics Not Evaluated in Math Requirement

Higher mathematics at RWTH does not include statistics and numerics. Thus, we are unable to evalute this content when determining the additional requirements. We also do no evaluate any repeats of math from school.

 

5. Admissions Requirements Identical for Following Courses of Study

  • General Mechanical Engineering
  • Energy Engineering
  • Development and Design (discontinuing)
  • Automotive Engineering and Transport
  • Plastic and Textile Engineering
  • Aeronautic and Space Engineering
  • Production Engineering
  • Product Development
  • Process Engineering

if you are uncertain, which Master's course of study to choose, you must submit multiple applications. However your chances of being accepted do not increase when you submit multiple applications.

 

6. We pay attention to the following in our evaluation:

  • Correspondence of Bachelor's performance to content at RWTH
  • Compliance of internship performance with RWTH guidelines
  • Scope of the Bachelor's course of study – 180 CP or 210 CP

The following information is irrelevant to your application:

  • Grades
  • Extracurricular activities such as volunteer work or experiences abroad
  • Duration of study
 

7. Subjects, that cannot be allocated to subjects with requirements, will not considered in your application. These include... 

  • for example, electrical engineering, chemistry, production engineering
  • Bachelor's theses and project papers
  • Practical courses such as mechanics labs and materials testing
 

8. Performance with No Module Description Not Considered

In order to compare the content of your studies, we must compare the module descriptions of the individual subjects. If a module catalog is not availble or is not the correct catalog for your transcript, we cannot review your educational background and your application will be rejected.

If your university does not offer a module catalog in German or English, the corresponding modules must be translated. You can find the translation requirements in our FAQ.

Download the module manuals for the RWTH study programs:

1. Open the page with the study programs offered by the RWTH in RWTHonline (DE)
2. Follow the click instructions for any study programs (DE)

 

9. Internship

You are not automatically excluded from consideration if you are missing an internship. You can still get credit for your internship even after you have been admitted.

The following documents are accepted for the internship when applying:

  • Certificate from the company stating the internships completed
  • Certificate from the internship office of another university
  • Information about the internship on the certificate or transcript, for example under "practical semester"
 

10. Application Deadline and Duration of the Evaluation

All applications are equally reviewed, regardless when they arrive before the deadline. We begin reviewing applications after the application deadline so that all applications can be considered. This take approximately 2 months as we receive up to 2000 applications per semester.

We recommend submitting your application at least 3 weeks before the application deadline, as this allows the Registrar's Office time to make sure your application is complete and you to submit any additional documentation needed. This service is not guaranteed the last week before the application deadline.