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How is the grade of the previous first degree calculated if no German grading system is used?

The calculation is done with the modified Bavarian formula and it requires:

1. the best possible grade Nmax,

2. the lowest grade Nmin at which you would still have passed, and

3. your grade Nd, which you received.

Your grade in the German system is then calculated as

x = 1+3*(Nmax-Nd)/(Nmax-Nmin)

The conversion is carried out by the Central Admissions Office at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. In individual cases, the calculation may differ from the modified Bavarian formula.

Example: In the Netherlands, the best possible grade is Nmax=10 and the lowest grade with which you can pass is Nmin=6. If your grade is Nd=8, then in the German system this corresponds to 1+3*(10-8)/(10-6) = 2.5.

How does the admission process work?


1. You submit your application either directly to Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin or to uni-assist.

2. About a month after the application deadline, the Central Admissions office at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin recorded your data, converted your Bachelor grade and checked your language certificates. After that, all documents (in German or English) are sent to the admission committee of the Master’s programme.

3. Within the next two or three weeks, the admission committee of the Master’s programme will check whether you have more than 30 ECTS for admission and determine your grade for the ranking.

4. The results will be entered in the online application system. For any
questions to your results use mscstatistics@lists.hu-berlin.de.

5. After a little more than two months, the admission or rejection notices should be sent out.

The time period between the end of the application period and the sending of the notification depends on the number of applications that the Central Admissions Office of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and the Admissions Committee of the Master’s programme have to process.

I have been successful for another Master’s programme and have to decide whether to accept or reject the admission. What should I do?

Universities often allow you to exmatriculate after a short period of time following enrolment; in most cases, you will also receive a partial or full refund of the fees.

So enrol for the other Master’s programme. As soon as you receive an admission letter for the Master’s in Statistics, exmatriculate for the other Master’s programme and enrol yourself for the Master’s in Statistics.

What type of courses count into the 30 ECTS necessary in “Spezielle Kenntnisse 1” to apply for the program?

The admissions Committee has the final decision on whether a course is recognised as quantitative or not. Please provide a description on the content of the courses, especially if it is not clear.

Courses that are usually recognised as quantitative:

  • All mathematics, statistics and econometrics courses
  • All courses that focus predominantly on mathematics, statistics or econometrics
  • Computer courses in statistical software, e.g. R, STATA, SPSS

Courses that are partly recognised as quantitative:

  • Computer science courses
  • Logic courses

Courses that are not recognised as quantitative:

  • Courses without an examination or without an existing examination result
  • All courses that are not predominantly focused on mathematics, statistics or econometrics.
  • Game Theory
  • Operations Research
  • Macroeconomics, microeconomics and other economics courses
  • Logistics
  • Internships
  • Theses
  • Activities as tutors or working students
  • Courses from non-governmental accredited higher education institutions, e.g. EdX, Coursera, Udacity and others.

What is the NC of the Statistics Masters program?

There is no general information on the grades needed. It varies depending on the year you apply and the mathematics courses you took before, more information on calculating the application grade can be found in the program specific admission rules (German: Fachspezifische Zugangs- und Zulassungsregeln des Master Statistik, non-official translation into English: Subject specific access and admission rules for the ZSP-HU in the pdf document in III.b)). Information on the NC of previous years can be found on the HU website in the “Studienorientierungstool” esra.