The study regulation for the M.Sc. Materials Science will be reformed, coming into effect with on 01.06.2024. You can find the new regulations in the download section of our website (section “Study Regulations 2024”). The most important changes compared to the recent study regulations (from 2015) are as follows:

1. There will be an additional compulsory course “Sustainable Materials” (6CP) and therefore, 6CP less in the elective section.

2. The “Advanced Research Lab” (15CP) will be a graded module and no longer be a passed/not passed module. Therefore, the grade of the Master Thesis will no longer be counted twice.

3. Having completed an industrial internship is no longer a requirement for admission.

4. Participation in our Online Self Assessment II “Study Content” will become an admission requirement. For this purpose, a Certificate of Participation is issued after completing the assessment. Please note that this is a self-assessment and not an entrance examination. Nobody except you will get any information about the result. We as the university only need proof of participation. Please print the certificate, add your application number and send it along with all other required documents to the address specified in the application portal.

The M.Sc. Materials Science aims at enabling students to research and develop next-generation materials. Therefor, natural sciences are at the heart of the programme.

Our courses focus on structure, synthesis, analysis, and properties of structural and functional materials such as ceramics, inorganic and organic semiconductors, thin films, energy materials, metals or nanomaterials.

Compulsory courses cover fundamental aspects such as quantum mechanics of materials, functional materials, surface science, theoretical methods in materials science, materials characterization and sustainable materials.

A wide range of elective courses provides further insight into specialized topics. For your Master thesis, you will join one of the Research Groups at the department.

For more details, see the module handbook and accompanying material in our download section .

We expect a background in Materials Science that is comparable to a B. Sc. in Materials Science at TU Darmstadt.

For instance, successful applicants hold Bachelor's degrees in Materials Science, Physics, or Chemistry, or in particular cases some engineering degrees (if a sufficient focus on natural sciences is discernible).

Since specific contents of study programmes may vary largely between universities the decision on admission strongly depends on the individual background, skills and academic achievements. For further details, please see Q3 – Q5 and Q7.

Online Self Assessment: You can asses your individual proficiency for our Master's programme(s) with the help of our Online Self Assessment tool (free and anonymously). As of 01.06.2024, applicants are required to have completed the “Assessment 2 Study Content”. For this purpose, a Certificate of Participation will be issued at the end of the assessment.

We will be happy to receive your application. Please make sure that you provide all requested documents. Your application will be evaluated as detailed in Q5.

We will be happy to receive your application. Please make sure that you provide all requested documents. Your application will be evaluated as detailed in Q5.

To estimate your chances, please have a look at Q7. It is very important that you demonstrate your qualifications in Materials Science in your documents with e.g. certificates for lab internships, relevant elective courses (e.g. in solid state physics/chemistry, materials synthesis, corrosion, tribology, electrochemistry, nanomaterials, biomaterials, …), and – if applicable – the title of your B. Sc. thesis.

We will evaluate your application in a multi-stage process. First, your documents will be checked formally by the TU Office for International Admission(in case of international university degrees) or the Central Study Office (German university degrees). Here, the existence and validity of all required certificates (including the OSA Certificate of Participation (see Q2) and the English language proficiency (see Q10)) are checked. Secondly, the Examination Commission of our department evaluates your previous academic achievements to assess the overlap with the reference study programme (the B.Sc. Materialwissenschaft at TU Darmstadt):

• Admission will be granted if the previous academic achievements correspond to the B.Sc. in Material Science at TU Darmstadt (see Q7).
  • Additional conditions may be imposed, e.g. you may be obliged to register for adjustment courses (see Q12). Admission may also be granted with the reservation that further examinations have to be passed within a deadline, which will be issued by the Examination Committee. If the student fails these examinations, admission to the Master’s programme and registration at TU Darmstadt may be revoked.
• In case of doubt, candidates can be invited to an oral entrance examination (interview). For candidates from overseas, we can offer a telephone/online interview. For this occasion, please make sure that your technical equipment is up to date and working. Admission will then be granted based on the outcome of the test.
• In case of insufficient qualifications, we regret that we have to reject the application. “Insufficient qualifications” means it is not to be expected that you will be able to make up for the missing contents and graduate successfully in a reasonable amount of time.

• Letters of recommendation will not be considered.
• A letter of motivation is not expected but can be helpful in deciding about your admission. Please state in your letter on which topics (elective courses) you plan to focus during your studies at TU Darmstadt, how this matches your previous education, and how the M.Sc. programme fits into your career plans. You can also tentatively state in which area you plan to specialize during your master thesis. Please refer to the module handbook (see our download section ) and the list of research groups in order to find out more about potential specializations. Your letter should provide a sketchy overview of your planned studies. (Should you intend to include courses of other departments at TU Darmstadt, please be aware that most courses are taught in German language.) Of course, this first study plan may be refined and adjusted later on. Once admitted, you will work on your study plan together with your mentor.
  • Hint: It is neither necessary nor helpful to praise Germany, Darmstadt, TU Darmstadt, or our department in any way. Your application in itself reflects your positive acclaim and is appreciated as such.

We expect a background in Material Science equivalent to the B.Sc. programme at TU Darmstadt. The following list provides an overview of expected skills. 1 CP means 1 credit point in the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS).

• Mathematics (24 CP)
  Understanding and command of Linear Algebra, Fundamental Analysis, and Engineering Mathematics (ODE, PDE).
• Natural Sciences (30–40 CP)
  Understanding and command of General Chemistry, Experimental Physics, Physical Chemistry (Thermodynamics, Quantum Chemistry of atoms and simple molecules, spectroscopy).
• Engineering (optional 10-15 CP)
  Understanding and command of Continuum Mechanics and basic Electrical Engineering.
• Fundamental Materials Science (25-35 CP)
  Basic knowledge about all classes of materials.
  Understanding and command of:
  
  • Solid structure, thermodynamics, properties and defects
  • Materials characterization (e.g. scattering and spectroscopy methods, EM, electronic and mechanical testing)
• Advanced Materials Science (45-60 CP)
  Understanding and command of:
  
  • Defects
  • Physical metallurgy
  • Solid state physics
  • Numerical methods in materials modeling
  • Advanced solid state analytics
• Bachelor thesis on a materials related topic (15 CP)

Your background will be compared with this list. Particularly decisive for the admission to the M.Sc. Materials Science is that your graduation can be expected within a reasonable amount of time. Applicants may still be admitted, if they do not lack more than 30 CP (corresponding to the workload of one semester).

In many cases, it is difficult to assess from the transcript to which extent materials related topics have been taught in natural science or engineering courses. In case of doubt, please provide a module description or a link to the module description of your previous institution and the topic of your B.Sc. thesis in your cover letter.

Online Self Assessment: You can asses your individual proficiency for our Master's programme(s) with the help of our Online Self Assessment tool (free and anonymously). As of 01.06.2024, applicants are required to have completed the “Assessment 2 Study Content”. For this purpose, a Certificate of Participation will be issued at the end of the assessment.

If you have your documents ready, please apply as early as possible within the given application window. There is always a rush close to the deadline, leading to possible delays in the handling of applications and subsequent time pressure, e.g. when applying for a visa.

Generally, yes, your application has to be complete. If your application is received too late or considered incomplete, it will be rejected by the Office for International Admission or the TU Darmstadt Student Services (whichever is responsible for your case) and you need to re-apply at a later date.

If you are in the last semester of your Bachelor's degree, you can apply submitting the following documents:

• Certificate regarding prospective graduation from the university at which you will complete the bachelor's programme in the original language, as well as a certified translation if the original language is not English or German.
• Transcript of records for each semester in the original language, as well as certified translations if the original language is not English or German.

General remark: All formalities of the application procedure lie within the responsibility of

• the TU Darmstadt Office for International Admission (if you obtained your qualification for university entrance at a non-German school outside of Germany or at an international school within Germany)
• the TU Darmstadt Student Services (if you obtained your qualification for university entrance at a German school in Germany or a German school abroad.)

In case of doubt, please reach out to them.

The M.Sc. Materials Science is taught in English. To be accepted for the study programme our regulations ask for knowledge of the English language at least on a UNIcert III level (C1). For equivalent proofs (TOEFL, TOEIC or similar) please consult the official list of the TU Sprachenzentrum (opens in new tab). Also note the possibility of proving that your Bachelor's (or previous Master's) medium of instruction was English.

As with any other formal question, please contact the TU Office for International Admission in case of doubt.

No German language skills are necessary (and thus no German language certificate is needed).

You need the usual documents plus a transcript, which certifies that you did not finally fail in your current course. In German: “Prüfungsrecht besteht”.

An adjustment course is a course (more specifically: a module) from within the course catalogue of the M.Sc. Materials Science covering essential contents that applicants have been missing in their previous academic education. Credit points gained through passing such a module count for theElective Courses Materials Science. This means, an adjustment course is basically a restriction for the Elective Courses Materials Science.

The idea behind adjustment courses is to give you the opportunity to catch up with essential topics in Materials Science you may not have had in your previous academic education. You may have to take adjustment courses up to 30 CPs. If a candidate's previous academic achievements exhibit a larger lack than 30 CP (as compared to our B.Sc. programme), the application has to be rejected.

With the study regulations 2024, entering into force on 01.06.2024, having completed an industrial internship is longer an admission requirement.

We offer admission for both winter and summer semester. However, courses are typically only offered either in winter or in summer. This means that students who start in winter will have to start with the courses from the second semester and then take the first semester courses in their second semester. This is possible, but not ideal because for some higher semester courses, contents of the previous semesters might be expected.

Thus, we strongly recommend international students and transfer students from other German universities to start in the winter semester.

Credit points from earlier master-level achievements will transfer only if the contents of the courses are equivalent to those classes offered within the Master’s programme Materials Science at TU Darmstadt. The Examination Board of our department decides on each request individually.

For this we need a list from you that clearly states which of your previous Master’s courses correspond to which of our Master’s modules and how many ECTS are supposed to be acknowledged. Please, send this list along with the Transcript of Records to the Chair of our Examination Board after receiving your Letter of Admission.

A list of all mandatory modules of our M.Sc. program (along with some elective modules) can be found in our Module Guide (opens in new tab) . The tabular Study Plan (opens in new tab) might also be useful for you as it provides a first sight overview of how many ECTS (= Credit Points, CP) are required in each module.

Please note that credit points cannot be transferred from a bachelor's course that qualified you for admission to the Master's course in Materials Science at TU Darmstadt, even if the total number of credit points of your Bachelor course exceeds that of a Bachelor course in Materials Science at TU Darmstadt.

All freshers will receive an email invitation to a departmental kick-off event, which takes place right before the start of each semester. At this event, the Office for Student Affairs and the Fachschaft (Student Council) present information on studying at TU Darmstadt in general and the M.Sc. Materials Science, specifically. The email invitation also includes a booklet with basic information on living and studying in Darmstadt.

Furthermore, the Departmental Students' Representative Committee organizes a Master Integration Event.

The Office for International Admission sends your application list to one department at a time, according to your list of preferences. If you did not provide such a list, they will make the decision.

You can check the current fees on TU Darmstadt's Semester Fee website.

Note, that merely administrative fees are incurred, no tuition fees are levied for studying at TU Darmstadt.

For information on the possibilities of financial support for your studies at TU Darmstadt, please read Q21.

For all questions concerning formalities of the application process(including detailed information about the online application, required documents, language requirements, semester dates, application periods and deadlines), please contact the responsible unit:

• the TU Darmstadt Office for International Admission (Unit VIIIA) – if you obtained your qualification for university entrance at a non-German school outside of Germany or at an international school within Germany.
• the TU Darmstadt Student Services (Unit IIB) – if you obtained your qualification for university entrance at a German school in Germany or a German school abroad.

Please note that the offices may be very busy during application periods and answers may be delayed.

We as the department of Materials Science are responsible for all matters directly related to the M.Sc. programme (including the eligibility check). If you have any questions in this regard, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Due to the large number of applicants, we are unfortunately not able to offer this service. Please check the answers to the other questions (especially Q2-Q4 and Q7) in order to estimate your chances.

Our basic Master's programme (the M.Sc. Materials Science) itself does not come with a student grant or scholarship. However, it is important to note that there are no tuition fees either. You would only have to face a semester fee (to-date approx.. 350€, subject to change, see Q18) and of course the ordinary costs of living.

Some of our International Double Degree Programmes do include a scholarship.

Also, there are other grants/scholarships that you can apply for (e.g. the Deutschlandstipendium or a TU Darmstadt specific scholarship supporting students in the final phase of their studies). The TU Darmstadt International Student Services has collected details on these programmes and further opportunities on their website about the matter of financing your studies.

Please contact the Studierendenwerk or the TU International Student Services.