FAQ:Guide for preparing documents

There are five different parts to the documents that are required which we will explain first. Additional documents that can have an influence on your ranking are then discussed below.

Main application documents

These documents are required to be sent by all applicants and the application will only be considered if all five parts have been submitted.

Letter of Motivation

This is the most important document since it accounts for 40% of your ranking score. It has to be written by yourself in English language. There is a maximum of 2 pages that you should not exceed. In this letter you should explain your motivation to study especially this programme. The text should answer the following questions:

• Why are you interested in the field "Intelligent Adaptive Systems" or what parts are most interesting and why?
• Why is this programme especially suited to complement knowledge you already have?
• Why did you choose to study this programme at Universität Hamburg?
• How does this programme fit into your academic and professional future goals

The admission board will rate letters high that show that the student has made a deliberate choice to study IAS and can justify his/her decision well and also explain how studying IAS will bring the student closer to a desired goal. The board is looking for students that show a high motivation and have a good chance of finishing the programme well with a high impact on the student's life. The ability to present a well argued and connected chain of argument is a major ability the board is looking for.

Things that affect the rating adversely are, amongst many, generic letters that are written for multiple applications, letters that are written in bad English or do not follow a good structure.

BSc certificate including transcript of records and diploma supplement

These documents are important since they are used to determine whether you fulfil the formal requirement of 60 ECTS credits or comparable from the field of computer science. The documents do not have to be sent as certified/attested copies for application and you should not sent original certificates. If you already send certified/attested copies, these will be kept and used for admission (where original or certified certificates have to be presented) should your application be successful.

There are a few cases where you should send additional documents with the BSc certificate and the transcripts or can omit some:

1. You have not finished the BSc or do not have the official certificate yet: You can apply if you have finished and can evidence 150 ECTS credits or comparable of your first degree. At Universität Hamburg a BSc has a regular length of three years and requires 180 ECTS credits, thus you are required to evidence 5/6th of a degree. This has to be done through an official transcript showing the amount of already acquired credits and the amount of minimum credits required for completion.
2. You do not have a BSc degree in computer science: The formal requirement is "60 ECTS credits or comparable from computer science". At Universität Hamburg, each regular semester of a full-time student contains 30 ECTS credits which means that you have to evidence that 1/3rd of a 3-year BSc degree was composed of computer science (CS) courses. Please note that only core computer science modules will be counted which generally excludes math or engineering subjects unless it is shown that they specifically focused on CS centred content.
3. What does this mean for your documents that you should prepare? If you are not sure whether your degree can fulfil the requirement, please add information on modules that you have completed and that contained CS related content. Optimally this is a selected list of courses with a short description on what the covered CS content was. If the module was based on specific literature, please add the name of the book as well. The given information should be short and precise (Name as given in transcript, number of credit hours spent, short description) but contain enough information so that the admission board can make an informed decision. Please do not send full module handbooks of your University since the admission board usually does not have the time to work though whole handbooks to find the required information.
4. You do not have "standard" BSc but a comparable degree: Please submit all documents that together can be counted as comparable to a BSc degree (e.g. associative + 2y-BSc degree in some countries)
5. Your degree does not fulfil the requirements: The admission board can add together courses from several degrees or professional training to reach the required amount. This will be decided on a case to case basis but only incorporate courses that are taught on a level and of an extend comparable to a course in higher education. You should therefore include evidence of all your degrees and training courses that can fulfil these criteria.

Curriculum Vitae, including all acquired certificates

The CV should include information where your academic and professional career is visible. Especially information that shows your background relevant for IAS, e.g. projects on AI, should be listed and evidenced through acquired certificates

Proof(s) of English language proficiency

The admission board is looking for evidence of a language level that ensures that you can both follow a complex lecture as well as communicate well in oral and written form. Students that don't have the necessary level won't be able to follow lectures, complete homework and seminar papers, or pass oral exams and thus not be able to complete our programme. A language certificate of the listed levels is an automatic fulfilment of this requirement. If you do not have a certificate, you have to provide evidence that shows a sufficient language proficiency. This evidence will be handed to the admission board which will decide on an individual basis whether the evidence is comparable to the required language certificates. The following evidence may be accepted:

• native English speaker (Short written statement that English is taught as native language)
• Degree fully completed in English language (Evidenced by letter of University or explicit mention in the transcript)
• Living in an English-speaking country or working in English-speaking work environment for a long period (Should be stated in extra document and evidenced by confirmation e.g. letter of company)

Evidence that on its own does not fulfil the requirement includes:

• English courses within your degree without internationally accepted certificate
• Short exchanges or visits in English-speaking countries
• Essays or papers written in English language

The admission board can also accept several documents showing weak evidence and decide that all evidence together shows sufficient proof of proficiency, but again this will be decided on a case by case basis taking into account all presented documents.

The printed and signed application form

Once the application period has opened the online application form can be accessed (see the official IAS website for the link and the FAQ on how to fill out the form). Please fill out the form and at the end print out the summary at the end (NOT the full form). This print-out has to be signed and included in your application package.

Additional Documents

Generally all possible documents that support your application (especially as evidence for the arguments used in your motivation letter) can be included and will be taken into account in the selection process. Please do not include all available documents but only documents that are relevant for this application. The selection of documents already shows your ability to distinguish between relevant and irrelevant content and a large amount of uncritically added certificates may have a negative effect on your ranking.

Documents that should be added

• Documents that add to the evidence needed for the requirements, e.g. additional proofs of language proficiency or higher education courses with computer science content
• Evidence for international or professional experience relevant to IAS studies. International experience, e.g. a study exchange, shows your ability to adapt to different learning and living environments and should be listed and described as part of our CV. The same holds for professional experience that may show your ability to work in a computer science context. Training courses or extensive experience that shows deep understanding of computer science concepts may be taken into account for the required CS credits.
• Abstracts or short descriptions of projects, both from your degree(s) or professional career (if relevant to IAS). These are rarely mentioned in transcripts and the admission board will only count credits from projects if it is clear that they were chosen from the CS field.

Documents that can be added and might have an effect in individual cases

• GRE test or other academic tests showing your ability to study in higher education. Such tests are not required but may be taken into account if provided and if they add to the general story of the application.
• Certificates of contests and competitions can be added if relevant. Please carefully decide whether the certificate can add any additional value to your application.

Documents that should not be added

• Full module handbooks. If you have to submit contents of modules to make a case for sufficient CS credits, please select the modules in question and provide a concise list to help the admission board to quickly see all necessary information.
• Certificates that don't add additional information or are not relevant at all. More is not always better since it may show that you are not able to decide what is relevant for the subject and what is not. Select the certificates that best show your abilities.