Selection Procedure
At Leuphana Graduate School
If you meet the admission requirements and your application is valid, we will check whether we can offer you a study place. If more applicants meet the admission requirements than there are places available for a master's degree programme, the places will be allocated on the basis of a selection procedure. Certain selection criteria are taken into account, each of which is converted into points. A final ranking list is drawn up on the basis of the points achieved.
The following criteria are taken into account for the selection process:
- Up to 30 points for the final grade or average grade from the bachelor's program
- Up to 11 points for special achievements (international experience, honorary elective office, scholarships and best quota)
- Up to 18 points for programme-specific selection criteria (only for some programs)
The admission limits are thus formed on the basis of the total points achieved from the areas:
Final grade + special achievements (+ programme-specific selection criteria) = point value for admission
Exceptions are International Law of Global Security, Peace and Development, Psychology & Sustainability and Work and Organizational Psychology. We have explained the selection procedures under the program-specific selection criteria.
In the application procedure for the last winter term the following total points lead to admission:
Study programme | Total points | Applied criteria** |
International Economic Law | all valid applications admitted | 1, 2 |
International Law of Global Security, Peace and Development | separate procedure | - |
Culture and Organization | 18 points / L* | 1, 2, 3 |
Kritik der Gegenwart: Künste, Theorie, Geschichte | all valid applications admitted | 1, 2, 3 |
Medien und Digitale Kulturen | all valid applications admitted | 1, 2, 3 |
Management & Data Science | 20 points / L* | 1, 2, 3 |
Management & Engineering | all valid applications admitted | 1, 2, 3 |
Management & Entrepreneurship | 2 points / L* | 1, 2, 3 |
Management & Sustainable Accounting and Finance | all valid applications admitted | 1, 2, 3 |
Psychology and Sustainability | 23 points / L* | 1, 3 |
Public Affairs and Democracy | 0 points / L* | 1, 2 |
Public Affairs and Economics | all valid applications admitted | 1, 2 |
Rechtswissenschaft | all valid applications admitted | 1, 2, 3 |
Sustainability Science: Ecosystems, Biodiversity and Society | 12 points / L* | 1, 2 |
Sustainability Science: Entrepreneurship, Agency and Leadership | 15 points / L* | 1, 2 |
Sustainability Science: Governance and Law | 10 points / L* | 1, 2 |
Sustainability Science: Resources, Materials and Chemistry | start in winter 2025, no points available | 1, 2 |
Work and Organizational Psychology | separate procedure | - |
*In the event of an equal number of points, the ranking on the list is determined by lot (L). The information is without guarantee. The scores used for admission vary from year to year and are only an orientation.
** 1: GPA, 2: special achievements, 3: programme-specific criteria
Advance and Special Quota Management & Entrepreneurship und Management & Sustainable Accounting and Finance
For the Master's degree programmes "Management & Entrepreneurship" and "Management & Sustainable Accounting and Finance", in accordance with Section 7 (1) sentence 5 NHZG a preliminary quota of 20 percent for foreign nationals and stateless persons who are not deemed equivalent to Germans in accordance with § 1 para. 2 sentence 3 NHZVO (quota for foreign nationals).
A maximum of 30 points can be achieved with the final grade. If the final grade is not yet available at the time of application, but a minimum of 81 % of all relevant exams has been completed successfully, the preliminary grade point average (GPA) will be considered in the selection procedure.
81 % of the relevant examinations of a three-year Bachelor degree usually correspond to 145 Credit Points according to ECTS. The GPA submitted in the application process will be considered in the selection procedure, even if the final grade subsequently differs from the preliminary GPA.
Final Grade/ GPA of Bachelors Degree (oder equivalent) | Final Grade/ GPA of law students ("Staatsexamen") | Point value |
1,0 | 17,01 - 18,00 | 30 points |
1,1 | 16,01 - 17,00 | 28 points |
1,2 | 15,01 - 16,00 | 26 points |
1,3 | 14,01 - 15,00 | 24 points |
1,4 | 13,01 - 14,00 | 22 points |
1,5 | 12,01 - 13,00 | 20 points |
1,6 | 11,51 - 12,00 | 18 points |
1,7 | 11,01 - 11,50 | 16 points |
1,8 | 10,51 - 11,00 | 14 points |
1,9 | 10,01 - 10,50 | 12 points |
2,0 | 9,51 - 10,00 | 10 points |
2,1 | 9,01 - 9,50 | 8 points |
2,2 | 8,51 - 9,00 | 6 points |
2,3 | 8,01 - 8,50 | 4 points |
2,4 | 7,51 - 8,00 | 2 points |
up to 2,5 | up to 7,50 | 0 points |
With accomplishments in the following areas you can gain additional points. You have to submit the necessary documents together with your application. If you do not submit the certificates, no additional points can be awarded; however, this does not lead to a deduction of points. By providing proof of your accomplishments you may achieve a maximum of 11 points.
Category* | Explanation | Proof | Point Value |
International Experience* | A stay abroad of at least one semester or 6 months as a student or in a full-time employment that is relevant to your career (e.g. internship). No points can be awarded for working as an Au pair or for travelling. It is also possible that several shorter stays abroad will be awarded if they sum up to a minimum of 6 months. | Certificate from the university abroad, the foreign employer or institution | 2 points |
Voluntary Work* | You must have held a voluntary elective office at a university or an equivalent (public) institution for at least one year | Certificate from the university or the equivalent (public) institution | 4 points |
Scholarships* | Scholarship from a German organization for the promotion of young talent (“Begabtenförderungswerk”) or a scholarship for at least one semester abroad from Fulbright or the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) | Certificate from the “Begabtenförderungswerk”, Fulbright-Commission or DAAD
| 1 point |
Ranking among the top students* | The final grade or the GPA ranks among the top 10% of the year – according to ECTS ranking system | Certificate from the university
| 4 points |
*does not apply for Psychology & Sustainability
Programme - specific selection criteria are used for the following study programmes. Here you will find detailed information on the criteria.
Study program | Selection criteria |
Culture and Organization | selection interview |
International Law of Global Security Peace and Development | separate selection procedure |
Kulturwissenschaften: Kritik der Gegenwart: Künste, Theorie, Geschichte | selection interview |
Kulturwissenschaften: Medien und Digitale Kulturen | selection interview |
Management & Data Science | Leuphana Data Science Online Study Aptitude Test |
Management & Engineering | GTEBS or GMAT |
Management & Entrepreneurship | GTEBS or GMAT |
Management & Sustainable Accounting and Finance | GTEBS or GMAT |
Psychology & Sustainability | written motivational letter |
Rechtswissenschaft | written exam |
Work & Organizational Psychology | separate selection procedure |
Culture and Organization
Please note that in the selection process for the study programme Culture and Organization, all applicants with degrees considered to be consecutive will be individually interviewed from 17th - 20th June or 10th and 11th July 2025. The purpose of this interview is to obtain a personal impression of your interest and your motivation as well as your suitability for the Master's programme in Culture & Organization. Hereby, you can achieve up to 18 additional points in the selection process and thus improve your prospects of a study place in Lüneburg. The 20-minute interviews are conducted online and in English. Invitations to the interviews are sent out by email approximately one week before the interviews.
International Law of Global Security, Peace and Development
Information on the selection procedure can be found on the pages of the Glasgow University.
Kritik der Gegenwart: Künste, Theorie, Geschichte
As part of the selection process for the MA Kritik der Gegenwart, you will be invited to an interview on 20th or 23rd June 2025. The purpose of the interviews is to gain a personal impression of your interests and motivation, as well as your suitability. In addition, the interview offers you the opportunity to gain up to 18 additional points in the selection process and thus improve your chances of being accepted to study in Lüneburg. The 15-minute interviews will be conducted online. Invitations to the selection interviews will be sent by email approximately one week before the interviews. No preparation is required.
Medien und Digitale Kulturen
As part of the selection process for the MA Medien und Digitale Kulturen, you will be invited to an interview between 16th and 18th June 2025. The purpose of the interviews is to gain a personal impression of your interests and motivation, as well as your suitability. In addition, the interview offers you the opportunity to gain up to 18 additional points in the selection process and thus improve your chances of being accepted to study in Lüneburg. The 15-minute interviews will be conducted online. Invitations to the selection interviews will be sent by email approximately one week before the interviews. No preparation is required.
Management & Data Science
When applying for the study programme Management & Data Science, you can achieve up to 18 additional points in the selection procedure through an above-average result in our subject-specific online admission test (Leuphana Data Science Online Study Aptitude Test) and thus improve your chances of being admitted to the study programme in Lüneburg. The Leuphana Data Science Online Study Aptitude Test measures subject-related skills in the fields of maths, statistics and programming. All applicants who have properly applied will receive an invitation in June with an access code to take the test. Taking the test is free of charge and voluntary. This year's test is expected to be held on 12th June 2025 at 2pm (CEST). Applicants should double-check whether their hardware is compatible with the test infrastructure and familiarize themselves with the platform so that they know how it works when they take the test. They can do so by logging into the system at https://dsat.leuphana.de/#/demo-test using the email address they used to apply only. In case you would like to prepare for the test, here are some pointers to publicly available textbooks. However, please note that any other book or resource covering the same topics will be useful as well. Just pick the one you feel most confident with.
Linear algebra: http://joshua.smcvt.edu/linearalgebra/book.pdf
Calculus: https://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/resources/Strang/Edited/Calculus/Calculus.pdf
Statistics: https://www.math.arizona.edu/~jwatkins/statbook.pdf
Programming: https://cfm.ehu.es/ricardo/docs/python/Learning_Python.pdf
Learning from Data: https://work.caltech.edu/library/textbook.html
Mathematics for Machine Learning: https://mml-book.github.io/book/mml-book.pdf
Points are allocated according to the following table:
Percentage | Points |
96 - 100% | 18 |
91 - 95% | 16 |
86 - 90% | 14 |
81 - 85% | 12 |
76 - 80% | 10 |
71 - 75% | 8 |
66 - 70% | 6 |
61 - 65% | 4 |
56 - 60% | 2 |
51 - 55% | 0 |
Mangement & Engineering, Management & Entrepreneurship sowie Management & Sustainable Accounting and Finance
If you are applying for a management course, you can gain a maximum of 18 additional points by achieving an above-average score in a study aptitude test (GTEBS (Graduate Test for Economics, Business and Socials Scienes (formerly TM-WISO)) or GMAT (Graduate Management Admission Test)).
When you register for the GTEBS or GMAT, you can choose to have your results sent automatically to the university of your choice. This will save you the hassle of having to send your results and will enable your application to be considered quickly. If you do not wish to have your result sent automatically, please indicate this in your application to Leuphana (e.g. by attaching a screenshot of your application or a copy of your invoice) and send the test result immediately to Leuphana Student Services:
- by e-mail: master.managementtest@leuphana.de
The test results will be converted according to the following table:
GTEBS (formerly TM-WISO) score | GMAT score | Points |
125 - 130 | 750 - 800 | 18 |
122 - 124 | 720 - 740 | 16 |
119 - 121 | 690 - 710 | 14 |
116 - 118 | 670 - 680 | 12 |
113 - 115 | 650 - 660 | 10 |
110 - 112 | 630 - 640 | 8 |
107 - 109 | 610 - 620 | 6 |
104 - 106 | 590 - 600 | 4 |
101 - 103 | 570 - 580 | 2 |
bis 100 | unter 570 | 0 |
Psychology & Sustainability
The selection procedure for this study programme consists of a maximum of 30 points for the GPA and a written motivational letter in English, through which you can receive a maximum of 29 additional points. The following topics must be completed in a maximum of 1500 - 1800 words:
- Which specific talents and interests make the applicant particularly suitable for the degree programme in Sustainability Psychology? (max. 6 points)
- With regard to the ‘Bottom-Up’ perspectives offered from the 2nd year of study onwards with interdisciplinary topics of sustainability science and a practice- or research-oriented internship at Leuphana University Lüneburg and ‘Top Down’ with disciplinary topics of environmental psychology (ecological dimension) at the University of Groningen, applicants can present their particular interests and qualifications for one or both of these perspectives. (max. 8 points)
- What specific (career) goal is the applicant aiming for by deciding in favour of the ‘Bottom-Up’ perspective at Leuphana University or ‘Top Down’ at the University of Groningen? (max. 6 points)
- To what extent has the applicant acquired knowledge in the previous course of study that is directly related to sustainability psychology? (max. 5 points)
- How does the applicant perceive the importance of the interface between psychology and sustainability on an individual, societal or global level? (max. 2 points)
- To what extent does the applicant have experience in inter- and/or transdisciplinary research and/or practice (e.g. research projects, inter- or transdisciplinary internship, interdisciplinary thesis)? (max. 2 points)
Rechtswissenschaft
As part of the selection process for this study programme, you will be required to take a written exam. All applicants who fulfil the admission requirements will be invited to take a written selection test. The selection test will take place on Saturday, 28th June or 2nd August 2025 in the form of a 180-minute written exam from the legal fields of BGB AT, law of obligations and property law.
Grade | Points |
1,0 | 18 |
1,1 | 17 |
1,2 | 16 |
1,3 | 15 |
1,4 | 14 |
1,5 | 13 |
1,6 | 12 |
1,7 | 11 |
1,8 | 10 |
1,9 | 9 |
2,0 | 8 |
2,1 | 7 |
2,2 | 6 |
2,3 | 5 |
2,4 | 4 |
2,5 | 3 |
2,6 | 2 |
2,7 | 1 |
Work & Organizational Psychology
Information on the selection procedure can be found on the pages of the Maastricht University.