FAQs Application and Entry

The content on this page was translated automatically.

The German Society for Psychology provides detailed information about the study program on its website.

If you would like to learn more about the contents of the psychology degree program and at the same time test whether your interests and competencies match the study contents, we recommend that you use a free self-assessment center. The German Society for Psychology has compiled a number of assessment centers . Of particular note here is OSA-Psych, a cross-study site orientation service designed to help you find out whether studying a bachelor's degree in psychology is right for you, regardless of which university in Germany you want to study psychology at.

The general student advisory service provides you with information on the following topics:

 

The student advisory service will provide you with information on:

  • Contents of the individual modules in the psychology degree programs
  • Recognition of previous academic achievements

 

You can obtain information from the Student Union about

There is no fixed NC (Numerus Clausus) in the application process. The classification of your grade always depends on the final grades of the other applicants. The page of previous selection results can serve as a guide. Please note that the grade point average is not your final grade alone, but a combination of your final grade (38%), the result (percentile rank) of the study aptitude test for the bachelor's program in psychology licensed by the DGPs e.V. (BaPsy-DGPs, 49%) and a relevant school subject in the form of an advanced course (13%). More detailed information on the calculation of the procedural grade.

If applicable, further selection criteria are also used.

In the following you will find different possibilities to study psychology even with a lower grade:

  • Application with waiting period (a maximum of 7 semesters are credited)
  • Application via the lottery procedure
  • Study at a distance or private university
    Here, high school graduates can enroll even with lower grades. However, if your goal is to work in psychotherapy, find out exactly whether the new requirements of the PsychThApprO are implemented in the respective course of study. Otherwise, a later transfer to a public university or the transition to a master's degree program with a clinical focus may be difficult, as it may not be possible to enter the clinical branch.
  • Study in neighboring countries of Germany (Belgium, Holland, ...)
    If you consider to study a Master's degree in Germany afterwards, you have to process the application via uni.assist (for foreign degree certificates). Please note that due to the reform of the PsychThG and the PsychThApprO there are currently still many uncertainties regarding the admission with a foreign bachelor degree to the new clinical master programs.

The B.Sc. Psychology is admission restricted, i.e. there is a so-called "NC - Numerus Clausus". This is determined each year on the basis of the number of applicants and the admission capacity. The value indicates with which "worst" procedural grade applicants were still admitted. If a large number of people with very good grades apply, the NC is very low (e.g. 1.2).

Your procedural grade results from a combination of the average grade of your university entrance qualification, the result (percentile rank) of the study aptitude test for the bachelor's degree program in psychology licensed by the DGPs e.V.   (BaPsy-DGPs) and the inclusion of anadvanced course relevant to psychology and shown on the certificate of the university entrance qualification. The following school subjects are considered relevant to psychology: mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, German and English.

The individual criteria are weighted as follows:

  • Average grade of the university entrance qualification: 38%.
  • Result of the study aptitude test (BaPsy-DGPs): 49%.
  • Psychology-relevant advanced course: 13
    • If you can prove that you had one of the above-mentioned school subjects as an advanced course in your Abitur year, this will be included in the calculation of the procedure grade with a 1.0. If you did not have any of the subjects as an advanced course, this will be included with a grade of 3.0. The grade you received in the subject is irrelevant.

Grade calculator for the "Procedure grade" in the "University selection procedure" quota

The BaPsy-DGPs is a standardized central student selection test that will be introduced at most German universities in the winter semester 23/24 and represents a supplementary, valid admission criterion for the study of psychology. The BaPsy-DGPs consists of a general part to measure reasoning skills and a specific part to measure text comprehension as well as competencies in English and mathematics. All components are necessary for successful study of psychology. If the voluntary test is not taken, the criterion will be included in the procedural grade with a percentile rank of 0%.

The tests are organized by the "Center for Scientific-Psychological Services" (ZwpD) and take place as computer-based face-to-face tests in different test centers. The test duration is 3 hours. The test result is made available to the participants by the ZwpD and can be used throughout Germany for application to all participating universities. The test result is valid for 5 years and cannot be repeated during this period.

A test fee of 100 € is due for participation in the study aptitude test. This is necessary to finance test development, test maintenance, test organization and test execution. No profit is made from the test fees. At the present time, hardship compensation for the fees charged does not appear to be legally possible.

Registration period for the 2024 study aptitude test: 15.12.2023 - 15.02.2024.

Latest payment date: 15.02.2024

Test dates 2023: nationwide on 25 and 26.05.2024

Retrieval of test results from 06/01/2014.

Test centers: Information will follow in a timely manner.

Further information on the BaPsy-DGPs as well as on a voluntary online self-assessment for practice purposes can be found on the following homepage: https://www.studieneignungstest-psychologie.de.

Under the following link you will also find an informative Spiegel article on the test, which addresses important questions: Spiegel article

You can be credited with up to 7 waiting semesters. Internships or other degrees have no effect on the admission procedure in the Bachelor's program in Psychology.

Unfortunately, this approach is not successful because you would lack the prerequisite modules "Introduction to Psychology and its Methods" and/or "Quantitative Methods" (statistics).

Further information about the study program Psychology in general can be found on the website of the German Society for Psychology (no responsibility is taken for external content).

A laptop is the technical equipment of choice!

Why: An essential part of studying psychology is learning how to work empirically and scientifically. The statistical analysis of data sets plays a major role in this. Usually, the free statistical software R is used, which cannot be used on any device. In particular, many tablets are not capable of running the software. We therefore recommend that when choosing a device, you make sure that it supports a full operating system (i.e., Windows, MacOS or Linux).

Study aptitude test explained

Further information on the test, preparation and registration

Further information on the test, preparation and registration: Forward