The Master program takes two years. The first year is the study phase, while the second year is the research phase. In the study phase the different courses - be it lectures, laboratory courses or seminars - are sorted into modules. A module usually consists of one or two courses.  Lectures will be completed by an exam at the end of the term, for laboratory courses you have to write reports on the experiments and in the seminar you have to give a talk. For a passed module, you receive credit points (CP) according to the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS). As a rule of thumb, getting 1 CP should amount to a workload of 30 hours, including attendance of the lecture, doing homework, preparing for the exam, etc. By collecting a certain amount of credit points, which varies from module to module, you pass the whole program. The modules come in three different types: Obligatory base modules, Specialization and Advanced lectures (we put together a short overview below). All available lectures are listed in the module manual [2], as well as some information concerning requirements and scheduling.

Admission
Admission is only possible at the beginning of the winter semester. Application deadline is usually around July 1st of each year. There is no limitation to the number of students in the graduate programs, though there are three main admission requirements:

Admission is granted on a case to case basis (this goes especially for students who didn't get their degree from the Bonn university) so there is no general clue of how to get into one of the graduate courses.

 For undergraduate students from the Bonn university though, the first two conditions transfrom into completing the Bachelor's degree in Bonn with a "befriedigend" or better as well as completing the two oral exams in the 5th semester with at least a "befriedigend". And even if they don't meet these criteria they still have the possibility to get into the course through presenting positive opinions by two university teachers from Bonn.

You'll find some official information about the admission process right here. 

Obligatory Base Modules

Specialization I / II
In both specializations you can choose between lectures from the following fields: Particle Physics, Condensed Matter & Photonics and Theoretical Physics. It is possible to mix different fields, since knowledge from another field may be required to successfully complete courses in another field. To complete the module you need at least 12 CP from different lectures. In Astrophysics the Specialization is called Compulsory Astrophysics. At the moment there are only four lectures (Stars & Stellar Evolution, Cosmology, Interstellar Medium and Astrophysics of galaxies), so unfortunately you have no choice therein.

Advanced Lectures
The Advanced Lectures give you the possibility to choose between lectures of a wide range of research fields. Some of them are less extensive than the lectures of the Specialization. Here you can mix the different fields as much as you want to.

Seminar
You have to participate in a seminar where you have to give a talk. It is  suggested that you choose a seminar whose  topics are related to your master thesis topic but this is not obligatory.                              

The research phase
consists of three modules: Scientific Exploration of Master Thesis Topic, Methods & Project Planning and the Master Thesis. The first two shall help you to familiarize yourself with the topic of your thesis, the necessary knowledge as well as methods and project planning. To complete Scientific Exploration of Master Thesis Topic you
have to write an essay about the acquired knowledge, for Methods & Project Planning a proposal. The Master Thesis completes your studies.

For the exams it is important to know that there is a limited number of chances to retry. At the end of each lecture there are two dates, one at the beginning and one at the end of the semester break. If you fail at one exam you are automatically applied for the next date. You are only allowed to attend a lecture twice. So in total you have only four chances to pass the exam.

Because every single mark is important and the limited number of chances to retry an exam a certain amount of bureaucracy is needed. Therefore you have to apply for every lecture online at 'FlexNow'.

Hopefully we didn't forget anything. And if it happened, please feel free to contact us! As said above this text is not based on experience. So if there is anything we should add or change we would appreciate if you told us!

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