Admission at LMU

After you get a postition at the IMPRS Graduate Program, you need to get admission to doctoral studies at the university your supervisor is affiliated with. Usually, it is the Ludwig-Maximilians Universität München (LMU).

Once permission to enter the doctoral program has been granted by the university, students with direct access to the doctoral program may enroll at the university for up to 8 semesters at their own request. Application for admission to doctoral studies and enrollment at the university is done on location, after starting a position at one of our institutes.

Doctoral students with restricted access to the doctoral program (e.g. Integrated Master, excellent Bachelor) have to enroll in the Masters program at the Physics Department at LMU first. For this, the regular enrollment deadlines must be met. That is July 15th for the program starting in fall of the same year.

The admission and enrollment process at the LMU for a PhD includes the following steps (similar at TUM):

Admission to the PhD studies

All students of our program have to apply for admission to doctoral studies at the universtity right at the begining of their PhD time. If your university degree and your grades match the requirements of the LMU or TUM to accept you as a PhD student is an academic question, which is decided by the Dean of the Department of Physics at the LMU or TUM. 

At the LMU, please contact Ms. Merita Shabanaj at the Faculty of Physics who is in charge to collect all information required for this process (certificate and degree certificate, and final Transcript of Records of your master's degree, certificate and degree certificate, and final Transcript of Records of your bachelor's degree, CV, confirmation letter of your supervisor). The address of Ms. Merita Shabanaj is:

The IMPRS office will guide you in this process if needed. You can see us first, before contacting Ms. Shabanaj.

The matriculation as a PhD student

It is important to know that the doctoral regulations of the Department of Physics at LMU do not require you to be enrolled as a doctoral student after admission to the doctorate. Nevertheless, doctoral students can enroll at the university for a maximum of 8 semesters. Enrolment at the university brings some social benefits, such as cheaper tickets for public transportation, access to the activities of the university sports clubs, etc.

The enrollment is an administrative procedure. Students with an international Master's Degree should address the International Office of the Ludwig-Maximilians-University, located in the Ludwigstr. 27 / ground floor / Tel: +49 2180-2823. Here you will find further information on what is required for the immatriculation. You will see that there are differences between EU citizens and other students from foreign countries.

Students with an German Master's Degree should address the University Registrar (Studentenkanzlei) located in Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1 / Room E 011 / Tel: +49 2180-9000.

For enrollment, you need, among other things, written confirmation from the Faculty of Physics that you have been admitted to the doctoral program in physics (see “Admission” above). This confirmation will be issued by the Dean's office at Schellingstr. Stock / Tel. 2180-3340 after you have been admitted by the Dean.

You can always contact the IMPRS office for help in these matters.

PhD Degree Requirements

Below, a sort description of the requirements for being accepted at the LMU for the promotion to Dr. rer. nat. is given (similar requirements exist at the TUM). The complete text can be found at the LMU's physics faculty website

In brief, one needs: A M.Sc. in physics  or an equivalent university exam, a completed and accepted dissertation (PhD thesis), and a successful defense of PhD thesis in an oral exam. The PhD thesis has to be written in English. Students are expected to publish a minimum of two papers during their PhD period. 

The PhD (Dr. rer. nat.) will exclusively be granted according to the rules of the Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, the Technical University Munich or another university. Which university is relevant depends on the affiliation of your supervisor. On application, students may work in Munich/Garching but receive their PhD from a university other than the LMU, though this requires supervisors at both universities/institutes.