Who qualifies for the IMPRS on Astrophysics?
Students from all countries in the world are welcome to apply for the IMPRS program. They are selected based on their excellence as proven by their university record and by letters of recommendation. A selection committee composed of members from all participating institutes will review the applications and advise the potential supervisors about the candidates and their qualifications. However, the final decision about the acceptance of a student rests soley with his/her potential supervisor. Generally, students are admitted for the IMPRS Graduate School once a year. The program starts each September 1st, application deadline is November 1st of the year before. The application plattform is available from August untill November 1st.
Eligibility
Applicants must have a 5-year Master's degree in physics, astrophysics or astronomy with at least the grade 'good'.
Most applicants either have a combination of a BSc (3 years) and MSc (2 years) with a total equivalent of 300 ECTS credits, or a 5-year integrated MSc.
Applicants with an Integrated Master's degree in physics from a total of 4 years of education, e.g. with a "First Degree Master" or with a 3-year Bachelor's degree and a one-year Master's degree ("Integrated Master") can get admission under the same conditions as for admission with an excellent Bachelor's degree (see below).
Outstanding students with an excellent Bachelor’s degree (i.e. Bachelor’s degree with “very good,” or proven placement among the top 10% in their class) can be granted admission to doctoral studies by the Ludwig-Maximilians University (LMU). However, before beeing fully admitted to PhD studies, one must first acquire 60 ECTS points from one of the Faculty of Physics’ Master’s programs for further qualification. This requires usually five 2h per week lectures (plus tutorials) in the winter AND summer semester. The decision on whether students with an excellent Bachelor degree can be granted direct admission is with the LMU exclusively and is not a decision taken be the IMPRS.
For more information on the eligibility please contact the IMPRS office and see the LMU Website at Access to PhD at LMU
Language Skills
Candidates whose native or educational language is not English or German should provide a certificate documenting proficiency in English, for example TOEFL (recommended IbT of at least 94 points) or IELTS (recommended score of at least 7 points) or equivalent.
Additional Info
It is not necessary to already hold the relevant degree at the point of application. However, accepted candidates need to hold their degree prior to starting their doctoral studies and enrolment, which is in fall of the year following the application. That is: Applications for the program starting in 2026 can be submitted even if the Master's degree will not be obtained before November 1, 2025, when the completion of a Master's degree is expected until Fall 2026.
Please keep in mind that your university needs to be recognised by the German authorities. This is the case for most European public and state universities. Only very few private EU universities may not be recognised. If you apply from overseas, we recommend to visit the governmental Anabin website that allows you to check whether your university and your degree program are recognised in Germany.
A full assessment regarding eligibility is only possible after submission of a complete application and typically requires the approval of university officials. We only start this recognition process for candidates who have already been shortlisted.
PhD Grant
Successful applicants with a 5-year Master's degree will receive a work contract with a monthly salary of about EUR 2.000 net for a period of three to four years.
If you have successfully applied to our IMPRS program with a degree that is not equivalent to the 5-year MSc (e.g. BSc, Bachelor with Honours, MSci), we unfortunately are not able to provide you a PhD working contract until you didn't fullfilled the additional requirements. However, at MPE and MPA, we financially support you with a so-called "Bachelor Stipend" during that time.
For more info see section Fellowships and Contract
Available PhD Topics
See Available PhD Topics for more details.