Application

The grading scale must give evidence of the minimum pass-grade required for graduation as well as the maximum achievable grade. Please note that we have to reject applications without an official proof of your average grade and the applicable grading scale.
If you have not yet finished your Bachelor’s studies at the time of your application, please provide an official transcript of all examination results to date and an overall weighted average grade certified by your university's examination office. In case you fulfill all the requirements you will receive a conditional admission offer depending on your final grade. Please note that at the time of your application you must have completed at least 75 % of the requirements of your Bachelor's curriculum (in the case of a 180 ECTS course this would be 135 ECTS points).

If your transcript of records lists all course names, this is sufficient. You do not need to add syllabi.

Only in case that they are not in either German or English language. Please note that you have to provide both the documents in original language and the official translation.

Either proven by a university degree of an English-language institution of higher education (Please note that you will need to upload an official proof that the teaching language of your program has been entirely English. We will have to reject applications without an official proof provided. In case you upload your transcript of records or bachelor certificate, English as the teaching language has to be explicitly mentioned on the document.);
or proven by either a TOEFL total score of at least 80 points (iBT) or an academic IELTS overall band score of 6.5 points. (A screenshot or scan of the test result is sufficient as long as it is clearly identifiable to be yours). If you are not able to provide your TOEFL/IELTS score at the time of application you may upload an informal petition instead via our online-tool, saying that you are going to hand in your result after the application deadline via email. (Deadline: August 31st).

Tabellaric CV on previous education.

In addition please be prepared to provide a motivation letter in English with a length of 2,000 to 3,000 characters (= key strokes, including spaces). The letter should describe your goals in pursuing graduate studies and in particular why you would like to complete the Master’s Program in Economics at LMU Munich. The letter has to be inserted in the provided text field in our online application tool as an unformatted text without using control characters, indentations or other special symbols.

The test of admission will take place at LMU in Munich on a Saturday end of May/ beginning of June. The exact date will be announced on our website in advance. Please note: There is no other possibility - you will have to take the test personally in Munich at LMU. Please be prepared to get your paperwork and travel arrangements quickly done in case you receive an invitation. There is no funding / no reimbursement available for travel costs. We cannot provide accommodation.

Applicants who cannot attend the test at the regular date may be invited to a follow up appointment (second test). Only circumstances beyond individual control will make you eligible for the attendance of the second test. Explanations to justify circumstances beyond your control must be submitted via email: mgse-master@econ.lmu.de at the latest at the time of the test. Please add documents that provide evidence that the circumstances are beyond your control. In the case of sickness we require a doctor’s note, which has to be mailed to our postal address. Candidates whose explanation has been accepted can take the test on that alternative date (which as a rule will be about two to three weeks after the original test date).

Coverage of the test

The test will last 90 minutes and contain problems from the following subject areas Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, Empirical Economics and Mathematical Methods. You must achieve at least 60 % of all possible points and 20 % of the points in the relevant parts of the test in order to pass the test. The problems will be given in English. To solve them, it will be necessary to have advanced knowledge at the level of a Bachelor’s program in Economics. To prepare for the test we recommend to study the following books/chapters:

Microeconomics

Varian H. (1999) „Intermediate Microeconomics“, W.W. Norton.

• Chapter 12 (Decision under Risk)
• Chapter 29 & 30 (General Equilibrium)
• Chapter 36 (Moral Hazard & Adverse Selection)

(Please note that the chapters could be changed in following editions, the determining factor is the title and content! For example, if you use Varian H. (2010) “Intermediate Microeconomics” 8th edition:

• Chapter 12 (Uncertainty) instead of Chapter 12 (Decision under Risk)
• Chapter 31 (Exchange) and Chapter 32 (Production) instead of Chapter 29 and 30 (General Equilibrium)
• Chapter 37 (Asymmetrical Information) instead of Chapter 36 (Moral Hazard and Adverse Selection) )

Andreu Mas Colell et al. (1995), Microeconomic Theory, Oxford University Press:

• Chapter 6 A-C (Decision under Risk)
• Chapter 13 A-B (Adverse Selection)
• Chapter 14 B (Moral Hazard)
• Chapter 15-17 & 21 (General Equilibrium)

Macroeconomics

Olivier Blanchard, Alessia Amighini, and Francesco Giavazzi: Macroeconomics: A European Perspective (3rd edition), Pearson, 2017, Chapters 1-15, 22.

Empirical Economics

J. H. Stock & M. W. Watson: Introductions to Econometrics (3rd edition), Boston, MA: Addison-Wesley, 2011

• Chapter 1-9
• Chapter 11
• Chapter 13

Mathematical Methods

Chiang, A.: Fundamental Methods of Mathematical Economics, New York: McGraw Hill, 1984

Hoy, M., Livernois, J., McKenna, C., Rees, R. und Thanasis, S.: Mathematics for Economics, Don Mills, Ontario: Addison-Wesley, 1986

Example Problem Set

For your convenience we provide an example problem set with exercises from each of the four relevant fields. These are example questions how they could appear in the test.

Day of the test

You need to bring the following documents and materials with you to the test:

• a copy of your invitation to the test
• an official passport with photo and your signature
• pens
• a non-programmable calculator

Please pay attention to the time of entrance to the test room. Invited applicants who do not appear on time will not be allowed to take part in the test and their application will be rejected.

Test evaluation

Your solutions to the test problems will be evaluated by two members of the selection committee. Suitability for the Master’s Program in Economics is established when both evaluators agree that your performance is acceptable ("pass").

You will receive a non binding statement about your test result via e-mail as soon as possible and by the end of June at the latest. Details in regard of the estimated time for the evaluation will be communicated by e-mail to all candidates invited to the test of admission.

The calculation of equivalent grades will be carried out on the basis of the modified Bavarian formula (PDF) for the calculation of final results.

You need to prove your English proficiency

either by a university degree of an English-language institution of higher education (Please note that you will need to upload an official proof that the teaching language of your program has been entirely English. We will have to reject applications without an official proof provided. In case you upload your transcript of records or bachelor certificate, English as the teaching language has to be explicitly mentioned on the document.);

or by either a TOEFL total score of at least 80 points (iBT) or an academic IELTS overall band score of 6.5 points. (A screenshot or scan of the test result is sufficient as long as it is clearly identifiable to be yours). If you are not able to provide your TOEFL/IELTS score at the time of application you may upload an informal petition instead via our online-tool, saying that you are going to hand in your result after the application deadline via email. (Deadline: August 31st).

All Applicants from EU and non-EU countries must in addition to their application at our department apply at the University’s International Office (Referat für internationale Angelegenheiten) which assesses whether you fulfill the formal requirements for admission to the university itself.

It is recommended to prepare your application to the University's International Office simultaneously with your application for the master programn at the department of Economics. The application period of the International Office officially begins Mid-May but you can send in your application already at the beginning of May. It ends on July 15 for intake in the winter semester. Please apply as early as possible, otherwise the timeframe may get tight to obtain a visa or prepare your move before the semester starts. It is important to know that you can apply at the International Office already before you have received the "Certificate of Suitability" ("Eignungsbescheid") for the master program from our department, that means you do not need to provide the "Certificate of Suitability" for the Master in Economics at the time of your application to the International Office but you can hand it in later when you have received admission from both the International Office and the master program and enroll in person at the International Office (usually in October).

We recommended to send applications to the International Office by registered letter or a courier service to have a proof of the delivery. Applicants will be notified by email about successful admission to the University.

Please adhere to all the guidelines for application to the International Office described on their website (see section "Full time students (degree students)" --> "Application, admission and registration"). You can contact the International Office directly via the email address: zulassung.international@lmu.de.

Also please note:

• during the evaluation period the International Office is closed and cannot be contacted.
• You do not have to provide proof of German language proficiency for our master program. The entire program is taught in English. Due to the fact that the admission requirements for the application at the International Office relate also to other master programs being taught in German, the general application form requests this information.

If your application is successful, you can register for the Master’s Program in Economics by presenting the Certificate of Suitability ("Eignungsbescheid") you received from our department together with all other required documents at the Student's Registry (Studentenkanzlei). Please find the registration deadlines under the section "Postgraduale (u.a. Master) und Promotionsstudiengänge".

Foreign applicants who have received admission both to the master program and to the university have to enroll at the International Office (Referat Internationale Angelegenheiten) with the Certificate of Suitability ("Eignungsbescheid" from our Department (i.e. the admission to the Master's program) as well as the letter of admission received from the International Office (i.e. the admission to the University). The registration deadline will be indicated in the letter of admission, which you will receive from the International Office.

Enrollment is only possible with your final degree certificate. If you are not able to present a final degree certificate up to the official enrollment dates, you will have the possibility of retroactive enrollment. Please ask for more information regarding late enrollment at the Students Registry (Studentenkanzlei) or the International Office.

The Online Application Tool for the Master in Economics will be available only within the application period from April 1st to April 30th every year.

In order to apply for entry into the Master in Economics program starting in October every year, you will have to upload your documents via the online application tool which will be available here from April 1st to April 30th. Please note that we do not accept any documents send to us via email or mail. After you have successfully created an account in the application tool you will receive an application number. Please don't forget to use it for your correspondence with the MGSE Master’s Office.

Please make sure that you upload all required documents and information until the end of the application period, otherwise your application can not be regarded as successfully submitted. All relevant pages of the respective document should be scanned and saved as one pdf-file (maximum size: 5 MB) to be uploaded in our tool. We can only take into consideration the required documents which are listed on our homepage, so please don't provide any recommendations or reference letters, internship certificates, etc. If you are not able to provide your TOEFl/IELTS test result in time you can upload a short note to explain the delayed submission instead and send a scan or screenshot after the application period via email to mgse-master@econ.lmu.de (deadline August 31st).

The motivation letter (about 2,000 to 3,000 characters including spaces) has to be inserted as an unformatted text without using control characters, indentations or other special symbols in the provided text field.

You will receive an automatically issued e-mail as acknowledgement of receipt for your application. Only a copy of this e-mail will be accepted as proof that you successfully submitted your application.

Please note the following technical information:

• Some internet-browsers block verification signs (shown at the end of the registration site). Your browser will ask whether "insecure elements" should be loaded (maybe you will just see a shield icon appearing in the address bar) - you should enable your browser to process and will then see the verification sign.

Some e-mail-providers identify e-mail issued automatically as spam. As we use automatic replies, please check your spam before contacting us about missing e-mail.

Hinweis, dass Eignungssatzung rechtlich bindend.

https://www.lmu.de/de/studium/studienangebot/alle-studienfaecher-und-studiengaenge/economics-master-hauptfach-4565.html