Admission & Enrollment
The Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) in Physics in Cologne is admission-free, which means that your Abitur score is not relevant for admission to the study program. Under certain conditions, it is also possible to enroll in the program without Abitur. If you do not have an Abitur diploma and are interested in studying physics with us, you can find information here and here about studying without an Abitur diploma and seek counsel from the Student Advisory Office.
To enrol, however, you will need proof of participation in the Online Self-Assessment (OSA) Physics. Once you have completed the OSA, you can download a corresponding certificate. You should allow around 30-45 minutes to complete it. The OSA helps you to find out whether your personal interests, expectations, and skills match the requirements and content of the Bachelor's degree course in Physics. It also contains references to further information and advice services that can support you on the way to your study decision. If you have any questions about the self-assessment, please contact the OSA team (osa(at)verw.uni-koeln.de).
Do not worry if you have not covered certain topics in your school lessons. During your studies, you will acquire the necessary skills and knowledge to solve the tasks. Some of the questions in the self-assessment are primarily intended to familiarize you with the exciting research areas of physics in Cologne. The most important indicators that the degree program is suitable for you are your interest in the scientific issues and your willingness to engage with the physics topics.
The enrollment process
1) The Online Self-Assessment (OAS)
1.Register with Assessment-ILIAS, the University of Cologne’s digital academic orientation tool. Once your account has been successfully activated, please proceed directly to Step 2.
Registration instructions: Choose a username and password, and provide a valid email address to which the account activation confirmation link will be sent. Data protection: Your personal data will be used solely for the purpose of generating the certificate of participation. All data will be deleted after the registration period ends. For quality assurance and to improve the OSA, anonymized statistics based on aggregated results will be generated.
2. Clicking on this link will take you to the central OSA overview. Select the appropriate OSA by clicking on the corresponding image. You will then receive all further information directly within the OSA. After completing the OSA, you can request the corresponding certificate.
If you have any questions about the registration process, please contact the OSA team (osa(at)verw.uni-koeln.de).
2) Create an applicant account in KLIPS
To proceed, you will need an account for KLIPS, the University of Cologne’s campus management system. This is not the account for the online self-assessment that you created in Step (1).
- Currently enrolled students: You do not need an applicant account. Please use your existing KLIPS account for the steps below.
- Everyone else: Create an applicant account as described on the KLIPS 2.0 Support pages: Open KLIPS 2.0 and click on “Create Basic Account” under “For Prospective Students Without an Account” on the homepage.
Additional note:
Be sure to use a valid email address and your real name (no nicknames)! Otherwise, the communication required for your enrollment in the subsequent steps will not work.
If you encounter any issues during the process, you will automatically receive an email with further instructions. If you have any questions, please use the contact form and wait for a response.
3) Registration
During the process, you will be prompted to upload the certificate created in step (1) for the online self-assessment.
- Log in to KLIPS using your existing account or the account you created in step (3).
- If the “Online Application” section does not appear immediately after logging in: In the “Studies” section, click on ‘Applications’ and then on “Create Application.”
- Follow the instructions until the end.
4) Registration - IMPORTANT: Be sure to meet the deadlines!
Once you have registered following steps (1) – (3) and the Student Affairs Office has processed your registration, you will receive an email at the address linked to your KLIPS account. This email will contain all further information regarding your enrollment, including the timeframe within which you must enroll and the documents you will need to do so.
Notes:
- Check the email associated with your KLIPS account daily, including the spam folder!!!
- You have only a limited amount of time to enroll.
- Enrollment can be done in person, by mail, or by proxy. You will need a number of documents for enrollment. Only originals or officially certified copies will be accepted.Please note that if you enroll by mail, you will not receive the documents back, so you must use officially certified copies in any case.
- You can have officially certified copies made at city halls, for example. Keep in mind that you may need to allow several days for this.
- Further information on enrollment
Deadlines
31.08. for the winter semester
31.01. for the summer semester
Please note! Take into account the time you need for the following steps, which you must have completed before this deadline:
- Allow about half an hour for the self-assessment (steps (1) and (2)).
- If you have an expired KLIPS account, you cannot create a new one, but must reactivate your old one. This may take several working days. See step (3).
Further information on enrollment
Program for first-year students
When making your plans, please bear in mind that there is an extensive program for first-year students that you should definitely take part in and that starts about a month before the actual semester. All information about the program for new Bachelor's students can be found here.