1. Home
  2. Application
  3. Doctoral Program

Application

Application for Doctoral Programs

If you intend to join the Graduate Training Centre of Neuroscience for your doctorate, you may apply throughout the year (there are no firm application deadlines). To be eligible for the doctoral program, you must hold a MSc-, a MD- or an equivalent degree. Copies of all credentials must be validated. Transcripts or degree certificates issued in languages other than German or English must be accompanied by an official German or English translation. For detailed information on the application procedure, see ‘Guidelines for Prospective & Active Doctoral Students’, in particular Part I.

Preliminary Admission

Students who submit all application documents, listed below, can receive a letter of preliminary admission for six months. It allows you to enroll at the University for six months and take courses, immediately. The credits you earn during this period will be fully acknowledged in your course list, and you will also be registered on the GTC mailing list to receive information and course offers.

  • Form ‘Application for Admission’ (download)
  • Curriculum vitae
  • Certified copy of BSc and MSc degree certificate (Urkunde)
  • Certified copy of BSc and MSc transcript of records (Zeugnis)
  • English language proficiency test (waived under certain conditions)
  • Two letters of recommendation (one from past, one from future supervisor)
  • Supervision Agreement for Doctoral Candidates (download)
  • Proposal of an ‘Advisory Board’. The advisory board can first be established as a preliminary board, i.e. with later changes of your project plan you might replace a member of the preliminary board by another expert. Please note, at least one member of your board should have a long-term perspective in Tübingen (e.g. full professor, director in Tübingen).
  • Preliminary Doctoral thesis proposal, in the form of a one-page mission statement or a similar short outline. As detailed as possible with the information you currently have on your project.

Please note, the preliminary admission is limited to six months. For full admission, you will need to submit:

  • A complete project proposal (2-3, at most 5 pages – see below the structure for the proposal),
  • The final composition of your advisory board. The advisory board must then be formally approved by the GTC’s doctorate board.
  • After approval you are required to hold your first advisory board meeting and submit the advisory board meeting form.

Structure of doctoral thesis proposal.
The doctoral thesis should be outlined on 3-5 pages and address the following points:
       1. Introduction to the scientific topic
       2. Status quo of research field – own preliminary work
       3. Goals and methods applied – work schedule and timeline
       4. Statement that the necessary funds, the infrastructure and the set-up’s are available
       5. Bibliography

Send your complete application package electronically to:

monika.lam@tuebingen.mpg.de

Note: The Supervision Agreement for Doctoral Candidates (originally signed by supervisor and candidate) and the Certified copies of degree certificate (Urkunde) and of transcript of records (Zeugnis) need to be hand in as a hard copy. Alternatively, you can submit a simple copy of your certificates and transcripts of records and show the originals to the GTC.

Information about the enrolment at the University of Tübingen