How to Apply for the Master’s Program in PEP

First, please make sure that you meet the admission requirements for the master’s program in Politics, Economics and Philosophy.

You will need to complete the online application available on the University of Hamburg's application portal during the application period (15 February to 31 March).

• Please create a user account.
• Chose the application form "Politics, Economics and Philosophy (WiSe 25/26, admission restricted)".
• Enter your information online.
• Upload the required documents to your online application.
• Submit your application electronically.

The application procedure for the master program is an online procedure. This means that you do not need to submit any documents in paper form or via email to the University of Hamburg. Instead, you have to upload the documents at the application portal. Selection is based on the information you provide online and the documents you upload. 

If you want to submit an additional special application (e.g. hardship application), you will need to send this special application separately via the online application portal together with the required proofs as an upload by the application deadline. For more information

• Special Applications

When uploading your documents to the application portal, please note the following points:

• For documents not issued in German or English, a certified copy of the translation is required.
• Degree certificate or provisional Transcript of Records
  • Please highlight the courses, which are mandatory for admission.
  • If you are still studying when you apply and cannot yet provide a final certificate containing your grades, please submit your current Transcript of Records confirming your provisional grade point average. You will then need to submit your degree certificate by the end of the first semester of your master’s program. 
  • Please make sure, that the grading scale of your first degree is available on your degree certificate or the current transcript of records. If the grading scale is not clear on these documents, please submit another proof of the grading scale of your first degree.
• Proof of English language proficiency: Applicants who, at the time of their application, are not able to prove their English language skills as listed above, must provide a proof of their registration for the next possible test date (e.g. print-out of the online registration). In this case, the deadline for late-submission of the test results will be postponed until 31 May. For late submission, use this link.
• Letter of motivation (500 words max., in English)
• Two letters of recommendation from a university lecturer in your first degree program. In general, the letter of recommendation should be drafted by someone who is able to comment on your academic abilities and competencies. Students upload the letters of recommendation as part of their application documents at the application portal. Lecturers, who want to upload their letters confidentially, can submit it at our website.
  • International letter of recommendations: The referee must be a lecturer (at least PhD level) who teaches full-time at your (or another) university. Emeritus professors are also eligible to write a letter of recommendation. Please note that we do not accept references from postdocs/research fellows.
  • German letter of recommendations: The referee must be a (junior) professor. Emeritus professors are also eligible, but emeriti from other status groups are not. Recommendation letters from employees with a doctorate who are permanently employed at the WiSo faculty of the University of Hamburg for teaching and who are not active in research (e.g. postdocs) are eligible, too.

If the number of applicants exceeds the number of places available, a selection will be made on the basis of ranking. Candidates who meet the formal requirements for admission will be ranked according to the following criteria:

• Final or current GPA of your first degree: 50%
• Letter of motivation: 20%
• Letters of recommendation: 20%
• Proficiency in the respective two other disciplines of the program (proven through Transcript of Records), i.e. proficiency in Economics and/or Philosophy, if your first degree is in Politics; proficiency in Economics and/or Politics, if your first degree is in Philosophy; proficiency in Philosophy and/or Politics, if your first degree is in Economics: 10%

For details of the legal basis for the selection procedure, please see the Bylaws Regarding the Selection Procedure and Criteria for the Degree Programs in the Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences (only in German).

Once your application has been reviewed, an acceptance or rejection letter will be made available in your STiNE account at the section "Dokumente" (Documents). Please see the information about the declaration of results and end of acceptance period. An enrollment deadline will be indicated in your acceptance letter - please submit the documents required for enrollment by this date. Detailed information about the enrollment process can be found at the website of the Campus Center.

If you have been admitted, please submit the paper documents required for enrollment to the Application and Admissions Team (Team Bewerbung und Zulassung) by the deadline indicated in your acceptance letter.

All Information about the program is available on the MSc PEP website.

For queries regarding questions in the online application form please contact the Campus Center of the University of Hamburg.

If you have technical problems (e.g. your username or password, etc.) with the online application form, please contact the STiNE support.

For all other questions regarding your application, please check the FAQ section and/or contact the MSc PEP application team(application-pep"AT"wiso.uni-hamburg.de).