Universität Heidelberg

General information

• Location: Heidelberg, Germany. The main university areas are Altstadt and Neuenheimer Feld; the medical and science faculties are mostly in Neuenheimer Feld.
• Founded: 1386 – the oldest university in Germany
• Language of instruction: mostly German; there are also programmes and courses in English, but fully English-taught bachelor's degrees are relatively few
• Main fields: medicine, law, biology and life sciences, chemistry, physics, mathematics, computer science, economics, psychology, political science, humanities and linguistics

Deadlines

Undergraduate (winter semester)

• 1 June – 15 July – courses with restricted admission or an entrance exam
• 1 June – 31 October – courses without restriction and without an entrance exam

Medicine, dentistry and pharmacy follow a separate national procedure. EU/EEA applicants apply through Hochschulstart – by 15 July for a diploma from this year and by 31 May for an older diploma.

Application: depending on the course – through the university's online portal, Hochschulstart/DoSV, or a combination of the two. Check the procedure for the specific course.

Postgraduate

There is no single deadline; deadlines depend on the course and can be significantly earlier.

Courses

Medicine

• Duration: around 6 years and 3 months, including the practical year and state examinations
• Location: Medizinische Fakultät Heidelberg and Universitätsklinikum Heidelberg in Neuenheimer Feld
• Start: once a year, in the winter semester
• Programme: standard (Regelstudiengang). Note: in Mannheim the programme is a model programme (Modellstudiengang).
• Places: 352 in Heidelberg; 273 in the Mannheim/Heidelberg programme

Admission: nationally restricted – medicine is one of the most competitive courses in Germany. Bulgarian citizens, as EU citizens, are ranked on equal terms with German applicants.

Application: with Bulgarian citizenship and a Bulgarian diploma, you apply for the first semester through Hochschulstart.de, not directly to the university. Documents sent directly to the university are not considered.

• by 15 July – if the diploma was obtained after 15 January of the same year
• by 31 May – if the diploma was obtained by 15 January inclusive

Distribution of places:

• 30% Abiturbestenquote – based on the diploma average
• 10% additional quota (ZEQ) – the diploma average is not taken into account. Other criteria are assessed, above all tests such as the TMS, and, according to the university, vocational training, experience or certain qualifications as well.
• 60% university selection (AdH) – from the 2027/28 winter semester, a ranking with a maximum of 100 points is drawn up

Points in AdH:

• diploma average – up to 46
• TMS – up to 44
• completed relevant vocational training – 4
• relevant professional experience – 2
• service or volunteering – 2
• recognised awards or special achievements – 2

TMS: for Heidelberg it is extremely important, because it plays a part in university selection and can significantly improve the chances of an applicant with an excellent, but not perfect, converted average.

Matriculation exams: there is no general rule such as "a matriculation exam in biology or chemistry is compulsory", as at some Dutch universities. What matters is the recognised diploma, the converted average, the language requirements and the criteria set by Hochschulstart and the university.

Competition: very high. An excellent average matters, but I especially recommend the TMS to applicants from Bulgaria, since it carries significant weight in AdH and ZEQ.

Law (Rechtswissenschaft)

• Duration: 10 semesters (5 years) to the First State Examination in Law. To become a lawyer, judge or prosecutor, this is followed by around 2 years of traineeship (Rechtsreferendariat) and a second state examination – around 7 years in total to full legal qualification.
• Location: Juristische Fakultät der Universität Heidelberg
• Start: once a year, in the winter semester
• Completion: state examination (Staatsexamen). Heidelberg also offers the option of an integrated bachelor's (LL.B.) alongside the course, but the classic route remains the state examination.
• Places: around 386 per year

Admission: restricted, with a university selection procedure. Unlike medicine, it is not nationally restricted and you do not apply through Hochschulstart. There is no fixed cut-off – it depends on the applicants in a given year.

Application: with Bulgarian citizenship and a Bulgarian diploma – directly through the university's online portal. Deadline: 15 July.

Ranking:

• the main criterion is the diploma average
• certain completed vocational qualifications (for example Rechtspfleger, Rechtsanwalts- und Notarfachangestellte, Bankkaufmann, Versicherungskaufmann) give +50 points
• there are no quotas such as ZEQ, AdH or Abiturbestenquote

Competition: law at Heidelberg is competitive, but not comparable to medicine. With a very good Bulgarian diploma, converted to roughly 1.0–1.3, your chances are significantly better.

Life Sciences (Biowissenschaften)

• Duration: 6 semesters (3 years), 180 ECTS; completed with a Bachelor of Science
• Location: Fakultät für Biowissenschaften. The course is closely linked to research institutes in Heidelberg such as DKFZ, EMBL and the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research.
• Start: winter semester only
• Deadline: 15 July

Admission: restricted, with a university ranking – not through Hochschulstart as with medicine. With a Bulgarian or other European diploma, you apply within DoSV, linked to the university's portal.

Ranking:

• diploma average
• grades from the last 4 school terms in biology, chemistry, English, physics or maths
• additional points for certain vocational qualifications such as CTA, BTA or PTA

Matriculation exams: a matriculation exam in biology is not mandatory, but science grades feed directly into the ranking, so strong grades in biology, chemistry, maths, physics and English are especially important.

Course structure: from around the 3rd semester there is more choice – for example molecular biology, cell biology, biophysics, neurobiology, virology and parasitology, developmental biology, systems biology, plant sciences or ecology. At the end there is an around 6-week research placement (for example in laboratories at the university, DKFZ, EMBL or Max Planck), followed by a bachelor's thesis and its defence.

After the bachelor's degree: you can work in the life sciences field, but the programme is strongly geared towards a master's degree. Heidelberg offers, for example, an M.Sc. in Molecular Biosciences and an M.Sc. in Biochemistry.