Application Process
Admission Requirements
Applicants must have completed at least an undergraduate degree (B.A. or its international equivalent) and must have a high level of proficiency in written and spoken English. If you are not yet in possession of your first degree certificate or your English language test, please indicate when you will receive it on the online application form. You must have completed all of your academic course work and exams by 31 August 2012 in order to be able to register for the MPP programme beginning on 1 September 2012.
The English proficiency certificate (if applicable) is also due by 1 May 2012 (to see which tests are being accepted, please have a look at our FAQ-section).
Submitting your application
All candidates must create an account online and follow the step-by-step instructions. The application form should be filled in carefully, with as much information as possible in the applicable fields. After the application form is complete, the required supporting documents should be uploaded. An application can be saved and re-visited until it is "submitted". Once submitted, the application will no longer be accessible to the candidate. We strongly recommend that candidates wait until they have all of their supporting materials before submitting the application.
If you experience any difficulty uploading documents or have to send in the documents at a later point in time, please e-mail the documents directly to mpp(at)hertie-school.org. This may delay the processing time of your application. There is no application fee for the MPP program.
Required Documents
All documents (especially CV, letter of motivation, letters of reference, etc.) must be submitted in English, if not stated otherwise. Please note that no documents will be sent back. Therefore, we strongly advise not to send any original certificates!
All following documents are mandatory:
- A fully completed online application form. All parts of the online application are essential. No application will be considered if any section is incomplete;
- An up-to-date CV (not exceeding two pages in length). Please indicate your academic background and work experience(s), as well as extracurricular activities and hobbies which may be of interest to the Admissions Committee. Please do not include a photo in your CV;
- Letter of motivation. With this letter of motivation you should explain your specific interest in public policy, the MPP course at the Hertie School, and how it relates to your professional aspirations. Your letter should be between 500-800 words;
- Copies of official academic transcripts of all attended universities and/or colleges. Every transcript must be accompanied by its respective transcript key (an explanation of the grading system used in the institution that issued it). If these documents are not in English, we require a certified/notarised translation into English. Degree certificates in German will be accepted. However, an academic transcript must be accompanied by an English translation;
- Copy of your high school degree certificate (e.g. Abitur, A-levels, Baccalauréat, Matura, etc.). If this document is not in English, we will also need a certified/notarised translation into English. A high school degree certificate in German will be accepted;
- One academic letter of reference, written by a professor that has taught you in previous tertiary studies and can attest to your academic skills. Letters of reference can be uploaded as a .PDF into the online application, attached as a .PDF to an e-mail, or sent as a hard-copy per post. You may use the Hertie School letter format but it is not mandatory;
- Copy of your English proficiency certificate (if applicable). For more detailed information about which tests are being accepted and what the minimum scores we require are, please have a look at our FAQ-section. Although applications will be processed and evaluated without the English test results, a successful application will only receive a conditional admission until we have received test results that meet our minimum requirements. The latest deadline by when we will accept these results is the 1st of May, 2012.
We strongly recommend you wait until you have all your documents before submitting your online application. If the application is incomplete in any way, you will receive an email detailing what documents are missing. Please note that once you have submitted a full application, we will not be able to include any additional documents into your file. If you are planning to submit additional documents (e.g. more reference letters) you must send us an email at mpp(at)hertie-school.org immediately after submitting your application, asking to keep your application open. In the email you should clearly state what document you intend to send and by when we should expect it.
Hard copies are not required until after acceptance into the programme.
