Application Form for Studying Abroad

The application is one of the least popular tasks on the to-do list for studying abroad or for a semester abroad. This is not least due to the fact that the application modalities differ depending on the country and university. Applicants have no choice but to find out about the exact conditions at their chosen university in advance.

The differences start with the application form – one of the most important documents when applying to study abroad. The following advisory text reveals what needs to be considered with regard to the application form for studying abroad and which general information applicants should heed.

Contents of an application form for studying abroad

The form of the application form differs from university to university and there are often different forms for different study programs. Nevertheless, application forms for a study abroad or semester abroad are usually structured similarly and consist of the following components:

• Personal data: An application form includes personal information, such as contact details, place and date of birth, nationality and gender. As a rule, the naming of an emergency contact is also required.
• Academic data: In a section of the form, applicants provide information about their previous school and, if applicable, academic career. When applying for a semester abroad, students state the name of their home university, the major and minor subject and the academic year in which they are studying. Anyone applying for a master’s degree abroad must also provide information about the degree.
• Information on the target university and degree program: For a full degree, applicants write down their desired degree program. In the case of semester programs, they often already indicate their desired courses or the department from which the courses to be taken come from. In addition, applicants must provide information about which semester they want to start their studies in and whether they want to study several semesters abroad at the university.
• Information on language skills: If required, applicants provide information about their results in a common language test and provide scores in the TOEFL or IELTS, for example.
• Further information: In addition, payment information is requested in the application form for studying abroad. Depending on the country, university and type of study, applicants must also provide information on reference providers or explain how they finance the study abroad. There may also be sections on choosing your accommodation or on visa matters.

Some universities use an application form for different study programs, so that certain fields of the form can be left blank, depending on the type of study.

It cannot always be assumed that a university will use a standardized application form. There are universities that are made up of several independent faculties and therefore have different application forms and application procedures as well as application deadlines.

As part of the application service, we provide students with extensive application instructions for various study programs at its partner universities. The instructions can be downloaded free of charge using the “Info package” button on the respective university’s website. Among other things, applicants will find information on how to fill out the application form correctly and what information is required.

Method of application: paper and online applications

So-called paper (based) applications, i.e. applications in paper form, are common at many universities abroad. It is important that applicants fill out the form legibly in block letters and check that the information is complete.

It is also important to remember that the English language does not recognize umlauts and that ä, ö, ü and ß must be spelled out. This also applies to online applications.

In addition, there may be other special features depending on the destination country. For example, in the United States, dates are month / day / year (MM / DD / YY).

In addition, applicants should use the American spelling of numbers 1 and 7 when completing the study abroad application form. In the USA it is common to write the 1 without a stroke and to represent it only as a stroke. The number 7 is written without a slash. Otherwise, misunderstandings may arise and the 1 may be incorrectly interpreted as 7 and the 7 as 4.

An application form for studying abroad is only valid with the applicant’s signature and the original must be submitted.

Online application forms

Instead of the traditional version of paper applications, more and more universities are turning to online application forms. This has the advantage that the foreign universities do not have to enter the applicant’s data separately and saves time.

However, online applications also have disadvantages. When applying online, there is a risk that the application process will be interrupted after a certain period of time and the data entered will be lost. Applicants should therefore save their entries temporarily if possible.