Application to the MGSE
Application Dates
Applications will only be accepted through our online tool.
Regarding the current application round: the application tool was closed March 23, 2022 (11:59 p.m. (CET))
Doctoral Scholarships and Doctoral Positions as Research or Teaching Assistants
Successful candidates, who pursue their doctoral studies at the MGSE, are provided with an advanced training for in-depth research in economics. The doctoral program has a strong focus on the application of state-of-the-art methods. It combines demanding course work and an early start of individual research. Positions offer comprehensive supervising and mentoring schemes, excellent international contacts, and access to an outstanding research infrastructure from one of Europe’s top 10 universities.
Positions
Generally, doctoral students are paid according to a 75% position under the German TVL-E 13 payment scheme (or a roughly equivalent scholarship). The exact salary might slightly vary depending on personal circumstances, the affiliating institution and the teaching load the position might carry (maximally 5 hours per week during the semester). Your specific affiliation and funding depend on and will be matched according to your research interests to one of the following institutions or research programs:
- LMU Munich
- Ifo Institute
- Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition
- Max Planck Institute for Tax Law and Public Finance
Formal Requirements
Please note that our programs are extremely competitive. On average, only 2-5% of all applicants per cohort are admitted.
You will be asked to submit the following documents:
- Letter of Motivation: Please express your intention to study at the MGSE in a motivation letter. Be specific about your past studies and your reasons for being interested in the MGSE program as well as about your fields of interest, and your long-term professional aims. Your letter of motivation must be in English and shall not exceed one page.
- CV (Your CV must be in English and shall not exceed two pages).
- Master's Degree and Transcript of Records (if you have not yet finished your current degree, please attach a preliminary grade report)
- Bachelor's Degree and Transcript of Records
- Certificate of Secondary Education (if available)
- Proof of sufficient command of English (e.g. TOEFL, Completing a master's degree from an English-speaking university or program)
- GRE test score: We require all applicants to send their score report directly to the MGSE via the Educational Testing Service (ETS). The ETS code number of the MGSE is 1883.
- Two academic recommendation letters (see information below).
- APS Certificate (if applicable)
1. Letter of Motivation
2. CV
Your CV must be in English and shall not exceed two pages.
3. Master's Degree and Transcript of Records
We require knowledge in microeconomics, macroeconomics, and econometrics at an advanced master's level. The standard entry requirement is a completed master's degree in economics. The degree should be passed with distinction (a minimum average grade of 2.5 in the German system).
Students who possess a master's degree in a field closely related to economics are also welcome to apply. This includes graduates holding a degree from fields such as statistics, mathematics, physics, or other fields with a solid education in quantitative methods.
If you have not yet finished your current degree, please attach a preliminary grade report.
Please note, successful applicants will need to prove the completion of their master’s degree by end of August at the latest to be able to start their employment contract in October.
4. Bachelor's Degree and Transcript of Records
English proficiency can be proven in one of the following ways:
- TOEFL or IELTS test results
- Completing a master's degree from an English-speaking university or program
- Being a native speaker
In general, we expect applicants to score in the quantitative part of the GRE at or above the 80th percentile. In the past, the typical successful candidate scored around or above the 90th percentile.
For details please see* www.gre.org
You will be required to provide contact details of two academic referees who have agreed to write a letter of recommendation for you. They will be contacted by us directly and will be asked to upload the letters of recommendation, containing official university letterhead and the signature of the referee, to the application system.
Applicants from Chinese universities are strongly recommend to submit approval of their master's degree from the APS (Akademische Prüfstelle) in Beijing. For more information visit* www.aps.org.cn.
Notes
- Any missing graduate-level training will have to be passed in a timely manner as communicated.
- All documents must either be in English or German (with the exception of the letter of motivation and CV, which must be in English). Documents in other languages will need to be submitted with a certified translation into either English or German.
- Fluency in German is not required for admission.
- Answers to the most common questions are found in our FAQs. If you have any doubts as to whether you fulfill the requirements specified above, please feel free to contact us.
Information regarding Article 13 of the EU Regulation 2016/79 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data (GDPR, German: DS-GVO) is available on our university website www.en.econ.lmu.de/jobs. Please be aware that confidentiality violations and unauthorized third party access cannot be ruled out when using unencrypted e-mail communication.
*Legal notice: MGSE does not take any form of responsibility concerning the content of links that are directed outside our own website.
