Calculation of Credits and Grades

For your Master's Application, you need the list of the best 140 credits and grades from your undergraduate studies. Here you get all the information and the form for calculating your application grade.

Credits

ECTS-Credits

The European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System is an academic credit system based on the estimated student workload required to achieve the objectives and learning outcomes of a module or program of study. The ECTS is the recommended credit system for higher education across the European Higher Education Area.

The ECTS weighting for a module is a measure of the student input or workload required for that module, based on factors such as the number of contact hours, the number and length of written or verbally presented assessment exercises, class preparation and private study time, laboratory classes, examinations, clinical attendance, professional training placements, and so on.

Meaning at Technical University of Munich

Typically, one year corresponds to 60 ECTS-credits. A 3-year Bachelors program has therefore usually 180 ECTS-credits; a 2-year Masters program usually 120 ECTS-credits.

One ECTS credit point equals on average 30 working hours. But no student is average! You might spend much more time on a course you are not so familiar with, and maybe way less on another course which is exactly in your field of interest and expertise!

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Conversion of Credits in ECTS

If you are completing or have completed your Bachelor's degree outside the EU, it is likely that your credit and grading system is different from our system in Germany. Thus, in order to fill in the form for the grade calculation, you must first convert your credits into ECTS.

If your university awards official credits in the Transcript of Records, one way to get ECTS is to compare the number of credits you have to earn at your university in comparison to the Technical University of Munich.  

The full workload per year is 60 ECTS at TUM.

If your university awards e.g. 100 credits per year, use the factor 0.6 to get ECTS.

If your university does not award official credits, you can calculate the number of ECTS based on your lecture hours.  

A typical calculation would look like this:

3 hours of class per week x 15 weeks = 45 hours of lecture/internship.

6 hours per week of home study x 15 weeks = 90 hours of home study

Results in ~135 hours total workload. 

Divide by 30 to get ECTS (~4.5 ECTS in the above example).

Grades for your Master's Application

The grade from your undergraduate studies (mostly Bachelor, see §36 of our examination regulations FPSO) is also included in the aptitude assessment procedure for our Master's programs.

Due to the fact that at the time of the application many applicants have not yet completed their undergraduate degree, the following rules apply:

Grade Calculation

For foreign degrees, please calculate your grade using the so called 'Bavarian Formula':

$$x=1+3\frac{\text{N}_\text{max}-\text{N}_\text{d}}{\text{N}_\text{max}-\text{N}_\text{min}}$$

where

\(x=\) sought-after converted grade.

\(\text{N}_\text{max}=\)  highest possible grade in your university

\(\text{N}_\text{min}=\) lowest passing grade

\(\text{N}_\text{d}=\) grade obtained

For the calculated grades only one digit after the decimal point will be taken into consideration.

Form with grade calculation (curricular analysis) 

Please fill out the online form accurately in order to account for a minimum of 140 ECTS with the best graded 118 ECTS, verify your entry and afterwards click on 'Save and Send'. Please upload the generated pdf file in your online application in TUM-Online.