Applications for admission to the PhD programme in Economics for the academic year starting October 2021 are open from December, 2020 until March 31st, 2021 23:59 CET. Late or incomplete applications will not be considered. Applicants who present a detailed competing offer by another doctoral programme may ask to reach an earlier decision (rolling admission).

We invite applications for the PhD programme in Economics to outstanding students who are close to finishing a master’s or bachelor’s degree in economics or a related discipline who count among the top 10% of graduates in their study programme. Admission is based on previous academic performance, research potential, expertise, and fit in terms of research interests.

Students with or close to (70%) a bachelor’s degree will enter the integrated graduate programme in the first stage, starting with the M.Sc. Economic Research. Applications should be submitted via the website https://wiso.uni-koeln.de/en/studies/application/application-procedure-for-masters-programmes/. Details, in particular, on the required documents for application to the M.Sc. Economic Research can be found here: https://wiso.uni-koeln.de/en/studies/master/master-economic-research/. With acceptance, students are members of the CGS and its PhD programme in Economics.

Students with or close to a related master’s degree (e.g. in economics, econometrics, finance, business administration, or math) attend one year of course-work before entering the second stage. Students holding a master degree that corresponds to our M.Sc. Economic Research can directly enter the second doctoral stage of the programme. For the application of all MSc students, the following documents are required:

1. CV
2. Letter of motivation explaining your reasons for being interested in the PhD programme at the CGS. Please discuss your goals and your research interests. Your statement should be in English.
3. School leaving certificate: A transcript from high school | A-levels | Abiturzeugnis for German residents is required.
4. Certificates of the university degrees already obtained: B.Sc. and M.Sc. or equivalent.
5. Academic transcripts (stamped and signed) showing coursework taken and grades received. Where feasible, transcripts should indicate cohort rank or distinction. If you have not yet finished your current degree, please attach a preliminary grade report.
6. GRE: All applicants are recommended to submit their General GRE's test taker's copy (quantitative score) in the online application as well as send it via the testing service. The GRE institution code is 7397.
7. Language Proficiency Certificate (TOEFL, IELTS or Cambridge): Please submit a copy of your language proficiency certificate in the online application proofing your English language skills at level C1. For all admitted proofs please see the the proof of English language skills that are valid for the M.Sc Economic Research.
8. 2 Letters of recommendation by faculty members who are able to assess your academic ability and potential for original research. Evaluators shall directly submit the letters in electronic form to office-cgsewiso.uni-koeln.de. Evaluations consist of the evaluation form and a free written statement by the evaluator in the same document.
9. Supplementary materials: You may include writing samples like master/bachelor theses, documentation of extracurricular activities, certificates of employment, etc.

For any document not in English or German a translation is required. At this stage of the application process it is not necessary to notarize the translations. Conditional on acceptance, you will need to provide notarized translations.

Please send your application to office-cgsewiso.uni-koeln.de in a single PDF attachment using a file name using the form [lastname]_[firstname]_application_cgse.pdf. The ordering of materials should follow the order described in the section ‘Application Documents’, excluding the letters of reference directly sent by the evaluator. Please make sure that the PDF size does not exceed 10MB.

The admission committee will review the applications and will decide on who will be interviewed. Interviews take place in Cologne or will be conducted online.

With the second stage of the PhD programme, you have to be admitted to doctoral studies. For this, you have to provide several documents and forms before the winter term. You will find a list of necessary documents and forms in the Downloads section (“Admission Documents”); please also note Section 4 of the Doctoral Regulations. These documents have to be sent to the Central Doctoral Office. If you have an international degree, please note the information provided by International Office of the University of Cologne.

After you have received admission to doctoral studies, you need to enrol as a doctoral student at the University of Cologne. Student application is organised via the University Registration Office (Studierendensekretariat). International students must enrol at the International Office. During the first year of your doctoral studies, you and your supervisors have to sign supervision contract, which has to be sent to the Central Doctoral Office.