All deadlines refer to the date of receipt of the application, not the mailing date.

Please note that last minute applications may always encounter server overload problems.

• This page just gives you additional information on electronic applications. So please refer to our Application Materials page, too.
• Only include documents in pdf-format. You can download a free version of PDFCreator under sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/
• Please submit these documents electronically:
  • one pdf with your CV,
  • one pdf with your Statement of Purpose,
  • one pdf containing your Statement of Skills
  • one pdf of your Preliminary Dissertation Proposal,
  • pdfs including scans of your degree certificates, your English language skills, and (not mandatory!) your Graduate Record Examination.
• Do not attach more than 3 MB of documents to your application email. If necessary, send us several emails. Please consider that an average application will encompass no more than 3 MB of data.
• In the first application stage, we require our applicants to upload scans of the original documents supporting their application to BIGSSS, however, please bear in mind that if you are shortlisted, we will ask you to provide the originals of the following documents:
  • degree certificates (a notarized, or officially certified, photocopy of each degree certificate earned)
  • University grade transcripts (a notarized, or officially certified, photocopy of each degree transcript earned)
  • a hard copy of your letters of recommendation
• Filenames: Replace each SURNAME with your surname, using no more than the first 10 letters. In filenames,
  • only use the letters a-z, figures 1-0, hyphen - , dot .
  • do not use space characters
  • do not use special characters such as ä, ö, ü, ß, ~ , accents of any kind, etc.