AdmitArriveFree shortlist

Master’s · Physics

IDEA League Joint Master's in Applied Geophysics M.Sc.

RWTH Aachen University · Aachen · Official programme page

18 facts from 6 official pages · last checked 14 November 2026

Reviewed by Dennis Maaß, admission and immigration expert
Published 8 November 2026 · Last reviewed 8 November 2026

Key facts

Length, deadlines and costs

Language
English
Source
“The courses of the curriculum are taught 100% in English”

www2.daad.de/deutschland/studienangebote/international-programmes/en/detail/4623 · checked 7 November 2026

Voluntary extra courses at the three partner universities may be in Dutch or German.

Study mode
On campus
Source
“Course location Aachen”

www2.daad.de/deutschland/studienangebote/international-programmes/en/detail/4623 · checked 7 November 2026

The DAAD entry names Aachen as the course location and gives no online or hybrid mode of study for this programme.

Length
4 semesters
Source
“Programme duration 4 semesters”

www2.daad.de/deutschland/studienangebote/international-programmes/en/detail/4623 · checked 7 November 2026

Intakes
Winter
Source
“Beginning Winter semester”

www2.daad.de/deutschland/studienangebote/international-programmes/en/detail/4623 · checked 7 November 2026

Non-EU deadline
1 Apr 2027 (winter 2027)Applications open 15 October. One date for everybody, five months later than RWTH's own 1 March non-EU deadline.
Source
“The following is valid for applicants from: all countries For the winter semester: 15 October - 1 April”

www2.daad.de/deutschland/studienangebote/international-programmes/en/detail/4623 · checked 7 November 2026

Non-EU tuition
€8,655 per year Set by the consortium; the figure may vary.
Source
“The following tuition fees apply for applicants from: non-EU countries 8,655 EUR The following tuition fees apply for applicants from: EU countries 1,300 EUR Tuition fees may vary”

www2.daad.de/deutschland/studienangebote/international-programmes/en/detail/4623 · checked 7 November 2026

The only fee-bearing programme in this record that is not run by RWTH International Academy or RWTH Business School: it is a joint IDEA League degree with TU Delft and ETH Zurich, and the fee follows the Dutch statutory tuition. The DAAD field does not say whether the amount is per year or per semester; the Dutch collegegeld it matches is annual, so it is recorded per year with this caveat.

Application fee
Not stated by the university
1 page checked, 7 Nov 2026

No application fee is stated for the joint programme.

Places
Unrestricted
Source
“Admission to First Semester Open (No NC)”

www.rwth-aachen.de/cms/root/studium/Vor-dem-Studium/Studiengaenge/Liste-Aktuelle-Studiengaenge/Studiengangbeschreibung/Applied-Geophysics-M-Sc/~bjvd/Applied-Geophysics-M-Sc-/lidx/1/ · checked 7 November 2026

"Open (No NC)" is RWTH's wording for zulassungsfrei: every applicant who meets the requirements is admitted.

Admission

What you need to apply

3-year bachelor’s
Not stated by the university
2 pages checked, 7 Nov 2026

Neither the DAAD entry nor any reachable RWTH page states a credit or duration floor for the first degree; the consortium's own admission page was not used as it is not an RWTH source. RWTH's own programme page states only "First university degree, required qualifications according to the examination regulations" and refers to the course-of-study-specific examination regulations, which set no credit floor on the page itself.

Subject background
Stated only by reference to the consortium's own admission page at idealeague.org.
Source
“For the most complete and up-to-date information, please see the programme website at http://www.idealeague.org/geophysics/admission”

www2.daad.de/deutschland/studienangebote/international-programmes/en/detail/4623 · checked 7 November 2026

The DAAD entry gives no subject requirements of its own; idealeague.org is not an official RWTH page and is therefore not cited as a source here.

Minimum grade
Not stated by the university
1 page checked, 7 Nov 2026

No minimum grade is stated.

How your grade is converted
Not stated by the university
2 pages checked, 14 Nov 2026

No admission grade-conversion formula is published on any page that could be fetched; RWTH does not use uni-assist, which would otherwise convert the grade.

English
Level C1. IELTS 7 · TOEFL iBT 95. Cambridge: C1 Advanced. TOEFL sub-scores: reading 24, listening 22, speaking 25, writing 24.
Source
“C1 required, please provide an official language certificate, e.g.: Cambridge English Qualifications: C1 Advanced IELTS Academic: 7 TOEFL iBT (before 2026): 95 Reading: 24 Listening: 22 Speaking: 25 Writing: 24”

www2.daad.de/deutschland/studienangebote/international-programmes/en/detail/4623 · checked 7 November 2026

The highest English requirement in this record after Biomedical Engineering. The TOEFL iBT Home Edition and the Duolingo English Test are not mentioned.

German
Not needed when applying
Source
“German language skills No minimum language level required”

www2.daad.de/deutschland/studienangebote/international-programmes/en/detail/4623 · checked 7 November 2026

DAAD's own field for this programme; RWTH asks for no German certificate at application or enrolment.

GRE / GMAT / GATE
Not stated by the university
1 page checked, 7 Nov 2026

No GRE or GMAT is mentioned.

Selection
Not stated by the university
1 page checked, 7 Nov 2026

Selection is run by the IDEA League consortium; no RWTH page states the procedure.

India, Pakistan, Nigeria

Rules for applicants from India, Pakistan and Nigeria

English test waiver
Not stated by the university
2 pages checked, 8 Nov 2026

The only exemption RWTH publishes covers a high-school diploma or academic degree obtained in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada or the United States, and the same page adds that citizenship alone never exempts, so it reaches no applicant from India, Nigeria or Pakistan. The § 3 Abs. 9 ÜPO list does include a certificate from the school education required by law, but the binding Übergreifende Prüfungsordnung (Amtliche Bekanntmachung 2026/172, § 3 Abs. 9 h) accepts it only where it was acquired in a country that is a member of the Council of Europe and expressly certifies English at B2, which rules out school certificates from India, Nigeria and Pakistan; the central table's English wording leaves that condition out. RWTH publishes the table "ohne Gewähr", and § 3 Abs. 9 Satz 4 ÜPO lets a programme's own examination regulations add a route — the examination board checking a bachelor's thesis or seminar paper written in English, as the Data Science regulations do — so without that programme-specific PDF the position stays not stated rather than "none".

Rules that name these countries
None named on the pages checked

The rules for your country across all universities, and the visa rules on English tests, are on the India, Pakistan and Nigeria pages.

More on this programme

Every value was read on an official page and is stored with a verbatim quote; open “Source” to see it. “Not stated by the university” means none of the pages we checked says, and lists those pages. Rules change: confirm with the university before you apply or pay.