Q: I am not a business major. Is this a problem?

A: No. We will happily look at candidates who have majored in neighboring disciplines (e.g. economics or psychology) or in subjects that appear even further removed at first sight (e.g. physics, engineering). The PhD programme is geared towards providing you with the necessary training you need to become proficient to do research in our field. That said, we do expect you to have a clear idea of what you sign up for at the time of your application, and to have demonstrated an appetite for conducting research in the social sciences. As a general rule, we only consider candidates with strong quantitative training and excellent grades in their prior university programmes. Note that you may be subject to taking up extra classes at the Master level in Management if you enter as a career changer/course-shiftee.

Q: I don’t speak German. Is this a problem for you?

A: No. For us this does not pose a problem at all. Our working language is English. However, please consider whether you want to live in a German-speaking city for four years before applying.

Q: I do not have EU citizenship. Is this a problem?

A: In general, this need not pose a problem, however, there are more bureaucratic steps to go through for non-EU citizens and thus the process may take longer. Not holding EU member citizenship should not discourage you from applying.

Q: At which points during the year do you take in PhD students?

A: Students are admitted to the PhD programme at the beginning of either the winter semester (October) or summer semester (March) of each academic year. Please consult the admissions section for details.

Q: I would like to conduct my PhD studies next to my regular work. Is this possible?

A: The programme committee does not necessarily decline applications of students who intend to keeping up part of their work during the PhD studies. Note, however, that certain faculty may not be willing to supervise students unless they devote their entire energy to their PhD studies and research. In general, it is much harder to find a supervisor when you seek to conduct your PhD studies part-time. The programme is designed for full time study and intended to prepare candidates for academe. If you seek to engage in some research next to your job work, you may want to consider applying to a different programme at another university.

Q: I have a very specific idea that I would like to pursue as part of my PhD. Is this possible?

A: While this is not entirely impossible, experience shows that it is highly unlikely that, by the time you start to engage in your own independent research, this question will still be the one you want to pursue for the rest of the programme. Moreover, research proposals for the PhD thesis always require mutual interest of both the candidate and a supervisor within the subject area. In any case, we discourage you to apply to our department if you already have a very specific idea of what you would like to research. You will find other departments/universities to be much more open to this kind of supervision.

Q: The university currently does not have a job opening for a pre-doctoral position. Can I apply to the PhD programme regardless?

A: You may apply to the PhD programme in Management irrespective of the university advertising a job offering at the time when you apply.