Admission Process FAQ

This is your high school (or equivalent) degree which allowed you to start your Bachelor degree. Please do not submit your Bachelor certificate here.

Please use the Bavarian formula to convert your CGPA into the German grading system. In the screenshot below, you indicate the German CGPA in the upper box. Below goes your original CGPA, then the best possible CGPA and eventually the worst possible CGPA.

For example, if your grading system goes from 1 (worst) to 4 (best) and your CGPA is 3,561, then your German CGPA is 1,44. You enter:

• 1,44
• 3,561
• 4
• 1

The three boxes below serve the purpose to verify the calculation.

If you are still studying your Bachelor’s but expect to finish by the time you enroll in our HCI program, please upload your current transcript instead of your diploma. In case of admission, you can submit your diploma when you enroll.

Unfortunately, we can only accept academic credits which Coursera, Udemy and similar platforms usually do not provide. Even though we definitely encourage online courses as preparation for the MSc in HCI, it is not a valid substitute for academic achievements.

We accept a degree certificate if your degree was earned in a country whose official language is English, or otherwise a letter of proficiency by your university. However, please note that in the latter case, your chances are higher if you can additionally prove your excellent language skills with a certificate.

The motivation letter should reflect your reasons for studying HCI in Siegen and your skills as well as experiences you believe will help you excel in this program. Information already included in your CV and/or transcript does not need to be repeated. We appreciate it if you have familiarised yourself with the curriculum and this is reflected in your motivation letter.
Please write in English and try not to exceed the page limit.
We do read motivation letters, and place value on originality, relevance and writing style. While online examples can be helpful for orientation, please do not copy paragraphs or entire letters from the internet, as this leads to disqualification.

You can show us anything related to your skills or experiences in your portfolio, either university or work-related or even private projects. For example, it can be

• Something you designed
• Something you developed (please only show the end result, no source code)
• Something you researched
• A certificate you earned
• A competition you won
• A reference letter by your professor/employer

If you have a website or another external source where you store your portfolio, you are welcome to upload a document with a link.

What does not go in the portfolio section:

• Source code
• GitHub links
• Complete project or research papers, Bachelor or Master theses. Abstracts are okay.

We make an admission decision based on all aspects of your application. Therefore, your documents will only be reviewed after you successfully submit a formal application. All you need to know about the requirements can be found on this page. Please note we cannot give you information on your chances to be admitted beforehand.

When you are invited for an online interview, this means your documents are okay and we would like to get to know you better. You will meet one of our professors or research assistants who will speak with you about yourself, your interest in and experience with HCI and related fields and answer questions that may come up. Similarly, you may find out whether HCI is the right program for you to choose. Don’t worry: this is not a test for which you need to prepare, but rather an informal conversation.

We review applications as they come in. This means, the earlier you submit, the sooner you will receive a response / an interview invitation. It may take a few weeks to receive an interview invitation after you apply, in case your application is valid. Please note that due to technical reasons, you will not receive an email if your application is declined, only if your status has changed; so make sure to check your application status in Unisono regularly. In any case, you can expect to see a status change by the end of July (for winter semester) or end of January (for summer semester).

If your application status is ‚excluded‘ before you receive an invitation for an interview, this means that unfortunately, you either do not fulfil our admission requirements or we do not think you are a good fit for the program / do not see your motivation for studyng HCI at the given moment, based on the documents you provided. Please understand that we cannot send individual rejection letters.
If you have been excluded after the interview, unfortunately, our admission team has come to the conclusion that the HCI program is not entirely suitable for you at the moment.
If you have questions regarding your rejection, please contact the Academic Advisor. In any case, you are welcome to reapply in the following application round(s).

Yes, you can defer your admission up to three consecutive semesters. You do not need to formally respond to your admission at this point, but follow the steps below:
Please let us know as soon as you have made your decision. Due to technical resasons, you will need to reapply on Unisono and upload your documents again if you are still interested in the programme the following semester and wish to receive a new admission letter. Please do so within the application period!
However, you will be automatically accepted without having to conduct another interview then.