Exchanging Places With a Student at Another University
The allocation of places by hochschulstart.de often results in students on degree programs with nationwide admission restrictions (Human Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy) being sent somewhere they do not want to go. As well as applying for a higher program-related semester in the standard way (from your second semester onward), you can then try to secure a place at your chosen university by swapping with another student.
01.
Prerequisites
Universities will usually perform an exchange if the students involved are in the same higher program-related semester (“semester equivalence”) and are performing to roughly the same standard based on an orderly degree progression (“apparent equivalence”). The student registries at the universities involved should always be contacted in person if there is any doubt. You cannot exchange places in the first semester after your enrollment and will have to wait at least until the second program-related semester.
You also cannot exchange places with students at universities that offer model medical degree programs (“Modellstudiengänge”).
02.
How do I go about it?
If you are planning to exchange places with another student on a Dentistry course, you first need to contact the Office at the Center for Dental and Oral Medicine and clarify whether an exchange is feasible in your particular case and might be approved. The same applies if you would like to arrange an exchange on a Medicine degree program, in which case you should first contact the Office of the Dean of Studies of the Faculty of Medicine. You will also need approval from the subject-specific study advisor for an exchange in the Pharmacy degree program.
Note
Once everyone involved in the exchange has signed the relevant declaration, the person leaving the university has to deregister before the other person can be enrolled. It therefore generally makes sense to request the deregistration of the first student and the enrollment of the second together or at the same time.
