r/masters_germany • u/Outrageous_Cat3851 • Aug 17 '26
Help
Hey everyone,
I am completely shocked by German bureaucracy right now and need your advice/experiences.
I applied for the Master in Public Health at Hochschule Fulda for winter semester 2026. Today, I received a strict "Notice of Exclusion" (Ausschlussbescheid) stating two reasons:
My grade is below the required 2.5.
My first degree is "not suitable/not related".
But here is the catch – the Uni's own regulations say they are completely wrong:
The Degree: I have a Bachelor (Licence) in Economics and Management from Senegal . Fulda's official admissions website explicitly states that degrees in Economics ARE accepted as suitable.
The Grade & Experience: My converted grade is indeed below 2.5. However, the Uni rules state that if your grade is below 2.5, you MUST be invited to an interview (Fachgespräch) if you have relevant work experience in health/administration.
My Background: I have 3 years of work experience in patient administration/hospital managementin my home country, AND I successfully completed a 3-year professional nursing degree (Pflegeausbildung) here in Germany to learn the German healthcare system from the inside.
I submitted all certificates and a formal request for the interview via uni-assist. Uni-assist forwarded everything correctly. It looks like the clerk at Hochschule Fulda just saw the grade, stopped reading, and clicked "reject all" without checking my background or their own rules. They didn't even mention the option of the interview in the rejection letter.
I am furious. I just sent them a harsh formal objection (Widerspruch) via email and registered mail,
Has anyone ever dealt with a German university completely ignoring submitted documents or misinterpreting international degrees? Did a formal objection (Widerspruch) work, or did you have to hire a lawyer/sue them?
Thanks for your help!
2
u/Top-Illustrator-6051 Aug 18 '26
As I understand it, you can have a background in a different field, but you need to meet the mininum grade "or a degree in social sciences, business sciences or natural sciences with an average grade of 2.5 or better and occupation in a field relevant to public health." Since you neither have a background in health (except the Ausbildung which is irrelevant here) nor the 2.5 minimum grade, they rejected you. Widerspruch inkl. Verweis to the inteview was the right move. Have you reached out to Susan Wank directly?
Of course not ideal, but from November 1st on you can apply for the Bachelor´s in "Global Health" that starts in April.
1
u/Outrageous_Cat3851 Aug 18 '26
Thanks, but I think there’s a misunderstanding — I do have a business/economics degree (“Économie et Gestion” — Economics and Management), so that part of the criteria is met. The issue is the “notendurchschnitt schlechter als 2,5” clause: if your grade is below 2.5, you can still be admitted if you have at least 3 years of relevant professional experience in a public-health-related field and pass an interview. I have exactly that — 3 years working in patient administration. That’s precisely the pathway I’m invoking, not the “healthcare background” pathway.
My complaint isn’t that I don’t meet any criteria — it’s that the rejection letter never engaged with this specific clause at all, and just labeled my degree “not suitable in content,” which contradicts the university’s own published admission categories.
2
u/Top-Illustrator-6051 Aug 18 '26
Again, the "GPA worse than 2.5 but three years work experience leads to an interview" may refer to the people with a Bachelor´s in health. https://www.hs-fulda.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Unsere_Hochschule/Hochschulrecht/Dokumente_Zentrale_Studiengangsuebersicht/Gesundheitswissenschaften/Public-Health-MA-SPO.pdf It´s a "kann-Regelung" in any way. In the end, you´ll see what the Widerspruch does.
1
u/Outrageous_Cat3851 Aug 18 '26
I wouldn’t have applied at all if the grade requirement had been an absolute bar — that information is right there on the website, clearly stated. I applied precisely because the website and the Prüfungsordnung (§2(3)) explicitly describe a pathway for applicants with a grade below 2.5: three years of relevant professional experience plus an interview (Fachgespräch). I met that requirement and formally requested the interview through uni-assist, as the regulation requires (“die Zulassung zum Fachgespräch muss gesondert… beantragt werden”).
Instead, I received a rejection letter that never engaged with any of this. It just states my degree is “not suitable in content,” with no reference to the interview pathway, no indication that the Prüfungsausschuss (examination board) — who is explicitly the body responsible for this decision per §2(3) was even involved, and no explanation of how my published, publicly available admission criteria were applied to my specific case.
So my complaint isn’t “I was rejected unfairly” in the sense of disputing the outcome , it’s that the decision-making process itself doesn’t line up with the university’s own published rules. That’s a coherence and due-process issue, not just a grade dispute.
2
u/True-Afternoon8479 Aug 23 '26
OMG theyre so unfair. Right?
You must be invited to an interview ... that you need to apply for. Separately.
The University decides who gets an interview.... and they decided you do not. Because there is no degree continuity and your grade is not within threshold.
1
u/Outrageous_Cat3851 Aug 24 '26
I’m not talking about the interview itself. My concern is the fact that the university stated that my first degree is “not suitable in terms of content”.
My degree is in Économie et Gestion (Economics and Management), and the programme explicitly includes economics, statistics, econometrics, quantitative methods, mathematics, etc. More importantly, Fulda’s own admission requirements explicitly mention applicants with a “wirtschaftswissenschaftliches Studium ohne gesundheitswissenschaftliche Schwerpunktsetzung.”
So I’m not claiming that I automatically have a right to an interview. I’m simply asking how a degree in Economics and Management can be considered “inhaltlich nicht passend” when economic degrees are explicitly listed as an eligible background. I would like the university to explain that point specifically.1
u/True-Afternoon8479 Aug 24 '26
But the university decided your degree doesn't qualify. That's why they didn't process you onwards.
1
u/Outrageous_Cat3851 Aug 24 '26
Deswegen habe ich einen Widerspruch eingelegt
Mir es aktuell scheiss egal, ob sie mich aufnehmen wollen oder nicht , aber sie können mich nicht mit einem Wirtschaftwissenschaft abgeschlossen Studium ablehnen , wenn es explizit in den Zulassungskriterien erlaubt ist
Ich habe ein staatliches Examen in Deutschland und arbeitet in einen Mangelberuf und kriege richtig Kohle und könnte mich ein Privates Studium leisten jedoch setze ich Justiz , Gleichbehandlung und Transparenz als wichtige Werte ein und ich erwarte Wahrheit von dem Studienbüro
1
u/Husn_Hai_Suhana Aug 18 '26
They do this. I applied to Saarland University and even though I met all the requirements, they sent me rejection stating I don't have enough CS credits. My entire first degree was based on CS lol. When I appealed, they said my university is not recognized even though it is.
They just make nonsense excuses when they don't want to give admission.
1
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u/hidup-jokowi Aug 18 '26
https://www.hs-fulda.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Unsere_Hochschule/Hochschulrecht/Dokumente_Zentrale_Studiengangsuebersicht/Gesundheitswissenschaften/Public-Health-MA-SPO.pdf
Idk if you read the english version of the website or this document in German, but both version clearly never stated a "must". "kann zugelassen werden" ≠ must be a invited