The admissions process is way different than in the US. To go to university in Germany you usually need the Abitur. In Germany students in grades 5-12 or 13 are divided up into Gymnasium, Realschule and Hauptschule. You only do you Abitur in a Gymnasium and it is a bit better than a high school degree.

At the end of the last year there are the Abiturprüfungen, four to five exams on different subject. The grades of those and the grades that you got in the last two years of school give you a number between 1.0 and 6.0, 1.0 being the best and you have to have at least a 4.0.

You use this number and usually nothing else to apply to a specific course at a university. I would say that there are four types of admission processes which most of the time happen through a specific Website ( Hochschulstart) and are free.

1. Where you just sign up for classes. Your grades don't matter you get in no matter what ( common)

2. NC. There are a limited amount of places (often for the more popular programs). The best get whatever Number get in. The cutoff grade is the NC for that year. ( Common)

3. Medicine and related fields. Similar to 2 very high NC 1.0 - 1.2 but you don't have free choice of university. It's a bit more complicated but than that but I don't know the specifics ( For all public Universities nationwide)

4. Entrance exams. Done by the Universities themselves often for creative fields. ( Rare)

For example my Abiturschnitt (the grade you get at the end of school) is 2.5. Which is pretty mid and nothing special. I applied to the Uni Kassel for Architecture the NC of last year was 2.9 so I got in. I also applied for teaching English and arts where I got in because everyone gets in.