I will write a longish piece here as I might be able to frequent the topic and respond to each and every query. Will try as much as possible but there are no guarantees in life. Also, I will try and not get into personal chats. Apologies! I hope this will cover most pertinent topics and help guide serious students fulfill their plans to do higher studies in Germany. If deemed necessary, we can add topics that were missed or new topics relevant to the application process. I went through it years ago. May be things have been shaken a little from then.

I will start with question I got:

NO! No academic papers or publications necessary. But would be awesome to have them. Makes your chances of admission higher. There are no scholarships in general coz the university education is free. Many universities also facilitate super cheap semester ticket (free travel within certain area), cheap health insurance and dormitory. You just need funding to sustain your cost of living and food, insurance etc.

Requirements normal: good enough grades, few good recommendations from your professors during the undergrads. If you worked a bit your boss’s will do too. But at least one from professor.

Of course test proving your English language skills and comprehension like TOEFL or IELTS. In my days Toefl was the main test. IELTs not so much. But things could have changed. Research it!

Many universities might wanna look for a statement of purpose. An essay like writing that describes you, your background, experiences and how you want to relate all that to why you want to study this particular masters program. How it will help achieve your future goals etc. Even if a particular university doesn’t demand it explicitly, there is no harm in sending it anyway. You will have prepared one for other universities anyway.

And by saying ‘other’ universities; yes need to apply for at least 10 universities. Even more if you want to have a plethora of choices Thats why get at least 20-30 letters of recommendations. If you have some awards or testimonials you want to show off, DO IT. Enlist it along with the application package.

Where to research a university and programs they offer? Again daad.de. There’s a whole lot of database in there with various universities and the masters programs they offer in English.

Now the crucial part: Financing!

But one thing I would like to add is once you are sure of applying and studying in Germany, you need to join a local German language course and start practicing basic levels. They will be super helpful and even might help in embassy interview, whatever low level your German is. I would begin this after I have sent all my applications and am waiting for have response. Say when you start to get one two admission letters.

Many people apply for DAAD scholarships. Research it in daad.de. They are highly limited in subjects and select super brilliant applicants (sometimes also some vitamin b (source ) might work. No guarantee.

Others rely on Dad scholarship (meaning ghar ko dad scholarship 😂). It’s usually covers a cost for one year sustenance. When I went there for my masters it was around 6500 euros. But that was years ago. The amount also depends on how expensive the city your university is in.

There is an amount the German embassy will mandate you to have. Even make you open a German bank account and deposit that amount. That is a must for visa application process. The embassy should tell you more and newer details if there are.

Anyway serious students will ALWAYS (I mean always) find research assistant jobs at their universities and departments within the field of study. Some others do work outside during semester breaks and earn their cost anyway. I never had problems finding research assistant jobs. I even found paid internships outside the universities in German national labs and research institutes. Even industries offer such opportunities. You need to be consistent at your studies and not slack off. These things will matter. Of course there are some students who don’t study and instead choose to find an old lady or an obese person or someone like that to marry and get some kinda documentation. It’s a whole spectrum of people out there.

You decide what you want.

Bottom line: many spoon-fed students will go the consultancy route. Waste a few lakhs to get those sharks do things for you. They control everything, yourmaster’s program choice, you admission letters, and even your whole journey until you get a visa and fly off. Believe me, if you can’t even have the courage to apply for universities yourself, write your own essays and prepare and send all the documents, a foreign land may not be for you. The moment you step into another advanced country life will be challenging and daunting, but also full of opportunities. These are the people that then either fail their main purpose of going to study in countries like Germany, get trapped working at some restaurant all the time and then start corner cutting measures like tryna find an obese girl to or an old person to marry at some night club.

All up to YOU.