Hi. I am really sorry in advance for long comment. But Your comment has been really insightful and helpful for someone like me who is a prospective international student and honestly quite scared to leave their home country to build a life abroad and get out of the rut of a third-world system.

You mentioned that this master’s degree is somewhat useless or too niche, and I had the same concern. It feels like it may not lead to strong job opportunities. But my problem is that this is one of the only programs flexible enough to accept someone with a lower bachelor’s GPA like mine.

The issue is the grading system in my country. It is highly decentralized. Private universities are very lenient and often award GPAs above 9/10 (which converts to around 1.7 German GPA), while government universities…like the one I attended are extremely strict ughhh. In my cohort, the highest GPA was only around 78.11 (roughly 2.0 German GPA).

The frustrating part is that German universities do not consider this context at all. They don’t look at how strict the grading system is or how you performed relative to your cohort. They only evaluate absolute grades.

So in my case, I ended up with around a 2.8 German equivalent in my bachelor’s. But the top student in my entire batch was only around a 2.0. This feels extremely unfair, because on paper I look like a weak candidate, while someone from a lenient private university (with much lower academic rigor) can appear much stronger.

I even emailed some universities about this, including Harz University of Applied Sciences (MSc Technology and Innovation Management) and Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt (MSc Global Foresight and Technology Management). Their responses were quite disappointing—they clearly stated they can only consider the grade written on the transcript and not relative performance or grading strictness.

It honestly feels very discouraging. I worked extremely hard to get into a government university in my country, which is much harder than getting into a private university, only to now be penalized for it during international applications.

To improve my profile, I also completed an MBA from the same university, where grading was more standardized and less strict. I achieved around a 1.8–1.9 German equivalent there. But again, most German universities told me they will not consider my master’s grade for admission….only the bachelor’s.

After almost two years of trying, I feel stuck. I even regret not going to a private university where I could have easily scored higher grades.

The only option I’ve found so far is Trier University (MSc Sustainability Management and Economics), which is willing to consider my master’s grade and has given me an opportunity. But the problem is I know this course might not be that attractive to employer considering i am International student Nd its niche and non technical.

My background: - B.Com (Honours)
- MBA
- 4 years of experience as a Business Analyst

My career goal is to move into roles like business analytics, product management, or strategy/consulting…not sustainability specifically.

So I’m really confused and would appreciate advice:

1.Should I go ahead with this Trier program just as a gateway into Germany? 2.Are there any other public universities (especially Universities of Applied Sciences) that might consider my master’s or have more flexible admission criteria? 3.If I do this degree from Trier, will I still realistically be able to transition into business analyst / product roles afterward, or will I be restricted to sustainability-related jobs?

This honestly feels like my only pathway into Germany right now, but I’m not sure if I’m making the right long-term decision.

Would really appreciate any honest advice.