Places in psychology are awarded according to two criteria: academic performance and waiting time. Your Abitur grade and, if applicable, your result in the aptitude test (BaPsy-DGPs) determine your standing under the performance criterion. The better your Abitur grade and your BaPsy-DGPs result, the better your chances of getting a place via the performance criterion. Taking the BaPsy-DGPs is voluntary. The number of waiting semesters (the time during which you were not enrolled at a German university, converted into semesters) is the measure for the second criterion. The more waiting semesters you have, the better your chances of getting a place via the waiting-time criterion. The two criteria are independent of each other and are not combined. This also means that waiting semesters do not affect your ranking under the performance criterion, and vice versa.

The admission threshold is only determined after the application procedure, never before, as it depends on the number of applications received and the individual qualifications of the applicants. With 200 available places, for example, the selection has to be stricter if 3,000 applications are received than if 300 are received. The admission results of previous application procedures can be found on the page History of Admission Results. From these results, you can work out whether you would have received a place in the last procedure.

More information on the BaPsy-DGPs can be found on the page Application and Aptitude Test.

For questions about the application procedure, the university's Admissions Office (StuSek) is the right place to go. The Admissions Office's application overview page provides information on applying. Information on applying for a programme with restricted admission (which includes psychology!) can be found on the page Application process for restricted-admission Bachelor's programmes.

Every recognition is assessed individually, so no general statements can be made. Our examination board is responsible for recognising credits. However, the examination board only becomes active once you have been offered and have accepted a place in Trier – not before. Please bear in mind that many prospective students from all over the world are interested in moving to Trier. Recognising credits is always a laborious individual assessment, as there are many nuances in the modules of other programmes. If students then decide on another university or are not offered a place, the examination board's laborious work will have been in vain.

After you have enrolled at Trier University, you can submit an application for recognition of credits to the examination board of the psychology department. You can find the checklist (Prüfbogen) on the examination board's page Info Bachelor Psychologie.

First of all, welcome to our department's Bachelor's programme! All the new impressions can be a little overwhelming at first, but that is probably true for everyone. Trust that you will find your way around better and better over the coming weeks and, like many others, will soon get the hang of it. Here are some general tips and tips on putting together your timetable:

• The information page for first-semester students contains a lot of information that is useful not only for first-semester students but also for students transferring from other universities.
• You can contact Ms Weiland and ask her to register you for Dr. Simacek's introductory lecture. There is material from previous semesters that you can look at in your own time on StudIP once you have been added to the lecture. The introductory lecture is intended for the first semester, but it can also be useful for transfer students in higher semesters, as it provides a lot of important information about our programme.
• The programme documents for the B.Sc. Psychology and the Module Handbook list all modules and course types of your programme. They also include a graphical study plan showing which modules are scheduled for which semester. Modules usually consist of lectures and seminars (sub-modules).
• You can register for lectures via our campus management system PORTA. You can usually do this without help from the secretariats, provided you have already received your ZIMK user ID and password. For some lectures, however, the registration deadline may have passed – in that case, you can ask the secretariat of the lecturer's department to add you. The quickest way to find the secretariats' contact details is to look up your lecturers on the university website and check their department's team page. Please state your student ID number when you get in touch so that you can be added more quickly.
• Seminars are small-group courses with up to about 30 participants. Most seminars have several parallel groups, each with its own thematic focus. Because the number of participants in seminars is limited, there is a separate seminar allocation procedure. It consists of several phases with deadlines before the start of the lecture period. Instructions can be found on the page Seminar Allocation.
• Once seminar allocation has taken place, most seminars are full. You can still email the lecturers of seminars and ask whether you can get a place. You can check which seminars are offered, by whom and how many places are left in our campus management system PORTA.
  • Example: You look in the Module Handbook and see that you still need a seminar in interviewing and that its code is A3. You go to PORTA and click on "Studienangebot" (course offerings) and "Veranstaltungen suchen" (search courses). You enter "A3" or "Gesprächsführung" and find the entry. If there are several interviewing courses (called "Parallelgruppen" in PORTA), they are listed one below the other. If you click on the parallel groups, you can see how many places the seminar has and how many have actually been allocated. If the number of admitted students is lower than the maximum, there is still a place available in that course.
  • Once the lecture period has started, most seminar places have been allocated. However, we know that many transfer students receive their login details very late and were unable to take part in seminar allocation. Many lecturers therefore voluntarily accept additional students if this is still possible for their seminar. Please be understanding if the maximum has already been reached and lecturers cannot accept you.
  • You can view the lectures and seminars offered in the current semester even without a ZIMK user ID. To do so, go to PORTA, select "Studierende" (students) and enter the courses you found in the programme documents and want to attend under "Veranstaltungen suchen".
• If you don't know which courses to choose because you have applied for recognition of credits, start by choosing the courses that will definitely or possibly not be recognised. If those credits are recognised after all, you can cancel your participation.

In rare cases, you may have fewer courses on your timetable than you would like, e.g. if you are a transfer student and hardly any places were left after seminar allocation. Here are a few tips:

• You can email the lecturers of seminars and ask whether you can still get a place. You can check which seminars are offered, by whom and how many places are left in our campus management system PORTA.
  • Example: You look in the module handbook and see that you still need a seminar in interviewing. The module handbook tells you that its code is A3. You go to PORTA and click on "Studienangebot" and "Veranstaltungen suchen". You enter "A3" or "Gesprächsführung" and find the individual courses. Some courses are listed separately; others only open when you click on them and then on "Parallelgruppen anzeigen" (show parallel groups). If you click on the parallel groups, you can see how many places the seminar has and how many have actually been allocated. If the number of admitted students is lower than the maximum, there is still a place available in that course.
• If you can hardly find any seminar places, you can focus more on lectures this semester and possibly attend a lecture from a higher semester.
• The courses of the non-psychology elective module can be fitted flexibly into your study plan, as they usually do not require prior knowledge from the rest of the psychology programme. The lectures "Grundlagen der Medizin" (Fundamentals of Medicine, always in the winter semester) and "Grundlagen der Pharmakologie" (Fundamentals of Pharmacology, always in the summer semester) belong to the non-psychology elective module and must be taken if you want to become a psychotherapist.
• You can complete your internship. The four-week career-orientation internship (P1) can be taken from the 1st semester, the six-week professional-qualification internship (P2) after the 2nd semester; P1 must always come before P2, and P2 requires at least 60 credits in your studies so far. P1 and P2 can also be combined into a single ten-week internship. If you want to become a psychotherapist after your studies, please follow the guidelines on the internship information page. You can find internship placements via the internship database, for example.
• Make use of extracurricular opportunities such as free language courses at the university, or earn additional certificates in a wide range of areas. You can find further qualification opportunities on the page Additional Certificates.
• Use the time to earn money for your studies and perhaps gain some first work experience. An overview of jobs and internships specifically suited to students is available from the Career Service.
• Take part in the lively campus life at Trier University. The page Student Life has links to leisure activities offered by student groups, university sports and cultural activities.

Congratulations, and welcome to our programme! We have created an overview page for first-semester students with the most important information for starting your studies, such as registering for courses in the first semester.

The Bachelor's programme at Trier University is a full-time programme, not one designed to be combined with a job. As such, it is designed for you to spend 40 hours a week on your studies. This includes preparing for and following up on courses, attending courses on campus, working on individual and group projects, and completing internships and examinations.

If you can spend fewer than 40 hours a week on your studies – for example because of a job or childcare – or are less flexible in arranging your timetable, and still start studying psychology in Trier, you should expect that you will not be able to complete the programme in six semesters.

Apply for a higher semester of the Bachelor's programme in Psychology. The steps of the application process are listed on the page Application process for restricted-admission Bachelor's programmes. If you have further questions about your application, the university's Admissions Office (StuSek) is the right place to go.

Places in higher semesters can only be allocated once the re-registration deadline for currently enrolled students has passed. Only then can it be determined how many places are available for new applicants.

As soon as you have accepted a place on the Bachelor's programme, submit an application to the examination board of the psychology department. The board will then assess the recognition of your previous credits and place you in a particular semester. The examination board only assesses the recognition of credits once you have been offered and have accepted a place in Trier and have submitted the application – not before. Please bear in mind that many prospective students from all over the world are interested in moving to Trier. Recognising credits is always a laborious individual assessment, as there are many nuances in the modules of other programmes. If students then decide on another university or are not offered a place, the examination board's laborious work will have been in vain.

Students from a related programme can try to apply for a higher semester. More information can be found on the page Application process for restricted-admission Bachelor's programmes.

If you are already enrolled in another programme at Trier University, you can apply to change your programme. More information can be found on the page Changing Your Degree Programme. Psychology is a programme with restricted admission, so please note the box with information on restricted-admission programmes on that page. If you have questions, please contact the Admissions Office, which is responsible for this process.

In both cases, you may be able to have credits from your previous studies recognised for the B.Sc. Psychology. As soon as you have accepted a place on the Bachelor's programme, you can submit an application to the examination board of the psychology department. The board will then check whether your previous credits can be recognised for the psychology programme.

Information on seminar allocation can be found in the instructions for seminar allocation. The seminar allocation system is also explained in detail in the introductory lecture of the Bachelor's programme. If you are already studying in Trier, you can ask Ms Weiland to add you to the course so that you can watch the detailed explanatory video (session 4).

It is very important that you understand the seminar allocation system. If you use it incorrectly, you put yourself at a disadvantage compared with other students who use it correctly and may risk delaying your studies.

Download this template for planning your course of study and fill it in. Either the template will help you work out how to plan the rest of your studies yourself, or you can contact the Academic Advisor and we will go through your completed template together and decide on the next steps.

A tip for planning your course of study: to estimate the workload of a semester, add up the credits of the modules you want to take. The workload of a typical full-time semester within the standard period of study is 30 credits. If your plan covers significantly more or fewer credits in a semester, you can take correspondingly fewer or more additional modules.

Our Bachelor's programme meets the requirements for licensure. This means that you can later work as a psychotherapist if you have studied for your Bachelor's in Trier and complete a suitable Master's programme. The BDP has put together an overview of FAQs that can quickly answer your questions. Our clinical departments also regularly offer information events on the postgraduate programme in psychological psychotherapy and the postgraduate programme in child and adolescent psychotherapy.

Our Bachelor's programme in Psychology is polyvalent, and with a degree from us you can later become a licensed psychotherapist, as the programme teaches you the necessary competences. However, there are a few points to bear in mind when planning your Bachelor's studies:

• In the fifth semester, take elective module R (Clinical Psychology II) as one of your two elective modules in the applied subjects.
• Take the non-psychology elective module "Fundamentals of Medicine and Pharmacology in Psychotherapy".
• Complete internships in health-related fields in which clinical psychologists work. A detailed guide to organising the internship module can be found on the Internship page. Activities completed before the start of your studies (e.g. a voluntary social year (FSJ) or vocational training) can be recognised as an orientation internship upon application to the examination board of the psychology department, provided they meet the requirements of § 14 PsychThApprO (in German).

On the page Internship Database, you will find a link to PsyFaKo's nationwide internship database, where students share internships they have completed, together with the general conditions and reports on their experiences. The more flexible you are about where you do your internship, the more placements you can choose from. Some placements also require a minimum duration (e.g. 3 months). Plan your internship for the break between the summer and winter semesters so that you have more flexibility in this respect.

The psychology departments are also always pleased to hear from students interested in research who would like to do a research internship alongside their studies. Take a look at the departments' pages.

If you want to become a psychotherapist, you must complete internships in health-related fields in which clinical psychologists work as part of your studies. Demand for clinical-psychology internships has grown even further as a result of the reform of psychotherapist training. It is therefore all the more important that you arrange your internship early.

The overview page for the Bachelor's programme in Psychology has a lot of useful and interesting information about the Bachelor's programme in Trier. There you will find, for example, a subpage on the objectives and contents of the programme, a standard course of study and the module handbook, which describes the content taught in each module in more detail.

Many first-semester students are surprised at how much research and methodology the psychology programme involves. However, the key competences it teaches are essential for practising the profession responsibly and professionally. You will find that these parts are just as manageable as all the other parts of the programme.