You can apply for compensation for disadvantages if you can prove that special circumstances have prevented you from achieving

• a better grade point average or
• a longer waiting period

in relation to your university entrance qualification. You must not be responsible for these circumstances.

Compensation for disadvantages does not automatically lead to admission. Disadvantage compensation compensates for the actual proven disadvantage. The ranking you achieve with the improved grade point average or the longer waiting time may still be below the admission restrictions for your desired degree programme.

Only information that is supported by certified copies of the original documents will be taken into consideration.

Special health circumstances, e.g.

• Prolonged absence from school due to illness during the last three years before obtaining the higher education entrance qualification
• Prolonged severe disability or illness
• Other comparable special health circumstances
• Pregnancy of the applicant during the last three years before obtaining the higher education entrance qualification

Special economic circumstances 

Special family circumstances, e.g.

• Caring for your own minor child/children in the last three years before acquiring the higher education entrance qualification
• Care of relatives in need of care in the ascending line or of siblings in the last three years before acquiring the higher education entrance qualification
• Care of unprovided for minor siblings who lived in the same household as the applicant during the last three years prior to obtaining the higher education entrance qualification
• Loss of one parent in the last three years before acquiring the higher education entrance qualification or loss of both parents before acquiring the higher education entrance qualification, provided the applicant was unmarried at that time and had not yet reached the age of 25
• Change of school several times in the last three years before acquiring the higher education entrance qualification due to relocation of parents
• Other comparable special family circumstances
  

Membership of relevant sports squads

Anyone who has been a member of an Olympic squad, perspective squad, supplementary squad, junior squad 1, junior squad 2 or team squad of the federal sports federations for at least one year without interruption during the last three years before acquiring the university entrance qualification can claim this.

Other comparable special circumstances

You apply for compensation for disadvantages as part of your degree programme application in the HTW application portal.

The regular deadlines for applications apply.

Please note that you can only successfully submit a special application if the respective requirements are met and you have provided full proof of this.

All required documents must be uploaded to the application portal by the application deadline.

• To improve the waiting time, a certificate from the school stating the reason for and duration of the delay in obtaining the higher education entrance qualification must be submitted in all cases. This must show when you would have obtained the higher education entrance qualification without the stated detrimental circumstances.
• In order to improve the average grade, an expert opinion from the school (not individual teachers) or - if this is not possible - an expert opinion from an educational-psychological expert must be submitted in all cases, as well as the last two school reports before the event affecting performance occurred and all subsequent school reports. These must show what grade point average you would have achieved in relation to the university entrance qualification without the impairing circumstances.
• The reason for the application must be substantiated with further suitable evidence.