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Graduate School of Humanities Graduate School of Humanities

Application procedure for pre-Master's programmes

You must always submit an application for a Master’s programme, even if you believe your prior education does not grant direct access and you need to take the pre-Master's programme to compensate for deficiencies. The Admissions Board will assess your application and determine whether you are admissible to the Master’s programme, admissible to the pre-Master’s programme, or not admissible.

Application steps

  1. Check the application deadline
    As you must first submit an application for the Master's programme you wish to pursue, the application deadline of the Master's programme applies. To find out which deadline applies, check the Application & admission page of the Master's of your choice.
  2. Submit an enrolment request in Studielink for the Master's programme
    You cannot enrol directly in the pre-Master’s, but you must follow the application procedure for the Master’s programme. Please complete all steps of the application process, including the application in MyInfo and the submission of all required application documents. This will ensure that you can automatically be admitted to the Master's in the following academic year.
  3. Wait for the admission decision
    The selection committee will assess your prior education. If you are able to meet the entry requirements for the Master’s by completing the pre-Master’s programme, you will receive a rejection for the Master's and a positive decision for the pre-Master’s.
  4. Submit an enrolment request in Studielink for the pre-Master’s
    Only after you have been (conditionally) admitted to the pre-Master’s do you register for the pre-Master’s programme in Studielink. You will be informed by email in more detail.

Important information for non-EEA students

If you need a visa for your stay in the Netherlands, please note that the Dutch Immigration and Naturalisation Service (IND) only issues visas to pre-Master's students for the duration of one year. If you do not complete the programme in one year, you cannot continue your studies anywhere in the Netherlands. It is also not possible to start with your Master's if you have not fully completed the pre-Master's.

Therefore, please consider carefully whether a pre-Master's programme is the right fit for you if your prior education does not grant direct access to the Master's.

Costs

The tuition fee rate for a pre-Master’s programme in the academic year 2023-2024 is €38.56 per ECTS, with a maximum of €2,314. This means that for a 42 ECTS pre-Master’s programme, the fee is €1,620; for a 30 ECTS programme, the fee is €1,157.

Meet & Ask: How to apply to a pre-Master's programme?

If you want to know more about the procedure, watch the recording of the online information session 'How to apply to a pre-Master's programme' (UvA Masterweek, November 2023).