An application for compensation for disadvantages can be made if there were performance impairments through no fault of your own that prevented you from achieving a better average grade in the Abitur.

Example: Mrs Mustermann has an Abitur grade of 2.3, but suffered a road traffic accident during school which resulted in months of hospitalisation. However, her school reports before the accident show a better average grade. As a result of the accident, her performance was so impaired that her A-level grade was lower than would have been expected without the accident.

The special application must be submitted within the application and the following documents must be uploaded:

• School report
• Detailed justification

The school report must indicate the extent to which the incriminating circumstances have affected academic performance. In addition, the average grade that would have been achieved without the detrimental circumstances must be stated.

Further information about the special application can be found at Hochschulstart. The criteria of the ZV degree programmes (central procedure) also apply to the local admission restrictions at the individual universities.

Note: The improvement of the average grade is not a so-called bonification.

If you have been admitted to Paderborn University in the past two semesters and were unable to start your studies due to a recognised service, you are entitled to be reselected for the degree programme specified in the previous admission after the end of your service.

The right to preferential treatment can be exercised by submitting a special application by the second selection procedure after the end of service at the latest. If there are more applicants to be given preference than places in a degree programme, the study places will be drawn by lot.

The special application must be submitted within the application and the following documents must be uploaded:

• Letter of admission from Paderborn University
• A (provisional) certificate of service for those doing voluntary military service or temporary soldiers
• Certificate from the provider of an approved voluntary service programme within the meaning of the Federal Voluntary Service Act/Youth Voluntary Service Act or a model project funded by the Federal Government
• Certificate from the development service organisation confirming the completion of a service in accordance with the Development Workers Act
• Documents that provide information about the need for care (full-time employment), e.g. birth certificate, registration certificate, medical certificate

Further information about the special application can be found at Hochschulstart. The criteria of the ZV degree programmes (central procedure) also apply to the local admission restrictions at the individual universities.

Exceptional hardship is deemed to exist if special social or family reasons relating to the student's own person make it absolutely necessary to commence studies immediately, i.e. if a delay of even one semester in the commencement of studies is unreasonable for personal reasons.

All circumstances presented in the case of hardship must be substantiated by appropriate evidence, otherwise they cannot be taken into account in the decision. In order to avoid abuses and unjustified preferential treatment, the requirements for the evidence to be provided are strict.

The special application must be submitted within the application and the following documents must be uploaded:

• Required evidence, such as a specialist medical certificate
• Detailed justification

Further information about the special application can be found at Hochschulstart. The criteria of the ZV degree programmes (central procedure) also apply to the local admission restrictions at the individual universities.

The following three requirements must be met in order to be considered for the underage quota:

• The applicant must be a minor at the start of the lecture period
• The applicant must have their parents' main place of residence
• The parents' place of residence must belong to the university. The cities/districts of Gütersloh, Hochsauerlandkreis, Höxter, Lippe, Paderborn and Soest are assigned to Paderborn University.

The special application must be submitted within the application and the following documents must be uploaded:

• Copy of identity card (front, please black out ID)
• Confirmation of joint residence from the relevant residents' registration office. Both the residence of the parents and the residence of the child must be shown on the certificate.

You can apply to be considered as an elite athlete if you belong to one of these squads formed at national level:

• Olympic squad
• Perspective squad
• Supplementary squad
• Junior squad 1
• Junior squad 2
• State squad of a national federation of the German Olympic Sports Confederation

The special application must be submitted within the application and the following documents must be uploaded:

• Confirmation of current squad membership from the professional association