Submitting the Thesis
- While you are getting ready to submit you thesis, keep in mind the following:
We typically need about 3.5 months from submission until defense. So please plan accordingly, especially if you are in your 8th semester. There is no possibility to extend beyond 8 semesters and you have to defend within that time!
You can only submit your thesis after meeting all program requirements and thus completing all credits. So please check your Academic Record to make sure it is complete including all course credits, dissertation research credits and thesis committee meetings. Let us know when everything is complete and you are getting ready to submit so we can prepare the forms on our end.
If you are a member of TUM-GS, you also have to complete their requirements: kick-off seminar, publication, additional soft skills course (optional) and internationalization phase (optional)
If you want to submit a publication-based dissertation, you need to have at least three outstanding publications accepted or published. Two of these have to be first-author papers. You have to apply to be allowed to submit a publication-based dissertation and your advisor has to support this application.
Once you are ready, submit the following documents:
Application for Degree: Complete this form, including your matriculation number, and attach all documents listed on there, i.e.:
Report of Completion of Requirements: This is a form we will provide for you, but you will have to let us know in advance that you want to submit.
Proof of qualifying degree: We need a certified copy of your qualifying degree, e.g. MSc, Diplom etc. If you have a foreign degree, we also need a copy of the equivalency letter you received after admission. If your degree is in a language other than English or German, we need a certified translation. You have submitted similar documents for admission, but we need them again as they will go to a different office at TUM.
Curriculum vitae: including educational background; separately, not as part of your thesis.
Digital version of the dissertation (pdf per email): Formatted according to program guidelines, i.e. using the official TUM cover page, leaving blank the reviewers and the dates in the last paragraph. Please do use glue binding as spiral binding is not accepted. There are no specific requirements on font size, line spacing, margins etc., but please choose reasonable settings, so your reviewers can easily and read your dissertation and write notes in the margins. For monograph theses, use the common general format of Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results (including subchapters if applicable) and Discussion, References etc. You may add Abstract, Acknowledgements, a specific Aims section, Conclusions/Outlook. It is important that the overarching question and hypothesis become clear so do not split the dissertation in distinct parts with their own introductions and conclusions. Behind the References section, please include a page where you list your own publications resulting from you PhD work.
Statutory declaration of authorship
Official abstract for TUM year book in English and German: see http://mediatum.ub.tum.de/publish/diss/start. Complete the required information including personal info, title, abstract, key words in English (first) and German (second). The abstract may not be longer than 500 characters. Once you are done, print out the form and submit the signed form.