🇩🇪 Germany: Numerus Clausus (NC) Rechner

What "Numerus Clausus" Actually Means

A Numerus Clausus (NC) is not a national entrance exam — it is the worst grade still admitted in a given semester after seats have been filled top-down. If a programme has 200 seats and 1,500 applicants, the 200th-best Abitur grade becomes that semester's NC. It is a cut-off, not a passing threshold, and shifts every term with applicant volume.

Two structurally different systems coexist. Centralized NC applies to Human Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy and Veterinary Medicine — admission runs through hochschulstart.de under three quotas (ABQ 30%, ZEQ 10%, AdH 60%). Local NC applies to every other restricted programme; each university sets its own per-semester cut-off.

The Three Centralized Quotas

• Abiturbestenquote (ABQ — 30%): best Abitur grades, distributed proportionally per Bundesland to partially level out grading-strictness differences.
• Zusätzliche Eignungsquote (ZEQ — 10%): grade-free assessment based on TMS, vocational training, voluntary service and similar criteria.
• Auswahlverfahren der Hochschulen (AdH — 60%): each university applies its own mix of Abitur grade, TMS, interviews and other criteria. The Abitur grade still dominates in most universities.

Since Winter Semester 2020/21 the old "Wartesemester" (waiting-time) quota was abolished for Human Medicine — accumulating waiting semesters no longer guarantees a seat in centralized programmes.

Why a Single NC Number Is Misleading

NC values published by universities are retrospective. They describe the cut-off after the last seat was assigned in a previous semester — not a target you can plan against. A subject with NC 1.5 in Wintersemester 2024/25 can shift to 1.8 or 1.2 a year later depending on applicant volume.

This calculator preserves that uncertainty by showing an NC range (typical low–high band across recent semesters) rather than a single point. Your effective grade is compared against that range, not a single threshold.

Foreign Qualifications and the Bavarian Formula

Applicants with non-German qualifications have their grade converted to the 1.0–4.0 scale using the modified Bavarian formula: N_de = 1 + 3 × (N_max − N_actual) / (N_max − N_min), where N_max is the best possible grade in your system and N_min the passing minimum. The result feeds into the same quotas as a domestic Abitur. The competent body (Zeugnisanerkennungsstelle) of the applicable Bundesland issues the official conversion.