Who can apply?
The LL.M. Finance program is specifically designed for graduates who already have a first degree in law, business or economics from an accredited or recognized university. Therefore, if you possess a first degree in any of these subjects and have outstanding academic records, we would be happy to receive your application.
Applicants who have earned a law, business or economics degree by correspondence course work or distance learning are not eligible for admission. As our program can be done on a part-time basis, we have both full-time and part-time students.
Since English is the sole language of instruction, you must have a good command of written and spoken English. Your proficiency in English must be proven to surpass a level of TOEFL 600, CBT TOEFL 260, IBT TOEFL 100 (with a minimum of 22 for each section), Cambridge CAE (grade C or above) or IELTS 7.0, unless your native tongue is English.
The ILF limits its admissions to about 50 students each year in order to ensure academic excellence and direct, personal contact between students and faculty.
Application Deadline
Applications will be considered on a rolling basis i.e."first come, first served" basis. Therefore, candidates are urged to submit their applications as soon as possible since applications are considered in the order in which they are completed.
There is only one intake per year. The admissions cycle for the academic year 2024/2025 commences on 1 November 2023.
Application Procedure
Applicants with an undergraduate degree in law, business or economics may apply to join the LL.M. Finance program. Candidates should submit their applications as soon as possible after 15 October of every year. Evaluation of completed applications will begin on 1 November and candidates will generally be informed of the results of their applications within 6 weeks of receipt.
We recommend that you submit your application early in order to secure a place in our program. No application fee is required.
We accept both paper as well as online applications. However, please do not send your application documents to the ILF by email. If you have any questions, please contact Jennifer Schmid, Admissions Manager.
Paper applications should be sent to:
Institute for Law and Finance
c/o Jennifer Schmid, Admissions Manager
Goethe-Universität Frankfurt
Campus Westend, House of Finance
Theodor-W.-Adorno-Platz 3
D-60629 Frankfurt am Main
Germany
If you wish to submit your application online:
Please click on the appropriate links to:
- fill out, print and sign the application form and upload;
- upload the other required documents; and
- if applicable, fill out an application for an ILF Scholarship (financial need-based). Any application for financial aid must be made at the same time as the application for admission. Subsequent applications for financial aid will not be considered. Documents supporting the application for financial aid may follow the application itself.
- please note that only documents in .pdf or .docx (and not .doc) formats can be received through the university email and document upload systems. Word documents using the .doc version will be rejected by the systems.
(a) Complete and sign Application Form and upload via (b). Please ensure that you use a current Adobe reader (which can be downloaded free of charge from the Adobe website) to fill out the application form.
If you do not yet have a document pertaining to class rank or your English proficiency results, you may submit a statement stating when the documents will be available, or, in the case of English proficiency results, that you are a native English speaker.
(c) Submit Application Form for ILF Scholarship (Financial Need-Based) - if applicable.
Financial assistance is available in the form of ILF scholarships that cover part of the tuition fees. The possible maximum amount of financial assistance for tuition fees which could be awarded by the ILF, if any at all, for the academic year 2023/2024 is EUR 7,000. This would mean that, at the very least, students will be required to bear the tuition fees of EUR 13,000 themselves.
Any application for financial assistance must be made at the same time as the application for admission. Subsequent applications for financial aid will not be considered. Documents supporting the application for financial assistance may follow the application itself.
If you wish to apply for the ILF Scholarship (Financial Need-Based) please send the completed application form along with your supporting documents by email to llm@ilf.uni-frankfurt.de or, alternatively, by post to the address specified above. Please note that only documents in .pdf or .docx (and not .doc) formats can be received through the university email and document upload systems.
Upon successful submission of the documents, you will receive an email from the ILF confirming receipt. You may receive another email if additional documents need to be submitted. Further, you may also be requested to participate in a telephone or Skype interview which will be set up at an agreed date and time.
After a review of the submitted documents, successful candidates will be required to send original or certified copies of all academic documents, including the class rank, to the following address in order to complete the admissions process.
Institute for Law and Finance
c/o Jennifer Schmid, Admissions Manager
Goethe-Universität Frankfurt
Campus Westend, House of Finance
Theodor-W.-Adorno-Platz 3
D-60629 Frankfurt am Main
Germany
All decisions regarding admissions to the LL.M. Finance program as well as the grant of ILF Scholarships (Financial Need-Based), if any, are made by the Admissions Committee.
It is the policy of the ILF not to return any application materials. Once the admissions process has been completed, the application materials of applicants will be destroyed in compliance with German data protection legislation.
Contact
Jennifer Schmid
Admissions & Recruiting Manager
+49 (0)69 798 33624
LL.M. Finance Brochure
Upload Application Documents
via Upload Center
List of Documents to be submitted
| 1)|References: At least two sealed and confidential letters of recommendation, preferably from university professors and/or employers, must be sent to the ILF directly by the referees, either by email or by post to the address listed above. References should be current. More than two references may be included. |
| 2)|Application Form |
| 3)|Letter of Motivation |
| 4)|Curriculum Vitae |
| 5)|University Entrance Qualification: e.g., high school diploma or final transcripts, Abitur, Baccalauréat or other similar document or results from university qualifying examinations. Documents must be submitted in English or German or as certified translations into one of these languages. All copies must be certified by a notary public or other appropriate public institutions. |
| 6)|University Degrees: Academic degree certificates and transcripts. Documents must be submitted in English or German or as certified translations into one of these languages. All copies must be certified by a notary public or other appropriate public institutions. |
| 7)|English Proficiency: Proficiency in English must surpass a level of TOEFL 600, CBT TOEFL 250, IBT TOEFL 100 (with a minimum of 22 in each section) (ILF's Institutional Code with TOEFL is 5984), Cambridge CAE (grade C or above), or IELTS 7.0 (or any other Cambridge English certificate with a mininum of 185 Cambridge English Scale points or the equivalent), unless your native tongue is English. You can request that the test center directly sends a copy of the official test results to the ILF. If the testing schedules do not allow the results to be available by the application deadline, you should state in your application when the results will be available. |
| 8)|Class Rank: A written confirmation from the relevant university indicating your class rank should be included in your application. This confirmation shall state your relative standing in the year of graduation and, where possible, shall be presented according to the relevant major (e.g. in top 5% of law graduates in the class of 2020). The total number of students should also be stated. This information is required to assess the performance of the applicant in relation to his/her peers. If a given university does not provide such information, we need a written statement by the university to that effect. |
| 9)|Optional: Application for ILF Scholarship (Financial Need-Based) (if applicable). Any application for financial aid must be made at the same time as the application for admission. Subsequent applications for financial aid will not be considered. Documents supporting the application for financial aid may follow the application itself. |
| 10)|Two hard copy Passport-Sized Photographs or 1 digital Passport-Sized Photograph |
| 11)|Photocopy of Passport |
| 12)|For applicants from the People's Republic of China, an APS certificate from the Akademischen Prüfstelle (https://www.aps.org.cn/) in Beijing |
| 13) For applicants from India, an APS certificate from the Akademischen Prüfstelle (https://www.aps-india.de/) in New Delhi |
| 14) For applicants from Vietnam, an APS certificate from the Akademischen Prüfstelle (http://www.hanoi.diplo.de/Vertretung/hanoi/de/06/APS__Hanoi) in Hanoi |
