Study places (without funding)

The Berlin Graduate School of Ancient Studies (BerGSAS) accepts applications for both winter and summer admissions for all five doctoral programs. The starting date for doctoral studies in the summer semester is the first of April – for the winter semester, the starting date is the first of October.

If you would like to apply for summer admission, please you submit your application materials by September 30 of the preceding year.

If you wish to apply for winter admission, we request that you submit your application materials by April 30 in the year you wish to start.

Prospective doctoral students apply for one of our five doctoral programs. Each of the programs has its own curriculum, which takes six semesters to complete. In the course of their doctoral studies, doctoral students have the opportunity to spend a semester at one of our partner universities – Harvard University, the University of Michigan, the University of Oxford or Princeton University – and can receive financial support for that purpose.

Minimum requirements for applicants

• Completion of a master’s degree with a very good result in a field of ancient studies or a closely related discipline, e.g. prehistory, classical or Near Eastern archaeology, Egyptology, ancient Near Eastern studies, physical geography, ancient history, medieval history, religious studies, philosophy and the history of knowledge, theology, art history, classics, Byzantine studies, Iranian studies.

• When you submit your application, you must be able to prove that you have a way of financing the three-year course of doctoral studies or at least show that you have submitted a request for the funding of your doctoral project to a third party.