Motivation Letter: Mechanical Masters in Germany

Motivation Letter: Mechanical Masters in Germany

TUM's M.Sc. Mechanical Engineering and M.Sc. Automotive Engineering list no motivation letter among their application documents, and RWTH's M.Sc. Automotive Engineering pages mention none. RPTU's Commercial Vehicle Technology asks for one of at most 2 pages, and TUM's Robotics, Cognition, Intelligence asks for a 2-page statement of reasons plus an essay.

So the first job is not writing. It is finding out whether your programme reads a letter at all, and if it does, what the letter is worth in the selection. At TUM Mechanical Engineering, the binding rules score your credits, your grade and an internship, and nothing else in the first stage. Where a letter is read, its job is narrow: to prove the subject list the programme prints. If you are drafting one, the German motivation letter rubric reads it for exactly that kind of mapping.

Every programme page and regulation quoted below was checked on 31 October 2026. Document lists change between intakes; check your programme's page in the semester you apply.

On this page:

• Which mechanical programmes read a letter
• What TUM Mechanical Engineering actually scores
• No letter asked: what to do instead
• When a letter is asked: prove the subject list
• Automotive, mechatronics, robotics: what changes
• Checklist before you apply
• Questions about mechanical master's letters in Germany
• Get a free review of your motivation letter

Which mechanical programmes read a letter

Applying to a University of Applied Sciences instead? The Hochschule motivation letter guide decodes THI's, RWU's and Esslingen's published selection rules.

The TUM document lists name the degree certificate or transcript, the transcript of records, language proof, the "Curriculum (e.g. module description)", a "Complete and Current Résumé", the passport, optional internship proof and, for foreign degrees, the uni-assist VPD. Both TUM pages add that "We may require additional documents depending on your educational background and your country of origin." The binding list is in the aptitude rules, and it is short. For Mechanical Engineering (Anlage 2, readable version dated 02.03.2026) the application must include a transcript of records, the curriculum with module contents plus the School's own form listing grades, credits and weekly hours, "ein tabellarischer Lebenslauf" (a tabular CV), and internship proof where you have it. No letter.

What TUM Mechanical Engineering actually scores

This is where admission is decided, and a letter plays no part in it. The first stage of TUM's Mechanical Engineering aptitude assessment scores the written documents on a scale of 0 to 79 points:

• Subject qualification, up to 54 points. "Die Maximalpunktzahl beträgt 54." The credits in five groups are converted to points: mathematics, engineering mechanics, design basics (technical drawing and machine elements, including CAx), materials science, and further engineering basics such as thermodynamics, control engineering and fluid mechanics.
• Grade, up to 20 points. One point for each tenth of a grade that your average in those modules is better than 3.0 on the German scale. Foreign grades are converted with the Bavarian formula.
• Internship, 5 points, for a relevant internship or vocational training of at least eight weeks.

Our arithmetic: 54 + 20 + 5 = 79, the top of the scale. Then: "Wer nach Nr. 5.1.2 mindestens 54 Punkte erreicht hat, hat das Eignungsverfahren bestanden." (Anyone with at least 54 points has passed.) Below 32 points you have not passed; between the two you are invited to written tests. There are also floors in the subject check: fewer than 30 subject points in total, or fewer than 5 in mathematics or in engineering mechanics, or fewer than 6 in design basics, and you are not admitted to the assessment.

A letter cannot move any of those numbers. The School's form, your module descriptions and your grades do.

Our view: for TUM Mechanical and Automotive, do not write a motivation letter and do not upload one unless TUMonline asks for it. For RWTH Automotive, neither the programme page nor the institute FAQ mentions one, so write one only if the RWTH application portal asks for it. Put the hours into the curriculum file and the School's form: every module named the way your university names it, its credits, its hours, and the page where its description sits. That is where admission is decided.

The countercase: TUM's Automotive Engineering interview does test motivation. Its rules give up to 15 points in the interview for "besondere Leistungsbereitschaft", and one of the questions is whether the CV shows "eine besondere Zielstrebigkeit bezüglich des Bereichs Mobilität und Automobilindustrie" (a particular focus on mobility and the automotive industry). So the argument a letter would make still matters there: it moves into your CV rows and your interview answers. See how to build a German tabular CV and the TUM aptitude interview.

No letter asked: what to do instead

Make the curriculum file easy to score. RWTH's Media Informatics programme, a different RWTH programme, publishes the clearest instruction we found for this: "Add a cover sheet in front of the module descriptions document(s) and write down on this cover sheet which of the courses you passed fit to which of the special admission requirements." It also asks for "the page number of the repective module description" [sic] for each course. Neither TUM programme asks for a cover sheet, but the method applies to any committee mapping your transcript against its own categories.

If a module description is missing or covers a later cohort, see missing module descriptions for a German MSc. If RWTH's "open admission" label is the reason you are applying, read whether RWTH open admission means an offer is assured first.

RWTH Automotive has two hard lines in its FAQ. On the GRE: "applicants from countries outside the EU or EEA need such a test as a formal and professional requirement for the application. The application will otherwise be rejected on formal grounds." On missing subjects: "The maximum is usually 30 CP. If the amount is greater than 30 CP, the application will be rejected."

When a letter is asked: prove the subject list

RPTU's Commercial Vehicle Technology is the clearest case of a mechanical programme that reads a letter, and it publishes how. Its selection has three parts:

1. Subjects covered in former studies, from a printed list across three disciplines. Mechanical and process engineering: Principles of Mechanics, of Design, of Materials Science and of Production Engineering. Electrical and computer engineering: General and Electrical Measurement, Principles of Electrical Power Engineering, of Automation Technology and of Electronics. Computer science: General Design of Computer Systems, Principles of Integrated Systems and Robotics, Formal Principles of Programming, and Principles of Software Engineering and Program Development.
2. Grade. "If you apply with a Bachelor degree, final grades from 1.0 to 3.0 are credited".
3. "Recommendation Letter, Motivation Letter, Vita, Language Proficiency", assessed "as 'bonus point' or 'no bonus point'": "For Recommendation Letter, Motivation Letter and Vita: 1 point".

"The weight of these aspects is 9:9:3". Our arithmetic: the third part, which holds the letter along with the CV, the recommendation and German level, carries 3 of 21 weight units, about 14%. The letter is a pass/fail bonus inside that part.

So a letter for RPTU earns its point by being specific about part 1. Name your modules against the printed list, in the list's own words, and say what you did in each. RPTU's deadline for international students applying from abroad is 30 April, it has a winter intake only, and it asks for "One letter of Recommendation from faculty staff".

Constructed example: a subject-mapping paragraph

Constructed example, written by us, not a real applicant statement. Context (invented): a B.Tech Mechanical graduate applying to RPTU's Commercial Vehicle Technology.

Weak version:

Since childhood I have been passionate about trucks and heavy vehicles. Germany is the home of engineering excellence, and RPTU's world-class programme will help me achieve my dream of becoming an automotive engineer.

Revised version:

My B.Tech covered all four of the programme's mechanical subject areas: engineering mechanics (two modules, 8 credits), machine design (two modules and a design project), materials science, and manufacturing processes. On the electrical side I took electrical measurements and a control systems module, but no power engineering; I name that gap here rather than leave it for the committee to find. My final-year project modelled the frame of a light commercial vehicle in finite element software and compared two cross-member designs under a static load case. I am applying to Commercial Vehicle Technology because it is the one programme I found that combines that structural work with the automation and software subjects I have not yet studied.

The revision works because each sentence can be checked against the transcript and the printed list. It names one subject area the applicant lacks, which the committee would find anyway. The weak version tells the committee nothing it can score.

Automotive, mechatronics, robotics: what changes

• Automotive. At TUM and RWTH the decision sits with the credits and, at RWTH, the GRE. At TUM Automotive Engineering, the interview and CV carry the motivation argument. A letter is not the lever.
• Commercial vehicles and mechatronics-style mixes. RPTU's list spans mechanical, electrical and computer science subjects. If your degree is mechanical only, your letter's main work is to name which of the electrical and software subjects you have covered, and which you have not.
• Robotics. TUM's Robotics, Cognition, Intelligence asks for a "Begründungsschreiben" of at most 2 pages and an essay of about 1,000 words, in German or English. Its page states: "Die Begründung muss von Ihnen selbst, ohne fremde Hilfe, verfasst werden." (The statement must be written by you yourself, without outside help.) The essay must likewise be your own work, and the page reserves the right to check for authorship and the use of unauthorised aids.

Changing to electrical or embedded programmes instead? Their subject lists differ again: see motivation letters for EE and embedded master's in Germany.

Checklist before you apply

1. Does your programme's document list name a letter, a statement of reasons, or neither?
2. If neither, is your curriculum file complete, with each module's credits, hours and description page?
3. For TUM Mechanical Engineering, have you counted your credits against the five groups and checked the floors in mathematics, engineering mechanics and design basics?
4. For RWTH Automotive, do you have a GRE score if your degree is from outside the EU/EEA, and are your missing subjects under 30 CP?
5. If a letter is asked, does every claim map to a subject on the programme's printed list?
6. Does the letter name the one or two subject areas you lack, instead of hiding them?
7. Does every module and project in the letter appear in your tabular CV with dates?

Questions about mechanical master's letters in Germany

Does TUM require a motivation letter for MS in Mechanical Engineering?

No letter or essay is on the document list on TUM's programme page, and the aptitude rules list none, as of 31 October 2026.

Should I upload a motivation letter if the programme does not ask for one?

No. At TUM Mechanical Engineering, the first-stage score comes from credits, grade and an internship; an extra document adds nothing to it.

How long should the letter be where one is asked?

Follow the programme: RPTU says "max. 2 pages", and TUM's Robotics statement is at most 2 pages. For a one-page letter's layout, see the German motivation letter sample. Moving into computing in the US instead? See the mechanical to computer science SOP.

Get a free review of your motivation letter

Get a free Quick Review of your motivation letter against GradPilot's German Motivationsschreiben rubric. It checks whether your coursework is mapped to the programme's own stated requirements, along with your programme choice, preparation and career direction. For an engineering statement written in the US style, use the MS engineering SOP rubric.

More German application guides:

• TUM motivation letter: what MSc programmes require: TUM's own limits for the programmes that do ask.
• Graduate school essay guides: the full hub.

Sources

Retrieved 31 October 2026, except where noted.

• Technical University of Munich, M.Sc. Mechanical Engineering and its aptitude-assessment rules (Anlage 2, readable version dated 02.03.2026, linked from the page): document list, scoring scale, floors.
• Technical University of Munich, M.Sc. Automotive Engineering and its aptitude-assessment rules (readable version dated 03.03.2026): document list, interview topics.
• RWTH Aachen University, Automotive Engineering M.Sc. (no year stated): open admission, exam board.
• Institute for Automotive Engineering (ika), RWTH, Frequently asked questions (no year stated): GRE and the 30 CP limit.
• RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau, CVT application and admission requirements (no year stated): letter length, subject list, weighting, deadline.
• Technical University of Munich, M.Sc. Robotics, Cognition, Intelligence (German-language page): statement of reasons, essay, authorship rule.
• RWTH Aachen University, Media Informatics application for admission (no year stated): cover-sheet instruction.