Neither the GMAT nor the GRE is a formal admission requirement at Cologne — but this is the clearest case in the corpus of a test being optional in the regulations and close to compulsory in practice, and the faculty's binding admission ordinance says why. Selection runs on three criteria, each scored to a maximum of 30 points and then weighted: the bachelor's final grade at 40%, a subject-specific aptitude test at 30%, and an oral assessment at 30%. The accepted tests are the English-language GTEBS (formerly TM-WISO) or the GMAT, and the scoring is by percentile rank — 30 points at the 100th, 10 points at the 60th, linearly interpolated between. The sentence that matters: an applicant who submits no test result, or who scores below the 60th percentile, is assigned zero points on a criterion worth 30% of the admission score. So there is genuinely no minimum score to pass and no published class average, and skipping the test is nonetheless close to disqualifying in a ranked pool. Two hard floors sit before any of this: your bachelor's must average at least 2.5 on the German scale, and it must carry at least 48 ECTS in business administration, 10 in economics and 10 in statistics or mathematics.
At 30% of the admission score — and an applicant who submits nothing, or who scores below the 60th percentile, is given zero points on it. Cologne's binding ordinance accepts the GMAT or the faculty's own GTEBS
| Test policy | At 30% of the admission score — and an applicant who submits nothing, or who scores below the 60th percentile, is given zero points on it. Cologne's binding ordinance accepts the GMAT or the faculty's own GTEBS |
|---|---|
| MiMs we track admitting without a required GMAT/GRE | 75 of 118 |
A GMAT or GRE is not required to apply to the University of Cologne MiM — it is one of the 75 of 118 Master's in Management we track (about 64%) that admit without a required test. See every European MiM you can apply to without a GMAT on our MiM without the GMAT shortlist, or read how GMAT waivers work.
Most European MiM programs, including this one, accept the GRE and often the GMAT Focus Edition or a school-specific test as alternatives, and weigh the whole application — academics, internships, essays, and interview — rather than the score alone.
Frequently asked questions
Do you need the GMAT for the Cologne CEMS MIM?
Sources
- CEMS Master in International Management — official programme page ↗ — University of Cologne, WiSo Faculty
- WiSo in the FT Masters in Management 2025 — #37 worldwide, #4 in Germany ↗ — University of Cologne, WiSo Faculty
- Costs & financing — no tuition fees; blocked-account proof of €992 per month / €11,904 per year ↗ — University of Cologne
- Übersicht Semesterbeiträge — "Wintersemester 2026/27 Semesterbeitrag 355,65 EUR: AStA Beitrag 13,25 · Studierendensport 2,00 · Deutschland-Semesterticket 226,80 · Fachschaftenbeitrag 3,60 · Verwaltungs- und Härtefallbeitrag 0,00 · KStW 110,00" ↗ — University of Cologne, Studierendensekretariat
- Financial Times — Masters in Management 2025 ↗ — Financial Times
- University of Cologne, WiSo Faculty — "Ordnung über die Zulassung zu den Masterstudiengängen Economic Research sowie International Management", Amtliche Mitteilungen 4/2026, dated 07.01.2026, in force from the winter semester 2026/2027 and superseding the ordinance of 29 January 2025 (13 pages, sha256:15aace84b1746f1b, read 2026-09-04 with npm run pdf:text). SELECTION CHECKED 2026-09-04 — this is the legally binding text, and none of it appears on the programme page, which lists only general eligibility. § 2(1): first degree of at least six semesters and 180 Leistungspunkte. § 2(3) for International Management: final grade at least 2.5, plus at least 10 ECTS Volkswirtschaftslehre, 48 ECTS Betriebswirtschaftslehre and 10 ECTS Statistik/Mathematik. § 3(2): "Der Anteil der Studienplätze für ausländische Staatsangehörige und Staatenlose, die nicht Deutschen gleichgestellt sind, beträgt im Masterstudiengang International Management 20 vom Hundert" — a 20% quota on international places. § 4(2): the criteria are the degree result, the result of a subject aptitude test ("englischsprachiger GTEBS beziehungsweise TM-WISO oder GMAT") and the result of a mündliches Eignungsfeststellungsverfahren. Anhang Auswahlkriterien § 2 (International Management), each criterion scored to a maximum of 30 points and then weighted: (a) bachelor grade 1,0 = 30 points and 2,5 = 10 points, linear interpolation, weighted 40%; (b) test percentile 100 = 30 points and 60 = 10 points, linear interpolation, weighted 30%, and "hat eine Bewerberin beziehungsweise ein Bewerber kein Ergebnis eines fachspezifischen Studieneignungstests... nachgewiesen oder einen Prozentrang von unter 60 erzielt, werden 0 Punkte angesetzt"; (c) the oral assessment 5 to 30 points, weighted 30%, scored up to 6 points in each of five dimensions — Ausbildung, Leistungsbereitschaft, analytische und kommunikative Fähigkeiten, persönliches Auftreten/Integrität, internationale Ausrichtung — with at least one point required in EVERY dimension or the whole criterion scores 0. The oral may be an individual interview, a group discussion or a presentation of solutions to a practice-oriented problem, with the format announced in the invitation; the panel is normally four members (a professor, an academic or technical/administrative staff member, a student, and a practitioner or alumni representative) and the applicant's score is the mean of their individually recorded marks. NOTE the sibling programme differs: Economic Research uses the GRE, a 100-point scale and a three-member panel ↗ — Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaftliche Fakultät, Universität zu Köln