Upon arrival you may first get into contact with the general RWTH International Office or the Administrative Student Counselling at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. First things to do (recommendation):

• Accommodation & Registration (see non-academic section of this wiki),
• walk around the university surface to get familiar with the buildings and offices,
• get in contact to the RWTH Language Center regarding (voluntary) German language courses as early as possible.

Usually their will be welcoming events arranged by the RWTH International in September already. However, the main event will be the Introduction Week.

Depending on the semester you start in there are different study strategies recommended, see below.

Regular start into Mat. Eng. is in Winter semester. In line with the study outline depicted in the appendix of the examination rules all students start with the regular first semester lectures (identical for all specification fields). There is no need to select a specification field until the start of the second semester. Recommeded study stragegies are outlined here.

In the summer intake students start “out of the rythm” as depicted in the examination rules: There are no first semester lectures available, only second semester lectures. Exams of first semester lectures will be available, see exam schedule, if you feel prepared to pass them without hearing the respective lecture. You will also have to select a specification field immediately when starting your study in order to be able to see your curricular in RWTH Online. In the next Winter semester you will join the new students´ group starting in Winter semester and continue among these students. Potential study stragegies are outlined here.

The first week in Winter semester is the introduction week for Bachelor students. For them there are no lectures but some workshops on how to use the RWTH Online system etc.

For Master students generally there is no such thing since they usually have completed their B. Sc. at RWTH and thus know what to do. Since most Mat. Eng. students are new at RWTH you may join these workshops. Please keep in mind that most lectures, however, will also start in the first week. There will be a large video meeting with all new Mat. Eng. students announced every Winter semester in the frame of

In Summer semester there is no official Introduction week but the abovementioned video meeting.

There are Welcome weeks centrally organized for all new foreign students at RWTH both, in Summer and in Winter semester.

From an academic point of view a late arrival after start of the lectures is unproblematic. You will have to catch up on the material you have missed. Since there is no mandatory presence in classes this is not critical. The later you will arrive the more problematic it will get. Mid of the semester you will have difficulties in registering for the exams and/or with proper exam preparation. This means that you will maybe “loose” this semester. This again is academically not critical, you my study as long as you like from RWTH perspective. However, a) your visa conditions may restrict the study duration so please be aware of those, and b) RWTH is judged by your study duration and, thus, RWTH and you have the common interest in short and successful study times!