Department of Medicine, Goethe University Frankfurt

Frankfurt combines a large training location with a city that is strongly connected medically and economically. The Department of Medicine is not located in the city centre but on the Niederrad campus directly adjacent to the university hospital — lecture halls, institutes and wards are therefore on a single site. With around 383 places per academic year, Frankfurt is one of the larger faculties; courses are correspondingly full, but the range of clinical specialties is broad.

Three priorities define the location intellectually: neurosciences, oncology and cardiovascular research. The hospital is also the only institution in Hesse that performs liver transplantations — a field you would never encounter in your studies at many other faculties. Frankfurt suits you if you want a research-oriented environment and can manage the pace and living costs of a large city.

Places are allocated nationally via hochschulstart.de. In Frankfurt's university selection procedure, the Abitur grade and the aptitude test score are considered side by side, with the test weighted slightly more heavily; a completed vocational qualification earns additional points. In the additional aptitude quota the Abitur grade plays no role; there the test result is essentially decisive.

Goethe University charges no tuition fees; only the semester contribution is payable. The criteria weightings are set by the university in its selection statutes and published anew for each application period.

Standard curriculum, consolidated on the Niederrad campus

The Department of Medicine at Goethe University teaches in the standard curriculum: four pre-clinical semesters through to the First State Medical Examination, then the clinical phase with courses, seminars and block placements in the major specialties, and finally the Praktisches Jahr over 48 weeks in three rotations. Intake has been restricted to the winter semester since the early 2000s.

Unlike the rest of Frankfurt, medicine is not scattered across multiple sites: the pre-clinical phase, the clinical phase and the university hospital are all on the Niederrad campus together. The MEDICUM teaching building gives the department its own dedicated home, including a simulation centre for practical skills and electronic examination stations for computer-based written tests. Two student projects further characterise the location: the Studentische Poliklinik (student polyclinic), which provides free medical care to people without health insurance, and the Teddyklinik, which helps children overcome their fear of doctors.

Research profile and Praktisches Jahr

Frankfurt has a nationally rare emphasis on translational drug research. Added to this are cardiac and pulmonary medicine with an excellence cluster, neurosciences, and oncology and immunology. Those who want to get involved in research early will find an unusually wide range of entry points here.

For the Praktisches Jahr, more than twenty affiliated teaching hospitals in the Rhine-Main region are available alongside the university hospital, including facilities in Offenbach, Hanau, Darmstadt, Wiesbaden, Bad Homburg, Bad Soden, Langen and Frankfurt-Höchst. A general medicine rotation is possible in teaching practices. The Third State Medical Examination concludes the programme; with the passed Staatsexamen you apply for the Approbation.

Hospital campus by the city forest, life in an expensive city

Niederrad lies south of the Main between the city forest and the river, with its own S-Bahn stop and tram connections. The campus is a hospital complex, not a traditional student district: you have short routes between lecture halls, institutes and wards, but student life happens elsewhere — above all in Bockenheim, Bornheim and Sachsenhausen.

The most important honest point is housing. Frankfurt is among the most expensive housing markets in Germany; affordable rooms disappear fast and waiting lists for student accommodation are long. Many students therefore do not live in the city itself but in Offenbach, Darmstadt, Mainz, Wiesbaden or the Taunus and commute. This is realistic because the semester transport ticket covers public transport well beyond the city limits and the S-Bahn network runs frequently.

In return you get a full-scale city: the Museumsufer, the green belt, the Main embankment in summer, Apfelwein pubs in Sachsenhausen, an international crowd. The central station and airport make Frankfurt the best-connected study location on this list, both for weekend trips home and for elective placements abroad.

Is the medical programme in Frankfurt a model programme?

No. Frankfurt teaches in the standard curriculum, with a pre-clinical phase, the Physikum and then the clinical phase. Teaching has been considerably modernised in recent years, notably through the MEDICUM teaching building, simulation training and electronic examinations. It is not a model programme with continuous integration throughout.

Where does the programme take place?

Almost entirely on the Niederrad campus south of the Main, where the department and the university hospital are co-located. Unlike the other faculties of Goethe University, you therefore do not commute between multiple campuses. Block placements and the Praktisches Jahr bring in teaching hospitals and teaching practices in the Rhine-Main region.

How bad is the housing search really?

It is the biggest disadvantage of this location. Frankfurt is among Germany's most expensive cities, affordable rooms go quickly and student accommodation places are scarce. Many students move to the surrounding area and commute, which works well given the semester transport ticket and the dense S-Bahn network.

What is the Studentische Poliklinik?

A student-led project of the department that provides free medical care to people without health insurance. You work there under medical supervision with real patients and gain insight into a part of healthcare reality that barely features in the standard curriculum. The similarly well-known Teddyklinik helps children lose their fear of medical appointments.

How does the application work?

Exclusively via hochschulstart; a direct application to Goethe University is not possible. Frankfurt weights the TMS very heavily in both selection quotas — in the additional aptitude quota it is the dominant criterion. Medschool Experts advises on NC-free pathways to medical study in Germany and abroad and does not handle applications to German state faculties.