Transfer from Budapest back to Germany: Credit Recognition for Higher Semesters

How many subject semesters from Budapest are recognised in Germany?

How many subject semesters from Budapest are recognised depends primarily on the number of semesters completed. There are no blanket figures. Based on Medschool Experts' internal experience, completing two semesters typically results in one subject semester being recognised, three semesters results in two, and from four semesters onwards, four subject semesters are recognised. The final decision, however, is always made by the competent state examination office on a case-by-case basis.

These figures are not a guarantee. They are drawn from the many transfer processes that Medschool Experts has accompanied. Each office reviews your study history individually. The comprehensive guide Transferring back to Germany: how credit recognition works explains the principle behind it for all locations.

A genuine advantage of Semmelweis University: those who successfully complete medical terminology in the first semester can already count on one recognised subject semester from that point onwards. This is unusually early. For students who want to return to Germany soon, the subject is therefore particularly worthwhile.

Further information is available elsewhere too. More about daily student life, the curriculum and the university itself can be found on the location page for Semmelweis University Budapest.

Why we do not publish lists here

Nothing about this subject is decided centrally. Responsibilities, criteria and timings differ from one federal state to the next, from faculty to faculty and from year to year — which is why you will not find checklists or date tables on this page. A list that is one round out of date can cost you a semester, and that is a price nobody should pay for a website.

What works instead is the individual route. Send us your study records from Budapest and tell us where you would like to end up, and we will tell you what is realistic for your profile — including the highest point of entry we can reach for you.

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Which German universities are an option?

In principle, all state medical faculties in Germany that have available places in the desired subject semester. Based on Medschool Experts' experience, some faculties open up in almost every subject semester, while others advertise several subject semesters at the same time. Which of them is realistic for you depends on your recognised subject semester and on how many places happen to be free at that moment — and both change from round to round.

With the Chances Calculator you can get an initial feel for your situation. We then go through the full picture with you and say honestly where we see a genuine chance for you.

The place-changer advantage

When available places in higher subject semesters are allocated, a fixed ranking applies in many places: hardship cases first, then place-changers, then lateral entrants, and only then does a lottery decide. Place-changers are students who are already enrolled at a German university and merely wish to change their study location. This is an honest limitation: those coming directly from Budapest are classified as lateral entrants at most universities and therefore rank below place-changers.

Nevertheless, lateral entrant places are real and are regularly allocated, precisely because places do become free every semester. Knowing where those chances sit is exactly what we bring to the table.

You are not alone. Personal testimonials from other returnees from abroad can also be found at StudyBackHome, a community dedicated specifically to this kind of transfer.

What Medschool Experts handles during the transfer

We take the administrative side off your hands and keep you out of the paperwork: you tell us where you stand, we look at your profile and then say where we can place you — and at the highest point of entry we can reach. Medschool Experts was founded by Marcel Kloos, a Swiss-licensed dentist. He studied medicine and dentistry in Sofia between 2015 and 2021, started at the age of 24, and today leads Medschool Experts in Bern. That experience counts.

And if a place in Germany does not work out in the semester you have in mind, the route does not end there. Behind us stands the largest selection of official partner universities we know of — for human medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, nursing and veterinary medicine — where a start is plannable and where we regularly get transfer students in at one of the last two years of the programme. Those who are unsure can speak freely in a free consultation.