In the following we collect information about writing your Master's thesis in Computational Mechanics.
Despite the fact that the following page collects a lot of formal information, we would like to emphasize that writing your Master's thesis should in the first place be something you enjoy and are interested in. So, if you're still in the process of finding a suitable topic, take some time, have a look around at the CoMe chairs and talk to the supervisors that are working in a field that suits your interest.
In general there are three ways to your perfect Master's thesis topic:
- There is a fully woked out project proposal. These are usually published on the chairs' websites. You can contact the corresponding supervisor mentioned in there.
- You are interested in a specific scientific topic and know a researcher at one of our chairs is working on that topic. You can contact them and discuss possible projects that could be carried out in the scope of your thesis.
- You have a thesis topic worked out on your own and would like to know whether this topic could be done within the scope of your thesis. Take the intitiativ and contact a supervisor at one of the CoMe chairs that you think is suitable for this topic. If you're not sure about who this could be, you are welcome to discuss the matter with your study coordinators.
In all cases you will need to actively look out for a thesis topic. We won't assign topics automatically.
In the following we give some more information on the processing of your thesis. Please read through it carefully. If you're in doubt about some points, do not hesitate to contact us.
General Rules
It is possible to complete your thesis either at university or in industry, and it is worth 30 credits. The following rules should be noted.
- A student is admitted to the Master's thesis when he/she completes all examinations at the date of the meeting of the examniation commitee (usually in May and November).
- Work on the Master's thesis must commence no later than three months after the "Admission to Master's thesis".
- A student can start his/her Master's thesis if the successful completion of examination results remains to be demonstrated in no more than one required and one (required) elective subject. The student has to achieve at least 78 ECTS before he/she may start.
- The period of time between topic selection and submission of the completed Master's thesis must not exceed 6 months.
- The Master’s thesis has to be defended in the master’s colloquium.
- The thesis has to be supervised by one of the CoMe chairs or the Engineering Risk Analysis Group. If you want to write a thesis at another chair or in collaboration with industry, you have to find a co-supervisor at one of the CoMe-chairs. In this case, you can contact a professor that is closest to the topic of interest or your study coordinator for assistance.
Admission
Compulsory Admission
A student will be admitted automatically if he/she has reached at least 90 Credits at the day of the examinations committee meeting (These meetings take place twice per year - once in May and once in November). The CoMe examinations administration will inform the student and will ask him/her to collect the admission paper in their office.
The student has to take this admission paper to the supervisor of his/her thesis. Your supervisor will register the thesis in the online portal of the school (see below). The registration needs to be done until 3 month after the admission at the latest.
Early Admission
A student may start to work on his/her thesis as soon as he/she has reached 78 Credits and not more than one compulsory and one compulsory-elective module are missing.
No admission paper is necessary in this case. The student has to go to the supervisor of his/her thesis. Your supervisor will register the thesis in the online portal of the school (see below). The examinations administration will check whether the student fulfills the above written prerequisites (78 Credits, etc.) and will confirm the registration in the online portal of the faculty.
Registration
Once you are admitted to writing a thesis, have found a suitable thesis topic and agreed with your supervisor, your thesis will be registered at the school office. This process will be done by your supervisor and works fully digital. You will receive an e-mail with a confirmation request. You don't need to register the thesis yourself.
Your thesis will have to be handed in at your supervisor latest 6 months after registration of the thesis.
Submission
You have to submit the thesis to your supervisor at your chair at the latest 6 months after registration. Please ask your supervisor how many hard copies have to be handed in. Your CoMe course coordinator does not need a copy.
Your supervisor will take care of the grading of your thesis and will report the grade to the CoMe examination administration via the online portal of the school. The examination administration will enter your grade into your curriculum in TUMonline.
Please check in the meantime whether your curriculum is complete:
- are all grades inserted?
- do you still need some accreditation (e.g. ATHENS course, language course...)?
- can you skip some elective credits in order to improve your GPA? (If you have accomplished more than 30 elective credits.)
Please contact the CoMe examinations administration if something has to be changed.
The CoMe examinations administration will forward all your grades to the central examination office for producing your degree certificate. The corresponding course director will sign it. You will receive an information letter (to your address which you have entered in TUMonline) form the examinations office as soon as the certificate is finished, in which they will ask you to collect the certificate. In general, you will have to wait for up to two weeks after you curriculum is finished for this letter.
English Writing Cernter
The English Writing Center offers free one-to-one consulting in English writing to all members of the TUM community.
You can also visit their Thesis Writers' Workshop. Two versions of this workshop might be interesting for you:
These courses are designed for students to take while they are in the process of writing their thesis (or just before).