What the enrolment figures show

We analysed the enrolment figures of every Berlin Gymnasium and secondary school over the past three school years. Here are six findings.

1The new Gymnasium rule redirected demand

Since the 2025/26 school year, the grade total on the Förderprognose decides whether a child may apply to a Gymnasium at all. Those who fall short can only get in through the central aptitude lessons (Probeunterricht), and very few children pass them.

The year group stayed roughly the same size. So it is not that fewer children are coming. They are simply applying elsewhere. Almost the entire shift happened in a single year, and the figures have been stable since.

Where the first choices went
GymnasienISS
2024/2547.0%53.0%
2025/2642.4%57.6%
2026/2741.7%58.3%

How the admissions process works

2The fiercest competition is not at the Gymnasium

Taking all three years together, not one of the 88 Gymnasien reaches 1.5 first choices per place or more. Among secondary schools, 23 of 100 do.

One dot per school: first choices per place (across three years)

Gymnasien

ISS

0.01.01.52.4

Most contested (across three years)

  1. 1.Friedensburg-Schule (ISS)2.4
  2. 2.Heinz-Brandt-Schule (ISS)2.3
  3. 3.Max-Beckmann-Schule (ISS)2.3
  4. 4.Ellen-Key-Schule (ISS)2.3
  5. 5.Martin-Buber-Oberschule (ISS)2.1

3A school oversubscribed last year usually is again

If a school was oversubscribed the previous year, it was oversubscribed again the next year 76% of the time. If it was not, it became oversubscribed only 16% of the time. So these figures are not random noise, but a usable guide to how tight it will be at a given school next year.

Oversubscribed last year

76%
  • oversubscribed again 76%
  • places to spare now 24%

Places to spare last year

16%
  • oversubscribed now 16%
  • still places to spare 84%

4The better the Abitur, the more sought after. Or the other way round.

Gymnasien with good Abitur results are markedly more sought after. Of the 22 with the best average, 19 drew more first choices than places across the three years together. Of the 21 with the weakest, only 3.

Which is cause and which is effect, the figures do not say. Possibly a self-reinforcing effect. Popular Gymnasien can fill much of their intake themselves and mostly select by grades. Good Abitur results can draw families in, but they also arise because a school gets to pick the strongest children. Secondary schools with their own sixth form show the same picture.

The 85 Gymnasien with Abitur data, split into four roughly equal groups by their average
Abitur averageApplications per place
1.961.12
2.211.05
2.350.98
2.590.79
1.00

5The staffing ratio says nothing about demand or grades

The staffing ratio (students per teacher) shows no discernible relationship with demand or with Abitur results. That holds for Gymnasien and secondary schools alike, each taken on its own.

Each school type split into four roughly equal groups by students per teacher

Gymnasien

Students per teacherApplications per placeAbitur average
10.71.012.31
11.70.912.33
12.10.952.25
12.81.022.22
1.00

ISS

Students per teacherApplications per place
8.60.95
9.90.89
10.51.22
11.81.10
1.00

6Thousands of children cross a district line to get to school

For the 2025/26 school year the districts gave 5,226 places at secondary schools to children registered elsewhere. Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf takes in the most (750), Mitte gives up the most (851).

Where the children a district takes in come from, 2025/26
  1. Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf750approx. 39 - 41 %

    from Mitte 214, Tempelhof-Schöneberg 157, Pankow 130, others 249

  2. Tempelhof-Schöneberg691approx. 29 - 30 %

    from Neukölln 198, Steglitz-Zehlendorf 153, Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg 150, others 190

  3. Steglitz-Zehlendorf603approx. 24 - 25 %

    from Tempelhof-Schöneberg 369, Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf 149, Neukölln 29, others 56

  4. Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg551approx. 32 - 39 %

    from Neukölln 204, Mitte 115, Tempelhof-Schöneberg 69, others 163

  5. Lichtenberg542approx. 19 - 22 %

    from Marzahn-Hellersdorf 201, Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg 167, Pankow 133, others 41

  6. Reinickendorf472approx. 19 - 20 %

    from Pankow 253, Mitte 198, Spandau 7, others 14

  7. Pankow371approx. 14 - 16 %

    from Mitte 216, Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg 89, Lichtenberg 36, others 30

  8. Treptow-Köpenick310approx. 14 - 19 %

    from Neukölln 140, Marzahn-Hellersdorf 93, Lichtenberg 52, others 25

  9. Mitte306approx. 16 - 19 %

    from Pankow 107, Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg 98, Reinickendorf 36, others 65

  10. Neukölln281approx. 13 - 16 %

    from Treptow-Köpenick 105, Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg 58, Tempelhof-Schöneberg 49, others 69

  11. Marzahn-Hellersdorf249approx. 10 - 12 %

    from Lichtenberg 81, Treptow-Köpenick 80, Pankow 69, others 19

  12. Spandau100approx. 4 - 6 %

    from Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf 79, Mitte 7, Reinickendorf 6, others 8

Percentages: share of the regular year 7 places the district reports. The data do not cover all schools and are therefore approximate.

Data basis

All Gymnasien and secondary schools with enrolment figures in the Berlin parliament papers for 2024/25 to 2026/27, 193 schools in total. Schools with their own admissions procedure, such as sports schools, international schools and those admitting from year 5, do not appear in those tables. We excluded Gemeinschaftsschulen: the sources count internal and external applications differently from year to year, which makes the years incomparable. None of those three limits applies to the figures on arrivals from other districts: they come from a different table of the same parliamentary paper, count places awarded rather than applications, and name no set of schools.

All data sources