Did anyone attend university in Germany?

[Anonymous]

Our DC is interested in this. If you attended college or university in Germany, how was it? Do you know how it compares to the US college experience?

[Anonymous]

Less drinking, more serious academics. Less cost.

[Anonymous]

Yes. More independence. More doctoral students. Germans go to Uni for a decade or more!

[Anonymous]

Very high standards.

[Anonymous]

Lots more independence. When DH (a German born and raised) graduated from his university 15 years ago he had to produce slips from all the classes he had taken and had signed by the profs proving he'd passed them and was thus eligible for graduation, as they expected the students to keep track of that themselves. No advisors like US colleges have, keeping an eye on students to make sure they get all their classes in and graduate on time, office hours where students get one-on-one tutoring and support from professors - they're expected to be adults and handle it all themselves while the profs mostly stay aloof. There is also nothing in the way of (college-focused) sports, or Greek life.

DH now is himself a tenured prof here in the US and spent the first few years amazed at how American college students are treated like children and their helicopter parents are always complaining to the deans and provosts about bad grades (and, unfortunately, often succeeding in getting them changed). Tailgating culture is also completely alien and weird to him.

I think your DC could have a experience, it'll just be different and it's possibly best for those who are already pretty responsible. If your DC is seriously considering going to a different, non-English-speaking (acknowledging that most of them speak it pretty fluently, especially in the former West German cities) country for college s/he probably already fits this bill, though - that's a brave move! Germany's an awesome country and I think your DC would come out of the experience with an excellent education and likely more maturity than the average American university grad.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for the information. DC has participated in an exchange program in Munich and loved it and will have AP level German by HS graduation. It will be an interesting process for sure.

[Anonymous]

Your dc will not be able to keep up with the program with AP level German. I assume you are looking for programs taught in English?

[Anonymous]

Does anyone have information about programs like this to prepare US students to study in Germany?

https://www.goethe.de/ins/us/en/m/spr/eng/stb.html

[Anonymous]

You have to be self-driven to succeed, because the structure that is at American universities and colleges doesn't really exist in German ones. Some classes are just lectures and in order to get anything out of them you have to motivate yourself to go to the lecture and to do the suggested readings. Because you don't get tested, write papers, or get grades for such classes, even if they're essential to your education, or for when you take your exams to get your degree.

Campus life does not exist in the way it does in the US. So, there are dormitories, but they are not run by the university you are enrolled at. So you might, for example, live in a dorm with students from the technical university as well as the liberal arts university, and it won't necessarily be "on campus" but maybe a few subway stops away. Also there aren't the myriad activities like sports and arts groups sponsored by the universities as there are in the US.

If your child wants to take seminars where he has to write papers or give reports, his German really had better be excellent.

[Anonymous]

You might want to look at prep year offered by unis themselves instead of Goethe bridge program. But again, doing a program in German would be really tough. Will dc consider British schools?

[Anonymous]

I am an American who did her degree in Europe in English but learned French in the process. Honestly, it was rough and lonely and I didn't fit in at all. That said, it opened a lot if doors to me career wise and I have had a wonderful time since then. That said, I regret in some ways I didn't have fun the way my friends did in college. Even my friends who went to high stress schools had more fun.

I suggest a liberal arts school with a strong German program and exchange program.

[Anonymous]

Aachen has a great program. One year immersion, and then once you pass, guaranteed admission to their very fine university.

If I were that age, I'd go for it.

[Anonymous]

This probably isn't a great time to be an American student in Germany.

[Anonymous]

It's a totally different experience. Don't underestimate the culture shock, but if your child can deal with that, it could be a great experience.

[Anonymous]

One of my good friends did that. Her German was excellent, and she still struggled with attending Uni there. In hindsight, I think she would have preferred attending an English-language program and taken some German courses on the side (vice everything in German).

Then again, after she finished her graduate degree in the US, she went back to Germany. She's now married to a German and seems very happy with her life.