Studying in Germany?

Hi there, just posting this in case there's anyone thinking about studying in Germany and wanting help, advice or information! I was considering it and got as far as sitting my language proficiency exams (yeah, I was going to go hardcore and not go for an English-speaking university!) before I decided to stay in the UK. So I know a lot and can help!

I've also lived in Germany and know German students/alumni from several universities, as well as a woman who works to help international students get scholarships... so yeah! I could ask them questions for you too.

P.S I was applying for Sociology but I can link Science people helpful websites if I don't know the answers :smile:

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1

wildchild7

Hey, i have just started looking at potentially studying in germany. I was wondering if you could help? I have search on DAAD but have not found any courses in germany for undergraduates for law, it is only showing postgrad courses or offering to study 1 year in germany. I would like to study either: law, english and german law or psychology. I would prefer a course in english, but think i could cope with german, any help (places to look) or contacts?
Thanks

Reply 2

Germany

If you could cope with German you should take this advantage !

The general experience is that the language skills of students improve rapidly and dramatically as soon as they enter then language zone backed with a decent capital of advanced basic knowledge.

At Highschool level, young people can spend years abroad without learning much of the language, because in daily life you do not need much vocabulary, how is the weather, I want to eat an egg. But a new challenging environment is turbo-boosting language skills.

It's also very useful to know German for studies in Germany, as most English courses, there are a lot, aim at master and PhD level, there are also few bachelor studies in English, though.

Maybe it would be best to directly browse the homepages of universities ?

I have found an eight semesters bachelor (Business and Law) in Freiberg. It's a small town close to Dresden, hosting the world's oldest university of resources. Supported by a dead multi-millionaire it's among Germany's best equipped collages today. http://tu-freiberg.de/studiengang/business-and-law/index.html

As this was only a very first idea, here are 25 other universities. Arguably these are the 25 best in Germany. (unless you look for secret universities or the more applied approach, but I guess for Law studies a very know university has some advantages if you wanna end up as a respective expert)

RWTH Aachen
Freie Universität Berlin
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
TU Berlin
Uni Bonn
TU Braunschweig
Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn
TU Darmstadt
TU Dresden
Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main
Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg
Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
Universität Hamburg
Leibniz Universität Hannover
Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg
Karlsruher Institut für Technologie
Universität zu Köln
Universität Leipzig
Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
Uni Mannheim
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
TU München
Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster
Uni Stuttgart
Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen
Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg

For Germans I would also recommend a Fachhochschule for civil servants as beginning but for non-Germans this would certainly be too much of a shock.

Let me show you my bias in psychology. http://tu-dresden.de/die_tu_dresden/fakultaeten/fakultaet_mathematik_und_naturwissenschaften/fachrichtung_psychologie/index_html/newsboard_view?set_language=en

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 3

Nathanielle

Original post by wildchild7

Law is a special case. You study at first at least 3,5 years (often more!!!) and then attend the 1.Staatsexamen, where only 20% achieve a third or higher which is required to have "no sorrows regarding getting a well paid job or PHD". The difficulty lies in working hard through the years before the examination and being self-critical enough to quit before, if necessary. A lot of students take additional courses outside university to prepare for the examination, although this isn't mandatory and has also to do with panic.
After you have passed the 1. Staatsexamen (you need at least 4 of 18 points, but 17 points is usually the highest result, achieved by one student. 9 is a "vollbefriedigend", which means a third and the "boundary" to reach higher.) you go into the so called "Refenderiat", which takes you two years and is no more spend at university, but means "learning by doing". After that you take the 2. Staatsexamen, which qualifies you to actually work as a lawyer or judge.
One year degrees are usually LLM for foreign students, but without Staatsexamen, you can't work as German lawyer.
The PHD in Law is often only a "Quasi-PHD", which is persued for the status, but as in medicine, for students aiming to go into academia, the PHD of course has to have more content to be considered for a position as academic.

Sorry, for the long essay, but Law is a special case and this should demonstrate why. But there are also rare Bachelor degrees (although without upgrading them to Staatsexamen, there are useless for law professions) and double gegrees, with a LLB and a degree in German Law, which can be either later upgraded or used for working together with German lawyers.

Reply 4

arina162

If you really want to study law as in the German Jura you should speak pretty much perfect German. I'm sorry to say it blantly like this but you'll have to know German and understand legal German which is something different altogether. I wouldn't advise you to do that... At a German Fachhochschule there might be a better chance since most of them offer a wide range of English courses. Mine for example was very doable but it was business law. There is also a law course avaible though. Maybe you're interested in it. :smile:

http://www.hwr-berlin.de/en/department-of-legal-studies/study-programmes/

Reply 5

Nathanielle

You can also take Law as Minor, which is a quite common combination and means you only get an introduction in the fields connected to your major, with no intention to make a lawyer out of you and thus no Staatsexamen. After that you have your Bachelor and can go to the UK to become a lawyer. Or you try to get into the four year LLB in the UK, where you spend two years in the UK and two years in Germany.

Reply 6

gingersnap777

As far as I can tell the information provided by the other users is accurate. I agree that Law is one of the more difficult courses you could be interested in studying! Law-speak really is another language... The exams are also very stressful and difficult, but then I don't know enough about studying law in the UK to say whether its better or worse. As for finding a course in English, you may want to look for International Law, since in my experience German Law is only taught in German. You might find that with a German and English Law course the two subjects will be taught in their respective languages.
Now I had a really good website that held a database of undergraduate courses in Germany, but I can't seem to find it... Will get back to you if I do!

Reply 7

wildchild7

Thank you for all of this, i have only been starting to look at university options, but i thought studying law in germany would be a difficult option. As youhavesaid there are a lot of master & PHD courses, so i could study one of these after a degree in uk, but i think the 4 year LLB in the uk is a good option for me. Thanks, ill keep having a look around!

Reply 8

Fozzi

Hey all. I'm hoping to study a Masters degree (taught in English) in Neuroscience in Germany. I'm applying to Bielefeld University, EK University Tubingen, and LMU Munich. Anyone got any advice on what these universities are like, what the areas are like?
I'm also applying for DAAD funding, anyone been through the application procedure for this, or know how competitive it is?

Cheers

Reply 9

brainx

I want to study medicine in Germany or Psychology... I have no probz because I'm fluent... but I obviously need to check out some unis

Reply 10

gingersnap777

Re: Fozzi. Out of those universities Munich has the best reputation generally (from what I've heard at least, but world league tables back it up), although that doesn't guarantee it's best for your particular subject! As for living there, it's a big city, with all of the advantages and drawbacks that has. It's not the friendliest place (except on Oktoberfest!) but being a student will go a long way towards helping you find a niche. The others I'm not so sure about... nor do I know much about getting DAAD funding as a post-grad. Have you tried asking any DAAD forums? I think there are some unnofficial ones that are quite good.

Re: brainx. This wikipedia page has a list of the universities in Germany: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_universities_in_Germany and you'll find links to their websites from it eventually! World league tables (you can usually narrow the search to Germany) will give you an idea of their reputations if you're clueless. Alternatively this has a course list for those unis that offer medicine/psychology: http://www.study-in.de/en/ It's a start, right?

ATTENTION EVERYONE! I found that site with the course database! http://www.study-in.de/en/ Just select the type of course (e.g. Bachelor) and the subject (e.g. Psychology) and it gives you every relevant uni course in Germany. Such a good time-saver! Then just choose your uni...

Reply 11

Germany

For medicines I would suggest to check out the same 25 universities with only one exception, Uni Greifswald instead of Uni Mannheim, as a start. I am not a medicines student nor doctor. For human medicines Uni Lübeck, Uni Witten Herdecke (private), RWTH Aachen, Uni Greifswald, Uni Münster, Uni Heidelberg (both campuses in both Heidelberg and Mannheim), TU Dresden represent the lead group for overall study situation while Uni Heidelberg and LMU Munich have the best reputation in research followed by both in Berlin.

Needless to say, living expenses have no influence on the proclaimed overall situations. Munich is more expensive because it is small, geostrategic heavy weight location and much more interesting than most places and it offers much more job prospects in the private sector. It is much more tidy than Berlin while both cities have very most of their population from elsewhere in Germany and abroad. Also, Munich is much different to the rest of Bavaria.

Psychology and medicines are selective subjects, there are more highschool graduates who want to study it than places. I love you. http://bit.ly/KNilHL

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 12

sooashley

Original post by gingersnap777

Do you know of any unis in Germany offering an undergrad in Media/Communication or Journalism in English?

Reply 13

Hassaan123

I'm planning to apply for bachelors in engineering at rhinne-waal uni of applied sciences and manheim uni of applied sciences. Are they good ?

Reply 14

gingersnap777

Original post by sooashley

Do you know of any unis in Germany offering an undergrad in Media/Communication or Journalism in English?

I got one 'Digital Media' course on this search http://www.study-in.de/en/studium/studienfach-hochschule-suchen/?degree=Bachelor/Bakkalaureus&subject=media&onlyEn=1&send_x=0&send_y=0 and nothing for Journalism... Sorry I don't know anything like that first hand! You might want to read up on other types of undergrad course as I only searched for a B.A., you might find more options then?

Reply 15

Nmys

I want to study psychology in Germany too but I'm finding it hard to determine what the entry requirements are? And I'm planning to do a preparatory year with an intensive German language course would I need to have done a TestDaf by then? Aaand one more thing hehe is psychology offered in English taught? Thank you for helping a lost person!

Reply 16

gingersnap777

Original post by Nmys

There is one B.A and one B.Sc psychology course being offered in English at the Jacobs University in Bremen (which is a great town btw, if cold by German standards!). There are high tuition fees there, though, cause it's a private university. Studying in German rather than English will open up a lot more options (and cheaper universities!) if you're up for the challenge! You can search for more courses on this site: https://www.study-in.de/en/ though idk if it has everything.

Re: entry requirements, what type of course did you do? A lot of universities will give the requirement as an Abitur or IB score which you can convert into A Level grades online :smile:

What were/might be your grades?

As for the language test/prep year etc., I would suggest you pick the course you want and then look into that. Where there's a will there's a way. Some universities (like the Freie Universitat Berlin) offer a preparatory year for foreign students on some courses which would guarantee you a place on the course you want if you pass. You won't need a good TestDaF score (or perhaps any) to get onto something like that. Others, you have to get a certain TestDaF score by your own means to apply for the degree. If it's an English-speaking course, they may not care at all, in which case you just learn as much German as you want, anyhow you like!

Hope that's helpful? :smile:

Reply 17

Nmys

Thank you so much, that's so helpful! :biggrin:

I just received my AS results (B in English Literature, C in Psychology, E in Physics :/ and U in Maths)and I'm confident if I knuckle down I can get As and Bs in English and Psychology next year. However Maths and Physics are a huge problem, as you can very well see, so I'm wondering is an EPQ valid? And do certain subjects need to have been complete, because for most English universities a Science is required to do psychology. And if I do end up with an overall D in physics, is that just not good enough? But thank you again, you're so helpful :biggrin:

Reply 18

gingersnap777

Well if you can bump it up to ABB that would give you an IB score of 30. You may want to contact some German universities and ask them if they would consider you with various combinations of grades/subjects, for example they might prefer you to drop Maths and do better in Physics than show up with an ABDD or something. Also an EPQ (I just looked this up btw as I did Advanced Highers, which almost all have dissertations :P ) is meant "to stretch the more ambitious scholar", so idk if that would be any good for you except in something like English, which you're already doing well in?

You should also look up the Numerus Clausus (NC) thing they have going on in Germany, as I think you might need it to study Psychology (sorry, forgot about that in the last post). It's quite complicated, so you might want to ask any universities you're interested in if they would want you to sit that as well and what mark they'd want for it? They'll be more helpful than me on that one I would think! DAAD should also be able to help with enquiries and the English of their admin team will probably be better ^^

Reply 19

Nathanielle

Hello,

first some useful links, in one of the threads is also a request from someone studying psychology I think:

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=588362&page=5&highlight=Abitur+equivalency

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=588362&highlight=Abitur

The NC (grade requirement based on the demand and the number of available places) for psychology is quite high, so with you current grades you won't get in, I think. But since the Bachelor has been introduced, you have to contact the universities directly to get an idea of the required grades.

Your subjects are okay, but you need to get your science/math grades up and I won't finish your "dream", but be prepared to read of grade requirements around A*A*A*a to AAAb.

Here is a good translation of the regulations concerning the conversion from A Level to Abitur:

http://www.stgeorgesschool.de/media/parents/SGSC_US_University%20Guide_110909.pdf