Undergraduate degrees in Germany

Has anyone any experience of studying at any of these unis? I was also wondering what level of fluency I could expect to reach if I was studying an ab initio language as a Beifach (60 ects)

Can't help you on the experience (have a friend studying Economics at Heidelberg and one studying Law at LMU), but the level of fluency depends hugely on you. You can either study a language at university because you have to and only do what's necessary or you can (and should) go beyond that, read - let's say Spanish - newspapers, watch Spanish television, spend a semester abroad in Spain or France, go on holidays.

I'd definitely give my all to any languages I study. I find learning a language so exciting so I'd take every opportunity to immerse myself in it. I'm currently at sixth form in England - my German's pretty good but I plan to spend a year abroad in Germany before uni to perfect it. During this year, I'd certainly get to grips with the basics of the ab initio language before I begin a degree. Given this, do you think it would be realistic to be fluent in an ab initio (Beifach) language by the end of my degree?

Thanks so much for the help!

There are reviews of Humboldt and Heidelberg at Uni in the USA, as well as an overview of German education here. Don't know if these help you with the decision. Good luck!

Hello again! So I've been looking into German language courses in Berlin which I could take during my year out before starting at a German university. Humboldt doesn't have a suitable course. Does anyone know of any god courses? I would like to be in Berlin and to take part in a course of at least three months, preferably with an emphasis on academic study and the language skills needed for this. Also, it would be handy if the course offered a DSF or equivalent certificate at the end as this is the proof of language proficiency the university requires for admission. Thanks!

Have you thought about going to school for a year? You could enroll as a normal pupil at a German gymnasium. You wouldn't be able to do Abitur because it's a 2 year course, but you'd learn loads. I took a year out between year 11 and year 12 to have a year abroad at a German school and it was a really good experience and I was pretty fluent by the end of it (and I only had a GCSE when I moved there). Feel free to pm me if you want to know more about it.

Thank you for this - that's definitely something to think about. What did you study whilst you were in Germany, if you don't mind me asking? Was the school accommodating?

At school I just joined the normal year 11 (German year 11 is for 16/17 year olds so corresponds to English year 12) classes for most things. I think you have to do German, maths, 2 or possibly 3 sciences, English, French / Latin / beginners Spanish, history and another humanities. The school were really helpful. They found me a host family to live with, helped me do the forms you have to fill in to register in a new town in Germany and were generally lovely. Instead of taking English classes I went to the English class for year 9 and helped out as a language assistant.

Does your school have an exchange with a German school? or do any German students go to your school for year 12? It's very common for German children to have a year out in year 12 to go to the UK or USA to improve their English.