I was considering spending my freshman year of college in Germany, then transferring to a school in America. My German is at a B1 (intermediate), so it’s certainly feasible. Does anyone know if this is a good idea or not? (I’m planning on double majoring in Theater and English, if that makes a difference.)
Starting university abroad and finishing in the US is usually a bad idea, but it may work for you. It’s important that you know what you’re getting yourself into.
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Do you satisfy the criteria for admission to a German university? Besides German language skills (usually at a B2 or C1 level), you’ll need the equivalent of a German Abitur. German universities accept a US high school diploma plus 4 AP scores (which must include calculus), or a US high school diploma plus two years of US college credits. Alternatively, you can pass an entrance exam and attend a year-long bridge program for foreign high school graduates (“Studienkolleg”). Here’s your options: https://anabin.kmk.org/no_cache/filter/schulabschluesse-mit-hochschulzugang.html (Click on “Suchen”, then choose the country you completed high school in.)
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Most German universities will require you to commit to a single subject for your full degree program. No double majors, no general education courses and no free electives outside of your major. Are you okay with that? (A few universities do allow double-major degree programs in the humanities, e.g. Ruhr-Universität Bochum.)
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When you apply to an American university as a transfer student, you may find yourself with fewer financial aid and scholarship opportunities than if you had applied as a freshman. In addition, German universities tend to grade much stricter than American universities, so you might not look like a very good student on your transfer application. (A “good” German student would have a B-C average. It’s common to fail a few courses.) Some American universities, particularly public ones, require that transfer applicants complete a set of general education requirements before transferring. You wouldn’t be able to do that in Germany.
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Since all of your coursework in Germany would be courses in your major, you may find yourself ahead of your US classmates in your major, but behind on general education requirements. Do you want to spend your upperclass years taking introductory gen ed courses with freshmen?
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German public universities, while nearly free to attend, don’t have the same level of resources as American universities. Expect mostly large lectures and only a single graded piece of work in each class. Germans take pride that their universities are a “sink or swim” environment where students are 100% responsible for learning the material and have to learn to succeed without much guidance. (E.g. you might find questions on an exam related to a topic that was on the syllabus but never came up in lectures. It’s considered the students’ responsibility to learn everything on the syllabus.)
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Please be aware that Germany can be a very racist place if you are not pale-white. (I get to say this because I am German.)
One more thing: a Bachelor in English at a German university (commonly called “Anglistik”) is a combination of English-as-a-foreign-language, linguistics, literature and culture. First-year coursework often focuses more on language skills than literature, with courses like “grammar” and “phonetics”. Would those courses be of interest to you?
German universities may or may not grant you flexibility to choose upper-level courses from your major in your first year if you explain to them that you only intend to attend for a single year and not complete a full degree.
I spent my junior year abroad in Germany. It is a lot to learn to handle a foreign educational institution and to adapt to college at the same time. Is there a reason you would not do this junior year?
I think you would have much more fun spending a gap year as a senior in a German high school, living with a host family. Granted you’d lose a year, but applying to a German university and trying to find your feet there academically is such a hassle, you may get so little out of it you may need to spend another four years to get a BA anyway, and you’d have to apply as a transfer student, with all the financial drawbacks.
I second this idea: look into CBYX or programs like YFU, AFS… if you want to study in Germany. You will learn as much, won’t jeopardize your freshman status for US financial aid, and you’ll encounter none of the hassles and daily life issues you’d meet living on your own in a foreign city.
Btw, B1 is retry good but it’s nowhere near sufficient to attend university, and why spend a year studying German only when you can be part of a German school?
‘‘6) Please be aware that Germany can be a very racist place if you are not pale-white. (I get to say this because I am German.)’’
Might be true in the former East Germany. Sachsen and Sachsen-Anhalt are notorious for those incidents. And Dresden has its annual ‘remembrance’ by neo-Nazi elements over the 1945 firebombing.
Western Germany should be perfectly fine. Plenty of foreign students.