I lived in Germany for a year at the beginning of my marriage. I enjoyed the experience but I do recall the very bureaucratic nature of certain aspects of German life. You and your daughter have my sympathy.
I remember having to get my transcripts official translated in Germany so that I could go on unemployment. I don’t recall the fact that the diploma was in Latin being an issue. It was a long time ago, but yes Germany can be very rules bound! It drove me crazy the first couple of years we lived there, then I got used to it and sometimes even appreciated it. Anyway, just wanted to say so sorry about this, and hope she lands on her feet.
@chicabuena, please pm me with the details. From the date of the notification she has 4 weeks to appeal the decision in writing, so time is of the essence. Don’t bother trying to resolve anything by emailing or speaking to people.
Thank you, have PM’d you.
Just an update: the school is now on semester break for 5/6 weeks. My daughter went to the Registrar’s office and was given an ex-matriculation certificate, it appears it was already in her file??? She is now deciding whether to attempt to continue with her studies in Germany (with her current situation her 2-year program has now become a 3-year program). She has only enough funds saved to stay in Germany for two years. Her other option is to immediately apply to UK universities for 2019 fall admission, as the UK MA programs are only 1-year/12 months in duration. The UK application deadlines are approaching soon, so she is spending this weekend doing a lot of deliberating. Many Skype calls and instant messages are going on between us now.
Has she been to the US embassy or consulate? She could try that…
I’m sympathetic. One of my kids direct enrolled as an undergrad for a semester at an European university (with the blessing of her US college), and it was very complicated.
She should call the US Embassy in Germany or go there. Seriously, she should contact them, explain the situation and express her need for help-they exist for situations like this one.
Just saying, I doubt an embassy will sway a university over a banking issue.
Without going into details on the case, which does appear to involve some massive ball dropping on the part of the university but should ultimately be resolvable, this is why I keep warning students from going to Germany just because it’s so cheap.
The people who keep saying “you get what you pay for” do have a point - not necessarily as far as academics are concerned, but certainly as far as the administration is concerned, who, like any other public body in the country, is probably not mean spirited or discriminatory, merely garden variety incompetent and horribly inert.
Everything may work in English as long as it works but if the wheels come off, you are in a foreign country, trying to navigate an unfamiliar system in an unfamiliar language.
Public service announcement for anyone: if you run into trouble with a decision made by a German university, or actually any public body in Germany, you can give showing up, emailing, phoning etc. a shot, but ALWAYS appeal in WRITING, directly to the public body, within FOUR WEEKS, and announce you will go to court if the appeal is unsuccessful.
Do not go to your professors, do not go to the bank, do not go to the embassy or consulate, if you haven’t appealed in writing within four weeks there absolutely isn’t anything anyone can do.
That’s what being a rules bound country means.
I think it would be best, for both financial and cultural reasons, for her to apply to UK programs, and put her horrible experience in Germany behind her.
Sure, but she has a few more avenues to explore to at least get credits from this experience.
How much will travel, housing, visa, insurance and schooling cost in the UK?
If the appeal in Germany won’t work, why couldn’t she retake the same classes and finish in Germany, next semester?
^ because classes are generally offered either in the fall or the spring, not both.
@menloparkmom , tuition fees in the UK may be prohibitively expensive, and she would not be able to start befor the fall term, necessitating a plan for the spring and summer. I don’t think she can work anywhere in the EU. The best financial plan would be to try and make staying work
And I sincerely hope that apart from this snafu, the rest of the experience hasn’t been so horrible as to necessitate leaving the country.
Both of my kids studied abroad by doing direct admit. One went to Australia and another to UK, and both of them enjoyed their experience. My niece is doing her one year master program at LSE now and a whole year tuition is around 25K. I would rather spend a year getting a degree rather than spend 3 years even if it is “free.” The reason I put quote around free is because it is not free. You kid would need to pay additional w years of room and board, and she would also lose out on 2 years of earning. Assume she would be making 50K/yr, that’s 100K.
I am a bit surprised at how difficult it is in Germany. I would think they would execute with such precision that it would run very smoothly.
Asia is all about who you know to get things done. My father was very happy when he came to the States to find everything was very rule based. As long as he followed published policies then he could get things done. If a mistake was made by an institution, they would take the responsibility to fix it.
@oldfort , when looking at the rest of the country, it is astonishing how badly a German university can be run. Though there are regional differences, too, and I hope that no administration in the state I work for would aspire to such incompetence.
There was a book that came out about German universities when I was a grad student and made quite a stink, called “Rotten to the core”. Some institutions have made great strides since, but clearly not all. It’s individual students, who mostly come very well prepared from secondary school, and individual professors, who are mostly excellent in their subjects, who make the difference. And everyone tries not go get held up by everything else. It’s usually all manageable, but it just wasn’t fun (I couldn’t wait to get out) but if you’re foreign and don’t speak the language well, everything is so many levels harder.
It isn’t just for professional reasons I hang out here ( I work in international student finance), I also want to be prepared to offer more options to my children when the time comes than I thought I had.
@chicabuena : did you see my PM?
Isn’t much of this an unfamiliarity with the “rules” and expectations? The warning is not to assume, when you don’t speak or read the language.
Has OP’s D missed that 4 week mark?
@lookingforward, the 4 week period begins to run from the date of proper notification, which, according to OPs latest post, appears to not even have happened until the D was given her certificate of exmatriculation!
And may not have happened even then, because instructions on how to appeal need to be included with the notification - if she never received that, it should be a year.
Additionally, the university was required to first notify the student that moneys are still outstanding and that dismissal is imminent before they could legally dismiss.
If the administration observed none of these procedural steps, which they are required to do by law, the dismissal is unlawful and they must reinstate. And they should do so on appeal alone, without making a foreign student retain a lawyer and take them to court. Like I said, there may have been an astonishing level of incompetence shown on the part of the administration.
But it’s up the OP and her daughter now on whether she wants to take up the fight or not. If so, I’ve let her know I’m happy to help! I’m frankly upset on their behalf and embarrassed on my country’s!