<p>Hi, I'm looking to study abroad my first semester of junior year fall of 2014. I'm in Computer Science at UT Knoxville and I spent a year in Germany during high school and want to go back to either Germany or Austria because I really enjoyed the time I spent there and would like to continue improving my German language skills. My school does already have some organized programs with German and Austrian universities, but the few that would fit my curriculum are of little to no interest to me as they are mostly taught by UT professors that travel with a group of students to teach the exact same material as would be taught back at UT. So I would most likely be applying to and attending a university outside of a typical university partnership.</p>
<p>My main concern isn't finding a good place to study, but rather the overlap between the end of the German fall semester and the beginning of the American spring semester. More specifically, it seems that all of the universities I've looked at begin their fall semester in early October, continue the lecture period through the beginning of February, then have exams early to mid March. Obviously, this would interfere with the beginning of the American spring semester. </p>
<p>Does anybody here have any experience with completing a fall semester that ends so late or know of a university that is particularly good about working with American students?</p>
<p>Any help would be awesome!</p>
<p>The short answer: you can’t. Germany doesn’t really have a fall and spring semester. They often straight up call it a summer and winter semester. And usually it’s a fairly large overlap, too. Your options are basically to do a full year or a spring semester, unless you can find some place that follows a schedule closer the US one.
Is there any reason you can’t go in a spring semester instead of fall?</p>
<p>Thanks – that’s what I’ve noticed as well after some more research. I would prefer the fall semester b/c spring back home would be a better semester as far as class offerings goes.</p>
<p>But I did manage to find the ETH Zurich, a top ten in the world engineering university, which has an Autumn semester from September to December. That would be perfect, and I would get to study in English and German while learning Swiss-German. </p>
<p>Does anybody else know of any universities that follow this “Autumn”/“Fall” semester and Spring semester format? Or possibly a resource that lets you search universities based on start/end dates of their semesters?</p>
<p>Zurich seems perfect right now, so hopefully that works out, but I would like to have some other options as well.</p>
<p>ETH is a really great university - “The MIT of Europe”, I have heard it called. Studying there would also be a fantastic opportunity. I am not sure how much Swiss German you would actually end up learning; everything official is in Hochdeutsch, and everyone can speak that. I know a guy who did his PhD at ETH and never really ended up interacting with anyone in Swiss German. It would take a concerted effort.</p>
<p>I would honestly recommend staying for an entire year if you are worried about losing a semester. German schools, like the users above said, operate on a Winter/Summer system. </p>
<p>I also recommend this because you mentioned wanting to improve your German skills. Before I came to Germany, I’d been studying German for almost six years. I was fairly proud of my German skills and assumed I’d be “basically fluent” within a couple of months. Looking back, that was a crazy assumption. Once you actually spend time in a foreign country you sort of realize just how extensive the process of language acquisition is. It’s not at all a piece of cake, even when you completely immerse yourself into the country. I’ve been here for four months, and I can honestly say that there is no way a person can acquire even passable language skills after only a semester, especially if they haven’t studied German much in the past. I mean, I can get around just fine, my classes are going alright, and I’m able to wait tables here, but every day is a struggle. Long story short – Just stay a year! You won’t regret it, and you won’t miss out on a semester at your american uni</p>
<p>Also, an intensive language class before classes start is really good to get you into the mindset. But yes, a year would be ideal if you could manage it.</p>