Hello. I am going to Europe in the spring due to myriad reasons. I’m currently at a small liberal arts college, but I cannot be here any longer due to location/family/health reasons, so I cannot stay at this college. I am going to live in Austria once I leave the states. People already think I’m crazy for leaving the semester before my final semester, but that’s fine, because my situation is unique.
That’s my background. I just want to know whether universities in Austria, German-speaking Switzerland, or Germany would take any of my credits that I have completed here in at my liberal arts college. I find it frustrating that, despite having emailed and talked to the universities that I’m applying to in these countries, they will not definitively say whether or which credits they will take until I actually formally complete the application process and get accepted or rejected. Has anyone else had a similar experience? Will any of my credits transfer? Also, I studied abroad last semester in Sweden - will universities at least take the credits I acquired in Sweden (even though they’re now on my U.S. college transcript?).
I need to get a feel for what might be possible. I’m changing my major, so I know it’ll take a few years to graduate in Europe. That’s fine. But I have already taken numerous high-level credits in the major that I’m switching to, so I need to know if they’ll be accepted when I finally transfer and get accepted.
In all likelihood they won’t accept many if any credits, so you’ll have to do all three years even if some terms you’ll be exempted from this or that.
It’s also rare to start a course in the spring in Europe.
Why not graduate from your us college then move to Europe and do the 3*year bachelor’s there starting this fall ? There are no limits to where you can apply (unlike now) and they won’t count your us bachelor’s against you…
I think that you will probably need to repeat quite a bit of your undergrad years (not the same courses – just will need to take a lot of additional classes). It would seem to be a pity that you can’t graduate where you are, then get a master’s in Europe.
Which universities are you considering? If you’re looking for an english university in Germany, take a look at Jacobs University I’m sure if you email admissions they will respond to you with what you’re looking for. It’s a small university, very open-minded campus, and has several liberal arts degrees. I’m not sure how many credits you’d have but I doubt you’d have to start from the beginning (in that case it would be 3 years of studies). If you need any help hit me up.
With one semester to go, you are much better off working out something with your current college - either permission to study elsewhere (domestic or international) for one more term or just finish- then getting a masters in Europe. As you already have ‘taken numerous high-level credits’ in the new major you should be able to go straight into a masters program. Most are 1 year, so in a year and a semester you could have an undergrad degree from the US and a masters from Europe- a great combination for getting a meaningful job. Depending on your visa status (and the subject and the country), that masters could be the difference between getting a (legal) job and not.
(side point: have you actually looked at the detail for the specific courses that you are interested in? you will see that
normally there is no ‘major’- you apply to study just the one subject, and it is typically very structured / not very flexible. The reason that the colleges won’t tell you in advance what credits they will accept is that it is not just a matter of taking the name of the course and cross-checking it: they will want to check to see what material was covered in that class. That is labor intensive).
No matter how ‘unique’ your situation is, the European university system is so different that very little is likely to transfer. Between this and your other post it is clear that you want to get away, but the impetus to get to Europe seems like a personal ‘want’. As hard as it may be to swallow some of the things you may have said about your plans, finding a way to get your degree from your current college (whether in residence or not) is worth it.
Your advisor / Dean / college counselor / doctor* may be able to help you find solutions that are bearable. Derailing college at this stage and moving to Austria / Germany / Switzerland will, at the very least, add 2 years to your undergraduate time. If money is no object, then taking the scenic route to your undergrad degree may seem like the easiest solution to your situation, but sooner or later pretty much everybody has to find the strength and problem-solving skills to see a difficult situation through. There are solutions to be found - find some allies to help you find them.
I like @happy1 ‘s suggestion. Your current college may allow you to finish abroad. You may have to petition to have a senior residency requirement waived (or to have courses abroad count for your major requirements), but that would be much easier than the alternative. I do think European colleges might take some, though not many, of your credits but they will have their own requirements. The likely reason they can’t tell you which courses they will take is that the process to approve such things will probably include your sending syllabi and them asking professors in those disciplines to weigh in and determine if they offer an equivalent course. Obviously that involves a lot of time and effort from various people, and they don’t want to deal with all that unless you are admitted.
You also could look at US niversities that have extensive disance education programs such as University of Maryland University Colege, and Penn State World Campus. Both of those have soem live classes on or near US military bases around the world, as well as online classes. UMUC will accept up to three years of college transfer credits from a 4-year institution, so you would have only two semesters left that you could complete wherever you want to live.