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Americans can study in Germany for free, in English

Mimosa97

Member
Hm, why? I think it would be cool if more Americans would come over to us. However I hardly met Americans so far.
Our departement even has a Transatlantic Dual Bachelor Degree Program but I can't remember any American student to ever be here.

Because of the hypocrisy.
 

nOoblet16

Member
My country (France) does the same. University is free + you get help up to 200 or 300 euros/month (don't remember) to pay your rent even if you're a non-EU foreign student. Also free healthcare obv etc...

Even for Grandes écoles ?
I do know that French/EU students have to pay around 500-600 for a Grandes écoles I'm not sure if that's the same for international.

In my first 2 years of Bachelors I was looking to apply for ENS Cachan for a masters (never looked into it again in 3rd year, instead started to look into Germany), but the website and admission system was so obtuse compared to British/Amercan and German universities :p
 

nOoblet16

Member
German government looked into it and found that the foreign students stay on average long enough after their graduation to pay enough in taxes so that the investment pays off.
Universities also appreachiate the diversity among students.
Would you look at that...a government thinking sensibly and logically.

In the UK they:

- make non EU students to pay an ass ton of money for fee
- barely provide grants for research to non EU students.
- charge an arm and a leg for study visa compared to other countries.
- want them to pay a health care surcharge of GBP150 each year for as long as they are staying and this is required to be paid up front while you pay for your visa. (Forget the fact that international students are generally healthier since they come from relatively rich background and as a result don't use healthcare services as often as older people)

-And at the end of all of this they want the students to leave the country within 4 months of finishing their degree. And the mentality with this time given is to "pack up" rather than "find a job".

Basically they treat their most profitable group of immigrants like shit and don't even given them a chance. No wonder the number of international students in UK has been dropping like a a rock after 2012. I do sometimes wish I was a bit more aware of the happenings in the UK when I moved 5 years ago, I would have gone to Germany most certainly. But I was a 19 year old idiot back then who simply wanted to go see the first world.
 

nOoblet16

Member
But having lived in Munich, Hamburg, Berlin and Cologne I'd say with some confidence that munich is the most beautiful german city.
Its also the only german city where you can go surfing in the middle of the city.

Ha !! Englischer Garten.
The picture is from summer time but there was once a guy who was surfing in the evening during the winters in ice cold water and wasn't wearing any suit...lol

BXGqol3.jpg
 
Bonus: some fantastic cities

Heidelberg


Munich


Berlin

airplane-departing.jpeg


In all seriousness this is making me question my life right now. $6,000 a semester to go to a decidedly mediocre state school, while paying $600 a month to live in a terrible basement in a tiny city with nothing to do, no diversity, and terrible food.
 
Would you look at that...a government thinking sensibly and logically.

To be fair, though, this depends very much on the economic situation.
Right now the job market in germany is excellent, so many foreign students rather stay here and work for a few years after their graduation instead of moving back to their home countries where the job market is most likely not as good and finding a good first job in your field might be quite the hassle.

If this weren't the case Germany might change its mind about paying for everyones tuition.

Edit:
Besides, Germany benefits from the young professionals in the long run. About half of all foreign students in Germany decide to stay after graduation, Wintermantel explains. More than 70 percent of them are looking for full-time employment, the rest become freelancers or pursue higher professional qualification.

In just five years, all public expenditures to educate these foreign students could be fully repaid, according to DAAD calculations. That's because the students generate massive tax revenues of 1.36 billion Euros a year.
http://www.dw.com/en/leaving-the-us-for-a-german-degree/a-18599858

The whole article is worth reading. It focusses on the advantages but also on the challenges of studying in germany.
 
Studied at Freie Universitatet in Berlin for a semester a few years back...Been to Germany three separate times now, love the people and language. Currently 23 and in my first job in America. Have a B.A., but this would be awesome :). Something to think about as a 23 year old trying to figure out his life.
 

Jasup

Member
Ha !! Englischer Garten.
The picture is from summer time but there was once a guy who was surfing in the evening during the winters in ice cold water and wasn't wearing any suit...lol
Englischer Garten must be one of my favourite places in the world. Having lived in Munich it has just ingrained in my mind and whenever I visit the city I make sure to visit it.

There's also a secret bonus for foreigners who live in Bavaria, adopting the Bavarian accent.
I know it's not a hot commodity, a friend of my from Düsseldorf described it as the second worst German accent. However I have it, and I've been told that me speaking it is sexy and whatnot. Go figure.
 

nOoblet16

Member
To be fair, though, this depends very much on the economic situation.
Right now the job market in germany is excellent, so many foreign students rather stay here and work for a few years after their graduation instead of moving back to their home countries where the job market is most likely not as good and finding a good first job in your field might be quite the hassle.

If this weren't the case Germany might change its mind about paying for everyones tuition.

UK job market is not lbad atleast for technical fields...despite what they would have you believe. But the number of times I didn't get the job simply because the employer couldn't or didn't want to sponsor my visa is ridiculous. But if the government wasn't so restrictive then it'd have kept the post study visa open instead of abolishing it in 2012 for international students so that they could look for jobs without having to worry about if their potential employer can or wants to sponsor their visa or not. Even the US government provides international students with an 18 month visa extension post study to find work and earn some money...and they still do despite what happened with the economy and despite the fact that US attracts majority of emigrants from around the world.

A post study visa was a 2 year long visa extension that you got for finishing a degree so that you could work anywhere without any restriction, so no minimum required salary, no need for the employer to have a sponsor licence or anything. What they do now is, they basically want a fresh graduate to find a job that pays higher than the national average with an employer that is capable of and is willing to sponsor the graduate. This puts the burden on the employer and for a fresh graduate that makes things very hard.

I guess I'm just bummed at the experiences I've had due to all these political stunts the government has been doing to gain public attention, that ultimately does fuckall good to them and only makes life hard for us. It's kind of wrong of them to treat their most profitable (and most trained) bunch of immigrants in this manner. Nicola Sturgeon once made a point about how students should not be affected negatively with changes to immigration laws considering what they bring in terms of money and brain power. You don't wanna train people using your knowledge, expertise and resources only to kick them out as soon as they graduate.
 
Are there enough opportunities to cover your living expenses there.

You are allowed to earn up to 8800€ a year without having to pay any taxes on it.
In most big cities it should be easy to find small jobs that earn you about 12€ an hour and are flexible enough so they don't interfere with your studys. Universities also offer some jobs.

Here is an article with more information:
https://www.daad.de/deutschland/in-deutschland/arbeit/en/9148-earning-money/
 

Fezan

Member
Start with looking at scholarships: https://www.daad.de/deutschland/stipendium/en/

edit: you might find scholarship funding from your own country too.

You are allowed to earn up to 8800€ a year without having to pay any taxes on it.
In most big cities it should be easy to find small jobs that earn you about 12€ an hour and are flexible enough so they don't interfere with your studys. Universities also offer some jobs.

Here is an article with more information:
https://www.daad.de/deutschland/in-deutschland/arbeit/en/9148-earning-money/
Thanks man will definitely look into it
 

Jisgsaw

Member
I know very little about the best engineering schools in Europe.

Which are the best ones in Germany?

I maybe partial, but TU München for engineer.
Karlsruhe is not bad either (esp. for mechanical engineering), but Munich is the better city (though expensive).

Just beware if you take electrical engineering: one of the prof only speaks bavarian. I don't know how he manages it, but the dialects is still apparent when he speaks english. He is doing some of the quatum mechanics courses, so it can be... interesting.

Even for Grandes écoles ?
I do know that French/EU students have to pay around 500-600 for a Grandes écoles I'm not sure if that's the same for international.

In my first 2 years of Bachelors I was looking to apply for ENS Cachan for a masters (never looked into it again in 3rd year, instead started to look into Germany), but the website and admission system was so obtuse compared to British/Amercan and German universities :p

Unless they have changed it drastically since the few years I finished my french studies, the subsidy he is talking about has nothing to do with tuition fees or whatnot.
Universities and Grandes Ecole (most engineer ones at least) are like german universities tuition free, but have a semester fee (around 1.000€/year iirc); unless you have a grant/too poor to pay it, in which case it's free.
Aside from that, you have the C.A.F. which is a state agwncy managing most subsidies in France. Depending on your incone and the income of your parents, where you live and so on, you get something ranging from 200€ to upward to 800€.
 

sphinx

the piano man
Generally, we don't have elite universities. There was a program to establish those and now they simply get more gov. funds (from what I understand). These top universities include:
  • 1. Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen
  • 2. Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg
  • 3. Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
  • 4. Technische Universität München
  • 5. Freie Universität Berlin
  • 6. Technische Universität Dresden
  • 7. RWTH Aachen
  • 8. Universität Konstanz
  • 9. Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
    [*]10. Universität Bremen
  • 11. Universität Köln


I went to Uni Bremen and I have to say, it's very modest, definitely not the place to go if you actually mean to learn something for life (as opposed to just get a degree).

EDIT: That being said, the campus is awesome, very nice and with great atmosphere
 

nOoblet16

Member
I maybe partial, but TU München for engineer.
Karlsruhe is not bad either (esp. for mechanical engineering), but Munich is the better city (though expensive).

Just beware if you take electrical engineering: one of the prof only speaks bavarian. I don't know how he manages it, but the dialects is still apparent when he speaks english. He is doing some of the quatum mechanics courses, so it can be... interesting.

Lol I had a lecturer in Safety and System Dependability (comp sci), who spoke English with a Bavarian accent. I really had issues understand half of what he said, got used to it later but he was the hardest one to understand for me.

It really is something, considering that the people that speak other German dialects speak English with a very clear and understandable accent.
 

Jacobi

Banned
That's cool. I'd definitely consider doing my Masters in Germany. ( And I do have EU citizenship, which ought to make this even easier). Of course my province in Canada just made tuition free too.

Anyone know what the best schools for Computer Science are in Germany?
Hochschule Trier is good in computer science as well. Trier is just a shitty city but has relatively low rents
 

la_briola

Member
That's cool. I'd definitely consider doing my Masters in Germany. ( And I do have EU citizenship, which ought to make this even easier). Of course my province in Canada just made tuition free too.

Anyone know what the best schools for Computer Science are in Germany?

TU Darmstadt (Technische Universität Darmstadt) and FAU (Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg) are great.
 

nOoblet16

Member
These are the technical universities I'd recommend:

-RWTH Aachen
-Technische Universität München
-Technische Universität Berlin
-Technische Universität Dortmund


Both Dortmund and Aachen are close to Cologne, which is where you have Gamescom :p
 

HerrPalomar

Neo Member
Beware that this free education comes with a price. You will be on your own completely and you will have extremely tough "weed out classes" (Bachelor Level) to drastically reduce the number of students in the course (University at least, FH is another matter). In Engineering that means, that in some tests only 10%-30% pass. The rest drop out.

Edit: I am talking about Bachelor Degrees.
 

El Topo

Member
Beware that this free education comes with a price. You will be on your own completely and you will have extremely tough "weed out classes" (Bachelor Level) to drastically reduce the number of students in the course (University at least, FH is another matter). In Engineering that means, that in some tests only 10%-30% pass. The rest drop out.

Edit: I am talking about Bachelor Degrees.

Nur die Harten kommen in den Garten. Don't think it's really the difficulty level so much as people having chosen the wrong field and/or having difficulty adapting to university, i.e. working on your own.
 

nampad

Member
Yet I don't see germans complaing about their " TAX DOLLAAARRZZZ " being used on American foreign students.

If I were Germany I wouldn't allow americans to study for free.

They introduced tuition when I studied and got rid of it when I graduated. Now I am paying my hard earned tax Euros for someone else's free education while still paying back my student loans!

Well, I am joking but if I read what I just wrote (which is true), it kinds of sucks :(
 

Hypron

Member
Seems like a really good alternative to paying for prohibitive tuition at home. It gives you an opportunity to live overseas and learn a new language while still getting your education in English. Plus you'll be right in the middle of Europe so travelling around should be easy.

My brother is actually going there for a Masters this year. He got a scholarship paying for a couple months of German classes (even though the programme itself is in English), accomodation, and a stipend.
 

Disxo

Member
This seems like a cool place If I want a masters (Im going to get a bach in Argentina), thanks OP, will take into consideration.
 

DigtialT

Member
Hmm, i'm just about to finish my freshman year, maybe I should look into this. Though I don't think Id be able to live in a place for an extended period of time and not know the language.
 

oti

Banned
They introduced tuition when I studied and got rid of it when I graduated. Now I am paying my hard earned tax Euros for someone else's free education while still paying back my student loans!

Well, I am joking but if I read what I just wrote (which is true), it kinds of sucks :(

Can't you ask for your money back?
 
If they offered any med degrees, I'd be in. Looking for a Nursing Bachelors

As far as I know they don't exist in germany because german nurses usually don't go to university.
And the ones that exist are probably very specific for german circumstances.
 

YourMaster

Member
Never talk about Atemlos durch die Nacht, just don't.

It was one of the first things I noticed when moving to Germany,... really puzzling how it is just everywhere, it sounds like a theme song for a teen tv show or something.
While in the company of a large and diverse audience of natives I shared my insight that it must be the only good song to have ever been made in Germany, otherwise they would play others occasionally. It resulted in a heated debate in which some people argued that is is in fact not the best German song in existence and that in the sixties some other good songs were made.

This is neat, but I wonder how viable a German degree would be if you were to come back to America with it.

Think of it like this, if you had a job opening and were looking for somebody to fill that position, and that person has studied abroad,... do you think 'well, I'm sure whatever the Germans thought him is useless here in the US' or 'This is a person who's not afraid to step out of his comfort zone to achieve something and a MSc is a MSc so rather this one than somebody who took his laundry to mommy during the weekends'.

Its just people who make this judgement calls, and they'll make them both ways. Some see it as a bonus, some won't care either way, and some see it as a downside, and which position is more common is anybodies guess.
Personally when I checked resumes for people on my team I mostly looked at previous jobs, the level of education and disliked seeing stuff like switching education a lot and taking far too many years for a degree, or sticking in a dead end job for too long.
 
Generally, we don't have elite universities. There was a program to establish those and now they simply get more gov. funds (from what I understand). These top universities include:
  • 1. Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen
  • 2. Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg
  • 3. Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
  • 4. Technische Universität München
  • 5. Freie Universität Berlin
  • 6. Technische Universität Dresden
  • 7. RWTH Aachen
  • 8. Universität Konstanz
  • 9. Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
  • 10. Universität Bremen
  • 11. Universität Köln
But it really depends on your course too.

Where's the Leuphana Lüneburg on that list? At least WE believe we are a elite university...^^ But seriously, its a real cool place and has great opportunities for english speaking students .
 
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