Word Of The Day~ das Abitur

[breakingthrunow]

WORT DES TAGES
das Abitur - high school diploma, leaving certificateEr hat das Abitur gemacht. - He got/earned his high school diploma

Comments

Higher education meat grinder

[lakritze]

What variables affect a German student's chance to go to the best university (granted I realize best is relative when one takes into account study focus and such). Is it Abitur results, grades from the last few years of Gymnasium, connections, money...?
And in the spirit of apples for apples---I will also mention that I am born and raised in the US and (this is so up for discussion from any others who have been through the US university system) and would say the variables that affect one's chances for going to a top US university are:
money (or at least willingness to potentially go into a mortgage worth or debt if you do not have big money to pay your way)
grades
test scores (SAT, ACT whatever the fill in the bubble exam du jour is these days)
extracurricular and other extras
connections (are your parents alumni or such)

And I do not mean to imply that some state schools are not awesome---and should one be lucky enough to be a resident in one of those states with a good state Uni or two, then that list would look a little different without quite the emphasis on money---but out of state tuition (meaning one is not a resident of the state where their intended university for study is located) at a state school is tens of thousands of dollars too.

Re: Higher education meat grinder

[breakingthrunow]

Definitely not connections and money, hah. German universities are state-run and students don't pay astronomical amounts just to go to school. Students now pay about 500 euro per semester (this is relatively new, it was all free before) plus their personal expenses. Getting into uni is all about finishing Gymnasium (as opposed to Realschule and Hauptschule -- there are 3 forms of school in Germany from grade 5 or 7 on as opposed to just "high school" -- I might make another post about this later.)

Here's a pretty good overview on how uni works in Germany
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Germany#College_and_university

Re: Higher education meat grinder

[lakritze]

Thanks. I went to gymnasium for a year so I am familiar with that and how which school track you follow dicates what type of next steps you can take. One more question---what universities in Germany are considered tops and are hard to get into?

Re: Higher education meat grinder

[breakingthrunow]

Which German university is the best choice generally depends on your subject. There are no "elite unis" in that sense as you have in the US or the UK - in other words, there is no "Havard", "Yale", etc. -- no single university that is THE place to go for any subject. There are, however, particular unis that have particularly good programs in subject X. There is an initiative in effect as we speak that aims to identify and select Germany's "top unis" and continues to build something like an "ivy league".

In the first round of the competition (ended in fall of 2006), the unis that came out on top were Munich universities [Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU) and the Technical University (TU)] and the University of Karlsruhe. Of the 70 higher education institutions that participated in round 2, the following have qualified to be considered for the title of “elite university”: the two universities in Berlin along with Aachen, Bochum, Freiburg, Göttingen, Heidelberg and Konstanz.

You might also like to have a look here, they sort by subject and city
http://www.daad.de/deutschland/hochschulen/hochschulranking/06543.en.html

And here's an article on the recent competition
http://www.goethe.de/wis/stu/thm/uni/en1818343.htm

You did a highschool exchange? Where did you go?

Re: Higher education meat grinder

[lakritze]

High school exchange-->Congress-Bundestag funded. I was in the Southwest---Kirchheim Teck. By your list up there, it looks like BW Unis did pretty well :p
The funny thing about elite US universities is that they really are not THE place for every topic, though at a good university, the odds are that whatever you study will at least be decent (i suspect this is another difference between the German and US students---most US students do not know for sure what they want to study---I started off as a pre-engineer, briefly entertained German as a degree path and then became a molecular biology major.) So in principle it is similar to Germany in that some schools are just better at some subjects. For instance my pharmacy studies (doctoral level) were at a state school, and for the most part state schools are the best for pharmacy compared to the private schools that have pharmacy departments. But for medicine, there are both great public school options and fantastic private school options. I could not tell you where the best political science is though :p

Re: Higher education meat grinder

[nitanitachan]

you forgot the "Sozialbeitrag" we allready had to pay.... my university was so nice to NOT include it in the fees... so now the amount is 650 or even more... though sometimes you are lucky, in NRW the "NRW-Bank" pays the 500 to the university, of course you have to pay them back.........

Hessen is not allowed to take the 500 € beacuse on paragraph in their law sees those fees as "social not correct" lucky.... but maybe this paragraph will change the issue for other Bundesländer as well ;) we'll see *preferably, when I'm off >.<*

[zimtkeks]

You have to pay them back, if you don't have high Bafög debts. ;-)

[nitanitachan]

10 000 I know...... still... not what I like XD

[zimtkeks]

That's the reason I signed up with NRW Bank. I already had those 10,000 € debt. ^^
But I hate the fees anyway. I think education should be free.

[nitanitachan]

I'm not far from them too, so I used this service too ;) too bad, that I don't get bafög anymore.... damn limitation, and it's NOT my fault that it's taking me so long........
the only other uhm.... not so nice thing is. other financial things don't count.... it's the same with the GEZ <.< some people don't get it free, only because the parents are a few € over the bafög limit <.< nice.....

yeah... education should be free ;-; other people are paid when they learn their stuff.... students and physiotherapeuten are almost the only people who have to pay for their education <.< I think it's mean....

[zimtkeks]

May I ask what your username means? 'Cause "Nita" is my nickname and you have that twice in yours. :)

[nitanitachan]

actually nita is my nickname too ;)

my friend suggested to use my name + chan at the end as username, but I thought it was lame, so I ditched a letter, but then I checked if this means something in japanese and there I found out that nita nita suru means smiling ^^ so yeah it means something, and through the double nita my name reappeared too XD