CAEagle1916

I am an incoming senior in high-school and have been looking into many colleges in California, Washington, and in Europe (specifically Germany.)

I am looking forward to majoring in Computer Science or Computer Engineering. Some of my options for college that I've looked at are UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UCLA, UC Riverside, UCSB, University of San Francisco, University of San Diego, Stanford University, University of Washington - Seattle, and Jacobs University (Bremen.)

Jacobs University is a real option for me and I am open to leaving to Germany and studying Computer Science/Engineering there.

Any current students from Jacobs University who could explain how life is in Germany compared to U.S.? How is the engineering department in Jacobs University? And any other information American students looking into attending Jacobs should know?

Thank you!

CAEagle1916

Any information about Jacobs University? Thank you.

cmucheme

Hi,
is Jacobs University the only option in Germany for you? Private universities are not very common in Germany, and they don't have a reputation like some other public schools do.

If you want to study Engineering or Computer Science, I would definitely recommend a TU9 university (TU9.de - TU9 - Homepage - German Institutes of Technology), especially RWTH Aachen (one of the Excellence Unviersities), which is ranked #1 in the national rankings for technology for the past years.

CAEagle1916

@cmucheme Hello and thanks for your response. Well, my dream college is UC Berkeley but after a little research I discovered Jacobs University. I spoke to my parents about it and they are in both boats - they want me to experience life alone but then again they want me close so I can visit (I feel both ways.)

But anyways, Jacobs University does not have a real good rating because it opened a little over a decade ago, so it doesn't have the prestige as other universities worldwide or in Germany for that matter. Jacobs is the only university I've looked at abroad...I know Germany is a great place to study Engineering and Technology but I haven't really researched other institutions that much.

I'll look into those universities that you posted. Jacobs University appealed to me mainly because of its size of alumni, courses, and ALL classes are taught in English, so I wouldn't have to spend years to learn German (although I would like to).

So thank you very much for replying and I'll definitely look into those universities. Any other feedback/comments, feel free to drop a comment. Thanks!

cmucheme

Oh okay, the problem is that the TU9 universities only offer fully-taught-in-English degrees at graduate level.
Actually, studying at RWTH for example at undergraduate level in German without any German language skills is not very difficult, because most of the exercise classes and tutorials are also offered in English - but a B2(?) or TestDAF Level 4 is required for admission.
If you have some German language skills right now, it could be recommendable to take an intensive language course to get to the required level just to have the proficiency in German language for admission.

Otherwise, there is a very interesting program at Universität Duisburg-Essen, the International Studies in Engineering (ISE) program. The first year in the degree program is taught 100% in English, in total it is about 50% English, 50% German. (The required A2 level for this degree is possible with a 2 week intensive language course)
http://www.uni-due.de/imperia/md/con...ee_courses.pdf

I know a guy from Canada, who completed this program first, before he started a Master's degree at RWTH. As far as I know, he is at UC Berkeley atm to do a collaborative research project with an institute in Aachen.

If you want to study both in USA and Germany, this may be a possible path for you. Most German universites have mobility programs to the USA
(e.g. RWTH -> UC Berkeley and UC Davis)
RWTH International - Mobilitätsprogramme der RWTH Aachen

More interesting links:

Computer Science
Computer Science B.Sc. - RWTH AACHEN UNIVERSITY

Computational Engineering Science
Computational Engineering Science B.Sc. - RWTH AACHEN UNIVERSITY

Mechanical Engineering (more like General Engineering - you can specialize in Chemical, Aeronautical, Automotive, Simulation, Process ... Engineering after 2 years)
Mechanical Engineering B.Sc. - RWTH AACHEN UNIVERSITY


Study in Germany
Checklist for foreign students: studieren . de

Scholarship
DAAD - Scholarship database

escueta

Hi, current student here. Since you did quite some research yourself here some additional things:

-~700 undergrads (first, second, third year students) aka on the smaller side (not necessarily a bad thing)

-campus university ( if that is for you - if you are like me, eager to explore, dont worry, trains are nearby that get you downtown, hamburg, berlin etc)

-quite modern facillities!
-international and very friendly people!
-all courses in english

All in all I would say you have a lot of work, but you learn many things and you can benefit a lot if you make use of all your opportunities here. I would say you get more for your money at jacobs than at other US universities (not that US are bad, but they charge too much ).

CAEagle1916

@cmucheme Thank you for taking your time and giving me that information...it has helped me a lot.

CAEagle1916

@escueta This was my goal when I asked this question...to get a current student's views and opinion. Thanks.

Yeah I don't mind large colleges or small colleges. Considering this college is in Germany, it gives me the opportunity to study abroad.

Yeah I've heard it's more work since a Bachelor's Degree can be achieved in 3 years, one less than US colleges.

Thanks for your insight.