No, exchange student cannot take the Abitur after one year of classes. Where did you get that information from, and concerning which state?
From exchance students who were asked whether they wanted to. One in a city called Kempten, one in a city called Hildesheim, and the 3rd one I don’t remember! (They weren’t interested. It’s just “to try” and to be like their classmates, it doesn’t “count”, but they could sit the specific exams and learn how they’d done on them.)
Ah, sorry, @MYOS1634, a misunderstanding then. I thought the OP might take from your post that after one year of Gymnasium, her son might be able to acquire formal qualifications that might help with admission to German universities.
OP, to be clear, that is NOT possible, he would need to enter the full two year program since the two years worth of course work count for around two thirds of the overall Abitur GPA and must be completed in order to be entered formally for the final papers. He would “merely” improve his language skills, though probably massively so.
Of course there are lots of schools in Germany now that offer English language programs, and they will probably be more familiar with US qualifications, too. I concur with @MYOS1634 that unless he is a prodigiously gifted language student (he might be 
) his German preparation is highly unlikely to be sufficient to follow a course in German. Remember that the only help you get will be from your classmates, no office hours, writing centers or tutoring options.
The ETH programs that MYOS mentioned are the Swiss polytechnic schools, there is one in Zurich with programs in German. Fairly similar structure to German schools but a bit more international cachet. Note that Switzerland is about twice as expensive as Germany!
Yes, basically spending a year in Gymnasium would bring him up to speed in linguistic and methodological terms. He’d still need the APs and SAT/SAT2 scores but he could start without a year in studienkolleg and Gymnasium would help him fit in (students have a schedule, classes, a host family…)
Without a local Swiss or German high school diploma ETHZ requires passing an entry exam:
https://www.ethz.ch/en/studies/registration-application/bachelor/other-certificates/eth-entrance-exam.html
For German language skill one would need at least AP German. However even AP German is not sufficient to directly enter the university. As a proof for German skills universities require to pass a specific recognized standardized test, something like the TestDaF: https://www.testdaf.de/fuer-teilnehmende/infos-in-ihrer-sprache/englisch/
Alternatively, entering a German university by means of a foundation year might actually not be a bad idea, as it gives time to catch up on academic and language skills:
https://www.daad.de/deutschland/studienangebote/international-programmes/en/detail/5165/
A high SAT score used to be sufficient to be directly accepted to enter German universities without first taking the foundation year, but they discontinued this gateway this year. Now one needs the additional AP tests.
If its financially doable I would recommend looking into spending a summer vacation in Germany. They don’t seem to have traditional sleep away camps like in the US, most are geared towards German local students
https://www.komm-mach-mint.de/MINT-Studium/Ferien-Unis
The upside is the cost is very low. This for example looks interesting:
https://tu-freiberg.de/schueleruni
Hi, maybe try looking at Wageningen University & Research if you want to go to the Netherlands. Its Environmental Sciences bachelor is now fully in English so there are no language requirements for Dutch (although highly recommended). Wageningen’s environmental departments/program is one of the best in the world so it’s quality education and Wageningen itself is regarded highly in the environmental/food/biological sciences. There is a lot of group work and the teachers are great but during a course you probably won’t get extremely close to them (are close student-teacher relationships something American?), as is the case everywhere in Europe from what I’ve heard from international friends. Yes, they’ll probably know your name and join study association drinks but unless you really go out of your way (like, a LOT of effort), you’re not going to get any further than study/small talk.
I 'm not sure what the LAC atmosphere is like but Wageningen is a small university with ~12 000 students so there’s definitely the close-knit everyone-knows-everyone feel to it. The band stuff is easy since there are a lot of things to do in Wageningen for students. Keep in mind that student life in the Netherlands isn’t organized/explicitly affiliated with the university but rather fully organized by students themselves. The living on campus thing is going to be hard since living on campus isn’t really a thing here so on-campus housing is going to be very limited. However, everything in Wageningen is easily done by bike in less than 10-15 min and everyone lives spread throughout town so there are always friends/events nearby.
Perhaps this is not ideally what you’re looking for but Wageningen is an amazing option for environmental sciences including group (and a lot of practical/field!) work and it has the close-knit small-town vibe you might be looking for. Dutch university colleges are something more akin to the US college system and have the small-community vibe as well as university-arranged housing, etc. but if you’re looking for environmental sciences in the Netherlands, academically speaking, Wageningen is the place to be.
Just note that Wageningen charges higher tuition fees for non EU citizens, see https://www.wur.nl/en/Education-Programmes/master/Tuition-Fees.htm . Looks like tuition would be 15700 Euro and room and board would be additional.
Our high school college guidance counselor has a close friend that works in a similar capacity in Germany and deals with international student admissions. She is in town and will be attending an upcoming meeting. I feel like more of an expert now thanks to all of your respnses. Thank you. Of course this allows us to delve more deeply into the topic.
The strict (new) German admission requirements will restrict my son’s admission chances because we will not be taking an AP calculus class. However, studying abroad through a US university is high on his priority list. The Netherlands is intriguing as well. I have some research to do there, and I’m hoping more folks chime in on that topic.
We just learned about Italy’s “blood-line” policy. My wife has a direct ancestoral connection to Italy, and she and my son can apply for citizenship. Furthermore, as an Italian citizen, he may benefit ability to live in Europe after graduation.
I don’t want anyone to think we are “greedy Americans” looking to take advantage of the situation. My son has a deep rooted appreciation for European culture and my wife and I hope to spend considerable time in Italy in retirement.
Does anyone have any additional insight?
Is he fluent in Italian?
I recommend reading a couple Donna Leon novels.
A university where study abroad is prioritized and ‘normal’ is Dickinson. It’d meet your son’s wishes (and he could spend a full year in Europe directly enrolled but still benefiting from a college director’s help in case of snafu).
^ Yes. I recently visited Dickinson and it has a strong and exciting environmental program and is known as an innovative green school in its practices. Beautiful science building and an extra building just for environmental science. Also an organic farm.
Apart from it’s strong study abroad programs, the entire school seems to have a general international/global awareness emphasis and a commitment to ensure that any student can study abroad and graduate in four years, whatever the major, so across majors your son would have peers with similar interests. One of its most popular majors is international business (the only business major offered) and the school offers more foreign languages to study than is typical for many LACS. So, whatever their respective majors, many of your son’s classmates would also be geared toward working/living abroad, so a nice atmosphere for him. There are specific language living communities and language cafeteria tables for those who want to practice.
I also think that it’s possible to do more than one study abroad program while at Dickinson…perhaps a full year, but also additional short experiences and internships. Worth checking out.
@Heckofatrip , perhaps ask your guidance counselor if her contact in Germany is aware of any way to get around the calculus requirement. I believe universities can make an exception and make their own decision about admission. Some might accept an aptitude test: https://www.study-in.de/en/plan-your-studies/requirements/aptitude-test_34145.php
By the way, Italian citizenship would be quite useful and simplify any future visa requirements for studying and residing abroad.
@heckofatrip: what did the meeting with your German admissions/friend yield?
No, we did not. The meeting is on June 20th. Ill be sure to send out an update. And I’m sure new questions as well.
@MYOS1634 After meeting with my son’s high school college guidance counselor, I have a few take always: (1) an assoc. degree in the US is equivalent to the “gap year” at a German University. (2) exploring options, such as US universities with international campuses is a logical option. For example, Bard University in New York has a Berlin campus. The all English course instruction eliminates the German language requirement.
With that said, I researched environmental science programs taught in English in Germany. I found the needle in a haystack: Jacobs University in Bremen. So, at this point in time, my S is leaning toward applying to Bard Berlin and Jacobs. He hasn’t closed the door on applying to a school such as Technical Institute in Munich, and completing the gap year and taking the German language assessment.
I hope to find other English speaking env. science programs in the meantime. One problem is that Jacobs is 7 hours from the nearest ski resort.
Bard Berlin is very very small (about 100 freshmen, about the size of a small middle school or a large elementary school).
Jacobs can be a good compromise but it’s going to have fewer resources than a stateside college. Why not have him take intensive German at a local college then attend a German high school for a year? He’d get immersed in German culture, improve his German to the point he could tell whether he wants to study there or not, and not jeopardize his freshman status in case he wants to return to the US.
Jacobs was having financial difficulties a few years back, and had to cut dozens of jobs in order to stay afloat. So I would definitely look into their current financial standing, if I was considering sending my kid there.
TU Munchen has over 40,000 students spread out over 3 “campuses” (NOT like traditional US campuses) in the highly urbanized Munich area. So forget about things like “small LAC feel”, “close relationships with profs”, “living in dorms near your classes”, etcetera.
Jacobs might be a great place to explore water skiing or other water sports, but definitely not a place for an avid downhill skier.
If skiing is important for him, forget any state beyond Bayern and Baden Württemberg.
Check out this one:
https://www.daad.de/deutschland/studienangebote/international-programmes/en/detail/4368/
It sounds almost perfect! They offer an earth and environmental sciences major, the city of Freiburg is wonderful, the public university the college is attached to is highly reputed, and skiing in the Black Forest is under an hour away. Yeah, its not alpine skiing, but that’s not that much farther either.
https://www.liftverbund-feldberg.de/
I just googled this, know nothing about the program, so if you or your son do more research and even end up applying, I’d love to hear about your experiences!
^ that looks much closer to what your son is interested in!