Thank you for your reply! This is definitely a route I could take, Europe Bachelors + US Masters. I think I’m settled on the idea of going to Germany for school now, as you’ve said, taking out loans is just not worth it when I have a path like this. Thanks again!
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Thank you! I have to admit, I didn’t have a financially sound plan to education in the states, and thanks for pointing that out.
Got it! Thanks for your perspective!
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DHBW Stuttgart is solid. It’ll be a very different experience than the US/Canadian experience tends to be—like I said upthread, German universities and their students tend to be intensely preprofessional in a way we don’t come close to here—but it’s a good place to learn. Also, I feel like Stuttgart is an underappreciated gem of a place—and there’s no accident that Porsche and Festo and Daimler and Bosch and Ritter and Märklin and Stihl and [insert whole bunches of others here] have their headquarters in or very near Stuttgart. Frankfurt and Munich and Berlin and Hamburg get all the attention, but Stuttgarters get things done.
(Also, Schwäbisch is my favorite variety of German, no question, and Swabian food is amazing.)
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The German option looks great!
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It’s a very well-respected Hochschule. It certainly wouldn’t be the same as attending a US college, especially in terms of student life, but you would get an excellent education, it’s large enough, well-known enough that there wouldn’t JUST be local commuters, and located in a great city.
I checked and they have an agreement with Cal Poly SLO (a superb tech school in California), and the 3rd Spring semester can be spent there followed by June-November in a co-op which could be there since you’re a US citizen. It looks like that last co-op leads to a job in most cases so whether it’s in Germany or the US would be a choice you have time to make.
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Just a minor clarification. Cal Poly has a great reputation in the engineering, computer science, and the tech realm in general. But, those majors account for about 25% of all majors. Purdue is similar. Neither is a tech school per se like MIT, Caltech and CMU.
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OP is interested in Informatics. The tech mention wasn’t meant to restrict the definition of Cal Poly SLO but to show adequation between OPs academic interest and a US option even if they choose Duales Studium in Stuttgart.
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Hey there, thank you for mentioning this opportunity! Unfortunately upon some further research, I have found out that the exchange program for Cal Poly SLO is only for students that study business, since I study Business Informatics, only California State University, Fullerton, California State University San Marcos, Colorado State University Pueblo, Hawai’i Pacific University, and San Diego State University are available for my exchange. I hope that this could change in 2 years time, or maybe I could appeal to the study director about it.
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Thank you for the assurance! Now I’m excited to get to know the city!
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If you have a chance to go to SDSU, you will love it!
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SDSU is excellent too. 
Or indeed you could see if they could fit you into the program (although as I’m sure you know German rules aren’t very flexible..)
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Haha! Got it! Thanks!
Yep, I have already experienced that during my application process 
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Hey guys, just wanted to update everyone, I got into UIUC for germanic studies!! So that is definitely on the list of considerations
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Congratulations 
I’d still go with IBM though.
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Agreed and UIUC wont’ come close to your budget, in state or out of state and I think you are out of state.
To be honest, it was a wasteful application because you have zero way to attend if the budget is $25K. You can only get $5500 in loans.
When you have a budget, you build a list for the budget.
The IBM thing is far superior.
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Another update here, passed interview round of a 350 euro/month dream dorm at Stuttgart right in the middle of Uni and Workplace location. Also received an offer and scholarship of 33000 usd (excluding financial aid) from St. Olaf College. Still waiting on other colleges but am hopefully going to IBM this summer!
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Hey everyone, just another update here. Got into uw (no aid), waitlist at colby, bates and middlebury, reject for rest of my schools. Thanks to everyone for helping out and giving me clarity during this admission cycle, and I am very happy that it is finally over!
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What happened with U.Maine?
Is the deal with IBM in Germany and then study at a German university still on? Is this what you are going with? To me this sounded like quite a good deal.
I do not recall talk of “UW” earlier in this thread (perhaps I missed it).
I got into U Maine at the start of October, my parents are familiar with the campus and were reluctant in letting me enroll. UW is university of Washington at Seattle.
Yes, probably will be going there
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