<p>This whole university is tuition free and there’s even a Bachelor/Master physics program in English. Bachelors in only three years. You also learn German as part of the deal. </p>
<p>Alums of this university, founded 1409, include Goethe, Leibniz, Nietzsche, Wagner, Heisenberg, and Una Merkel.</p>
<p>There are also a number of American Universities that have study abroad affiliations, but I don’t know if you would get the free tuition that way; but couldn’t you go on your own for a semester or two and get transfer credit? </p>
<p>I always thought you had to be a resident of the EU for free tuition. As for the three year program, I don’t think they require the liberal art/general ed courses so would that impact admission to a US grad program?</p>
<p>^As someone who applied (and was accepted) to PhDs in physics in the US after a 3 year degree in Europe, no they don’t care about the gen ed requirements. All they care about is your preparation in your particular field, especially with respect to your research interests.</p>
<p>I agree with your word’s that they only care about is your preparation in your particular field, especially with respect to your research interests. So need to concentrate on preparation to get the full advantage.</p>
<p>Heck. Makes me want to go. I’d like to sit in the same seats that Goethe sat in. Eat the same knockvurst and cabbage cafeteria food that Goethe ate. Drink the same dark German beer and then feel sick and vomit that same way that … okay, nevermind.</p>
<p>just wanted to mention that Uni Leipzig, like most German universities, will require a C1 certification of German.</p>
<p>For ESL students, also a certificate of English.</p>
<p>Most German universities are free or charge 500€ per semester. All universities have the same study fees (either non or the 500€) for everyone, regardless of nationality. </p>
<p>German universities are always 3 years for the bachelor and there are never general ed courses (that’s what high school was for) and admission is by high school grades only. EC’s etc don’t matter at all.</p>
<p>I would be very interested to hear from somebody who has actually done this. I am reading some things on here that seem to gloss over certain realities.</p>
<p>It is my general understanding (from relatives in Germany) that in Germany, the only type of HS program that would get you into a University is to have gone to Gymnasium and completed the Abitur. Only about 30% of German kids complete the “Abi”. The first “cut” along that pathway is to be sent to Gymnasium. That decision is made in 3d grade. There are other break points along the way where kids fall off the “Uni” track, but if you make the first cut at 3d grade, and continue to succeed, you can finish the Abi around age 20. I believe that represents a higher level of academic achievement than the American HS diploma, which explains why the UG degree is only 3 years there. They go into Uni more on a level of someone who has completed a year or two of American college. So I’m not sure how an American just out of 12th grade would fare in that program.</p>
<p>Their pricing is low because the government provides the education. They do not adhere to the American notion that almost anybody can and should go to college. As noted above, they compete for the spaces, and only about the top 30% of their kids are considered suitable candidates for Uni. The rest are guided toward other careers. (Whether this system is better than ours, is another conversation. It has certain merits. In the US, the bottom 70% often find themselves guided into other lines of work, anyway, after incurring substantial college loan debt. Another conversation.)</p>
<p>Their Unis may admit non-Germans for purposes of academic or cultural exchange or enrichment to the program. But if their goverment is sponsoring the school, using German tax dollars, and Germans are competing hard to get in, I question whether there will be a lot of free space for non-Germans.</p>
<p>Their Uni placement is more like the medical residency “match” system here. You tell them what you want to do, and they tell you where you can have a place. Then sometimes people trade spots at the beginning of the term, to get closer to home. They do not have the culture of “college as sleepaway camp” that we have in the US.</p>
<p>When a German high schooler comes to the US for a year as an exchange student, that year is not necessarily counted toward completion of the Gymnasium program. They encourage it for it’s broadening effect, but they don’t see it as an academic equivalent.</p>
<p>Some German universities are offering undergraduate degrees with all teaching in English. You do not need any certification in German language, or any German school qualification. Sometimes a good deal is a good deal.</p>
<p>And 3 years living in Germany for a physics degree would pretty much make up for the broadening and cultural intent of the general ed courses in the US.</p>
<p>Generally you need a German Abitur or an equivalent qualification to be admitted to a German universitiy. In my days American high school diploma did not count, you had to have one year of college or even a AA degree to be admitted.
If you can fulfill these conditions it not difficult to get into a German university since a certain number of places are blocked for Germans and reserved for international students.
Physics, however, is considered one of the hard subjects and the drop-out rate is high.
Good luck with your application.</p>
<p>The South American son of friends of ours, as well as our South American niece and nephew, are currently attending a university in Berlin. To my knowledge, their high school preparation is nothing extraordinary–just what is typical for the middle class of their country. The kids did have to spend a year taking intensive German language classes first. We were told the tuition cost is only around $500 per year.</p>