<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>