<p>I was thinking of studying in Germany but this whole gpa thing bothers me. I’m a civil engineering student and I don’t know German too much. I’m guessing it would be really hard to study civil engineering in Germany without knowing too much German.</p>
<p>So let’s say I pass my classes in Germany with like C’s or something. Would my gpa from Germany transfer or do only credits transfer? Because I don’t want that to affect my actual gpa since I’m planning on going to a grad school.</p>
<p>Your GPA probably doesn’t transfer because they use a different kind of grading system there so it’s hard to convert for your university. Your school most likely has some kind of conversion system so you know exactly how much ECTS you need to have to pass the semester.</p>
<p>I get PMs all the time from students telling me that study abroad has ruined their GPA. The answer to your question depends entirely on your program, and it’s really important to find out exactly how your GPA might be affected before you sign up. Commonly a student just has to pass a course on study abroad. Bear in mind you won’t get any grades for effort in Europe, only for attainment. So in this case you just have to complete the required assignments/pass the required exams. These may be the same as required for German students, maybe not. Again it depends on your program.</p>
<p>Worst case scenario is transferring the study abroad percentage directly into a US grade. I don’t know much about Germany, but in the UK for an example it’s very rare to get 80%, and 60% is considered good. So if you got 60% and this was considered equivalent to a US 60%, there goes your high GPA.</p>
<p>More likely there will be some kind of grade conversion to make your study abroad grades US grades. This might be done by your teacher abroad, by professors in your US school or by someone from your study abroad program. You really need to ask these questions now.</p>
<p>In my opinion you will have to be completely fluent in German in order to pass civil engineering taught entirely in German. I mean really fluent, not “American fluent” (ie You have an AP. This is not fluency, but an extremely basic level of understanding). I mean capable of living your entire life using only German. If this isn’t you, you need to look for either a program taught in English, or an intensive German program.</p>
<p>Depends on the program. My SA program was a program run by an American university and thus had American-style grades, so they were factored into my GPA. However, my SA semester boosted my GPA and not destroyed it.</p>
<p>Some do; some don’t.</p>