The University System

I’m now thoroughly into my semester at Tübingen and I have been getting acclimated to my new life in Germany as a student. It’s amazing how quickly the time flies!

When most people think about studying abroad, they tend to think about how much fun traveling will be, meeting new people and learning about a new culture, but they tend to assume that classes will be the same as they always have been.  Many people don’t necessarily think about how different the school system will be. I know I didn’t think about how different the German system would be.  While the general structure of any school system is the same (go to class, do homework, have assignments/tests, etc.), a lot of the finer details can completely throw one for a loop. One should expect to have a lot of flexibility and patience, especially when registering for classes at the beginning of the semester.

At UMass Amherst, class registration is relatively easy; you simply log onto Spire, search for classes, select them, and, following the prompts on the screen, become enrolled. Other than perhaps meeting with an advisor, this enrollment is as straightforward as it could be. It’s a completely different system than the German system, however. At the University of Tübingen, there is a course catalogue, which makes course selection easier. However, not all of the courses are listed in the catalogue. All of the Deutsch als Fremdsprache (German as a Foreign Language) courses are listed on a different website. There’s other departments where this is the case as well.

Once you’ve found classes to register for, the actual registration process can be more complicated. There is, of course, the option to register for a course using the online university website called Campus, but this isn’t usually the case. The Deutsch als Fremdsprache class registration requires you to register in person with an appointment time. Many other courses require you to email the professor (make sure you include your Matriculation Number - it’s similar to your Spire ID Number) and ask for permission to join the course. Even if the course seems like it may fill up, many professors will make exceptions for exchange students. Don’t be surprised if your course registration takes over a week, especially considering all sorts of different deadlines that may exist for different departments. The most important thing is to have a lot of patience and flexibility.

One of the first things one will notice about classes in Germany is that they have a different structure than American system. Unless you’re enrolled in the very intensive Aufbaukurs, chances are your classes will only be once a week. This can be quite the shock at first to a lot of American students, myself included who are used to UMass classes being 2-3 times a week. At first it feels like you have all the time in the world and you have infinite free time. My biggest tip is to not forget about doing schoolwork to when you don’t have class. Try to use the free time in a productive and worthwhile manner. This doesn’t even necessarily mean sitting down and hitting the books for hours on end, it could be going out and exploring the Tübingen area. It will make your time abroad infinitely better.