Studying in the US

This article is the second part of the article from the 11-00 newsletter, where we have told you about the education schedule in the US. This time, we will inform you mostly about examinations and grading. We will be writing more about studying in the US over the next months...

The Academic Year: An academic year usually last between 9 and 10 months. It usually begins in late August / early September and ends in late May or early June. An academic year is usually divided into semesters, trimesters or quarters.

Semester: The most common subdivision at most universities, with two terms of 18 weeks each. The fall semester starts in mid-December and the spring semester in mid-April.

Trimester: Divided into three times 12 weeks.

Quarter: Four terms of 12 weeks each. The fourth quarter is the summer semester, which is voluntary. This option is usually used by students who wish to graduate as quickly as possible. However, usually you only study three out of four quarters.

Summer schools / summer session: Some universities offer limited selection of fully credited classes, allowing the students to shorten their total college time or repeat failed classes or classes with bad grades from the previous year. For German students, this is a good opportunity to take some taster courses.

Exams

Single final exams in which the entire subject and the knowledge form all the semesters is being tested are uncommon in the US. In the US, there are usually examinations in the individual classes at the end of each semester. Usually, the examinations will be written examinations, with very few exceptions (free classes, lab classes, artistic subjects etc.).

Little tests or quizzes (5 to 10 minutes) may be done in each class once a week.

Mid-term: Most colleges and universities usually work with semesters. In the middle of the semester, there will usually be one-hour exams in the individual classes, the so-called mid-term exams. Since you can choose your classes yourself and not all the professors from all the different departments will be able to coordinate the dates, you may have to take several exams in one day.

Final: There will be finals at the end of each semester, which will last between one and three hours. You will have to write one exam for each class you are taking. The examinations will decide upon the grade and thus on whether or not you have passed the class and will receive credits for it.

Grades and forms of control

Grades: The most common grading system is still the A-F system (from A = excellent to F = flunked the course).

Credits, points, records: Colleges, universities and professional schools use the credit system, a kind of objective and countable control system to determine whether or not a student has met the requirements necessary for graduation. You get course credits for every course you take, the credit hours-load is the number of semester periods per week. This depends on the time frame for a degree program. Usually, the semester load will be about 16 hours per week. If you calculate the time for preparation and homework, you will have a workload three to four times higher than that (ca. 60 hours and more).

There are individual classes for the respective age groups, so this means for the lower division (freshmen, sophomores), and the upper division (juniors and seniors), as well as graduates (or also seniors and graduates together).

For a certain degree, you will need a certain number of credits. The universities decide how many credits you will need to graduate. The study plans for all subjects and years include a requirement for requirements and electives, stated as the number of credit hour-loads.

Every class hour per week equals one credit hour. Consequently, a class over two hours equals two credit hours. If you take four hours of Spanish every week, you will receive four credits at the end of the semester. There may even be credits for lab internships, own research, sometimes even the writing of dissertations. However, two or three hours in the lab will only be one credit.

In case you don't meet the requirements for one class and fail, you will, of course, not get any credits for it.

For a bachelor's degree, you will need approx. 120 credits, 60 of them from general studies and 60 from your major. This means you will have to get approx. 30 credits per academic year, meaning 15 credits per semester. Each term, the students are taking between 12 to 16 credits, meaning between 4 and 6 classes. One class is usually worth 3 or 4 credits. The credit hours and the grades from the individual courses will make up your Grade Point Average (GPA).

The grades have certain values, so that an average can be calculated.

You will get this Grade Point Average on the end of each semester on your semester record. All the previous semesters will be considered as well, not only the current one. You can usually improve your GPA by repeating classes you got bad grades in and make the better grade count. The GPA will also be your graduation grade.

Application for German students

When is the right time?

The right time for applying for an academic year abroad depend on what you wish to accomplish with it. In case you wish to bridge a gap year before you start studying in Germany, or start your training or something similar and gain some life experience, or if you just want to get to know the college system in the US in order to find out about the countless opportunities, the time after high school graduation will be the best time for you. However, in that case, you will have to pay for most of it yourself. If you are hoping for financial support, you will better wait until you have finished your basic studies in Germany. Why? German financial support programs are generally for people who use an exchange program in the middle of their studies or after graduation (e.g. as a research year for your doctorate). At this point, you also have better chances for a scholarship from the US. Usually, US scholarships are not being granted to high school graduates.

Unfortunately, law, psychology or medical students (or students of related subjects) do not have the same opportunities as students of other subjects, since the programs are much too different in the two countries. Your only option will usually be to go abroad after graduation in Germany, unless you university and a partner university abroad have a cooperation agreement.

Many students of the higher semesters use the opportunity of doing additional or graduate studies in the US in order to acquire additional qualification. Others study in the US for one year to do research for their doctorate.

Different factors will play a role in your decision of whether to spend one year in the US or study there completely. The most important factor is, without a doubt, money, because in the US tuition fees are quite high and scholarships from Germany are generally available for one year only. Only in very few exceptional cases is it possible to extend a scholarship for one further year. Employment opportunities for foreign students are rare, especially for the younger semesters. Another question you have to consider is where you want to live and work later on. In case you already know that you wish to emigrate to the US, it would make sense to study there. Otherwise it would make much more sense to start at a German university, go abroad for one year, and return to your home country for graduation afterwards.

Over the next months, we will provide you with the following information about studying abroad: admission requirements, accreditation of the US classes in Germany, financial support, applying for the F-1 Visa.