Studying Abroad in Germany

It is worth noting that in this post I portray student life in Germany from a master’s student perspective. My point of view is based on my personal experiences and what I’ve gathered from talking with other students. It’s probably also good to know what I’m comparing it to – my experience as an undergraduate engineering student at a BIG 10 school. This comparison is a little “apples and oranges” so as I try to keep that in mind, so …

I’ve been meaning to write something like this for some time. I was finally spurred into writing about applying to study in Germany by being connected with someone currently looking to study here. This week, a friend of mine reached out to me on behalf of someone he knew was looking to study in Germany for his master’s degree. He asked if I was willing to help out his friend by answering a few questions. Of course, I obliged. It turns …

Before you can head to Germany for your master’s, you have to apply; but before you apply, you have to find a program to apply to. In this post, I’ll briefly explain the tools and process I used to find master’s programs in Germany. This won’t be a very long post, as you’ll have to do the legwork yourself, but I have some links and some tips to share. I’ll give you some context for the variety of master’s programs in …

So you’ve been admitted to a degree program in Germany, and now you’re starting to think about the next steps. The first thing you’ll need to tackle is getting your student visa in Germany. Let’s start at the beginning, what’s a visa anyway? This kind of visa does not come with an interest rate. Instead, “visas” are essentially a pass to enter and/or stay in other countries. You may not know it, but just by having a US passport, you already …

You know how everyone in the US always talks about “universal healthcare” and “single payer” over in “Europe”? Well, I’m over here in “Europe” – which I’ve put in quotes because there are just as many ways of structuring the healthcare market over here as there are countries. So before we get started on student health insurance in Germany, let’s all take a minute (or seven) to learn about Germany’s health insurance market. Good, now we’re all a bit more …

Even if you’re only paying 150€ to 300€ a semester to get a degree in Germany, you still need to make some money to pay for all that beer and Döner you’ll be buying. I suppose rent, groceries, health insurance, and maybe a haircut or two would also be necessary, but that’s up to you. Getting a student job in Germany is probably one of the simplest ways to pay for such luxuries. These jobs are generally easier to find …

Scholarships in Germany are something I really wish I knew more about before moving here. Really, not researching them thoroughly before hopping on that plane is something I really should have counted under the mistakes I made when I moved to Germany. There was a scholarship I could have applied for, that I probably had a good chance of getting, which would have gotten me an extra 300€ a month. That’s nothing to sneeze at – think of all the …

Over the past two+ years, I’ve recieved tons of amazing questions from readers. Most often they come through the Contact form, but sometimes people message me on social media, or just comment on a post here. Lots of younger guys are reaching out via Discord lately as well, which makes me happy. Questions about getting a master’s in Germany are quite common – it might be the most frequent topic I get questions about, actually. All of the questions I …