After Admission

Continuing my series on preparatory college education in Germany with a post on admission and the entry process.

This is all just a guideline to keep in mind, a bit of personal experience to help you on your way to a German preparatory college, known in Germany as Studienkolleg. The procedure and manner of doing things will probably differ from state to state, but it’s good to keep track of things you need to be doing. There was plenty a time I felt lost about the mere progression of things – you couldn’t find solid, practical information! When do you open a bank account? Do you need insurance? Which documents should you have on you before you arrive to Germany?

Give my post about studying in Germany a read, it’s a good start.

Invitation

I received a letter in the mail about the decision of the university to enroll me on their course conditionally – condition being that I complete the two semesters of Studienkolleg. I was given a small pamphlet with examples of both exams, German and Math, with additional information on their website. It’s now about two-three months before the exam date, enough to apply for a visa and study for the upcoming exams.

Note: You may not need to do two exams, for certain courses only German is required.

I’m going to skip the visa application process here and get straight to business.

Arrival

Visa in hand, I arrived a week before my exam date. It’s a good time, enough to go through all of the material atleast once. I took my Math textbooks and my binder with various math problems I thought were essential to repeat.

Day of the Exam

I got there an hour in advance. There’s really not enough time to go through any revision with it sinking into your head – to be honest, at this point you should have it all in by now. The last hour can be spent reading some German grammar or a bunch of exam examples. This is what I did; all last-minute revisions were done the day before.

Note: Check that you need everything for the exam. Pen, pencil, eraser. Are you allowed to use a calculator or dictionary (I wasn’t!)? What documents do you need to have with you? I had to bring my passport and my invitation document (Zulassung)

Exam Enrollment

This is probably the part that will be specific to the institution. I was given a piece of paper with my number and PIN, it could be used to access my results online afterwards and served as a proof of exam enrollment. You couldn’t lose this paper!

Exam

More words on this in a different entry. You sit, you write. German was the first exam for me, followed by Math. The professor had some things to say prior the start, for instance, how the C-Test is organized and how it can be solved effectively.

Post-Exam and Results

Five days later come the results; in my case, they’re online, you need to print out the document to bring along for the enrollment. I passed! At this point, there are three possible outcomes – you get accepted and need to enroll, you’re not accepted and have the opportunity to retake the exam (in my case, only possible for the coming semester) or you’re not accepted, but you’re put on a waiting list, where you get a week’s time for any enrolled student to give their place up.

Preparation for Enrollment; Interview

I would recommend you contact your college for proper requirements, as usual.

What I found interesting about Germany, was the fact that you needed to make appointments to open various accounts. Bank accounts, medical insurance accounts. As you cannot enroll without a medical insurance, you’re basically given two days during the week for enrollment, before which you need to get it. What I want to make clear is that planning is essential! I knew the day I would need to show up and get my documents in; I made an appointment with the medical insurance firm to apply for it on the same day, just later.

As was the case with my college, the first day I needed to come with my documents and my letter of admission was not actually the enrollment. Termed as the Interview, it was a day to submit my high school and language certificates, my passport, a passport photo and the document I printed off online. I filled up a form with the professor and was given several documents: some general information, rules of the college, a list of documents I would need for enrollment and a document confirming that I just had this Interview done.

You might think – why not have the medical insurance and other documents done in advance? Well, you can’t. The document you get the day of the Interview is essential to obtaining a medical insurance. You can’t enroll without the medical insurance – so it’s wise to apply for it as soon as possible.

Note: Right here is uncertainty territory! Which documents do you need to have on you when you have the interview? I made a mistake and left all of my high school certificate originals back at home, they had to be express flown to me by a courier company. I think a good rule of thumb in this case would be to have originals of the documents you first sent off when you made your application (and consequently sent off legalized copies of them).

A Word On Procedures

Please call and get a list of requirements from the medical insurance company and the bank of your choice! This will give you a rough idea of when you need to apply for both of them and you wouldn’t need to prematurely make and cancel appointments and tell you when down the road would you need to apply for both of them.

The lack of a medical insurance is grounds for being taken off the college program!

You generally pay for your medical insurance through automatic bank payments or in cash in semester installments (two!). A bank account should be opened very soon from the day you open a medical insurance account, if you’re allowed to leave it hanging while you open it. I was.

Enrollment

In my case, it depends on the day the required office was open – Tuesday and Wednesday, which was right after my interview. I finished off my interview pretty quickly and had plenty of time to visit the medical insurance office on the same day, with prior appointment.

I’m going to keep updating the blog as I get more insight into all of this.