Studying

Studying- Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy?!

Hello and welcome back to my blog!

Today I would like to go into more detail about studying and explain how the NC is made up.

Numerus Clausus (NC)- what does it actually mean?

The Numerus Clausus (NC) is an admission restriction of universities, schools and colleges. It comes into effect when there are more applicants than study places. Let’s assume there are 80 study places but 200 applicants. Then the places are allocated according to grade point average in the German Abitur. This means that those with an average of 1.0 will be accepted immediately, then those with an average of 1.1, and so on. The person who is still accepted and has the lowest average determines the NC next year. Let’s say this person had an average of 2.5. Then the NC in the following year is also 2.5. For those of you who want to apply for a study program, this means: Just do it! You have nothing to lose.

Dual studies

The search for the right study program also includes the question of whether you want to study dual studies or not. In a dual study program, students complete an apprenticeship and a degree program at the same time. There are different models of how exactly this is handled and how the dual study is structured. This is strongly dependent on the companies and individual colleges and universities.

To explain the principle in more detail, I will explain one example in more detail:

The apprenticeship starts one year before the actual study and begins in the second year of apprenticeship. In addition, enrollment at the university or college has already occurred. After a year in which the training has taken place, the studies begin together with fellow students who are not dual students. During the semester breaks, students work in the company and during the semester they study normally at the university/college. The company pays a salary during the entire training period – even if you are studying and not working at the company at the moment. The company also pays the semester fees. In the end, you receive a completed vocational training and a degree.

I will summarize the individual advantages and disadvantages here:

Advantages:

  • regular salary
  • completed vocational training and a degree
  • already work experience before studies
  • the companies usually take over the dual students after the apprenticeship
  • the company pays the tuition fees

Disadvantages:

  • Application deadlines are up to one year before the start of training
  • companies require a certain grade point average
  • no semester breaks
  • certain achievements/ grades MUST be achieved
  • a lot of work and stress due to the double load of studies and training

Based on this, it is essential to think about it in advance. If you are not sure whether the chosen course of studies is something for you and just want to try it out, I would advise against a dual course of studies.

Studying is just partying, isn’t it?

There is a persistent rumor that students sleep in every day and only party. That’s not quite true. During the semester and the lecture period, things are actually relatively relaxed. Depending on the course of study and the subject, attendance is sometimes compulsory, but that was not the rule for me. It was our own decision and our own responsibility whether we went or not. You are an adult and the professors and lecturers expect self-discipline and responsibility. If you are absent and miss something, you are simply out of luck. No one is interested and no one will give you assignments, projects or similar. So if you want, you can have a lot of free time. Whether that makes sense to pass the studies or not, remains to be seen.

During the week there were always some student parties somewhere. Especially on Wednesdays. On weekends, there were fewer parties, because many students go back home on weekends. In the exam phase, however, it looks quite different. Then you have to study hard. And I don’t mean learning for the Abitur. I mean hours, days, weeks of reading scripts, summarizing, memorizing, calculating and practicing, practicing, practicing. For difficult exams, several 100 hours of work are required, and this is done at the end of each semester. Of course, this varies according to the course of study. But you can’t pass a course of study by doing nothing.

No one gets far on their own, either. That might have worked in school, but in college you need your fellow students to provide you with material when you’re sick, to study with, to help you with assignments you don’t understand (I promise you this happens to everyone at some point), and vice versa, of course. That’s why it’s important to put yourself out there in the beginning, even if you’re not really the person to do it. Try to attend every introductory event and meet new people, then you will have a much easier time in your studies. In addition, the first three semesters are usually the most difficult. There are many so-called “cone subjects”. They are used to screen out students. These are mostly subjects like math, thermodynamics, physics, etc. When I started studying in 2016, there were 120 students in the mechanical engineering program. After the first three semesters, there were maybe 60 of them left. About 30-40 graduated, if at all.

Failure is not a bad thing and I don’t want to scare anyone. Studying has good, as well as less good and exhausting sides. Everyone should be aware of that before he or she starts studying. For me it was the best decision and so far the best time of my life.

If you have any further questions, feel free to contact me. Just write a comment or use the contact function in the menu above. I will try to answer your questions as good as possible. You are also welcome to write me if you have a topic request. I’m always happy about feedback or new ideas!

Until then,

Your Patrizia.

 

 

8 Comments

  • Cilefax

    Hey!
    Ich finde deinen Schreibstil echt super und lese deine Beiträge immer wieder gerne.
    Könntest du vielleicht auch auf die Finanzierung eines Studiums eingehen? Ich wüsste gerne was man da so beachten muss…
    Wäre echt super 🙂

    • Patrizia

      Vielen lieben Dank, auch für deine Wunschäußerung. Auf die Finanzierung wollte ich in meinem nächsten Beitrag eingehen, genauso wie auf Stipendien etc.
      So stay tuned!

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