Campus-Center Forum

I am currently a tenth-grade student following an American curriculum in the United Arab Emirates, and I aspire to pursue my higher education in Germany. I am academically distinguished, holding a cumulative GPA of 4.0 and demonstrating exceptional performance across most subjects.

As a native Arabic speaker of Syrian descent, I am fluent in English and deeply committed to mastering German. Over the next two years, I intend to enrol in a certified German language institute and achieve the C2 proficiency level, including successfully completing the associated examinations (e.g., Goethe-Zertifikat C2).

I also plan to prepare for and complete the IELTS and SAT assessments within the same timeframe. I am dedicated to fulfilling any additional language or academic requirements set by German universities.

I seek guidance regarding:

1.Academic Requirements: What GPA, standardized test scores (SAT/ACT, IELTS), and subject prerequisites are generally expected of international applicants from an American curriculum?

2.Language Proficiency: Which German language certifications (e.g., TestDaF vs. Goethe-Zertifikat) or proficiency levels are most widely accepted by universities?

3.Application Timeline & Preparation: What are realistic milestones and timelines to achieve these academic and linguistic goals over the next two years?

4.Admissions Likelihood: Based on my background and planned preparation, what are my chances of admission to German universities, particularly in competitive programs?

Dear lenda kanout,

Thank you for your interest in University of Hamburg! To answer your questions properly, I first have to explain some key features of the German higher education system: In Germany, you do not apply to a university as a whole as you do in the US system. You always apply for a specific program and the requirements for admission vary depending on the program you are applying for. Accordingly, you choose your major and minor when you apply - if you want to change subjects later, you will have to re-apply for a different major or minor. So when you think about an education in Germany, the best strategy is to decide what your major (and minor) shall be first. That being said in advance, I will now move on to your questions:

1) There is no fixed required GPA. But since the selection of applicants for bachelor programs is based on the GPA to a great extent, a higher GPA is always an advantage. There are no required tests for international applicants, but you can get bonus points in the selection process by a very good result on the TestAS: https://www.uni-hamburg.de/en/campuscen ... stest.html
Before you can apply, you will have to apply for recognition of your educational qualifications: https://www.uni-hamburg.de/en/campuscen ... ldung.html If you are currently in a school following an US system, it is very likely that you will have to take the Advanced Placement Test to qualify for university entrance in Germany. The DAAD offers a database to check your specific educational qualifications and find out what you will need to qualify for university entrance in Germany: https://www.daad.de/en/studying-in-germ ... -database/

2) I can only tell you about the German language requirements at University of Hamburg: https://www.uni-hamburg.de/en/campuscen ... nisse.html Other German universities will probably have similar requirements, though some have slightly lower requirements regarding technical programs.

3) and 4) As I said above, the most important milestone is to decide what your major (and minor) shall be. The reason for this is that the requirements and standards you will need to meet for admission vary a lot depending on that choice. The second milestone is getting a German language certificate listed on the web page linked to in my answer to 2), since you will need that to apply for any German language program. If you choose a very competitive program, you need to aim for a very good score in specific tests, since you will be getting bonus points for that as well. If you choose a less competitive program just getting one of the certificates on the list will suffice. So the general steps should be: 1. Choose your major (and minor - some programs do not include minor subjects). You can find a list of the programs offered by University of Hamburg here: https://www.uni-hamburg.de/en/campuscen ... rt=&index= 2. Find out whether your chosen minor is a competitive one. You can do that by first familiarizing yourself with the selection process based on GPA and further bonus points: https://www.uni-hamburg.de/en/campuscen ... cht-eu.pdf and then looking up your chosen major in the following list: https://www.uni-hamburg.de/campuscenter ... cht-eu.pdf If your chosen major is not listed, you will probably not need any bonus points to be admitted. If your major is listed you can estimate the needed points by extrapolating from the list. The points needed might change in years to come, but if you find stable values in the list, the change will most probably not be big. The bonus point system is specific to University of Hamburg - other German universities might have very different selection criteria for intenational applicants. So if you consider other universities as well, you will have to ask them about their specific selection processes.

Best regards,
Birte Schelling

Thank you very much for your thorough and informative response. I truly appreciate the time you took to explain the structure of the German higher education system and the application process at the University of Hamburg.

Based on your guidance, I understand the importance of first selecting a specific major, as admission requirements vary significantly between programs. I am currently considering pursuing a degree in medicine, a field I am deeply passionate about and have been preparing for both academically and linguistically.

I also appreciate the resources you shared, including the DAAD database and the detailed admissions criteria for international applicants. These links are incredibly helpful as I plan my next steps including fulfilling the language proficiency requirements, preparing for the TestAS, and potentially taking relevant Advanced Placement (AP) courses or exams to meet the recognition criteria for university entrance.

Thank you once again for your support and for helping me gain clarity on how to move forward with my aspirations to study in Germany.

Dear lenda kanout,

I am glad that my answer was helpful! All the best for your preparation and application!

Best regards,
Birte Schelling