Hello everyone,
In this article, I will share with you the answer to the first question I was asked the most when I said I was going to go to Germany by talking a little about my personal preferences. I will try to explain my experiences as much as I can. Maybe there will be someone who can benefit from them. If not, we will have a conversation 😊
I graduated from IZTECH architecture department in 2018.
We can say that I started my master's program abroad by thinking about what I would do for a year after graduation. Questions such as where will I go, what kind of graduate education I want to get, whether the name and popularity of the school are important or whether the country I go to is more important are circulating in my head. I spent a year looking for answers to these questions and applying to various schools.
First of all, the idea of doing a master's degree abroad was something that was always on my mind during my undergraduate education. For this reason, I did my office internship in Italy with Erasmus internship and I think it was a very useful experience. I think doing Erasmus and especially doing an Erasmus internship is very valuable in terms of taking this first step comfortably. Because you see that you can contribute to an office with your own knowledge and skills, using your English. Such an experience can be the first step that can encourage you and show you that you can be comfortable in such a working environment in the future. For this reason, I would definitely recommend you do an internship abroad during your undergraduate years :)
During my undergraduate studies, I always thought that I would go to Italy, that was the reason why I did my office internship there, but since I couldn't make up my mind, I applied to both Italy and Germany.
How was the application process?
In general terms, there are documents you need to prepare; CV, Portfolio, Reference letters, transcript or graduation certificate, language certificate... but of course, the required documents may vary from school to school, or the style of the documents may vary. For example, Tu Berlin asked for a 10-page portfolio, Polimi asked for a horizontal portfolio, and my school DIA did not specify any page limitations. These issues are always being updated. So you need to follow the relevant website of each department.
If we look at Germany specifically; starting 1 year in advance for applications is important in terms of finding a scholarship. School costs in Germany are really low, especially in German departments that are almost free. I also applied for scholarships, but unfortunately, I could only win a scholarship given by the school. Maybe I can write detailed articles in the future if you are curious about these issues.
Apart from the scholarship issue, preparing early can be good for the winter term- summer term issue. For example, some schools may start in the summer term, which changes the application date. Also, some schools in Germany receive main applications through a certain system called Uni- assist. Of course, there are certain time frames and conditions to be considered.
So for Germany, we can say the sooner the better.
I had to apply with the uni-assist system for the schools I applied to in Germany. These were my current school HSanhalt DIA and TU Berlin. Of course, Italy has its own conditions, but I don't want to get too distracted now. 😀
Finally, I completed my long application and waiting processes (oh thank God 😊). I was accepted from Politecnico di Milano and Università degli Studi di Firenze in Italy. In Germany, I was accepted by my current school Hochschule Anhalt- DIA and finally, I decided on Germany. By the way, all of the schools I applied to provide English education. We can say that finding a school that provides English education was the most decisive factor in my preferences. Unfortunately, especially in Germany, there are very few institutions that offer English education.
Living in Italy was a passion for me and I still sometimes have a vague regret that I wish I had gone 😅 There are reasons why I decided to study in Germany instead of going to a prestigious school like Polimi. One of the most important reasons was that I thought the standard of living was higher. Germany is generally a student-friendly country and living costs are very low, especially in Dessau.
Another reason was that there were more job opportunities after graduation. For example, those who study in Italy also come to Germany to work. For this reason, it made more sense for me to learn German and get used to Germany in advance.
Another reason might be the idea of studying at the foot of the somewhat famous Bauhaus building and graduating in that building. Also because this heritage is in Dessau, there were a lot of architectural events here before the pandemic intervened. ðŸ¦
In addition to these, there were factors such as the fact that the DIA master's program was more practice-oriented and the courses were conducted by smaller groups and progressed in the form of individual projects. In the education system in Italy, doing projects with groups of 6-7 people was not attractive to me.
At this stage, I can give the following information; there are different types of universities in Germany; universities, technical universities, art schools and applied universities. I can very simply divide them into two, universities and universities of applied sciences. The university I am studying at is an applied university and these universities are more geared towards preparing you for business life, they emphasize project-based education rather than theory. It might be good to decide whether you want to pursue an academic career or prepare for business life. Because it is not impossible to get a PhD after Hochschule, but it is not looked upon very favourably.
I chose Hochschule Anhalt because my own preference was to adapt to Germany, learn German and get an education related to my own profession in Germany.
How does the system work at DIA (Dessau International Architecture Graduate School)?
Here, you study for 3 semesters, and in the last 1 semester, you write your thesis. Of course, the thesis here is a project-oriented thesis. There are compulsory courses in the normal semester. Studio classes are in groups of 10-15 people. In total, 8-10 studios are opened, for example, and at the beginning of the semester, you choose which studio you want to be in. The best advantage of the school is that the professors come from outside. People who normally have an office and are active architects or engineers are teaching or they have their own offices or they are in contact with offices. This also affects the projects you can do. For example, for my design project in my first semester, I designed a car production factory for BMW, for which we went to Munich twice (during non-corona times) and had both a field trip and a final presentation.
Cad-logic courses and elective courses can be arranged according to your preference. My personal opinion is that if you want to add something to yourself and if you can get along with the professors, DIA turns into a school that you can really benefit from. But unfortunately, it is a place where you can graduate without adding anything to yourself. Apart from that, I think the fact that the school is not fully institutionalized is really a problem. This already leads to the problem that there is no standardized education and it seems very strange to me for a university in Germany :D But I have to admit that non-standardized education has its own benefits. The school can easily bring in professors from outside. The fact that the professors are actively working outside is very positive for you to make good contacts at the beginning of your career. If you can make yourself noticed in the lessons, you may have good opportunities 😊
Am I happy now? Yes, I am happy and I do not regret any of my decisions. I think my biggest regret, for now, is that I have neglected to learn the language and that my education coincided with the pandemic. Let's talk again after the job application process. Let's see if I am happy with my life then :D
This is how my adventure of coming to Germany developed in general. I hope the information I have provided and my perspectives on my own decisions will help you.
See you in the comments. Take care...
Sanem
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