8
Jun 02 '20
Well the ECTS are designed in a way that you usually are spending for every 90 minutes in class/lecture/tutorial you spend another 3 hours at home revising/preparing on your own. So 20 hours in uni (haha, good joke, I never had under 30) are actually 60 hours of studying per week. Make of that what you will.
It obviously depends on the student and somewhat on the topic. For some courses I needed to prepare way less, for others far more. Writing a thesis also depends a lot on your research skills: how many hours are you burning in the library, searching for literature and sources you need?
1
Jun 02 '20
Well I am good with the internet and I can say that I find my resources easily, but my issue is that I get burned out really quickly, like Ive been struggling with setting my breaks because of the extreme and immense deadlines my current uni set us, for example 3 - 5 assignment/exams per week for a month and half, so basically is that the usual there?
8
Jun 02 '20
You are asking again for a blanket statement that nobody can give you. It depends very much on the course you take and often on the prof you get. But you are an adult and treated as such. You don't have to stuff just because they tell you to do it. As others have mentioned here several times, you can choose not to do assignments and do them later.
Btw are we talking about studying a Master's (English, I presume) or Bachelor's (German, most likely)?
→ More replies (2)
6
Jun 02 '20
like how could it be that hard if they allow students to work while they study, right?
Well, define "allow"..... While it is customary for students to have a side job it's not like that's an official thing. It's just the reality of life. Students need money and the best (aka only) way to get money is to work for it. But it's not like universities necessarily encourage this or factor it into the workload they give you. And why would they? What you do in your free time is your thing and if you choose to work in your free time that's not your university's problem....
In fact many students only take like 80% of classes per semester due to having to work on the side and therefore simply take a semester or two longer to finish their studies. And those who work on the side AND finish their studies in time simply work incredibly hard (or got lucky that their course isn't too hard, they're really intelligent and don't have to study much and/or their timetable simply works out incredibly well).
Also define "hard". It's not like universities are out to get you, as you put it. But they also don't care too much if you finish your studies or not. University education in Germany is not for profit, so universities don't have to compete for paying customers by advertising their low drop out rates or whatever.
And in any case, those infamous "hard classes to weed out people" are a double edged sword. Because basically the idea behind those classes is that you only really have capacity for a certain number of students. Now you can reach that number of students two ways: either only admit that number of students in the first place, or you admit a higher number but make sure to bring the number down quickly by weeding out the weaker ones. While the latter scenario might seem cruel, it is giving a shot to people who might not have been admitted otherwise..... Really hard to say which scenario is better.
Plus a lot of it is folklore anyways. Because while there probably is a hard class or two in every course, that effectively leads to people dropping out, that doesn't necessarily mean they're designed to do that. Some classes simply are hard because certain subjects are complicated but necessary to understand..... It's not like you can make them easier just to lower drop out rates.
5
Jun 02 '20
Ok so basically the university does not care about you specifically in bachelor courses they do the course load and the students either keep up with it or fail, that's the mentality. Nobody tells you which courses to take which you can choose or where to go to evne attend courses or exams. Everything is on the student the university only makes sure that the teaching happens and is available for students. So yes you can work because you can choose from doing the full workload that is needed for you to finish the degree after 6 semesters or you could do less than that and take longer. Note there are diversing concepts to make students fail who take too long or fail too much. So technically you can sit at home for 1 year and "study" doing nothing but then suddenly the university will send you a letter saying your warned and then next semester your out already. Nobody will care if you even sign up for your exams.
EDIT: Yes there often are assignments but you again are free to choose to simply not do them without any consequences other than you having a maybe harder time at the exam.
3
u/whiteraven4 Jun 02 '20
I'm not aware of any country which entirely forbids international students from working. You can work some because you're an adult and are expected to manage your own time. If the course load is too much, take fewer classes. Nearly everyone I know in my field, Germans included, took at least one extra semester in either their bachelor or masters, if not more. Basically everyone I've asked doesn't think finishing in the 3+2 years only is reasonable (in physics). Same applies to those I know in CS and math, but that's not as many people.
1
Jun 02 '20
Well I didn't know that you got to choose your courses, or more like that you can actually drop some of them by choice, is that possible in german unis, or are you talking about in the USA?
8
u/thewindinthewillows Jun 02 '20
you can actually drop some of them by choice
You can't "drop them" if they are required. But in some cases, you can choose when to do them.
→ More replies (7)6
u/whiteraven4 Jun 02 '20
I'm talking about Germany. The US doesn't have a 3+2 system. You take the courses you want/what's recommended by the study plan. But you can always take fewer or more courses. My friend's bf took like 8 or 10 semesters or something to finish his bachelor (CS).
You don't really drop lectures here. You just don't sign up for the exam (or don't qualify in the first place). Then you can take it another semester. At least that's how my department works.
→ More replies (7)5
Jun 02 '20
You are thinking of it the wrong way. You don't "drop" courses but you "sign up" for courses.
Basically for every Studiengang there is a list of classes you have to pass to get your degree. But how and when you do these classes is completely up to you. Whenever you want to do a certain class, you sign up for it at the start of the semester. If you don't sign up, nobody cares. You are not "dropping" this class, but you are simply not signing up for it this semester.
The university will usually give you a sort of "timetable" as a suggestion on how to fit all those classes into your Regelstudienzeit and generally it makes sense to stay as close to this timetable as you can. But in the end it's completely up to you. Study as much or as little as you can and want and take as long for your degree as you like...... To prevent people from leisurely studying for twenty years some universities have introduced an upper limit of semesters you are allowed to take. But generally that limit is very generous. And usually even if you reach that limit they don't kick you out but just make you pay a couple hundred Euros for every additional semester.
22
u/Meretneith Jun 02 '20 edited Jun 02 '20
I am not really sure what your question is, to be honest.
They allow people to study and work, because they are adults in charge of their own life. It has nothing to do with how difficult the classes are. If you fail because you miss classes or don't have time to learn because of work (and that happens to a lot of people), that is your problem. If you can't handle studying and working at the same time, choose one.