Course selection and registration

Before leaving Germany, make sure you have already browsed the courses available and filled out your course proposal for study abroad. This form is meant to be a guideline and should not be considered your final course selection. You may find when you arrive in Germany that courses you selected are not offered, or that your planned courses are offered at conflicting times. In these cases, please submit a new course proposal to find out how your newly selected courses will count and how many credit hours you will receive at MU so that you will stay on track academically.

Course selection on site may be one of the most stressful aspects of your study abroad experience. Be aware that you will need to do the research for selecting your courses, which may also include collecting department schedules from the individual departments and attending classes to obtain copies of syllabuses. Be prepared to do a lot of waiting in lines and running around campus.

The registration process in Germany is much different than at MU and varies by university. You should work with the local international office to determine the registration process at your university. The following is one example of what the course registration process might be like at your university.

First, you will need to buy a Vorlesungsverzeichnis at any academic bookstore (or look online for course offerings). It costs about 7–10 euro and lists all of the classes offered for the semester. After you have chosen your courses, you need to go to the particular Fakultäten, or academic departments, for those courses to make sure the time hasn’t changed and to find out where the class meets and when the first session will take place. Refer to the index pages of the Vorlesungsverzeichnis for the specific addresses and locations.

Very few classes start the first week. For Übungun, Seminar, Praktikum and Exkursion courses, you will likely need to register (anmelden) ahead of time.

Grades and credits

Generally, courses you take should be instructed in German. You must maintain full-time student status while you are in Germany by taking the equivalent of at least 12 credits. Students on direct-enroll programs will be registered at MU for 12 credit hours. Students on exchange programs will be registered at MU for 15 credit hours and charged accordingly. You may end up earning only 12 credits, but you will not be refunded the difference.

The grades you earn for the courses you take on this MU study abroad program will not appear on your MU transcript, nor will they affect your MU GPA. As long as you earn a satisfactory grade in each course, you will earn credit for it and a mark of “S” will appear on your record. If you earn less than a satisfactory grade in a course, you will not earn credit for the course and a mark of “U” will appear on your record.

The German grading scale is made up of numbers one through six, with one being the highest, or 15 to zero, with 15 being the highest, instead of the American scale based on letters A through F. This is not the only model for converting German and U.S. grades. Interpretations will vary between institutions, so find out what the passing/satisfactory grade is for your institution.

Be sure you resubmit your course proposal if you are taking courses not originally listed on your course proposal so that you know exactly how many credits you will receive for the semester.

Scheine

In order to receive a Schein (course certificate) for a course, you need to make arrangements with all respective instructors within the first week of classes. This will ensure that each instructor will give you a Schein at the end of the semester. It is imperative that you collect your Scheine before you leave Germany (promptly at the end of your course) and turn them in to the international office at your host university. This is your responsibility. In the past it has been nearly impossible to get a hold of an instructor after a student has returned to the United States. The coordinator at your host university’s international office will create a transcript based on the Scheine you submit and send it to the Mizzou Study Abroad office.

Scheine must have ECTS credit and a grade in order to be considered for transfer credit. You should keep a record of all your course work, notes and other relevant materials for each course in case you are called upon to justify credit at MU when you return.

Host university structure

Generally, a year at a German university consists of two semesters: the winter semester, which runs from the beginning of October to the end of March, and the summer semester, which runs from the beginning of April to the end of September. Lectures begin in the middle of October or April and end in mid-February or mid-July.

Transcripts

Upon returning, students often have to wait for their transcripts to be sent from their host universities. While this can be frustrating, there are some things you can do while abroad that make this an easier process, as well as to protect yourself from any possible discrepancies.

• Make sure you are properly registered. You should check and double-check that you are properly enrolled in the classes at your host university for which you want to earn credit. If you are not properly registered, no grade will be posted and you may not be able to earn credit for the course. If you enroll in a class and then decide to drop it, it will appear on your transcript as an incomplete, which will be translated as unsatisfactory on your MU record.
• Keep class materials. To avoid any discrepancies, it is crucial that you keep all materials related to the course work you take at your host university. If the course has a syllabus, keep a copy of it and ensure it lists the course name, instructor’s name, department, address, phone number and email address. If there isn’t a syllabus, you should ask the instructor to give you all the above-mentioned information. It is also a good idea to get a written bibliography of the texts used in class. Keep a hard copy of all papers you write for class and, if possible, get a copy of all tests you take. If you don’t want to carry all of these documents with you on your travels, you can send them home through a trackable courier service, such as FedEx, so you are sure they arrive safely. If you are returning home as soon as your program ends, then keep these documents in your carry-on luggage to be sure they don’t get lost.
• Obtain an official transcript before returning if possible. If you are studying abroad during your last 30 hours at MU, it is in your best interest to get an official transcript of all course work from your host university prior to your departure. It sometimes takes the university as long as five or six months to send the transcripts to the Mizzou Study Abroad office, which may be too late to get your credits translated and posted before the applicable graduation deadlines. Take the official transcript to your study abroad adviser in a sealed envelope so your grades can be posted to your MU record shortly after you return.

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