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What Students Say
Likes
- Fewer students in every class.
- Practical learning experience for most of the theoretical topics.
- Lots of events to help students get to know each other and the professors.
Dislikes
- Student dormitories are a bit pricier than the sublet apartments in Darmstadt.
- Looking for the sublet can be a bit tricky and a headache at times.
- The number of foreign students is increasing, especially in non-German courses.
Course Curriculum
8
- The courses I took were not from my specialization at my home university, but even then I was able to score among the top 10 in every class. The classes were a mix of both theory and practical, with a 75% weightage to theory and 25% to lab components.
- Even during the theory sessions, the professor often gave several examples of his own projects that helped understand the topic much more easily.
- The lab sessions were a bit fast-paced and the deadlines were very tight throughout the semester.
- 3-4 classes were scheduled per day, depending on the slots taken by the students; the timing can be in the morning or evening slots.
- The average number of students in the class was roughly 20–25.
- There were roughly 85% Indian students in the course.
Admission Experience
- I applied for the following university: Hochschule Darmstadt (Admitted)
- Since it is an opportunity for an exchange semester only, I only applied for Hochschule Darmstadt in Germany, as this was the only university that was providing English language courses.
- My college (VIT University) has shared the list of universities where we can pursue an exchange semester. I selected only Hochschule Darmstadt.
- There were other students who applied to universities in Sweden and other countries too.
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Reason for choosing this college:
- 1. English language courses were available.
- 2. My TOEFL score was enough for the admission (89/120).
- 3. This university has a very good profile in the robotics department (the IMSEIT Department with an automation major).
- Admission Process:
- 1. My home university, VIT Vellore, has an International Relations department that has taken care of all the procedures for our admission once we have finalized the name of the college we want to pursue the exchange semester in from the list of all partner universities of VIT Vellore.
- 2. We needed to write the motivation letter and other trivial details about ourselves.
- Accepted exams:
- The only required exam for a non-german course at Hochschule Darmstadt is English Proficiency exam (TOEFL: Minimum 88/120)
- The overall admission process was pretty smooth, as the IR Office at Hochschule Darmstadt and at VIT Vellore was very, very helpful and supportive in everything. They have conducted several information sessions for each and every topic, like Visa, APS, housing, before arrival in Germany, during the stay and post-concluding the stay.
- I have applied for the September intake. Because that was the only semester I had available to pursue an exchange semester.
- Admission process timeline:
- April, 2023: I received a mail from the IR Office at VIT Vellore that was being forwarded to all the students in the prefinal year. The email was to inform students about the possible opportunity for the next semester and to select from the list of partner universities.
- I have selected the Hochschule Darmstadt after carefully going through the available courses and the eligibility criteria.
- June 2023: 7 SHORTLISTED STUDENTS names were shared that are eligible for the exchange program. I was one of them.
- June, 2023: The application form was shared by the Hochschule Darmstadt IR Office to fill out and attach the required documents like a passport copy, transcript of record, and motivation letter.
- July, 2023: We have received the confirmation letter for the admission with which we needed to apply the APS certificate. The one that takes the longest time.
- July, 2023: I went to the Delhi APS Office to personally submit the form of all 4 students who got admitted to Hochschule Darmstadt for exchange studies. We need to pay the 20k Rs fees for the APS application beforehand.
- July, 2023: We have received the APS Certificate in just 17 days after payment, probably because we have applied in a group, our stay is shorter, and exchange students are safer.
- July, 2023: I went to the VFS Global visa office in New Delhi for the visa interview. I took the premium services package, where I was given a visa officer of my own, and I can take any number of printouts and photographs in case I missed any.
- August 2023: I got my visa-stamped passport by post.
Faculty
10
- The faculty-student ratio is roughly around 1:20. This helped the students to interact more with the students in and after the class, which resulted in a higher quality of learning.
- Many professors also had an open session every Friday at 10 AM so any student could join in the meeting link and interact with the professor from anywhere.
- Since most of the learnings are based on current industry trends and requirements, and the hands-on experience in labs makes the students industry-ready.
- Mostly no, no professor helps in finding the jobs with their references, as far as I know. But the university does organize a job fair for companies to come and interact with the students and discuss their requirements and open positions.
- I admire the computer vision and adaptive control modeling and identification professors the most because of their high proficiency and command not just of the topic but also of the students.
Campus Life
10
- The Hochschule Darmstadt has 2 campuses, one in Darmstadt for STEM Branches and one in Dieburg (a nearby city) for animation, arts, etc.
- h_da has one library in each of the campuses, and 2 other libraries of another university (TU Darmstadt) can also be accessed by the students.
- There is a stadium for the students where many different sports, like football and basketball, are played, for which the students need to enroll.
- There are several get-together events for every batch of exchange students, like trips to Marburg, Heidelberg, nearby areas, and even for the entire campus of the university to understand what is where.
- Majorly, there are month-long holidays during the new year, starting a week before Christmas.
- The sports facilities available are plenty and can be pursued after paying a certain amount.
Part Time Jobs
- Under every professor, there were roughly 2-3 research assistants working.
- The pay is around 600-750 euros per month.
- The maximum hours of work allowed for the students are 120 days full-time and 240 days part-time. Mentioned along with the visa also.
- Full-time timing is 8 hours, and part-time timing is 4 hours.
- The hourly wage is a minimum of 14 euros for jobs off campus and 13 euros for jobs on campus.
- On-campus jobs are very difficult, but with the right skill set, they are doable.
- Part-time jobs can provide students with a roughly wage of 14 euros in the day shift and 30% extra during the night shift. There are also hefty bonuses during the Christmas season. I have worked at an Amazon Warehouse as a sortation associate during the night shift; securing this job was not so difficult.
- Most of the time, there are agencies like Adecco that take care of the onboarding process at Amazon warehouses and manage manpower based on the demand from Amazon. The application includes just filling up a form, showing a visa and working near the visa to get selected in a week or 2 based on the demand.
Placement
8
- Being an exchange student, I attended the first semester courses of the master's program, and I came to my home university after the exchange semester. Hence, I am not sure about the placement scenario of that batch.
- There are no campus placements at Hochschule Darmstadt as they happen in India; the students approach the companies using online forums and attend the recruitment process on their own. Although there is a recruitment cell that helps develop the CV and other documents to help students place at high-end companies.
Accommodation
Off Campus
8
- For the initial stay in Germany, I thought I would be able to find a room by myself, so I decided not to opt for the student apartments, which was a very bad decision. After so much effort and applying at numerous websites for 2 months, I found a sublet for just the 1st month. Then I went to the IR office at h_da for help; luckily, an exchange student failed to join in due to medical reasons, so I got a student apartment at Karlshof.
- Monthly rent: 535 euros (Including Gas, heating, water, 1 mini fridge, 3 separate rooms (one for each sublet), 1 common kitchen and bathroom)
- The accommodations in Darmstadt are highly in demand and could be expensive most of the time. There were a lot of frauds also that will try to give you very good rooms for very cheap and take the money while you were still in India and will tell you that they will send the keys by post because they are not in Germany. Beware of these fraudsters.
- My accommodation was roughly 20 minutes away from my university, which can be bifurcated as follows: 5 minutes walking, 10 minutes on the bus, and 5 minutes walking.
Exams
- TOEFL
- The minimum score required for admission was 88/120.
- I had an 89/120 score in TOEFL.
- 1 Statement of Purpose/Motivation Letter.
- 1 CV and 1 LOR were needed apart from the certificates from competitions and hackathons.
- I took 2 LORs from my professors at VIT Vellore; one was my German language professor, and another was a technical one.
- No interview was conducted.
Fees
- Being a public university, there were no fees as such, but we needed to pay a per-semester fee of around 284 euros to get our student IDs (which is also the travel ticket to anywhere in Germany using buses, trams and local trains).
- The Visa process needs a blocked amount of roughly 10 lakh rupees for 1 year (5 lakh for me, 6-month period), which is released every month so that we can cover the living and other expenses.
- Once we have the student ID, we don't have to pay a single penny over travel in Germany as soon as the ID is valid (it renews every semester).
- The hostels cost a fortune, ranging from 350 Euros to 650 Euros and even 1000+ Euros for studio apartments. My hostel, which was a 3-room shared apartment, cost me around 533 euros a month.
- My monthly expense was roughly 700 to 800 euros, as I cooked my own food and ate outside during exams. A 1-time meal cost around 15 euros.
Scholarship
- Yes, I have received the STIBET scholarship to pursue the exchange semester.
- It was exclusively for exchange students and was roughly 240 euros per month for a 5-month period.
- Yes, my friends from EU countries have received a full ERASMUS scholarship for the same exchange semester at Hochschule Darmstadt that covered all the costs like travel, visa, housing, and studies.
- Typically, 2 students in every batch of exchange students receive the STIBET Scholarship, which amounts to roughly 240 euros a month.
