DAAD Study Grant

[doctordestiny]

I received my package a few days ago, but at home so my parents will need to ship me the actual hard copy (with the acceptance form that you need to complete). Apparently they still use carbon paper!

[pinkUnicorn]

East coast (Montreal), and for some reason mail to-from Germany usually gets here super fast

[vautrin]

mine finally made its way to berlin, too

[hereslookinateuclid]

Received in Los Angeles today! The funny/agonizing part is...the envelope arrived open, and this "Your DAAD-Scholarship, Guidelines and Information" booklet they keep referring to as so long and important and integral etc etc seems to have FALLEN OUT EN ROUTE. Just emailed Ms. Kim in NY to ask for another one...sigh.

[Kujtim Rahmani]

do anyone knows when are German language courses for students that receive DAAD scholarship for Master studies

[pinkUnicorn]

hereslookinateuclid, it could be worse, it could have been your Letter of Award... Anyway, I was curious - what will you study in Berlin?

[hereslookinateuclid]

So true! I emailed DAAD Bonn, and they had a replacement in the mail within a few hours, so no worries.

My whole DAAD app was about the Public History MA program at the Freie Universität Berlin, aka the only Public History program in Germany, aka my only opportunity to do a German-language, modern/contemporary German/European history-based Public History MA in the world. SO EXCITED. Of course...I'm not yet officially accepted by the uni, and it seems that I won't have an official response til mid-July, which is not exactly helping my daily stress levels...DAAD NY and DAAD Bonn told me to apply to some other programs just in case.

What about you?

[pinkUnicorn]

Oh right, you mentioned this before, but somehow it didn't register =). I'll be doing a Math & Physics Master's at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. It's in English, my German skills are not yet at the level where I could take courses in it.

Well your program sounds pretty exciting, and I'm sure there's nothing to worry about in terms of acceptance - your DAAD Scholarship is another argument in your favor!

[nosilla90]

Oh right, you mentioned this before, but somehow it didn't register =). I'll be doing a Math & Physics Master's at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. It's in English, my German skills are not yet at the level where I could take courses in it.

Well your program sounds pretty exciting, and I'm sure there's nothing to worry about in terms of acceptance - your DAAD Scholarship is another argument in your favor!

I'll be in Munich too but at TU! Although I received the DAAD, I'll actually be there under Fulbright. Did you starting looking for housing yet/know where even to begin? It seems so expensive and complicated...

[pinkUnicorn]

Hi nosilla90,

Housing is actually my main concern right now. I'm trying to use the "DAAD Scholar" argument to get housing through LMU (writing to various people from the Inernational Office), but that is likely to not work (normally they only arrange housing for ERASMUS exchange students). Regardless, you should definitely ask TUM people whether its possible to book a Studentenwerk room through them. And while you do that, you may want to consider to get in line for Studentenwerk housing (http://www.studentenwerk-muenchen.de/en/accommodation/munich-student-union-student-halls-of-residence/how-do-i-apply/). The waiting times are super long, but you never know, a miracle might happen. I got in line back in February, but still not very hopeful. If all that fails, there are also dorms not affiliated with Studentenwerk, you can try googling them (ex: http://www.newman-haus.de/, http://www.studentenwohnheim-willi-graf.de/, http://www.schollheim.net/). Now that's pretty much it for furnished rooms (usually those are dorms or super expensive rooms for rent for foreigners with funds exceeding our scholarships).

I'm still hoping I can get into some dorm, but if not, a WG it is. And that's super complicated, since you need to get furniture, and that just adds to your already substantial list of things to do in the first couple of days in Germany!

Anyway, hope that helped a bit, let's keep each other posted on our housing situations!

[vautrin]

guessing you already know these sites, but in case not:

wg-gesucht.de

wgcompany.de

and if you look on craigslist for appartments be extremely skeptical - it's not really used by most Germans and a good portion of the ads on there are scams catered towards ripping off Americans, so be wary especially if someone wants you to pay via western union.

[nosilla90]

Thank you both so much! I'll keep you updated with how the search goes, and if I find out anything else, I'll be sure to let you know!

[vautrin]

Starting to look into the whole applying to an M.A. program thing further and I've just noticed that on the letter I got from the DAAD it says "Please inform the administrators of your Master's program right away that you have been selected for a DAAD scholarship." - I am slightly confused first of all about who I should be writing to and second of all what I should say, exactly. Has anyone else done this? should we just say something like: "Hello [sehrgeehrtefrau/herrsoandso], I wanted to let you know that I have been selected for a DAAD graduate scholarship and will be applying to your program next month?"

[pinkUnicorn]

vautrin,

I've done this already, but I'm already accepted to the program, so actually it was even worse, i.e. "Remember me? I got funding, yay!". I'm not sure if this is a formality or actually important, but I think you should email them anyway. It will only better your chances of getting into the program (not that I mean that your chances are not good, but apparently a DAAD scholarship is pretty much a one-way street to get accepted anyway), and you can always use the excuse "well this paper says I should email you, so I am".

[pu12]

Hey all,

I have a question about the coursework—I emailed the NY Office, no response. My letter of award has placed me at the institution where my mentor is located. It is affiliated with a university, but the institution itself doesn't offer courses. Am I free to apply to any university I want to fulfill the two courses? Someone at the meeting asked a similar question, but didn't get a response...

[vautrin]

I've started uploading stuff on uni-assist so i can apply, but I was totally surprised/baffled by the part of the application that said I need to document 900 hours of "Berufspraktische Erfahrung" outside of school. I think I probably have worked that much, but the hours are spread out over multiple employers and hunting down all of them would be extremely difficult... anyone else trying to find documentation for this part of the application? (would something like an independent research project on a fellowship also count towards this if I didn't use the hours for credit?)

Edited May 26, 2012 by vautrin

[tanzbaer]

Hello DAAD scholarship alumni! I'm not sure if anyone is still following this thread, but I though I'd give it a shot. I'm preparing my documents for the DAAD Study Scholarship for the winter semester in 2013 and I hope to get into a German Master's program. I'm writing because I'm a little bit confused by the term "study proposal" used in the application guidelines. On the DAAD website the instructions state that...

Applicants for Master's programs should have a study proposal explaining why a particular program has been chosen and how it will further the applicant's educational and career goals. The proposal should be no more than two pages in length, double spaced. Your name should appear on each page.

From what I understand, a study proposal is a research proposal. But, this "study proposal" sounds dangerously close to a "statement of purpose" or a narrative on one's personal background and interests. I have been trying to find examples of past study proposals, but have only been able to find examples for the "independent study" section of the application (the five-page research proposals). I was wondering, do any of you who applied for a Master's program have any suggestions/tips for how to write the study proposal? I want to make sure that I am approaching this two-page paper correctly. Do you have any advice as to what to include? Should I include my educational and career goals plus a research question, literary reviews, etc. (like a research proposal)? Or does including my educational and career goals as well as why I am interested in pursuing a Master's degree at that particular university suffice?

Just nervous that I'm tackling this proposal incorrectly...

Thank you!

[pinkUnicorn]

tanzbaer,

From what I understood, it's really important to convey why it's necessary (or at least very very important) for you to do your Master's in Germany and at this particular institution. If you have a research project in mind and have contacted potential supervisors, definitely mention that, but I wouldn't go too much in detail. I think a formal proposal with a bibliography would be too much. I talked a bit about my previous academic trips to Germany, the perfect fit of the Master's program I'll be enrolled in to my academic and research interests, and also my desire to learn German. Mentioning that you're open to continuing your education in Germany (PhD etc) could be beneficial, but that's personal. Honestly, I feel like this should be very similar to a statement of purpose, except geared toward Germany (that's what I did and it seemed to have worked =).

Good luck!

[tanzbaer]

PinkUnicorn,

Thanks so much for the response! Hearing what you included in your proposal puts my mind at ease. Have a great year and thanks again!

[Wanderlust90]

Hello all,

I was recently thinking about applying for a DAAD grant but noticed the deadline is Nov. 15. Is it too late to get started and be able to have proof of correspondence with a German university? I believe most unis here won't begin courses until Oct. 15 or so.

Thanks!

[Bethelem]

This only to know if my account works. Later I will explain my concern about the scholarship by DAAD.

[Laliloo]

Dear DAAD Scholarship Alumni,

I am preparing my application to attend an M.A Program for Fall 2014. I'm  having trouble organizing my 2 page statement since the prompt seems very vague.Would anybody would be willing to send me their statement per email ? and/ or have words of advice for getting it done?   I would be very very appreciative. Vielen dank! 

[Laliloo]

Hello!
Is anyone here applying for the graduate study grant for next fall ( October 1 2014- July 31 2015) ? 

I am eager to swap/ discuss the 2 page study proposal for applying to a Masters program. 
 

[kelseygwynne]

Hello!

Is anyone here applying for the graduate study grant for next fall ( October 1 2014- July 31 2015) ? 

I am eager to swap/ discuss the 2 page study proposal for applying to a Masters program. 

 

 

I am considering applying! I applied for the Fulbright last year and didn't get it, so I'm nervous about how difficult THIS application process is. I'm hazy on how to set up affiliations with this program: do I need a letter like I did for Fulbright, or do I simply supply nothing? Help!

[wellsbells]

Hello!

Is anyone here applying for the graduate study grant for next fall ( October 1 2014- July 31 2015) ? 

I am eager to swap/ discuss the 2 page study proposal for applying to a Masters program. 

 

 

Hey! I am currently apply for a M.A graduate study program for oct 2014 - july 2015 too. Have you had much luck with your study proposal? I am just about to start writing mine but have no idea what exactly I should be including... I'm guessing they want us to describe our motivation for choosing the program and its educational and career benefits, desire to learn German etc?

Any one else have any tips on what should be included? 

 

Cheers