The Freiburg Program
Please note: Study abroad programs sponsored
by the undergraduate College of the University of Chicago are open to
University of Chicago students only. Applications from outside the University
are not accepted.
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View of the Black Forest from the Freiburg Cathedral
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The autumn-quarter Freiburg program offers students in the College an opportunity to study German language at the intermediate (second-year) level in a completely German-speaking environment. The program is fashioned upon the language "immersion" principle in which students receive daily German language instruction, reside with a local family, and observe a strict no-English rule. While most of the language instruction is entrusted to International House Freiburg, a highly regarded language school, a Chicago German lecturer attached to the group teaches an additional subject-based course. This course, which will treat some aspect of German culture, history or politics (the specific theme will change from year to year), is taught in German at a level appropriate to the group and is very much in service to the goal of getting each student to a "personal best" in that language. Apart from his or her teaching duties, the German lecturer acts also as a general support person, monitoring the progress of each student and taking responsibility for the general welfare of the Chicago group. In addition to classroom instruction, the Freiburg program features excursions to sites of historical or cultural interest in Germany, including an extended visit to a major German city. Freiburg itself, a modest and charming medieval city nestled in the Black Forest, home to a major German University, is a key attraction of the program.
Participants in the Freiburg program will live with a local family, a living situation that incluces most meals during the week. Normally (but with occasional exceptions) the host family will live reasonably close to the City center, a short streetcar or bicycle ride from International House. This homestay arrangement is a central element of the Freiburg program, providing an intimate glimpse of German domestic life as well as a living "language lab" for practicing one's German.
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Altstadt (Old Town)
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Students will receive credit for the full year of intermediate German language (German 20100, 20200 and 20300) as well as the additional course offered by the Chicago German lecturer. All four of these credits are posted, with grades, on the student's Chicago transcript.
Students remain registered full-time in the College and pay regular College tuition, the Freiburg program fee and the non-refundable study abroad administrative fee required of all participants in Chicago's programs abroad. For precise figures, see Study Abroad Program Fees..
Students retain their financial aid eligibility while abroad. However, two expenses--the study abroad administrative fee and round-trip airfare --are not underwritten by College financial aid. On the other hand, since students cannot be expected to work part-time while in Germany, the self-help component of their financial aid package does not include a term-time employment factor.
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The Freiburg program is designed for students who have taken the elementary German sequence (German 10100, 10200, 10300 or 10201, 10300) or who demonstrate by examination a comparable competence in German. It is also reasonable for a student who has taken the first quarter of the intermediate sequence (German 20100) to take part in the Freiburg program despite the redundant German 20100 credit. The program is open to all 2nd-, 3rd- and 4th-year Chicago undergraduates in good standing regardless of their major. Apart from making a strong beginning in German, an applicant to the Freiburg program should present a solid academic record in general and demonstrate the kind of maturity that is necessary to participate successfully in a program of this sort.
An interview with Catherine Baumann (Cobb 508; 702-8008; c-baumann@uchicago.edu), the Director of the Freiburg program, is required along with the online application.
A student accepting an offer of admission is expected to secure his or her place with a non-refundable study abroad administrative fee.
If you would like to discuss the Freiburg program
and the possibility of participating in it, please contact Erika Mercer (Harper 216; 834-5424).
Statements contained on this site are subject
to change without notice.
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