The education system in Germany is very different from the education system in many countires, therefore, before going to study in Germany, it is necessary to understand the positive and negative aspects of this system in order to make the right choice.
First of all, you need to know that only a certificate of secondary education is sometimes not enough to enter a German university.
Germans go to school for 12 grades, so the German Ministry of Education does not approve of 10 or 11 grades of secondary education. Therefore, you can either enter a university at home and study there for 2 years, after which you can safely enter a German university. If you want to enroll immediately after school, then you need to enroll in the so-called preparatory department in Germany. "Studienkolleg", study there for a year, pass exams after completing the preparatory department, after which you can enter a German university. But there are two problems in this scheme. It is better for you to study these two years at a state university at home, because many German universities do not accept documents from students studying at private universities in their homelands. And the second is that when entering the "Studienkolleg" (preparatory department) you must decide on your future specialty in advance, because there you will be offered to choose subjects, based on the results of which you will be enrolled in the desired specialty. If, for example, you choose subjects of the technical spectrum, after graduating from the preparatory department (dt. Studienkolleg) you will not be able to enroll in a humanities specialty at a German university.
Secondly, it is necessary to know that in Germany there are no entrance exams to universities, except for the German language proficiency exam, and creative exams for those who enter the so-called. "creative specialties".
Germans do not take any exams when entering universities, except for the so-called "creative" universities, as they are enrolled based on the results of school exams. For foreign students who have studied at home for two years at a university or have already graduated from a university, there is a single exam - the international German language exam TestDaF, TelcC1, Goethe-Zertifikat C1 or DSH. If you studied for a year at the "Studienkolleg", after finishing school, then you take this exam there and improve your German. If you studied at home at a university, then you have the following options: You can take the German language exam directly at a German university. Many large universities in Germany provide international students with this opportunity; You can also take this exam at the Goethe Institute at home or at courses in Germany. If you are studying or have already completed German philology at a university at home, you will unfortunately still have to take a German language exam, because Germans are skeptical about the quality of german philological education in other countries.
Thirdly, you need to know that you can easily enter a German university not for all specialties.
Germany is experiencing a boom in the influx of students into such specialties as law, economics, medicine, and computer technology. If you are going to enter one of these specialties, you will have to "sweat". The first thing you need in this case is to have the best grades possible in your diploma or transcript of records from your university at home (for those who studied at home for two years). Second, you need to apply to as many German universities as possible, where there is a desired specialty. As a rule, with not the best grades, you have a chance to enter a second-rate university, but it's not too bad either, you can then transfer to another university. If you have money, then you can easily study any of the above-mentioned specialties at a private German university, but it should be noted that this is not cheap in Germany.
Fourthly, it is necessary to be aware that each German university is autonomous in decision-making and therefore the requirements for admission and the study process can vary greatly from university to university.
It is rather difficult for us to understand, because many countries are used to the general requirements for admission and study at almost all universities. But in Germany, everything is much more complicated. As a rule, only two things are the same at German universities - the date of submission of documents and the start of the semester, as well as the fact that you, as a foreigner, need to pass an exam on knowledge of the German language. All other requirements of German universities can be very different, so in each specific case you will have to clarify the list of documents that must be submitted to the admissions committee, as well as the terms of payment and studying. On the other hand, this, in my opinion, is a plus of German higher education institutions, because if you were rejected at one higher education institution for some ridiculous reason, then at another higher education institution they may simply not pay attention to this reason.
Fifth, you need to know that you have the opportunity to have your diploma or transcript of records approved at a German university.
Indeed, such an opportunity exists and many of our students take advantage of this opportunity. There were even cases when the university approved to the student in almost all academic disciplines and, instead of 5 years, he/she had to study only one semester. But again, each university does the process of recalculating disciplines according to its own scheme, not only that, very often it depends on one specific person, namely the dean of the faculty, who has bad and good days. At our faculty, there have been cases when people with diplomas from the same university received completely opposite results during the approval of diplomas: one had half of the diploma approved, and the other had 2-3 disciplines. In this case, you have to hope that luck will be on your side.