Program Requirements and Opportunities

Bryn Mawr German and German Studies is a Bi-College Department with Haverford German. By drawing on the expertise of the faculty at both colleges, the Department has established an interdisciplinary German Studies program. Our program investigates the role and global reach of German language, literature, and culture to understand the essential questions of the past and the present. We explore the diverse voices, perspectives, disciplines, and narratives that have emerged from and shape German-speaking regions and their relevance in the world today.

Students who pursue a course of study in German gain valuable communication and critical thinking skills for the challenges of the twenty-first century. Graduates of our program enjoy careers in law, medicine, translation, public policy, education, and more. Students interested in the social sciences and STEM fields profit from growing their language and intercultural communicative skills to access opportunities in German-speaking countries.

Our language instruction challenges students from the elementary level to become skilled in all modes of communication. Upper-level courses explore a variety of topics while deepening their critical writing, reading, and presentational skills. Cross-disciplinary course offerings reflect the breadth and depth of our curriculum and support the academic and professional goals of our students. German majors are encouraged to take courses and cultivate interests in interdisciplinary areas that engage with German thought.

College Foreign Language Requirement

The College's foreign language requirement may be satisfied by completing two courses taught in German with an average grade of at least 2.0.

Major Requirements

The Department of German and German Studies offers a major and a minor. A German major consists of 10 credits. After completing German 002 (or its equivalent), the German major requires:

- two intermediate German courses (101 and 102)

- seven courses at the 200 and 300 level

- one of the four senior capstone options

Students placed at the advanced level (at the 200 level) must still take 10 credits to fulfill major requirements. Out of the seven courses at the 200 or 300 level, up to two can be taken outside of the department on topics related to German Studies pending approval from the Chair of German.

All German majors must take at least one 200 and one 300 level course in the Bi-Co German Department. For students studying abroad for one semester, up to four courses may count toward the major. For students studying abroad for an entire academic year, up to six courses may count toward the major. Approval from the department is required for awarding credits from abroad.

The Department of German and German Studies offers writing attentive and writing intensive courses. Majors are required to take two writing attentive courses to help them develop critical writing skills in German and work on their language proficiency across all modes of communication.

Minor Requirements

A minor in German and German Studies consists of six credits. To minor, students are required to take:

- two Intermediate German courses (101 and 102)

- four German courses at the 200 and 300 level

All German minors must take at least one 200 and one 300 level course in the Bi-Co German Department. At least one course has to be at the 300 level with German as the language of instruction.

Students placed at the advanced level (at the 200 level) must still take 6 credits to fulfill minor requirements.

Senior Capstone Project

A senior project is required for all German majors. There are four options available to German majors and double majors to serve as meaningful capstones to their studies:

- A senior thesis (40 pages) in German.

- A combined thesis (40 + pages) written in English for double majors in a related discipline with a strong German Studies component. A combined thesis has to be approved by the department.

- A senior essay (20 pages) for double majors, which grows out of a research paper produced in a 300 level seminar. Students pursuing this option will not take the Senior Conference and instead will take an additional 300 level seminar.

- A project, which may be either a 15-20-minute film or an exhibition with a portfolio and summary in German. The content of the project and portfolio should be equivalent to a 40-page research paper in German.

Students writing a senior thesis will register for GERM 400. Students completing a combined thesis will register for thesis work with one of their major departments, but are still required to complete 10 credits for their German major.

Senior Capstone Presentation

At the conclusion of their senior year, all majors are expected to participate in a public presentation of their capstone projects. Minors are invited to present on a project they have done in their upper-level German coursework.

Department Learning Goals

By promoting knowledge of German speaking cultures, the Bi-Co German Department fosters skills and literacies for the twenty-first century. These include:

- critical thinking for real-world and creative problem-solving

- expository and analytical writing skills

- a command of the critical theories and methodologies used to analyze and contextualize cultural artifacts, texts, and media from the past and present

- intercultural competence by exploring different perspectives in a multilingual and multicultural world

- interdisciplinary connections that grow from the global resonance of German Studies

- communicational skills applicable across all fields in multilingual environments

- skills for evaluating media and primary and secondary sources for research purposes.

These goals are informed by the learning outcomes of Bryn Mawr College, emphasizing writing skills, research skills, oral communication skills, critical thinking skills, and the ability to view problems and questions from multiple perspectives.

Senior Project Learning Goals

In completing the senior capstone, students should:

- formulate a theoretically informed and well-designed research project

- apply their German?? language skills to research, evaluate, and analyze cultural materials

- hone analytical and expository writing skills through all stages of the project

Assessment of Senior Thesis

The quality of the thesis is evaluated based on the following criteria:

- originality of topic

- depth of analysis of texts or cultural phenomena

- familiarity with and selection of relevant primary and secondary literature appropriate to genre of writing and discipline

- original application of relevant theoretical discourses in field(s) of interest

- clarity, coherence, and organization of writing and development of ideas

- delivery of a presentation to an audience of peers

Honors

Any student whose grade point average in the major at the end of their senior year is 3.8 or higher qualifies for departmental honors. Students who have completed a thesis and whose major grade point average at the end of the senior year is 3.6 or higher, but not 3.8, are eligible to be discussed as candidates for departmental honors. A student in this range of eligibility must be sponsored by at least one faculty member with whom she has done coursework, and at least one other faculty member must read some of the student's advanced work and agree on the excellence of the work in order for departmental honors to be awarded. If there is a sharp difference of opinion, additional readers will serve as needed.

Study Abroad/Away

Students majoring or minoring in German are encouraged to spend time in German-speaking countries over the course of their studies. Short-term and long-term opportunities include:

- immersive summer programs in the US and abroad

- summer courses at German universities funded by DAAD (German Academic Exchange) scholarships, Thomas Raeburn White Scholarship, and Judy Loomis Gould Scholarship.

- select semester and year-long study abroad programs including the Junior Year Abroad in Munich or IES Programs in Berlin, Freiburg, and Vienna

- internships or other career-focused experiences arranged independently through study abroad opportunities