This Story is About…

Hi, my name is Anda, and I am from Craiova, Romania! Right now, I am studying at Construct University, Bremen (Germany), where I'm pursuing a Bachelor in Electrical and Computer Engineering. I’m in final year, the third one.

Extracurricular Activities

I did a lot of volunteering throughout high school. I was part of the Red Cross in the ninth grade for a few months. The Red Cross shelters, feeds, and provides comfort to people affected by disasters and distributes humanitarian aid. In my case, the Red Cross was about gathering supplies for some underdeveloped communities—stuff like notebooks or pens. We did this in supermarkets, asking people to donate.

Then I joined Leo Terranova, which is a volunteering club that offered many chances to develop myself. I attended the activities for three years, up until I graduated. It was a great experience, where I met a lot of new people, and we did a lot of awesome projects together.

Passion—Found and Pursued

I really liked physics in school. I think I also took my final exams in physics in high school. I liked learning about physics, watching videos, and attending classes, which sparked my interest. Later, I had the chance to discover the practical side, and I realized that this is something I really enjoy.

Therefore, my greatest passion was doing experiments in my free time, discovering physics on my own. I would experiment with electrical circuits because I had been passionate about electrical engineering from a young age. I remember working with a few resistors and some electromotors.

This fun little activity blossomed later into an internship at CERN, Switzerland (the European Organization for Nuclear Research), during the 12th grade. This experience really motivated and inspired me for the future, weighing on my decision to study electrical engineering abroad.

This program happens once every few years, and all the member states of CERN choose around 20 or 25 students to attend. We were paired and worked on a project for two weeks, and at the end of those two weeks, we had to present what we worked on. We did a lot of simulations and worked in the labs.

Being in such an international community and seeing so many engineers from different places was very inspiring. It made me really want to work and study in an international environment, to meet new people and learn new things.

Studies—Major, Minor & Courses

My Major is Electrical and Computer Engineering, but I actually don’t have a Minor because we’re not allowed to.

There are a few Majors on campus, and Electrical and Computer Engineering is one of the ones that don’t allow minors. Minors would replace some courses in our curriculum instead of adding, so since we don’t have many options, the university considers all our courses essential for future knowledge and credits.

However, we can take extra courses from other Majors. For example, last semester, I took one from Robotics and Intelligent Systems.

Right now, I think theoretical study and practical assignments are balanced. A year ago, nothing was balanced. I had a lot of courses, lab work, an internship search, and a job. It was a lot, but things get better in the third year. Right now, I only have a few courses, and the next semester, I have my thesis, so I can easily balance my workload.

I believe the courses are demanding. First-year courses are manageable, but second-year courses are the most difficult. There are some courses that people just don’t pass. For my major, the graduation rate is low. For example, last year, only five people graduated. It’s difficult. You really have to like what you’re doing, be motivated, and put in a lot of consistent effort over a long period.

Teamwork is also very important in this field, as well as calmness and flexibility. Even with studying, we approach it as group work. My classmates and I discuss problems and solutions together. That’s how I usually study here. I think you have to be disciplined.

Practical Work

This is exactly the practical experience I was looking for, and this gave me the opportunity to observe how theory transforms into practice. I ran simulations, built experiments, and tested them. That way, I could compare simulations with physical experiments, analyze errors, and see if what I expected was actually happening.

For example, in a course called Electronics, we study how different elements work. We build circuits and learn how each component behaves on its own. We combine them into specific circuits and compare them with simulations in order to write lab reports that analyse both theory and practical results.

I was actually a teaching assistant in the lab for one year. I think it really enhanced my practical skills. It’s one thing to build a circuit yourself and see everything from your own perspective, but as a teaching assistant, I was checking other students’ circuits, improving or fixing them when they had issues. That helped me see how different people approached the same experiment. Even the way they built their circuits was different, and they made different mistakes or found different solutions.

Application Process

This university is a bit special because it mixes the German education system with the American one. I had to take the SAT, for example (my score was 1380), but a good thing is that they also accept Cambridge as a language proficiency test. There were also other requirements like a recommendation letter, a motivation letter, and an application through the Common App, which is usually used for U.S. universities.

The process was well-explained on the website, so I just followed the steps. If I had questions, I emailed the university, and they were pretty responsive. I studied for the SAT on my own and applied step by step.

However, I don’t think the admission officers put that much emphasis on grades. They do offer some scholarships based on grades, but I think other factors matter more, like the motivation letter, reference letters, volunteering, and extracurricular activities. These are things that describe your personality.

I really liked writing my personal statement, which was about a crisis I managed to overcome during a volunteering activity. There was an event where we had planned a Christmas play, but the group that was supposed to perform told us just one week before that they couldn’t come. It was a very big event, with clubs from other cities attending and even some of my teachers coming.

There was a lot of pressure to find another group willing to perform in such a short time. It was stressful, but we managed to pull together and find a solution. In my statement, I focused on the transition from a moment of hopelessness to teamwork, adaptation, and finally, success. We were really happy that we managed to make it work and use the donations for what we had planned.

Life on Campus

The tuition here is 20,000€/year, only for classes. Besides that, you also have to pay 8,000€ if you want to stay on campus for the room and food, which is mandatory during the first year. This University offers a scholarship of €4,000 for EU students. It can go up to €8,000 depending on your high school achievements, grades, and extracurriculars. I have the €8,000 one.

In the first year, you have to stay on campus, which means you pay for accommodation and a meal plan. For tuition, there’s an option called tuition deferral. It’s not a loan—you only start paying it back after graduation, and only when your salary reaches a certain threshold. Then, you start making yearly payments. Living in Bremen isn’t that expensive compared to cities like Berlin, Munich, Hamburg.

I really like public transport in Germany. As students, we pay for a semester ticket, which lets us travel within a certain area for free. You can also upgrade it for €23 to travel all over Germany on regional trains, buses, and metro systems.

As for the accommodation part, people here are really friendly, and if you ever have a problem, there is always someone you can ask. There were a lot of activities and events, and I was meeting new people all the time. Everything was so hectic and exciting that I didn’t feel homesick. There are four colleges on campus, each of which has its own personality, mascot, and colour. It’s kind of like Harry Potter houses. Mine would be Gryffindor. Our colour is red, and people are very friendly. I met a lot of amazing friends, and I’m really enjoying my experience here.

Internship, my Taste of Reality

Applying

I also had an internship at the company that I’m working for, and it shaped my whole trajectory, helping me realize what I want to pursue. I’m doing my thesis there, too.

I started very early with my CV. I asked the career services on campus to check it and give me feedback.

The university doesn’t help that much in finding opportunities like this. There is a career fair, but for my major, there aren’t many opportunities there, so I had to find them myself. I didn’t have any connections in Germany, so I just searched online, applied through company websites, and used LinkedIn.

I started applying. I also wrote a motivation letter and applied with a recommendation letter from CERN, along with my English certificate if required. I also submitted documents proving I was a student because some internships are only open to students.

I applied to a few places in October and November. Then, in December, I had exams, so I stopped applying.

In January, I started again, applying to two positions every day for three weeks. I got a few interviews and then chose where I wanted to go. So, overall, I’d say this process took about a month of structured effort.

I had an Excel sheet where I tracked all my applications—where I applied, when I sent my application, whether they replied, and the position’s title. Staying organized really helped. I’m doing the same now while applying for Master’s programs, keeping lists of required documents and deadlines.

Experience

I did some lab work, but I mostly worked on simulations. Before you build something in real life, you don’t want to waste money and resources on a design that might not work.

You place components and use tools like transfer functions or mathematical models to describe the system. You also check if the system would be stable in real life or if it would behave unexpectedly. Even though you see components on the screen and connect them, you have to understand the mathematics behind them to troubleshoot or optimize the design.

I’m mostly involved in a research project. I do simulations for circuits and power electronics, combining it with control theory topics. It really gave me the opportunity to put theory into practice and get used to a work environment in Germany.

I’ll Tell You What It Was

I realized how much of a bubble this university is. On campus, it doesn’t always feel like Germany—everyone speaks English, and the environment is very international.

But when I started working at the research institute, I noticed the difference. The institute is English-friendly, and my supervisor speaks English. In meetings, people can speak English, but naturally, it’s easier for them to speak German.

So, I improved my German skills there. That was one of the biggest shocks—seeing the difference between the university environment and real life in Germany.

For my Master’s, I’m planning to go to a public university, but this experience was really valuable. The opportunities I had here helped me grow both personally and professionally.