German (Major)

Director of Undergraduate Studies:
TBA

Study Abroad

Students who participate in a study abroad program during the academic year must take at least 1 course from departmental offerings after their return to the home campus. Only one intensive language course taken abroad, whether completed during a summer program or the academic year, will count as an elective toward the first major, supplementary major, or minor.

Summer Language Courses

If a student completes a summer language program beyond the B1 level or its equivalent at a different institution, up to three credits towards any Department degree may be awarded, provided the following conditions are met: 

  1. The student must submit the results of an official exam (such as Goethe-Zertifikat, Goethe-Test PRO, TestDaF). 
  2. The exam must show that proficiency has improved by at least one level in at least two of the four skills (speaking, listening, reading, writing). Final approval is at the discretion of the DUS in German.

Successful completion of 10 courses (30 credit hours) beyond Intermediate German I (GE 20201).

These 10 courses must include successful completion of Intermediate German II (GE 20202); any two of German before Germany (GE 30303), German Literary and Cultural Tradition(s) (GE 30304), or Contemporary Germany (GE 30305); and an additional 7 electives, four of which must be numbered GE 20113 or above; two must be in German at the 40000-level; four may be in English.

Senior Thesis

German majors who elect to write a Senior Thesis must meet the following requirements:

  1. The student must have a GPA of 3.0 or higher in the major,
  2. Should be nominated by two members of the German faculty during the spring semester of his or her junior year and no later than the first week of classes fall semester of the senior year, and
  3. The thesis may be written in either German or English with a length of between 25–35 pages, including notes and references. (Exceptions beyond 35 pages require advisor approval.) Two bound copies of the final document are to be submitted to the Department of German.

For the fall semester the student will receive a satisfactory/unsatisfactory grade (3 credits) for Senior Thesis (GE 48499). At the completion of the thesis in the spring semester, the student will be given a letter grade (3 credits) for Senior Thesis II (GE 48498). Only the spring credits may count toward the 30-credit hour requirement for the major.

Departmental Honors

German first majors who wish to receive Departmental Honors must meet the above criteria as well as the following:

  1. The student will present their thesis work in a public forum, such as a departmental colloquium or an undergraduate conference, and
  2. The student must maintain a departmental GPA of 3.5 and receive no lower than an A– on the Senior Thesis.