How to study Geology in Germany? – Know from a student!

(By Aman Gupta, M.Sc. Marine Geosciences, University of Bremen)
Planning to study your Masters in “not too mainstream subjects” in Germany? This is the blog for you.
Did you ever plan to study in Germany but there were not many options other than Engineering?
A Lot of people don’t know that they can pursue different fields in Germany and that too in English as a medium of instruction.
Anyone who did his Bachelors in Science (B.Sc.) can easily look out for some options for their Masters in Science (M.Sc.).
And today I will share with you you can easily study Geology in Germany, from my own personal experience!

Beginning of becoming a Geologist

With the increasing number of people going for engineering and medical courses in their bachelors it’s really competitive to get into a decent college in India. As I was unable to get into one of them, I started looking for options. I looked into my interests more and came across a rarely taught course in India, GEOLOGY. Luckily with my 12th score I got into one of the only two colleges under University of Delhi which taught Geology as a Bachelors in Science.
In the start it was very weird when my relatives went clueless after listening to Geology. They were always like “is it Geography? Or Zoology? Or something like Biology…”. That’s always a struggle and most of the students of Geology can relate to this.
In the meantime I gained a lot of knowledge and experience from my Internships, seniors and professors due to which I came to know about the possibilities of studying my masters abroad and that too in Germany.

What is Geology?

For most of you who don’t know what geology is or what a geologist does, so, to answer that in a really simple way, a Geologist studies the exterior and the interior of the earth, the rocks and other materials around us, and the processes that formed those materials.
As a student or even as a researcher, the most fun part of this program is the field trips. Once you are in this course, you get to go on some trips, trekking on mountains, crossing the glaciers or cruising on sea which makes it very different from other mainstream courses.
You have a lot of options to opt for once you try to look for your masters. You may go for Remote Sensing, GIS, Marine Geosciences, Material Chemistry, Geosciences, etc.

I chose Marine Geosciences at University of Bremen

So, while going through my options I chose Marine Geosciences because it fell in line with my interests of studies with Ice Caps, Glaciers and Geophysical research methods. I chose the University of Bremen because they are linked with other Research Organizations like AWI, MARUM, GLOMAR, etc. and also try to give the students experience of the professional world.

This field is not yet developed in India, so I thought it would be my best chance to study abroad where there is a more practical approach to every subject. Also, whatever we are taught here is like first hand knowledge from the Professors because they teach us directly from their research and experiences from their expeditions.

A little insight to my Masters program:

You can choose a minimum of 3 modules in a semester from a variety of fields which is not a lot.
You can choose to move towards Biogeochemical or Geophysical Field, or if you are coding savvy, you can opt for modelling subjects. If you want to pursue something like studies of Cryosphere, there is also an option to go for Glaciology.
Technical instrumentation is used in all the subjects which helps you a lot in the professional world. The major focus is always on the Geophysical methods which are widely used around the world right now.
We are taught everything with a view of conservation of this environment and sustainable development, so, we also study about some alternate natural resources like Gas Hydrates. This topic can really change the job market for geologists in the coming future.
We always have some in-class tasks which we need to discuss with our classmates and solve them. This always helps you to understand from others’ point of views.
If we still want to widen our learning horizons, we can opt for some modules from different courses like Environmental History or Environmental Physics.
In simple words there is a lot of scope of this course internationally, because global warming, climate change, natural resources, melting of ice etc.etc, are all what we study and research on. It’s just not facts, it’s science we do in Geology. 

My experience till now in 5 points

1. Amazing quality of life, beautiful place with tons of castles. Minimal pollution and a lively population.
2. Friendly professors and classmates. International community, so alot to experience and learn.
3. You can work as a student, which is enough to make you independent. I also manage to save some amount working part time.
4. Corona is the current situation due to which a lot of us are facing problems, but as a relief, in Bremen the vaccination process is pretty fast and most of us are almost fully vaccinated.
5. It’s pretty easy and also somewhat cheap to go around different Schengen countries.

5 Tips from me

1. Be active in your bachelors, attend a lot of internships, fields, workshops, seminars. Stay in touch with your professors and seniors always.
2. Always look out for courses and modules which you are interested in for your masters.
3. Create a habit of reading research papers.
4. Gain some skills in your field (like learning ArcGIS or QGIS for Geologists)
5. Learn to speak the native language of the country you are moving in.
   IT ALWAYS HELPS!!!
   
   
   
   -Aman Gupta, M.Sc. Marine Geosciences, University of Bremen.

(If you also wish to come to Germany for your studies then do check out the Free PDF on Basic admission requirements on studying in Germany)