My name is Lina, I am 19 years old and the adventure of studying is starting immediately. Yes, I am what the higher semesters mock, who constantly gets lost on campus and has no idea of anything: a first year student.
The choice of my place of study was kindly helped by hochschulstart.de , which is the foundation that allocates study places nationwide for medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine and pharmacy. And so I moved from a small cow village in northern Bavaria to beautiful Münster, where I was incredibly lucky to secure a place to study medicine. Keep in mind that I “only” achieved an average of 1.4 in my Abitur, which is seen as a “bad” average when allocating medical study places.
Fortunately, only around 20% of the sought-after study places in medicine are awarded on the basis of the NC alone. The majority of places - around 60% - are distributed based on a letter of motivation and the university's own selection process. These test the general scientific understanding and individual suitability of the applicants for the field of medicine. And so I also had to endure such a selection process and at the same time got to know my new home in Münster. Back then, Münster greeted me with February-like weather: cold and rainy. Nevertheless, I immediately took the city to my heart. I felt comfortable here from the start.
But wait, you're probably wondering now - what about February and she's only starting her studies now? I completed a voluntary service from September 2014 to August 2015, more precisely a voluntary ecological year on the North Sea. (I can only warmly recommend it!)
And that's why I was able to "save" my study place from the summer semester of 2015 and am now starting the winter semester of 2015/16.
I've been living in Münster for about three weeks now. And so far I have only had positive experiences: when looking for an apartment, making my first university acquaintances, the first university event, the first university party, the O-week, the first pub crawl and so on.
I've already met a lot of new, really nice friends. At the beginning it was of course a bit strange to meet up with strangers from your own semester, but the alternative was to waste away alone in the apartment and that was definitely out of the question for me.
And by the introductory week at the latest, we've really gotten to know each other. Next weekend we'll go on a first-year trip together. Where is it going? This is still a secret, but we are all incredibly excited. Above all, I'm happy that I found people with whom I can get lost on campus. Together as freshmen.
Lina is 19 years old and started her medical studies in Münster in the winter semester of 2015/2016. She writes on our website once a month about her experiences as a first-year student. Lina isn't actually called Lina at all. Since she would rather remain unrecognized, she writes here under a pseudonym. You can find more stories from Lina's life in her blog self-sewn .
