Lüneburg, Germany

Offered Fall, Spring, or Summer Terms

The “Simpson Experience Abroad” in Lüneburg, Germany offers students an intensive living and learning experience in Northern Germany. Simpson students will join other international students participating in this program operated by USAC (a consortium of US colleges and universities) in conjunction with Leuphana University and its faculty to take German language classes plus additional coursework in the areas of culture, history, and/or European Studies taught in English. Students have the option to either live with a local German family or in an apartment in town with other students. The program offers optional field trips, excursions, and cultural activities throughout the semester which provide students the opportunity to learn even more about Germany and German culture, some of which have an added cost.

What’s LünebUrg Like?

Lüneburg was founded more than 1,000 years ago and grew to be one of Germany's most prosperous towns in the Middle Ages. It has been able to preserve almost all of its architectural treasures, such as a town hall dating back to the year 1230 and a monastery founded in 1172. Today 74,000 people call Lüneburg home, and visitors are enchanted by its narrow cobblestone streets, small shops and cafes, and original medieval red-brick architecture. Living in Lüneburg is comfortable. Getting around by bike and public transport, or even walking through its quiet streets and parks, is safe and easy. A community of 9,000 university students ensures a vibrant young culture with numerous festivals and cultural events. Hamburg, Germany's second largest city, is just a 30-minute train ride away.

Cost of the program

To participate in the program, students pay Simpson tuition, room and board plus a program fee of $3,500 – $4,000.  In addition, students are also responsible for covering their air transportation costs to and from Lüneburg of approximately $1,300 from Des Moines.

Requirements

Students must have a grade point average of at least 2.5 both at the time of application for the program and at the time of departure in order to be able to study abroad.

To apply for admission into the program, students should complete the online application, and upload all of the required documents by Nov. 6, 2020 for a Fall 2021 program or by Apr. 2, 2021 for a Spring 2022 program.  An application includes: 

• Creating an account on the online application system, and then completing the online application process on that site.
• Writing a one to a two-page personal statement explaining why you’re interested in this semester program and how it fits into your educational goals.
• Providing the names and contact information for two people who could serve as references (neither of whom are related to you and at least one should be a Simpson professor) on your skills, abilities, and character.

Then, upload the following to your SC Connect account:

• a copy of your Simpson College degree audit.  Once you’ve obtained your degree audit on your SC Connect account, right-click within the web browser and “Select All”. Then right-click again and select “Copy”. Open a new document in Microsoft Word and change the orientation to Landscape. Then right-click in the document to “Paste” the Degree Audit into the new Word document. Save this document as a .pdf file by selecting “PDF” from the “Save file type” drop-down menu which is located below the file name.  Then upload the file
• a copy of the data page from your passport, if you already have it, but if you don’t already have a passport, then upload a copy of your completed passport application (with your SSN blacked out). Please note: you are not required to submit that completed passport application, the supporting documentation or the associated processing fee to the Warren County Recorder’s Office or any other passport application processing site until you’ve received notification that you have been accepted into a travel course.
• Proof that you’ve made a $200 non-refundable deposit to the Simpson College Business Office.  This deposit is applied to the program cost, upon acceptance to the program, and will be credited back to the student’s account should they not be accepted into the program. 

• When you submit your completed application materials, you will be asked to sign up for a 15-minute interview with the Director of International Education.  Students will be notified of their status in the Lüneburg program soon afterwards.    A second deposit payment of $300 will be due by Mar. 15 or Oct. 15 of the semester prior to the student's semester in Germany.

• Final program fee payment is due to be paid with semester tuition prior to departing the U.S. for the student's semester abroad.

  For more information, contact:

  Matthew Kaye
  Director of International Education
  Simpson College
  701 North C Street
  Indianola, IA 50125
  (515) 961-1288
  toll free (800) 362-2454, ext. 1288