German Language and Literatures

Engaged German

Engaged German takes what you’re learning in your courses and puts it into practice through internships, research, study away, winter term, career exploration, and beyond.

Here’s a sampling of recent projects, field experiences, and post-graduate destinations for German majors.

RISE at Oberlin
Research. Internships. Study Away. Experiential Learning.

Ways German Majors Rise

Research

  • German-Persian Connections: Goethe and Hafez in Dialogue in the West-östlicher Divan
  • Schönberg’s Moses und Aron and Modernism’s Bilderverbot
  • City and Society in Works by Schnitzler and Mu Shiying
  • Exploring the Use of the Organ in the Moravian Church in America and Its Influence on American Sacred Music

Internships

  • Terrell Main Library, Oberlin College, German rare book and manuscript collection
  • Publicity assistant for German poet and activist Esther Dischereit, Berlin
  • Winter term intensive, Beginning German course instructors
  • Affiliate marketing for HBO, NYC
  • Art assistant, Columbia Pictures, NYC
  • Senator John Heinz History Center, Pa.
  • Assistant to German Immersion Summer Courses, Ala.
  • Research intern, Universite Pierre et Marie Curie, France

Study Away

  • BCA Study Abroad in Marburg, Germany
  • German Exchange Scholarship (various German universities)
  • Duke in Berlin, Germany
  • Dresden University Studies Program (Boston University)
  • Junior year in Munich
  • Competitive summer stipends for study in Germany, Austria, or Switzerland

Experiential Learning

  • Max Kade House (German House): a program house at Oberlin for students who want to learn and speak German; opportunities to engage in social, cultural, and academic activities in German
  • Annual German writer-in-residence seminar
  • The annual Translation Symposium enables students to present original translations in a public forum.

First Destinations of Recent German Majors

  • Graduate Schools:
    • PhD in German literature at Yale University, University of Virginia, and University of California, Berkeley
    • PhD in anthropology at University of Virginia
    • JD at University of Illinois School of Law
    • MBA at Vanderbilt University
    • MA in cross cultural & international education at Bowling Green State University
    • MA in history at Indiana University
    • Master’s program at Vienna School of International Studies
  • Fellowships:
    • Fulbright and DAAD research and teaching fellows in Germany
    • USTA fellows in Austria
  • Positions:
    • Director and deputy general counsel at Citi/London overseeing legal transactions with German institutions
    • Internship at VICE Media, Germany
    • Professors of German at Washington University in St. Louis, Davidson College, Oberlin College, and University of Arizona
    • Professional translators
    • Assistant location manager, Search Party Productions, NYC