Humboldt University Berlin vs Freie University of Berlin

I studied at the HU campus outside the city centre in Adlershof, so I will review this part of the university. It is home to most natural science faculties. The area is well-reconnected and easily accessed from the south and eastern parts of Berlin. The campus is bright and tranquil, featuring modern buildings. Some, such as the Institute for Physics, are award-winning examples of sustainable architecture. The library in the Erwin-Schrödinger Zentrum is the centrepiece of the campus and one of the best in Berlin. It is well-stocked and spacious. You always find a place at a desk to study for your exams. This is in total contrast to the overcrowded Grimm-Zentrum library in Mitte.

In the lectures there is also enough space to sit and in the tutorials you will probably be in a reasonably small group. With some exceptions the professors are good at lecturing in general, and are all accomplished scientists in their fields. The quality of the tutorials is generally satisfactory to excellent. They are the most helpful aspect of studying. There are PC Pools for each faculty, with computer facilities and free printing. I found the computers sometimes too slow though. There was free software provided, that was useful for the study programme. While I don’t have another experience of studying the same subject elsewhere, I am happy I studied there.

In Berlin there is also an active local of a student organisation that I had the privilege to join, called AEGEE-Berlin. This is a large, interdisciplinary, Europe-wide organisation that is dedicated to forming young Europeans and raising our European consciousness in order to build a better world! AEGEE does this through a lot of amazing projects, the description of which would fall outside the scope of this review. But go check them out!

Humboldt University is sufficient platform for international studies . There are lots of opportunities to realize your scientific research. Especially students appreciate the libraries which are placed in different areas of the city, which makes it easier to use, just choose the nearest to your place. Especially pleasant thing are buildings of the university, referred to an imperial time style. Most rooms are modern, with transparent malls, and multimedia support. The studying system is sometimes confusing. It consist of moduls and students are supposed to compose their schedule by themselves . Sometimes it could lead to term’s missings and longer studying, or coinciding subjects . Scheduling could be improved in general.

Amazing elite university with a long history and academic traditions! 🙂 A wide variety of prominent scholars have studied and/or worked here.
There are several campuses, one of which is situated directly in the centre of the city. Nearby is the outstanding Grimm-Zentrum — probably the largest library in Europe.
The university has a lot of international partnerships, which allows its students to participate in various exchange programms. Both international and “native” students can get support as well as advice.
One can only recommend this university!

It seems to me that it is an excellent university with a very good academic degree and the teachers focused on teaching their students as much as possible, excellent also clean buildings and in the best of the states, all very technological and modern.

Our university is located in the South Western part of Berlin, has excellent faculties of Political Science and Humanities. But as with most universities, bureaucracy isn’t very efficient and also frequent construction can lead to students being a bit disoriented. Also the buildings are quite old and ugly.

I enjoyed my time here, though I was sometimes bothered by the overwhelming anonymity- a feeling that many of my colleagues have expressed over the course of our studies. I would recommend the FU Berlin to anyone who is better able and willing to study independently and keep track of every bit of their due work themselves, rather than work in smaller groups and take lots of tutorship. This school might just be too massive for that.

Free University Berlin is a big and beautiful campus with lots of international students. There are associations for international students, but there is also a special international office for foreign students within the host university.
The university takes part in the so called Excellence Initiative. This state programme allocates special funds to the very best of German universities and thus enables the university to found graduate schools and transdisciplinary research clusters, which provide very good opportunities for those who are pursuing an academic career.
The Free University of Berlin also offers a variety of other activities and sports, which are subsidised by the university thus making more expensive sports available to students.
Students who would like to study at this university should keep in mind that it is situated in Dahlem Dorf. This district in the southwest of the city is far away from the city centre. Therefore I recommend checking beforehand how long it will take from your future home to get to university. Students should also check where exactly on campus their department is situated.
University does not cost that much. In case you cannot afford to pay for it, you’ll be given a loan which you could pay back once you find a job. Every student must pay a fee (around 240 Euro per semester). This allows you to travel with the local transport without restriction for six months.
Berlin is perfect for students and young people and it is really easy to meet other people willing to get in touch. The university is good, has average lessons and professors are great.
I would strongly recommend an experience in this university and city because of the open mindedness of the local people and because of the very high level of the professors providing students with a great amount of knowledge as well as the skills to raise critical judgement.
The people are generally internationally oriented and tend to regard foreigners as an added value of the city. This means you really feel part of the city.
During my study experience abroad, I attended courses where there were only 5% international students, but the local students were still very nice and helpful with us, as well as the professors.
I would say that having the opportunity to study at the Freie University Berlin was the best thing that happened in my life. Living and studying in Berlin changed me in a good way and it has opened my mind. I would say that this city and this university are the best choices I could have made.