As an international direct student at USC, you’ll receive:

• Exclusive and rigorous academic coursework
• Priority access to in-demand courses that fit your interests
• Guidance from academic advisors and mentors
• Career development and networking opportunities
• Intensive classes with domestic students

There are 100 million German speakers in Europe and around the world. Their language is the key to understanding poets like Goethe and Walther von der Vogelweide, thinkers like Kant and Nietzsche, composers like Bach and Beethoven, political leaders like Barbarossa and Bismarck, scientists like Leibniz and Grimm, and theologians like Meister Eckhart and Martin Luther. There is much more to German history than World War II, for example, the Great Migration of the Germanic tribes, the Holy Roman Empire, the Reformation, the Enlightenment, and Romanticism.

An undergraduate major in German will give you a head start on the future. In the twenty-first century, unified Germany has become the economic and political leader of the European Union. It is also one of the main partners of the United States in an increasingly internationalized world. Right here in South Carolina, there are over 120 German companies.

Completing a BA degree in German prepares students for a host of careers dealing with Germany, one of the United States’ most important partners internationally. Students who major in German will learn about German culture, history, politics, and society, providing a context with which to understand the leading role played by Germany in the European Union, both politically and economically. While becoming proficient in German, the most spoken language in Europe with approximately 90 million speakers worldwide, students will gain an understanding of Germany’s historical importance, the cultural background of the largest European immigrant group in the United States, and the home country of over 100 companies in South Carolina. They will also have opportunities to study abroad in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. 

USC has the largest undergraduate German program in South Carolina. Students in the program take advantage of a medium-sized program with nine full-time faculty members and diverse course offerings in German language, literature, culture, linguistics, and Business German. The program’s graduates have received numerous fellowships and internships from the Fulbright Foundation, the German Academic Exchange Service, and the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange, and BMW in Spartanburg. Recent USC German majors have been accepted at graduate programs, including those at USC, Washington University in St. Louis, Georgetown University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Virginia.

Students who graduate with a degree in German will be equipped with the following skills:

• Proficiency in the German language
• Critical thinking/analytical reasoning
• Verbal and written skills in English
• Research experience
• Cross-cultural literacy
• Global awareness
• Ability to work with diverse groups

Aside from preparing students for a career as teacher, translator, or college professor, a BA in German graduate can develop a career in international business, international law, the Foreign Service, and hospitality and tourism, government, translation and interpreting, and journalism etc..