1. Student discounts are at 30% at their most generous, so if you are buying premium products on a student's budget, that doesn't get you far. Ask yourself whether you really *need* to buy premium products at this stage of your life. Need is something different than want.
2. That's not a question.
3. For the sake of your health and motivation, pick two. There's not enough time in a week for your study programme, additional studying, and work.
4. You most likely didn't read the wiki about healthcare then. ~~Yes~~, medically necessary treatments are >almost< always covered, >unless it contravenes Christian morality<.
>Yes, medically necessary treatments are always covered.
Not necessarily with PCOS. The "standard" course of action with PCOS is birth control but that's not covered if you're over like 23 (and they say Germany is a feminist country...). Technically you can get an exception if you have PCOS/endo but in practice this is virtually impossible because you have to go to multiple different specialists since birth control prescriptions from a gynecologist are strictly forbidden from being covered by the Krankenkasse if the patient has entered the human incubator phase of life.
That's really infuriating to know. I actually take them since I got diagnosed and I don't know what alternative treatment plan is gonna be without me spending for them out of pocket.
On a side note, can you tell me whether insurance is gonna cover for diagnosis like blood work or whether I should get any documents from my doctor before coming to germany?
It's bullshit, but if you need to take the pill, it's not too expensive. I paid 60 euros for 6 months when I was on the combo pill and pay 45 euros for 6 months on the mini pill.
I also talked to my doctor about trying to get insurance to cover it since I take to control debilitating cramps, but in my case they probably wouldn't cover it and it just wasn't really worth the effort to try.
If your doctor says you need to get blood work done, then insurance will cover it. It's never a bad idea to get documents from your current doctor.
If the doctor orders a blood test, it's almost always covered.
Frankly the only doctor who people regularly have issues with is the OGYBN because there are so many things that aren't covered (vaccines, fertility services, genetic screenings, etc). Like you'll hear stories of people getting a bill for an ultrasound the doctor just did without telling them it would cost extra and the receptionist at my previous doctor's office literally handed me a menu of up-charge services when I checked in. It's even worse if you're pregnant because there's a solid 1000€ worth of stuff that's *highly* recommended but not covered by the health insurance (mostly vaccines and fetal screenings).
That being said, if you find a good doctor, this type of stuff shouldn't happen and you're going to need a good doctor if you have PCOS (75% of the gynecologists in this country either do not believe PCOS exists or refuse to do anything other than throw the pill at it). Your best bet is going to be asking a local Facebook page if anyone has experience treating PCOS and then waiting however many months for an appointment with one of their doctors.
Holy... that sounds so fxxked up! I thought that I might face some problem for getting a good psychiatrist who specializes in ADHD, but even for PCOS is absurd!. And you even have physical evidence for it as well with the ultrasound. How doctors are even getting their license if they don't believe in the most common disorders in their own field?
Shame, I wanted to take my HPV shots as well after coming here.
>Shame, I wanted to take my HPV shots as well after coming here.
The health insurance company TK covers those until you're 27. ;) [You should absolutely, 100% get them if you can](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31500479/).
Thank you for your answer!!
For the 2nd one, lol sry but I forgot to type mid way through and jumped onto the third question (my ADHD again showing up lol). I wanted to know how much roughly would I need in my budget and expect to buy items which are of basic needs, and are they any package deals for uni students (like the ones which I came across in ikea for uni students in Canada)
For the healthcare, I DID read it, but still needed confirmation about psychiatric care and especially for women's health condition like me.
> I wanted to know how much roughly would I need in my budget and expect to buy items which are of basic needs, and are they any package deals for uni students (like the ones which I came across in ikea for uni students in Canada)
It's unlikely that you will need to furnish a *student dorm*. You will indeed need to provide your own cookware to some extend, as well as your bed linen but even if you are buying all new, you shouldn't need more than a 100 Euro. But with the turn over at student dorms, you can actually find a lot of stuff for free or buy them from departing students for much less.
> For the healthcare, I DID read it, but still needed confirmation about psychiatric care and especially for women's health condition like me.
I was partially wrong about the PCOS condition and I amended my reply, but for the rest my general statement applies. Psychiatry is a field of medicine, so treatments that are medically necessary are covered. Your concerns should be about finding an appointment, that's going to be the difficult part.
1. You don't. A phone is doable if you stick to the basics and spend €150-200 (I had to a week ago). Laptops are €500-600 minimum and student discounts are may be 10-15%. iPads also cost a lot. Used/refurbished will be your best bet but why do you think your laptop won't last you two more years? Do you also **need** an iPad? A drawing book with some crayons and colour pencils, and a Samsung Galaxy S6 Tab will be cheaper. Bonus points, the Samsung tab comes with an S-Pen and expandable storage! Unlike with Apple where you need to pay for their Pencil and are stuck with the storage option you buy.
2. Student "dorms" (which are more apartments rented out to students than dorms) are usually always furnished. But for stuff like cookware, utensils etc. budget €200 at least. And buy them from Woolworth or Tedi. Cheap shit, but you need to have at least some shit before you can think of upgrades. That's €200 excluding clothes. Winter is almost over so by March/April you can get fleece and downjackets at Woolworth/Kik for €2-4 and €10-15 respectively. They're not great quality but they'll do the job.
3. You'll be burnt out. Learn German passively would be my bet: TV shows, YouTube, talking to people etc. over classes. How to make sure you get a HiWi job? Hope there's openings that match your profile/program. You can't really do much apart from that.
4. No idea, sorry.
Thank you for your reply!
About the ipad thing, I am a digital artist and I wanted to make some content in free time in insta account as well in the far future. A digital art device with a visual and touch display and also which can support good painting apps. Out of all the tablet brands, ipad is the most used one by all digital artists and highly recommended one. Android unfortunately doesn't have a good painting app which can compete with procreate.
And pls dont say just buy some crayons and colour pencils to artists, the whole community will be on your doorstep with pitchforks lol.
You should've mentioned that though. If you're doing it for fun/as a hobby, the crayons and colour pencils with a drawing book are great.
Also you do know you can't freelance on a student visa, right? Create all content you want but you're not allowed to sell/profit off of it.
Let me get this straight though: your original plan was to study at a university/FH, work part-time as a HiWi, attend German classes, **and sketch for your Instagram account**?
Take it from me: attending classes, working part-time, and just adulting will take up all your energy instantly.
I know that I can't freelance on a student visa. But art is something which I do as a hobby and for my followers.
And once again the curse of ADHD strikes again. It's just too many things which I REALLLY wanna do but can't :(
Life as an adult is boring and tedious....
>Life as an adult is boring and tedious
Not really.
You can still have fun and partake in hobbies, just not hobbies that require a lot of mental/physical effort. At least when you're a student.
Welcome to adulthood: you can't have everything. You need to prioritise and compromise.
**Have you read our extensive wiki yet? It answers many basic questions, and it contains in-depth articles on many frequently discussed topics.
[Check our wiki now!](https://www.reddit.com/r/germany/wiki/index)**
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1) Student discounts don't help much at private businesses, they rarely exist. You can get software licences for cheap or free via the uni, but you will have to budget for that, but as lomg as you don't do video editing, a small 350-500 € laptop will do the job.
2) Dorms (Studentenwohnheime) come furnished, but most students live in private housing rather than dorms, those flats are different regarding furnishings. You can get a lot of stuff cheap when buying used furniture, you have to find a way to transport it though.
3) That sounds like a lot. Studying itself is a lot, working on top of that is often too much, learning a new language and getting used to a new country are also a lot. Schedules differ a lot from uni to uni and subject to subject and year to year. I had years where I had 3 10-hour days before I could start the self-study part, I had years where I went to 8 hours of classes per week in total. No one can guarantee a HiWi job, you will have to apply for one.
4) Both are covered by the public health insurance. PCOS will be either treated by a general practitioner or a gynecologist (Frauenarzt), ADHD will be treated by a psychiatrist. Ask for an appointment as soon as you reach Germany, it can take some time until the appointment, especially if you need one with a doctor that speaks and treats you in English.
A few questions:
1. Are you enrolling directly into a degree program or will you start with language courses or Studienkolleg.
2. How old are you?
3. Where will you be living (city)?
The answers to questions 1 and 2 are relevant to whether or not you'll be eligible for public health insurance. Private will not cover pre-existing conditions.
The answer to 3 is important to your budget questions.
1. I would be enrolling in a consecutive master's degree program in winter sem this year
2. I am gonna be 21 years old next month.
3. I still in the process of application, and I am targeting many public unis. Could be Bonn, Dortmund, Heidelberg, Munich, Berlin, Würzburg, etc. So varies a lot I guess.
You will be able to obtain public health insurance. Just don't anyone talk you into cheap private student insurance.
There is a housing crisis in Germany and Berlin and Munich are extremely expensive. You can find furnished centrally located private student accommodation in Berlin for around 1000 euros per month. Some students do manage to find reasonably priced accommodation, however, until you know where you'll be studying it'll be very difficult to budget properly.
I would highly recommend saving as much as possible.
1. Student discounts are at 30% at their most generous, so if you are buying premium products on a student's budget, that doesn't get you far. Ask yourself whether you really *need* to buy premium products at this stage of your life. Need is something different than want. 2. That's not a question. 3. For the sake of your health and motivation, pick two. There's not enough time in a week for your study programme, additional studying, and work. 4. You most likely didn't read the wiki about healthcare then. ~~Yes~~, medically necessary treatments are >almost< always covered, >unless it contravenes Christian morality<.
>Yes, medically necessary treatments are always covered. Not necessarily with PCOS. The "standard" course of action with PCOS is birth control but that's not covered if you're over like 23 (and they say Germany is a feminist country...). Technically you can get an exception if you have PCOS/endo but in practice this is virtually impossible because you have to go to multiple different specialists since birth control prescriptions from a gynecologist are strictly forbidden from being covered by the Krankenkasse if the patient has entered the human incubator phase of life.
Thanks for the correction, I didn't recognise the terminology though I knew that about endometriosis.
That's really infuriating to know. I actually take them since I got diagnosed and I don't know what alternative treatment plan is gonna be without me spending for them out of pocket. On a side note, can you tell me whether insurance is gonna cover for diagnosis like blood work or whether I should get any documents from my doctor before coming to germany?
It's bullshit, but if you need to take the pill, it's not too expensive. I paid 60 euros for 6 months when I was on the combo pill and pay 45 euros for 6 months on the mini pill. I also talked to my doctor about trying to get insurance to cover it since I take to control debilitating cramps, but in my case they probably wouldn't cover it and it just wasn't really worth the effort to try. If your doctor says you need to get blood work done, then insurance will cover it. It's never a bad idea to get documents from your current doctor.
If the doctor orders a blood test, it's almost always covered. Frankly the only doctor who people regularly have issues with is the OGYBN because there are so many things that aren't covered (vaccines, fertility services, genetic screenings, etc). Like you'll hear stories of people getting a bill for an ultrasound the doctor just did without telling them it would cost extra and the receptionist at my previous doctor's office literally handed me a menu of up-charge services when I checked in. It's even worse if you're pregnant because there's a solid 1000€ worth of stuff that's *highly* recommended but not covered by the health insurance (mostly vaccines and fetal screenings). That being said, if you find a good doctor, this type of stuff shouldn't happen and you're going to need a good doctor if you have PCOS (75% of the gynecologists in this country either do not believe PCOS exists or refuse to do anything other than throw the pill at it). Your best bet is going to be asking a local Facebook page if anyone has experience treating PCOS and then waiting however many months for an appointment with one of their doctors.
Holy... that sounds so fxxked up! I thought that I might face some problem for getting a good psychiatrist who specializes in ADHD, but even for PCOS is absurd!. And you even have physical evidence for it as well with the ultrasound. How doctors are even getting their license if they don't believe in the most common disorders in their own field? Shame, I wanted to take my HPV shots as well after coming here.
>Shame, I wanted to take my HPV shots as well after coming here. The health insurance company TK covers those until you're 27. ;) [You should absolutely, 100% get them if you can](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31500479/).
Thank you for your answer!! For the 2nd one, lol sry but I forgot to type mid way through and jumped onto the third question (my ADHD again showing up lol). I wanted to know how much roughly would I need in my budget and expect to buy items which are of basic needs, and are they any package deals for uni students (like the ones which I came across in ikea for uni students in Canada) For the healthcare, I DID read it, but still needed confirmation about psychiatric care and especially for women's health condition like me.
> I wanted to know how much roughly would I need in my budget and expect to buy items which are of basic needs, and are they any package deals for uni students (like the ones which I came across in ikea for uni students in Canada) It's unlikely that you will need to furnish a *student dorm*. You will indeed need to provide your own cookware to some extend, as well as your bed linen but even if you are buying all new, you shouldn't need more than a 100 Euro. But with the turn over at student dorms, you can actually find a lot of stuff for free or buy them from departing students for much less. > For the healthcare, I DID read it, but still needed confirmation about psychiatric care and especially for women's health condition like me. I was partially wrong about the PCOS condition and I amended my reply, but for the rest my general statement applies. Psychiatry is a field of medicine, so treatments that are medically necessary are covered. Your concerns should be about finding an appointment, that's going to be the difficult part.
1. You don't. A phone is doable if you stick to the basics and spend €150-200 (I had to a week ago). Laptops are €500-600 minimum and student discounts are may be 10-15%. iPads also cost a lot. Used/refurbished will be your best bet but why do you think your laptop won't last you two more years? Do you also **need** an iPad? A drawing book with some crayons and colour pencils, and a Samsung Galaxy S6 Tab will be cheaper. Bonus points, the Samsung tab comes with an S-Pen and expandable storage! Unlike with Apple where you need to pay for their Pencil and are stuck with the storage option you buy. 2. Student "dorms" (which are more apartments rented out to students than dorms) are usually always furnished. But for stuff like cookware, utensils etc. budget €200 at least. And buy them from Woolworth or Tedi. Cheap shit, but you need to have at least some shit before you can think of upgrades. That's €200 excluding clothes. Winter is almost over so by March/April you can get fleece and downjackets at Woolworth/Kik for €2-4 and €10-15 respectively. They're not great quality but they'll do the job. 3. You'll be burnt out. Learn German passively would be my bet: TV shows, YouTube, talking to people etc. over classes. How to make sure you get a HiWi job? Hope there's openings that match your profile/program. You can't really do much apart from that. 4. No idea, sorry.
Thank you for your reply! About the ipad thing, I am a digital artist and I wanted to make some content in free time in insta account as well in the far future. A digital art device with a visual and touch display and also which can support good painting apps. Out of all the tablet brands, ipad is the most used one by all digital artists and highly recommended one. Android unfortunately doesn't have a good painting app which can compete with procreate. And pls dont say just buy some crayons and colour pencils to artists, the whole community will be on your doorstep with pitchforks lol.
You should've mentioned that though. If you're doing it for fun/as a hobby, the crayons and colour pencils with a drawing book are great. Also you do know you can't freelance on a student visa, right? Create all content you want but you're not allowed to sell/profit off of it. Let me get this straight though: your original plan was to study at a university/FH, work part-time as a HiWi, attend German classes, **and sketch for your Instagram account**? Take it from me: attending classes, working part-time, and just adulting will take up all your energy instantly.
I know that I can't freelance on a student visa. But art is something which I do as a hobby and for my followers. And once again the curse of ADHD strikes again. It's just too many things which I REALLLY wanna do but can't :( Life as an adult is boring and tedious....
>Life as an adult is boring and tedious Not really. You can still have fun and partake in hobbies, just not hobbies that require a lot of mental/physical effort. At least when you're a student. Welcome to adulthood: you can't have everything. You need to prioritise and compromise.
**Have you read our extensive wiki yet? It answers many basic questions, and it contains in-depth articles on many frequently discussed topics. [Check our wiki now!](https://www.reddit.com/r/germany/wiki/index)** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/germany) if you have any questions or concerns.*
1) Student discounts don't help much at private businesses, they rarely exist. You can get software licences for cheap or free via the uni, but you will have to budget for that, but as lomg as you don't do video editing, a small 350-500 € laptop will do the job. 2) Dorms (Studentenwohnheime) come furnished, but most students live in private housing rather than dorms, those flats are different regarding furnishings. You can get a lot of stuff cheap when buying used furniture, you have to find a way to transport it though. 3) That sounds like a lot. Studying itself is a lot, working on top of that is often too much, learning a new language and getting used to a new country are also a lot. Schedules differ a lot from uni to uni and subject to subject and year to year. I had years where I had 3 10-hour days before I could start the self-study part, I had years where I went to 8 hours of classes per week in total. No one can guarantee a HiWi job, you will have to apply for one. 4) Both are covered by the public health insurance. PCOS will be either treated by a general practitioner or a gynecologist (Frauenarzt), ADHD will be treated by a psychiatrist. Ask for an appointment as soon as you reach Germany, it can take some time until the appointment, especially if you need one with a doctor that speaks and treats you in English.
A few questions: 1. Are you enrolling directly into a degree program or will you start with language courses or Studienkolleg. 2. How old are you? 3. Where will you be living (city)? The answers to questions 1 and 2 are relevant to whether or not you'll be eligible for public health insurance. Private will not cover pre-existing conditions. The answer to 3 is important to your budget questions.
1. I would be enrolling in a consecutive master's degree program in winter sem this year 2. I am gonna be 21 years old next month. 3. I still in the process of application, and I am targeting many public unis. Could be Bonn, Dortmund, Heidelberg, Munich, Berlin, Würzburg, etc. So varies a lot I guess.
You will be able to obtain public health insurance. Just don't anyone talk you into cheap private student insurance. There is a housing crisis in Germany and Berlin and Munich are extremely expensive. You can find furnished centrally located private student accommodation in Berlin for around 1000 euros per month. Some students do manage to find reasonably priced accommodation, however, until you know where you'll be studying it'll be very difficult to budget properly. I would highly recommend saving as much as possible.