Narrowing down choices, searching for a third university

This past weekend was a lot of fun. I went to Stuttgart and explored the city and watched the Solitude Revival - Old Timer Rallye and Bosch Boxburg Classic. I got to see many awesome places in Stuttgart and best of all, many awesome BMW's and other vintage/classic cars.

I've been doing more research on universities. I want to apply to at least three in Germany. I cannot assume that TU-Munich is a gauranteed opportunity. However based on the email response I got from the Office of Mechanical Engineering, the application process is fairly straight forward. I just have to do my best this year and bring up my GPA.

Another university (a Technische Hochschule) I have been looking into deeply is RWTH Aachen which is also VERY well known in research/development. I was looking on topuniversities.com for engineering schools which has a list of the top ~300 schools worldwide.

Technische Universität München is ranked 36th (and is the first entry for German universities)

Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen comes in at 47th  (second in Germany)

Technische Universität Braunschweig, ranked 190th. (hmm....)

I'm truly excited to get this application process under way. I have to start concentrating on the Stipendium/scholarship/financial aid opportunities, due in the Fall, and slowly collect all I need for these University applications due next Spring. While wrapping the last year of my curriculum up in the States, I want to prepare for the Fundamantals of Engineering exam which would be beneficial if I have to take any entrance exams in Germany strengthen my chances. I have an appointment tomorrow with our department head at BMW to ask his opinion on Grad Schools, and possible future praktikum/Master thesis opportunities with the company, should I find myself back in Germany. I hope it goes well.