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I was born in a developing country, and I am interested in studying in Germany. I'm almost done with all the procedures, and now an additional piece I have to take care of is to write a statement of purpose. I wrote it as honestly as I could right now, that I wish to study my interested subject, pursue further research and try to make a legal living there.

However, some peers and discussions online suggest to me that I shouldn't mention at all that I have wishes to live there. I find this a bit absurd as Germany seems to be actually making a loss from education and is constantly making news about wishing to hire more "Fachkräfte".

Could someone give me a justified answer on if this would be something which is unpreferable to write or not?

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    Your claim that "Germany seems to be actually making a loss from education" seems very bold. In the answers to your linked question at politics.stackexchange about this topic I cannot see any evidence for this.
    – Jochen Glueck
    Commented Jul 21, 2023 at 13:10
  • Preferable to whom?
    – Jon Custer
    Commented Jul 21, 2023 at 13:56
  • Me...? @JonCuster
    – Cathartic Encephalopathy
    Commented Jul 21, 2023 at 14:35
  • I can't imagine that whether you mention this in your SOP or not can make a difference regarding the decision on your application. For sure there are no official admission criteria that would take into account such remarks.
    – Christian Hennig
    Commented Aug 20, 2023 at 14:06

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I cannot give you a justified answer, but from my gut feeling, I would phrase it differently.

Why? Although Germany has a lot of immigrants, there are (sadly) still many places where people are not eager to permanently welcome foreigners into their country. The foreigners are diluting our culture and steal our jobs trope is still strong with some people. And you never know if someone like this is sitting in the administration office and it rubs them the wrong way.

Also: What you are doing after your studies doesn't really matter for the university. I would rather write about your perceived quality of the German education system and something that rather implies a short term stay (like e.g. your plan to continue with a PhD).

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  • Well, I mean, elsewhere in the letter I had mentioned that. I said that, there are simply much more opportunities for my interested subject and spaces than in my own country
    – Cathartic Encephalopathy
    Commented Jul 21, 2023 at 12:37
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    I'm not sure I follow the second paragraph. How would somebody in the administration office who doesn't like the OP's statement of purpose be an obstacle to the OP being admitted?
    – Jochen Glueck
    Commented Jul 21, 2023 at 13:12
  • 4
    I just had a discussion on an admission committee in Germany where the general sentiment was that too many foreign students don't stay after finishing their studies, i.e. migration intention would be considered a bonus. I guess this is just one of those cases where it just depends on dynamics of the committee meeting, and we have no way of knowing how that will work out in your specific case. Whatever you choose to do, its a gamble.
    – Maarten Buis
    Commented Jul 21, 2023 at 15:44

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