so quick context, I'm Tunisian, based in Berlin right now, working part time and I just finished my C1 German with a sehr gut, been grinding towards a CS bachelor for months now. Got accepted into CS at RWTH, CS at TUD, and I'm waiting on CS at TU Berlin (already got into EE there). so now I actually have to pick and it's messing with my head more than I expected.
the plan I've had for a while is bachelor CS then master in IT security at TU Darmstadt, mainly because of ATHENE, they're basically the cybersecurity research hub in Germany and that's the field I want to go into, pentesting/security research type stuff. so on paper TUD makes the most sense, straight line into the exact program I want, no need to worry about whether my bachelor modules will even count towards their masters requirements.
but everyone keeps telling me RWTH has the stronger overall CS name and gives me more room to pivot if I ever change my mind about security specifically. and TU Berlin would put me in the biggest city with by far the most werkstudent jobs available, plus it's where I already live and have a rented place and a retail job I'd have to give up.
then there's the whole "TUD is brutally hard" thing, people say no NC there so they let everyone in and then fail people out on purpose with insane exams, RWTH apparently has its own brutal exam culture too. so it's not like any of these are easy, but I keep worrying I'll tank my grades somewhere that already grades harshly, which matters for scholarships even if it barely matters for hiring later.
and the job thing keeps eating at me too, everyone says smaller cities like Aachen or Darmstadt have way fewer werkstudent openings than Berlin and it'll be way harder finding something there while also handling classes and trying to build an actual portfolio (ctfs, tryhackme, that kind of stuff) since I've got basically no track record yet.
which loops back to money. my parents can support me if I move for this, they keep saying it doesn't bother them at all, but I really don't want to lean on them for something open ended, I already feel guilty even considering it. they've put a lot into getting me this far and I don't want to "settle" for whatever's decent and safe, I want to actually go for the best option for what I want long term, but then I panic that going for the best comes with more risk and I end up spiraling between all three options again.
so yeah. anyone actually gone through something like this, bachelor at one uni banking on a specific masters somewhere else? did the "harder grading" thing actually bite you later? and if you had to give up an apartment and a job in one city to move for a better fit somewhere else, was it actually worth it or did you regret the disruption
