Mattias Hoz ’25 selected for Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange for Young Professionals

Philosophy major Mattias Hoz ’25 has been selected for the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange (CBYX) for Young Professionals! CBYX is a fellowship designed to give German and American students the opportunity to study and work professionally in each others’ countries.

Hoz will spend ten months in Germany, interning and living with a host family as he studies German language and policy.

“I really liked the flexibility of the work aspect. It’s a fully funded experience,” Hoz said, “but once you’re there, you can kind of do whatever you want; you can find a job or internship in whichever field suits you best.”

He mentioned that the independence of the fellowship was a major aspect that appealed to him.

“I like that they don’t find stuff for you,” Hoz said. “You have to actually go to Germany and find your own thing. I think that’s a great responsibility to have.”

Intending to pursue law school after his time abroad, Hoz aims to study Germany’s immigration and refugee policies as he interns for either the government or a nonprofit devoted to refugee advocacy or immigration law.

“I’d love to do some work in those support areas,” he said. “I think my English will help a lot with that, because my German writing skills aren’t totally there yet, but they always need people with really strong English communication skills to do translations.”

Germany’s refugee advocacy system is a model other countries can learn from, Hoz says, and he hopes experience with settling refugees and handling their legal claims will be insightful for him, especially as a future lawyer.

“Having a comparative perspective on the law and understanding how a very complex legal system — that isn’t the U.S. system — works, is going to be really helpful before going into law school,” he said.

Hoz also has some family in Switzerland, so he’s excited to improve his German language skills.

“It would be great to reach a level of fluency so that later on in my life,” he said, “I could go and live there, spend several years in the area, and maybe even be close to family.”

Most of all, Hoz is looking forward to the year of professional experience the CBYX program will give him before he returns to an academic environment.

“That’s part of what I wanted, taking this break between undergrad and law school,” he said. “I want to mature a bit more and understand what working adult life is really like. And I think being able to do that in another country for a year is really cool.”

Students interested in applying for CBYX in the future should contact Carleton’s Office of Student Fellowships for support and assistance.