Student Portrait: Angelika Alt – From Guest Student to Master's Degree

While leafing through the newspaper "Rheinpfalz", Angelika Alt's eye fell on an advertisement: The new Master Tax Law - LL.M. study programme was offered at the Leuphana Professional School in Lüneburg. The tax consultant read the advertisement carefully: "I had completed my training as an office clerk, graduated as a business administrator for taxes, accounting and controlling and completed the course to become an accountant. However, everything was non-academic, as was my subsequent further training to become a tax consultant," Angelika Alt remembers. She has been self-employed in her profession for many years and planned to further her education, especially in tax law, or to refresh her existing knowledge. Her goal was clear: she wanted to study the practice-oriented Master Tax Law - Steuerrecht (LL.M.) at Leuphana Professional School.

However, at that time she still lacked a Bachelor's degree: "But I was allowed to participate in the programme as a guest student," Angelika Alt recalls. The study programme and its contents convinced the tax consultant, so she decided to study business administration at the Professional School while still working, in order to be able to present the necessary Bachelor's degree for the Master's programme. "It was a very enriching time for me. As a self-employed person, commercial knowledge and knowledge of human resources are very important." At the same time, she completed courses in the Master Tax Law - Steuerrecht (LL.M.): "After almost 20 years, I took another exam and can bring myself up to date professionally. There are constant innovations, especially in tax law. The degree programme is very practice-oriented, we work in small groups and the supervision is excellent," explains Angelika Alt.

That's why she decided against studying somewhere else closer to home: "When things are going well in a marriage, you don't cheat," says the woman from Baden. Soon, however, she will say goodbye to Leuphana. In autumn, Angelika Alt will write her Master's thesis. Professionally, she doesn't want to change much: "I like being a tax consultant, but I don't just want to do my job well, I'd rather do it better."