15 sec summary of post
intro- aimed for who, what you expect to learn
in choronological order
- Education system
- Curriculum structure
- Flexibility
- Financial aid
- Application requirements
- Applying
Conclusion
Post
For those of you thinking of applying to the US, read on. This article is meant to explain a traditional US university (or college*) curriculum and application. After reading it, you should have a global idea of the structure, pros and cons of applying to the US. Keep in mind, however, that a US degree is highly customizable and what you get out of it is what you make of it.
*For convenience sake, I will be using the term ‘university’ throughout the first half of the article. You will find more details on the difference between university and college in the paragraph about applying
The first thing you want is to have a broad idea of the US education system. Unlike other countries — UK, Australia, even Canada for the most part —, US universities proud themselves on their liberal arts education. What does this mean? A typical curriculum will consist of courses across diverse departments, ranging from natural sciences, literary, economics and humanities. In addition, most universities will not require you to declare your main field of study (or major) up until your second (sophomore) or sometimes third year (junior). This leaves you free to investigate your interests, hence the ‘liberal’ system. An important feature to remember is that a typical well-balanced degree ought to take you 4 years to complete. It may be more or less (unlikely to be less) depending on your course load.
Your actual curriculum will be more complex than that though. To simplify things, imagine that you have 3 distinct parts: a core, a major and electives. The core is a compulsory set of courses from different departments, which aims at improving your reading, writing, numeracy, public speaking, …, anything related to general professional skills.
Your major, as mentioned before, is your main field of study. This may (or may not) determine your career choice but it will result in you graduating with a degree in that subject. Your electives are every other courses that you choose to partake in. Most students use them to investigate other fields of interest or to add to their studies, another major or a minor. The latter is a lighter version of a major, whereby if your major requires, say 40 courses, for graduation purposes your minor would require only about 20 of those.
One important feature that results from such a liberal system is the flexibility in designing your curriculum. It is fairly easy to switch your major in most universities. You also have a fair amount of leniency on your course load per semester, provided you enroll in enough to be considered a full-time student and do not exceed the limit set by the school. There are many implications in this: you can budget so as to enroll in more courses in one given year over the next (helpful if you have siblings going to university before or after you), you can manage your graduation date to graduate earlier or later and you can plan internships during your studies**. Restrictions may occur depending on the conditions of your study permit***.
**Regarding internships, each university will have different policies
***For more details, contact a local EducationUSA branch. EducationUSA is a subsection of the US government
and is commonly based in US embassies.
As an international student, one of my foremost concerns has been financing my studies. The US, like most other countries, restrict the tuition cost for residents (domestic fee). On the other hand, institutions are free to charge international students a much higher fee. Generally, you pay per semester credit hour**** at the start of each semester or one semester ahead. Private institutions have the highest fees but also generally offer the most generous scholarships and financial aid.
****A semester credit hour (or course/academic credit) is a unit of measure. To give you a brief idea of what this means, a course with 1 semester credit hour would generally consist of a weekly 1 hour lecture class (contact hour) and 2 hours of individual or group assignment.
Scholarships, in turn are divided into sports — you will be training for and representing the school in professional (varsity) sports — and academic or merit-based ones (based on academic promise*****). Financial aid is about your financial position and how much you need to be able to afford university. Generally, only private institutions provide financial aid and they require a separate application for it.
*****This is evaluated using grades but also academic context – whether you challenged yourself and chose an appropriate curriculum, your class rank and so on.
On the subject of applications, you will come across a wide range of terminology. We shall start with application requirements. Most universities will expect you to take the SAT Reasoning Test (registration on CollegeBoard website). A few will require SAT subjects as well. In addition to this, you will most probably need to send teacher and counselor recommendations, your high school (Mauritian Form 4 to Upper 6) transcript (to be sent by your rector/school counsellor)and proof of English proficiency. The latter can be skipped by having your school counsellor send a letter of attestation regarding your attendance in an English-medium school. A summary of your extra-curricular involvement will most often be needed as well. Some universities require a certificate of finance (a legal document whereby you disclose financial resources) with other application documents. The financial aid application is a separate application. Some universities have their own form, but most will accept the CSS Profile (registration on the CollegeBoard website too). International students do not fill the FAFSA, another financial aid application form.
You will be sending the general application before the financial aid application, for the majority of universities. General applications are done either via the university’s website, the CommonApp website or the Coalition Application. These applications tend to be lengthy and may require essays about general topics and/or the university itself. The CommonApp allows you to add your recommenders and counselor by inputting their contact details. They will receive an email and will be able to upload your documents through a portal. Note that recommenders may also be community leaders, peers or any person who knows you thoroughly. Check the university’s website for their preference.
This article should have given you a general idea about US universities and their applications. To find out more about any piece of information, you can run a quick Google search or leave me a message. The most reliable source of information remains the university’s website though, so make sure to research it thoroughly.
Photo credit: Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay, Image by Adam Derewecki from Pixabay
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