All You Need To Know About US Education System

If you have dreams of pursuing your higher education aspirations in America then you need to be armed with all knowledge pertaining to the US education system. In this post I am going to give a brief outline here. We shall discuss the levels of university/college course now-

First Level Undergraduate

It normally takes about four years to earn a bachelor’s degree. You can either commence your studies with a bachelor’s degree at a community college or a four-year university/college. In the first two years of study you will normally be needed to take numerous classes in diverse subjects (prerequisite courses): arts, literature, science, social sciences, history, etc. This increases your general knowledge, and gives you a foundation prior to focusing on a particular subject field.

Many students prefer to study at a community college and complete the first two years of prerequisite courses. Later they earn an Associate of Arts (AA) transfer degree and next transfer to a four-year university/college. You must choose your major (specific field of study) at the beginning of your third year of school. You will need to take a definite number of courses in this field so as to satisfy the degree requirements of your major. You can switch your major during your under-graduation if you desire so. 

Second Level: Pursuit of a Master’s Degree

Presently, a university graduate with a bachelor’s degree may want to seriously think about graduate study in order to advance their career. This degree is typically obligatory for higher-level positions in fields of library science, engineering, etc. To gain admittance, you have to take the GRE (graduate record examination). Certain master’s programs stipulate precise tests, like LSAT for law school, and MCAT for medical school, GRE/GMAT for business school. You should inquire about the credentials needed to get a job in your country before you apply to a postgraduate university in the USA.

The majority of a master’s course duration is spent in classrooms and a student must prepare a long research paper called a “master’s thesis” or complete a “master’s project.”

Third Level: Pursuit of a Doctorate Degree

The attainment of a master’s degree can be deemed as the first step towards receiving a PhD. However, at some schools, students can plan directly for a doctorate without earning a master’s degree. For international students, it may take as long as five or six years to earn a doctorate. 

For the first two years most doctoral candidates have to register for classes and seminars. Then another year is spent performing actual research and writing a thesis. A doctoral thesis is a dialogue and précis of the current scholarship on a specified topic. Most U.S. universities require their applicants to have a reading knowledge of at least two foreign languages, to spend a mandatory amount of time “in residence,” to qualify in exams that formally admits applicants to the PhD program, and to qualify in an oral exam on the similar topic as the thesis. 

The US education system is regarded to be one of the best in the world and it will be beneficial for your career to pursue higher education there. 

Factors influencing Choice of College Major

We all know that there are several factors at play when an undergraduate student chooses his/her major: interest, aptitude and plans, etc. However, one major factor is the income level of the student’s parents. If parents have less money, students are more prone to go for “useful” majors, such as computer science, while those from more affluent families frequently found to take up subjects like history, languages and the arts for their college major.

This is the conclusion of researchers who assessed data from the National Center for Education Statistics for a latest Atlantic article by Joe Pinsker, “Rich Kids Study English”. After reading this article I found that I was in agreement with the conclusion which had been drawn. In my career of teaching I have seen that the children who hail from small income group families normally sign up for “useful” subjects like computers, math or medicine when they apply to universities in USA.

As per the article, the quantity of money a college student's parents make draws a parallel with what that student studies in college because occasionally students with high-income background don't feel the similar monetary pressure to decide a practical field of study. Furthermore, Kim Weeden, Cornell University sociologist who conducted the study concludes that on completing their college education, prosperous students might have the advantage of a safety net if they aren’t able to land a job or are underemployed. Poor kids refrain from majoring in performing arts or humanities as these are riskier in terms of job opportunities.

Now, I don’t think it is particularly hard to arrive at this conclusion as poorer kids tend to make this decision out of necessity as they know that they have to make money on their own instead of waiting for inheritance like the affluent students. They gravitate towards landing jobs which enable them to make money quickly. The Georgetown University study analyzed the income level of 137 college majors and it concluded that STEM and business grads make the highest amount of money after completing college.

I found out that doctors and surgeons usually hail from low-income families. Fact check for instance, the preliminary salaries for health majors are around $41,000, whilst humanities and liberal arts majors earn an average of $29,000 per annum in entry-level jobs. The top degree programs (as per the study conducted) as per the lifetime earnings are:

1.Medicine or dentistry with $ 5.25 million for men and $2.12 million for women.

2.Business graduate degree with $2.91 million for men and $1.89 million for women.

3.Law graduate degree with $2.9 million for men and $1.77 million for women.

No wonder students from not so affiliated background choose education courses which offer them the best job opportunities.  Jobs which require professional degrees actually gain higher economic returns in the open market which isn’t surprising. I find this quite disconcerting as students should not be forced to make decisions just because of their financial background. Each child should be able to make the choice based purely on their interests and not under pressure.