Understanding the American Education System


The yankee education system offers a fashionable field of decisions for international students. there's such associate degree array of colleges, programs and locations that the alternatives could overwhelm students, even those from the U.S. As you start your faculty search, it’s vital to acquaint yourself with the yankee education system. Understanding the system can assist you slender your decisions and develop your education arrange.

The Educational Structure

PRIMARY AND school

Prior to teaching, yankee students attend primary and school for a combined total of twelve years. These years ar mentioned because the initial through twelfth grades.

Around age six, U.S. kids begin grade school, that is most typically referred to as “elementary faculty.” They attend 5 or six years then go onto school.

Secondary faculty consists of 2 programs: the primary is “middle school” or “junior high school” and therefore the second program is “high school.” A certification or certificate is awarded upon graduation from highschool. once graduating highschool (12th grade), U.S. students could endure to school or university. school or university study is understood as “higher education.”

GRADING SYSTEM

Just like yankee students, you'll ought to submit your educational transcripts as a part of your application for admission {to university|to school|to school} or college. educational transcripts ar official copies of your educational work. In the U.S. this includes your “grades” and “grade purpose average” (GPA), that ar measurements of your educational accomplishment. Courses ar unremarkably stratified mistreatment percentages, that ar reborn into letter grades.

The grading system and GPA within the U.S. will be confusing, particularly for international students. The interpretation of grades contains a ton of variation. let's say, 2 students United Nations agency attended totally different colleges each submit their transcripts to constant university. They each have three.5 GPAs, however one student attended a median highschool, whereas the opposite attended a prestigious faculty that was academically difficult. The university would possibly interpret their GPAs otherwise as a result of the 2 colleges have dramatically totally different standards.

Therefore, there ar some crucial things to stay in mind:

You should resolve the U.S. equivalent of the last level of education you completed in your home country.
Pay shut attention to the admission necessities of every university and school, furthermore as individual degree programs, which can have totally different necessities than the university.
Regularly meet with an academic consultant or steering counselor to form certain you're meeting the necessities.
Your academic consultant or steering counselor are going to be able to advise you on whether or not or not you need to pay an additional year or 2 making ready for U.S. university admission. If a global student entered a U.S. university or school before being eligible to attend university in their own country, some countries’ governments and employers might not acknowledge the students’ U.S. education.

ACADEMIC YEAR

The school calendar sometimes begins in August or Sept and continues through could or June. the bulk of latest students begin in time of year, therefore it's a decent plan for international students to conjointly begin their U.S. university studies at now. there's loads deal} of pleasure at the start of the varsity year and students kind several great friendships throughout now, as they're all adjusting to a replacement part of educational life. in addition, several courses ar designed for college kids to require them in sequence, beginning in time of year and continued through the year.

The academic year at many colleges consists of 2 terms referred to as “semesters.” (Some colleges use a three-term calendar called the “trimester” system.) Still, others any divide the year into the quarter system of 4 terms, as well as associate degree ex gratia summer session. Basically, if you exclude the summer session, the tutorial year is either comprised of 2 semesters or 3 quarter terms.