Destination USA

I believe you’ll agree that the most important thing after getting into the college of your dreams, is actually graduating from it.

In order to do this, you’ll have to fulfill several requirements, depending on the college and its type.

First of all, you should know that some colleges admit you directly in the major of your choice. Others will make you take a general curriculum as well as some required classes in order for you to apply (usually in the beginning or the end of the sophomore year) to get into the major.

But, no matter the case, you’ll always have the following:
- a required curriculum,
- a “required” amount/type of classes you should take

The first part, which is the core of your major, you must take and achieve the best grades you can in it, especially if you are to actually apply to that major, instead of being directly admitted to it as more specialized schools do.

The second part is just one which fulfills the credits you need for graduation. For undergrad studies, you’ll generally need about 120-130 credits. This one will however be quite customizable, especially for some more liberal majors.
If you are in an engineering college, you will usually be limited to quite technical courses, and usually just a couple of really “whatever” electives.
If you are in an Arts & Sciences college, you’ll usually have many more electives to choose, and all kinds of. But you’ll usually also have a required “randomness”. In other words, you’ll have requirements such as: “you should take at least one history course, at least one physical science course, at least one language course, at least 10 credits in …”. But as long as you comply with them, you’ll be able to take whatever you want.

The undergrad studies usually last 4 years, or 8 semesters. Sometimes, you can graduate earlier, or a bit later. This depends entirely upon your college system. Students will then usually take about 16-18 credits each semester. More than 18 credits is considered a heavy workload. More than 20 - a very heavy one. 12 credits will usually be the bare minimum for you to be considered as a full-time student. Less than this will usually lead to exclusion, except if there is some special program, or reason for it.

Many students will take summer courses in order to complete their studies faster, or to be able to double or dual major. Those courses might be taken at your college, or at another one, if this other one is recognized by yours, and the credits can be transferred. Watch out for two things here. First, make sure to first ask your college to authorize you to take courses at this other one. Second, most colleges have a limited amount of credits you can take at other places; past this amount, those will only be “extra” credits which will not serve for your graduation, but might just help you to double major, or to get a minor.

If you follow carefully your requirements, and make sure to take every class from your core, you should carelessly (apart from the work) graduate.

In some countries, after the senior year, the students pass an examination one or more subjects. Sometimes it’s optional, sometimes it’s not. For instance, in France, le BAC is a requirement in order to continue on your studies. In the UK, students have the possibility of taking A-levels if they want to.

The thing is, it’d be quite annoying to take all those exams, go to the USA for your undergrads, and don’t have them recognized for anything… Fortunately, many colleges will have a policy regarding those and other international standard tests and granting you credits. (more…)

I don’t know about you, but growing up, the only thing I was told about getting into a good university was to get good grades. Well, the system in the USA is a bit more complex than that and even excellent grades might not be sufficient to get into their top schools. In fact, the competition is so harsh, most students prepare very well at least two years before their last year of high school to have some considerable chance. So let me tell you a bit more about it.

Part I: The application.

The application process for the top schools in the USA consists of exam taking and an application form (which is itself an entire process on its own with multiple forms):

(more…)

I don’t know about you, but growing up, the only thing I was told about getting into a good university was to get good grades. Well, the system in the USA is a bit more complex than that and even excellent grades might not be sufficient to get into their top schools. In fact, the competition is so harsh, most students prepare very well at least two years before their last year of high school to have some considerable chance. So let me tell you a bit more about it.

Part II: The Exams (to be taken well in advance before the application due date!!!).

Exams are a crucial part of your application. To get into a certain top school, you need at least a certain minimum. (Except maybe if you an extraordinary talent, recommendations from a Nobel Prize, or some other crazy thing.) Unfortunately, there are plenty of those exams…

(more…)