American Education System

American education system is bit confusing and extremely dissimilar from the education system of your native country. The educational options available in this country are fabulous especially in the higher level. Basically, the USA education system comprises of 12 complete years of primary and secondary education before getting admission in the university or graduate collage. It is not necessary that these 12 years of basic education must be completed from within USA and hence, students from other countries are also welcome for higher education. The highlight of USA education system is its adaptability of cutting-edge technology in all the fields of study. In addition to this truth, another impressive element about US education system is that many world leaders, bureaucrats and prominent business tycoons cherish the education system of the country after studying from there.

Needless to say, acquiring an educational experience from the land of USA will drive people to a magnificent and brilliant career life. The education of US starts at the age of five in the 'primary school'. After completing five grades, the student will enter 'secondary school' to get the 'high school diploma' after successful completion of twelve grades. Those who complete high school and would like to attend college or university must attend 'undergraduate' school. These are schools that offer either a two-year degree or a four-year degree in a specific course of study. The course of study is called the 'major', which comprises of the main or special subjects.

The next level of education system in the US is 'graduate school'. After getting the undergraduate degree, the education can be continued for next two levels. The first one is, studying to get 'master's degree' as an extended specialized study of the subject taken up in the under graduation course. It is of two years duration. The next level is to pursue PhD that leads to a doctorate degree. The minimum duration for this is about three years and may vary up to even seven to eight years depending upon the specialized and chosen topic and the ability of students in presenting their thesis. Study abroad students who aspire to go to any part of USA for further studies are advised to have clear idea about the education system of the country.

Study Expenses & Financial Aid

To afford an education in United States of America (USA) is generally expensive. Renting a flat or making any other stay arrangement, day-to-day expenses and tuition fees of the entire course, together constitutes an expensive affair. Careful financial planning is a must-to-do part of your entire study abroad plan. It is a must to prove that you have adequate funds to lead the student life in the US to be allowed immigration by the US embassy. The embassy will ask about the living expense coverage, health insurance and university's tuition fee affordability and related expense issues too. The tuition fee structure varies from school to school. Generally, the private institutes are costlier and the state or public universities charge nominal fee, but this is not mandatory.

To get the prior knowledge about the fee structure, see the catalogue or the brochures of the concerned school or university and complete your financial plan. Two years of community collages are also not much expensive in general. The living cost, like any other country, varies from place to place in the US. Living in and around urban areas in any part of the US is more expensive than living in smaller towns or rural areas. This is applicable for the fee structures of education as well. Budgeting for study abroad experience in the US needs pre-planning along with continuous changing according to the needs till your course gets completed. Major expenses for a foreign student in the US countries can be your renting, insurance coverage and the fee payments to the school. Everything else comes next. Financial aids are available to all competent students and students are advised to seek for such aids by researching different resources.

Student Visa Details

Any international student who wants to enter US student should get legal permission from the country, by applying to a nearby US embassy or consulate. There are mainly two types of studentvisas that exist for studying in the USA. 'F1 Visa' is the 'Student Visa' meant for students who enroll in any academic or language program. The students who get this F1 visa are allowed to be there in the country for the entire duration of the course and sixty more days. 'J1 Visa' is the second kind of student visa for pursuing studies in the USA, generally called as 'Exchange Visitor Visa'. This is issued for students needing practical training that is not available in their native country to complete their academic program.

In the latter case, the training must be directly related to the academic program. The J1 visa obligates international students to return to their native land for a minimum of two years after the completion of their studies in the US before being eligible to apply for an immigrant or permanent visa. The essential and most important documents generally required for getting the US student visa are a valid passport given by the country you belong, your recent passport sized photographs and a non-immigrant visa application available from the Consular section.

Evidence of financial ability to cover the costs of the education and maintenance involved is needed and visa fee is to be paid in the currency form of your native country by a Bank Draft. You will be asked to provide details like income details of your parents, your average annual living expenses, details of your and your parents' property assets and sources of funding for your education other than from the university or the school. However, the students are advised to seek the help from the respective embassy offices or consulates for the exact details.

PhD

Any student, who wants to learn more and place special focus on his major subject after completing his  master's degreeprogram, can look for the higher degree, PhD, a Doctorate in Philosophy degree in USA. Before applying for PhD program, students in US have to complete a master's degree program. However, this is not compulsory in all cases, as many competent students get the opportunity to get PhD admission after bachelor's degree with exceptional coursework records. The University or the Heads of the University departments can decide the PhD admission in these special cases. The duration of US doctoral degree varies from minimum period of three years to a maximum of six years. 

The duration of PhD degree course depends on field the students choose, ability of the students and complexity of the research work. Doctorate degree in the US universities is awarded after submitting a research thesis as result of a significant hard work of the scholar on the respective subject. Pursuing an advanced degree, PhD degree in the USA, enhances the career opportunities of students. A PhD degree holder in the US is recognized as a subject expert and hence, it is a prestigious degree. Those who are interested in teaching in the US universities and higher-level schools and high-status institutes, acquire Doctoral degree. After acquiring the doctoral degree, the respective university will confer on the scholar an honorary doctorate degree and the scholar can have the title of 'Doctor'.

Master's Degree Programs

Eminent scholars and great academicians around the world recommend students to pursue their master's degree, irrespective of their field of study, as it can help them gain ample knowledge of their subject. A master's degree can also help the students to comprehend their career life as better professionals. An advanced degree such as a US master's degree or US doctorate or a PhD degree, can make you move ahead with 'expert qualities' in your academic career. Master's program in the US universities and schools are typically of one-year duration or more depending on the subject or course and offer degrees namely MBA, MS or PhD. Admission to a graduate program or a master's program usually requires a minimum of 16 years of formal education from the land of the US. That is, 12 years combining primary and secondary schooling and further 4 years of college education.

The US master's degree is a graduate school degree that generally requires two full years of graduate school coursework to complete. Unlike students pursuing a bachelor's degree, students in a master's degree program will complete courses that are highly focused in their field of study. As such, students must have already decided on their major before applying to a master's degree program. If you are heading for studies and career in the US, a master's degree may be necessary. For example, if you are seeking for a position as an economist to work in any government body or if you are interested to teach at any American university or if you want to become a medical practitioner, you need to be a master degree holder in the respective discipline.

Internship Programs

Internship program means the art of preparing students for service activities by providing them an actual service environment where they can get hands-on experience and improve their learning or understanding of issues relevant to their chosen area of study. To enroll in an internship program in the US, a student must generally have an undergraduate or graduate degree. Those who have proofs that they have been accepted into a degree-granting post-graduate program within six months are also eligible. Non-US students are eligible to apply for paid internship with specific visa namely J-1 exchange visitor, J-1 trainee or F-1 student. Non-US students may also apply for unpaid internships. 

The main benefit of doing internship programs is gaining professional experience and better prospects for career positions. Credit to the degree of students is provided when students apply for tuition-based study abroad internships sponsored by universities. In US, financial aided internships are open to the students from foreign countries also. Different internship programs in USA charge different tuition costs according to the requirements. Unpaid, non-academic internships account for common internships, both in the U.S. and abroad.

Essay & SOP Procedures

Almost all American universities will ask the students to write essays as a part of application procedure on different topics. The university may ask you to write an essay about 'your personality' or 'achievements in the past educational life' or 'future objectives' or 'other individual goals' among other things. SOP or Statement Of Purpose and application essays are crucial features of application in USA that speaks about your individual personality as a best student. Essays are one among the many other important admission criteria on which the decision to give admission to the student is based upon. Through these essays, the admission officers can visualize your personality, abilities and interests, which cannot be observed from standardized application. The moment you decide to apply for American universities and US based schools, start sharpening your best writing qualities to enhance your personality. 

There are recourses available these days to train you on how to improve your writing skills to write the SOP essays. There are lots of institutes that prepare students for this. Hone your skills by getting an opportunity to write sample essays by enrolling there and get you skills evaluated there before you write the original application. There are online facilities also that will help you sharpen the SOP essay writing skills and develop your essay writing proficiency. There are many study abroad admission cases, where the perfect application essays have helped the students to get admission in top US universities in spite of scoring less in the standardized entrance tests such as GRE and TOEFL. So, stay geared to give great importance to these application essays to earn the admission to the desired University easily.