The United States is the recognized world leader in the number of international students attending universities and colleges. In total there are about 600,000 of them. There are many reasons for their choice. There is a tremendous choice of curricula – about 1,000 specialties – ranging from standard, “time-honored” and traditional curricula to unique and cutting-edge ones. This is also a strong scientific base.
The group of eight universities united in the Ivy League enjoy the highest prestige in the world. They have the highest tuition fees in the country and the most rigorous admission standards. This honourable group includes Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth University, Harvard University, University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University and Yale University. The oldest university in the country is Harvard, founded in 1636. From 1693 to 1749 four more universities appeared in the United States: the College of William and Mary (in Virginia), Yale, Princeton, and the University of Pennsylvania.
The remaining universities are divided territorially: Midwestern, Northern, Southern, and Western.
American universities are more than just institutions of higher learning. Each is a research center, pioneering developments in every field of knowledge and producing groundbreaking discoveries. The recognized reputation of the teaching staff also plays its role – if you come to an American university, you can be sure that you will be taught not only by people with fundamental theoretical knowledge, but also with a wide range of practical experience.
The technical equipment of university laboratories can make other academic institutions pale with envy; the wealth of libraries, nowadays not only “paper” but also electronic, is striking; the organization of the educational process, as well as of everyday life and leisure time of students, satisfies the most demanding requirements. Finally, the “weight” of an American diploma in the global labor market is still beyond competition. Investing money in higher education made in USA, you can be sure that they will bring a return.
The U.S. has a multistage educational model, according to which education is divided into cycles. The first of these is called the Undergraduate Program, which lasts four years and culminates in a Bachelor of Arts (BA) or Bachelor of Science (BS) degree. The American system of higher education is very flexible. Thus, if the first two years of the Undergraduate program imply learning a number of basic disciplines, obligatory for all, during the last two years students can choose among a rather long list of courses they are interested in.
The next step is the master’s degree in the United States, which is called the Graduate and leads to the award of the Master’s degree (Master’s Degree, ph.d.). It takes about two years to complete a master’s degree. The program usually specializes in an area previously studied at the undergraduate level. At the end of the course, graduates write and defend their master’s thesis.
Some majors in America can only be completed through a master’s degree program. A master’s degree in the U.S. is a postgraduate degree and allows you to earn a Master of Business Administration (MBA) as well as Masters of Arts (MA), Masters of Science (MS), and other degrees. The duration of a master’s degree program at U.S. universities varies from one to two years. Often, master’s degrees require work experience in the field for which you wish to study, but some programs do not require experience.
To enter graduate programs at U.S. universities, an applicant must provide:
a letter of motivation,
supervisor references,
a diploma of master’s degree,
proof of passing an English language proficiency test.
It should be noted that at first sight Master’s programs in the USA are available for everyone, but the initial impression, which is formed on the basis of the information from advertising booklets, is often deceptive.
