How to learn in the US

Prologue

Since such a bother with education has gone abroad, then I definitely need to deposit my 5 kopecks. I have been living in the States since the age of 18, but only by the age of 27 I managed to find the time, money and motivation to go back to study. And 2 years of unfinished studies at Moscow State University of Arts (Moscow State Industrial University) will allow me to draw some analogies with post-Soviet higher education.

So, I'm 28, wife-child, work-friends. There is no extra money lying around, education is required to move up the career ladder. I will talk about learning from scratch, i.e. from the first course, and not from graduate school. Specialty: Computer Information Systems.

Receipt

Since studying in the United States is far from free, it can be quite true that in order to enroll here at a university, you need to pay a round sum of money. This is true and false, and very dependent on the institution. If you try to poke at some Harvard, then naturally there will need to pay a lot of money just to be considered as a candidate for admission. This is a very true move on the part of the institution, made in order to weed out all the literacy who will not have money to pay for their studies. In addition, you need to provide recommendations from several influential people who are ready to vouch for you. In principle, in Russia this is called “blat”.

But in all other average colleges everything is much simpler: you pay $ 20 - and off you go. There is no competition as such, and they take everyone - just to pay. Of the entrance exams only English and mathematics. Examinations are complex with an increasing level of complexity: if you answer all the questions on algebra correctly, you begin to ask for trigonometry, then matane, etc. If in the end you can show the knowledge of the subject at the level required for obtaining a diploma - then you can not take these subjects, they are automatically counted. In my case, I had to take only one of the required four semesters of mathematics. All exams are made in the form of computer tests. Time limit ~ 4 hours.
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There are also some entry-level items that can be taken as an external student. For example, computer literacy.

Credit system

The States use the credit system of education. I like to compare such a system with circles of photography, drawing or dancing in any Soviet House of Culture. This means that each subject is an independent subject that can be taught out of context and is not tied to the rest of the circles. Each item is assigned a certain "weight", which depends on the hours spent in the class for the week. The average "weight" of the subject - 3 hours (credit). In order to get a diploma, you need to successfully pass all the required specialty items and collect a certain number of hours (credits).

Ratings

The assessment of the work done during the semester is based on a 100-point (percentage) system. Thus, if you correctly answered 100 of the 100 questions in the test / control / exam - this is 100 points. Each test / control / exam has its own weight in determining the final grade. For example, all homework may be 10% of the final grade, and the last exam is 40%. Thus, the assessment of the work done depends not only on the knowledge of all 200 tickets for the exam, but also on uniform injection throughout the semester.

According to the percentage results of the entire semester, a letter grade is given, which can be associated with the Russian estimates as follows: A (90% -100%) = 5 (excellent), B (80% -90%) = 4 (good), C (70% -80%) = 3 (satisfactory), D (60% -70%) = 2 (not satisfactory). There are also semigalls in the form of pluses (+) and minuses (-).

Each letter grade is assigned a score, which is used when calculating academic performance, scholarship and grade point average for a diploma. "A" corresponds to 4.0, "A-" = 3.7, "B +" = 3.3, "B" = 3.0, etc.

To calculate the average score you need to take the sum of works of all points on the credit "weight" of objects, and divide by the sum of all points. For example, if I received an “A” on the subject of “weight” 3 credits, “C” on the subject of “weight” 4 credits and completely failed (zero points) any physical exercise weighing 2 credits, then the average score would be (4 * 3 + 2 * 4 + 0 * 2) / (3 + 4 + 2) = 2.22, not 2.0 as with the arithmetic average.

I really like this system, because it gives you an idea in advance which of the subjects is a priority and will be appreciated more when calculating the average score.

Tuition fee

As I said before, community colleges are probably the cheapest educational institutions in the United States. Prices are different everywhere, but my education cost is about $ 1,400 per semester. For non-residents and foreigners, multiply this figure by 3. In more prestigious universities, this amount can be tens of thousands of green for the same period of time. Still, after all, people pay, mad grandmas pay to get a good education. The more you pay, the better your professors.

There is a whole system of government scholarships, grants, scholarships and loans designed to help poor students pay for school. I was very lucky from the very beginning and I received all kind of good for the amount that still covered my education by 100%. Give free education!

A crisis

Since the economy collapsed here a couple of years ago and a lot of people lost their jobs, delirium tremens began in local universities. All newly minted unemployed rushed to complete their education and relearn. As a result, the number of students in classes almost doubled, and tuition fees increased by ~ 10%. That's because business damn! The average age of students - for 30. Such statistics.
If you like it - To be continued ...