Studying in the US?

In our last newsletters, we have introduced you to the American university and college system and given you an overview over the chances for foreign students. In this newsletter, we will now be discussing:

Choosing a university Many factors are important for choosing the right university or college, e.g. prestige and size of the university, public or private, and connected with that, of course, tuition, chances of being admitted and chances for a scholarship, quality of the department, student-professor ratio etc.

Tip: Make a list with different criteria for yourself, and consequently refer to this when you are making your choice.

After all, you have to decide for yourself at which university you would like to apply, but maybe we can give you a few things to get you thinking:

PRESTIGE: Places at the renowned universities are in really high demand. There is a hierarchy according to prestige, academic standard and equipment. Some private universities such as Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Northwestern University, Washington University or Stanford are among the oldest and most famous universities within the US and are quite renowned abroad as well. The best of the best are being educated there. If we would list here all the names of the famous scientists, statesmen, politicians, etc. who have studied there, it would probably leave you a little dizzy. By the way, the following universities belong to the Ivy League: Harvard, Yale, University of Pennsylvania, Princeton, Columbia, Brown, Dartmouth and Cornell University.

Attention: Don't only look at the so-called ranking guides, which are compiled according to very specific criteria. You will only get a complete impression if you carefully study the information brochures of specific universities and contact them directly.

Do you want to study at one of these famous universities and increase your chances on the job market of your own country? Are you more the person for the difficult and great workload of an elite university or do you rather want a relaxed atmosphere for your college time? Is the general prestige of a university important to you or may it also one that is less well known if your department there is also good enough?

SIZE: According to experience, the bigger universities are better equipped, especially where libraries, laboratories, class buildings, accommodations are concerned. Some big universities have up to 50,000 students, which automatically means that there are many extracurricular activities available (clubs, sports, discotheques etc). If you are the sociable type and want to surround yourself with people - and many young people want just that - you should choose one of the bigger universities.

Others, however, may prefer a quieter university. Even smaller towns have universities with only about 1,000 students. The disadvantage - they are usually not quite as well equipped. The advantage - the teachers can focus more on what their students want and the atmosphere is a great deal more familiar. Friendships and ties you form here may prove to last longer.

However, size will not automatically give you a better quality. There are good and bad colleges with just a few hundred students, and the bigger universities with 50,000 students have some better and some worse departments. Of course, whether a college is good or bad is decided according to a certain academic prestige.

PUBLIC OR PRIVATE UNIVERSITY: Do you want to attend a private or public university? Private universities cost a lot more, of course, on the other hand they tend to have more scholarships for international students. The ca. 3,000 American universities and colleges of the US include about 40% public institutions, controlled by the states, cities and communities. The others, called private institutions, are partly supported and partly supervised by different denominations (they are, however, no denominational schools). The funding body has nothing to do with the quality.

BOOK RECOMMENDATION: The ‘Complete Book of Colleges' (Princeton Review) offers a very good overview over more than 1,400 universities and colleges. Somewhere in the 1,200 pages you will surely find some institution that is right for you. For every college and university you will find the admission criteria, costs, possible accommodation, application guidelines, scholarship possibilities etc. THE AMERICAN DREAM still has some remaining stocks of the 1996 edition that has only been slightly edited. Write us a message and refer to this newsletter, in the field for further remarks simply write "newsletter discount" and you will acquire your copy for only DM 35 instead of DM 59 - as long as stocks last.

Campus, accommodation, supervision CAMPUS: The campus is the entire area of all class and research buildings, dormitories and recreational facilities of a university. The way of living is quite special here. It does not only include academic life, but also many non-academic, sometimes even childishly naïve facets that are related to study and research life. Whether campus life will be experienced as a childishly naïve loss of individuality or as great community spirit will depend on the student and on the college or university. What many German students often perceive as interference with their personal and academic freedom are just the regulations that accompany campus life. Things such as compulsory attendance, sometimes ban on alcohol and nicotine, dress code etc. will require you, as foreign students, to adjust a little.

Of course, the study conditions are most important. But besides that, everything on campus that is only indirectly linked to studying is also very important. There is sports, all kinds of clubs and lobbies, political groups - civil rights groups have always been very strong in the universities - also theater performances, concerts, university radio or television, university papers and a lot more. There is something for everyone. Of course, such great diversity will also produce fringe groups and you will also observe unique fashion developments and extraordinary ways of behavior and thinking.

Accommodation: would you prefer living on campus or off? Universities will provide campus accommodation in the form of dormitories, and also fraternities and sororities - also known as ‘Greek system.' Especially German students usually expect much better availability of accommodation.

Students living in dormitories will usually have a roommate, they will eat in dining halls on campus, and certain things like washing machines, TV rooms and reading rooms will be available. Students living off campus must find accommodation by themselves. (Universities who have a very well equipped campus will usually expect their students to get a special authorization before they look for an apartment off campus, this especially applies to the younger students.

SUPERVISION: This is a lot more developed than we are used to from the German universities. One member of each faculty will serve as advisor (academic advisor or student advisor), for between 6 and 25 students. He will usually be responsible for them for one year, after that a different advisor will take over. Sometimes, however, an advisor will take care of his group for the entire length of their education. He helps the students with the organization of their studies, and even if one student is not taking a single class with his advisor he will always be in contact with him. The advisor is responsible for making sure that the students he ahs under his care will organize their studies sensibly and graduate within the time frame. He advises them with the organization of their class schedule, informs them about compulsory classes, and makes sure the students aren't taking on too much in semester. In case one student fails, the advisor will be questioned about this. Where foreign students are concerned, the foreign student advisor will usually, but not always, be responsible for them. A foreign or international student advisor is responsible only for international students and may also, if requested, give them suggestions for accommodation off campus, or at least show them where to look (bulletin board, papers, internet etc.) The vice president of student affairs and his large staff will care for the well-being and assimilation of the younger students. The student will talk over his study plans and class schedule with his student advisor. The advisor usually has to approve the study plans, the class schedule is automatically drawn up or adjusted to the individual study plans. Already ask for your Foreign Student Advisor when you are applying.

Campus universities usually also have very good medical facilities and psychological counseling. Good and favorable priced food is always available in the dining halls and cafeterias, even for students who live off campus. Even students with alternative eating habits will find something here.

Costs TOTAL COSTS: These vary greatly due to the structure of the American education system and depending on geographic location, legal status, funding body and many other factors. So we cannot give you any specific figures here.

Preparation phase: Here, you already have to pay for the appropriate tests, the application fees at the universities (especially if you apply by yourself), costs for the bureaucratic effort and copies. Furthermore, there are also the travel costs.

Tuition: The tuition for public universities is somewhere between $3,500 and $10,000 for one academic year. At the private universities they will be somewhere between $20,000 and $28,000 for the same period of time for boarders and between $10,000 and $15,000 for day students. In general, the fees for out-of-state students, so especially for foreign students, are a great deal higher than the normal tuition fees. If you are a foreign student with a green card, the fees will drop to normal levels after the first academic year at the latest.

Further costs: of course, the tuition fees are not everything. You have to consider the costs of living during your time in the US - room and board. To give you a rough estimate - depending on your location these will be somewhere between $4,000 and $10,000. In big cities such as New York, Boston, Chicago or Los Angeles, these costs will, of course, increase significantly (between $7,000 and $10,000), in the smaller cities in the Mid-West, for example, they will be lower. At the smaller campus universities in the smaller towns, you will usually have no other choice than to use the campus dormitories and cafeterias. However, these are usually very favorably priced so that $4,000 to $7,000 are enough, vacation times (during which the dormitories and cafeterias are closed) included. There are also the costs for study materials, other costs such as telephone calls to your home country, maybe travel costs, maybe costs for medication etc. Of course, these costs will again be lower in a small town than they are in a big city. You also have to factor in the costs for the study materials that you will always have to buy yourself in the US.

Examples for tuition fees at the 25 biggest 4-year colleges (1999)

University of Austin, Texas 2.754
Ohio State University, Columbus 3.468
Texas A&M University 2.361
Penn State University, PA 5.624
Arizona State University 2.009
University of Florida 1.795
Michigan University 4.921
University of Illinois, Urbana 4.168
University of Wisconsin, Madison 3.030
Purdue University, Indiana 3.208
University of Michigan 5.710
University of California, Los Angeles 4.007
University of Washington, WA 3.136
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities 4.099
Indiana University, Bloomington 2.009
San Diego State University, CA 1.902
New York University, NY 2.756
University of Maryland, College Park 4.169
Wayne State University, Michigan 3.255
Brigham Young University, Utah 2.530
University of South Florida 1.961
University of California, Berkeley 4.355
Florida State University 1.882
University of Georgia 2.688

These fees are for American students and green card holders. The fees for foreign students on a normal visa are often three or four times as high!

PS: In our next newsletter we will present you the last article of our study series for now. We will inform you about scholarships for foreign students.