Tertiary education in the United States

Stanford University , one of the most prestigious universities in the United States

The tertiary education in the United States is the part of the education system , which on the high school building. The tertiary education sector ( English Higher Education , Postsecondary Education ) is the sector of institutionalized higher education and in 2017 comprised 4,298 universities in the United States . These are partly referred to as universities and partly as colleges . More than half of them are private universities; the rest are in public hands.

Divided is the tertiary education in the United States in an undergraduate degree (Undergraduate Studies) and builds on it further studies (Advanced Studies) . In undergraduate studies, the general education program of the high schools is partly continued, partly professional qualifications are imparted, and partly prerequisites for subsequent studies are created. In advanced studies , a distinction must be made between master’s courses and special vocational courses. While the former serve the further qualification in the previous main subject, the latter concentrate on vocational training in special subjects such as law or medicine, which in addition to the specialist qualification also require a comprehensive basic education.

General statistics

Almost two thirds of all school leavers go to university in the USA, and almost one third in Germany.

The United States has more top universities than any other country in the world. The QS World University Rankings list 29 American universities among the 100 highest rated universities for 2020; Great Britain follows in second place (18) and Australia (7) in third .

After India , where almost 50,000 universities, colleges, and similar educational institutions existed in 2017, the United States is the country with the second largest number of colleges. Even in the People's Republic of China there were “only” 2,663 universities in 2018, although more than 28 million people study at these.

After Canada , Japan and South Korea , the United States is also one of the four countries with the most prevalence of academic education. More than 60% of 18- to 24-year-olds attend or have attended a university. 41.9% of all adults have a university degree. The proportion of adults who have at least a Bachelor's degree has increased sevenfold since the end of the Second World War; in 2017 it was 32.3%.

Key data of the American higher education system (with comparative data from Germany)

		United States	Germany	State and sources
Number of universities	public	1626 (37.8%)	274 (63.9%)	2017
	private	2672 (62.2%)	155 (36.1%)
	all in all	4298	429
Inhabitants per university		75,779	192.354	2017
Number of students	at public universities	14.56 million (74.1%)	2.61 million (91.9%)	2017
	at private universities	5.1 million (25.9%)	230,197 (8.1%)
	all in all	19.66 million	2.84 million
Proportion of the population studying		6.0%	3.4%	2017
Teaching staff	full professors	181,530 (23%)	47,568 (19%)	USA: 2013 D: 2019
	other	609,861 (87%)	201,967 (81%)
	Relationship between lecturers and students	1: 24.8	1: 11.4

Alternatives to university studies

31% of high school graduates do not study. Most of them go straight to work.

On-the-job vocational training

The high proportion of students in the United States is explained, among other things, by the fact that there are fewer forms of vocational training there than in German-speaking countries. For example, in the USA For example, neither the concept of dual training nor vocational schools nor technical colleges is widespread. In-house training is generally carried out as on-the-job training (OJT), with large companies in particular often running their own training programs for their employees. In 2018, 5.1 million 16- to 19-year-olds were already employed in the United States, and many students also have to take a job or work in order to finance their studies.

Military career

Although the recruiters of the United States Army at the high schools extensive advertising efforts have the interest of graduates is currently low on a military career. According to a study from 2017, of the 17 to 24 year olds at the time of the survey, only 0.4% were eligible for membership in the military. In 2016, the proportion of 17 to 19-year-olds was 6% each in the Navy and Air Force , 9% in the Army and 16% in the Marines . The total number of teenagers in the American armed forces was around 110,000.

The United States Armed Forces operate five universities of their own: the US Military Academy at Westpoint, the US Naval Academy , the US Air Force Academy , the US Coast Guard Academy, and the US Merchant Marine Academy . Active soldiers can be reimbursed up to 100% of their tuition fees if they study at one of these schools. In 2015, 8% of the crews and 84% of the officers had at least a Bachelor's degree.

There is also the possibility of training to become a reserve officer as part of the Reserve Officer Training Corps . In this case, the military usually pays a large part of the training costs.

history

Colonial times

The Wren Building of the College of William and Mary ( Williamsburg , Virginia), built in 1700, is the oldest surviving university building in the United States.

The first college in what is now the United States was the New College , founded in 1636 (from 1639: Harvard College ), from which Harvard University emerged after the founding of the Harvard Medical School (1782) . Harvard was followed by William and Mary (1693), St. John's (1696), Yale (1701), University of Pennsylvania (1740), Moravian College (1742), Princeton (1746), Washington and Lee (1747), Columbia (1754) ), Brown (1764), Rutgers (1766) and Dartmouth (1769). The Perelman School of Medicine was the first medical school to be founded under the umbrella of the University of Pennsylvania in 1765 .

With their concept of the union of life and learning ( collegiate system ) and their private financing, the colleges of the colonial era were based on the example of the traditional British universities - in particular Oxford and Cambridge . In contrast to the British model, the American colleges were entitled to award academic degrees themselves without the involvement of the superordinate university. Although the colleges received endowments , donations and tuition fees as well as money from the British Crown and the students often had to buy tickets for the lectures, their financial resources were more than modest in the first few centuries.

From the Declaration of Independence to the American Civil War

Thomas Jefferson , one of the founding fathers of the United States , initiated A Bill for the More General Diffusion of Knowledge in 1779 , a much-cited bill that announced a tax-funded public education system that would offer all free children, women, and men for three Years would be open.

1785 was founded in Athens , Georgia with the University of Georgia, the first public university in the United States. Although the states had a certain interest in being able to control the education system more directly through their own universities, at the same time they shied away from the associated financial responsibility.

In the 19th century, most American universities were not very exclusive and charged their students only low fees, with small church-related colleges in particular being open to a wide audience. Expensive and exclusive universities, in which the offspring of the wealthy studied primarily, existed only in the southern states ( South Carolina College , University of Virginia ). The most popular subjects were theology, education, law, and engineering.

The doubling of the number of students between 1800 and 1860 reflects an increased demand for higher education during this period. While only 0.6% of 16 to 25 year old men studied at the beginning of the 19th century, this proportion was around 1.75% in the middle of the century. In 1870 the number of degrees awarded was just over 9,000. However, the vast majority of the population did not consider higher education to be profitable. The example of the two-time US President Grover Cleveland (1885–1889, 1893–1897), who, as a professional lawyer, did his specialist knowledge not at a university but in a law firm , illustrates that for a long time a formal higher education was not even expected from top positions had acquired. Except the priests young most professional academics (Engl. Were professionals , particularly lawyers and doctors) are formed until after the American Civil War not in universities but in individual practices that had little contact with the current state of knowledge of the subject. Many Americans went to Europe, especially Germany, to get a higher degree.

This should also be understood against the background that the secondary and tertiary education areas were by no means clearly separated from one another in the mid-19th century, but rather formed a smooth transition. For example, Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, founded in Lima , New York in 1831, offered classes from elementary to college; In 1850 the Genesee College became independent , from which in 1869 the Syracuse University emerged .

Women were not excluded from higher education. As early as 1860, there were at least 45 universities across the country offering women academic degrees. Wesleyan College in Macon , Georgia, opened in 1839, is considered the first higher education institution in the United States where women could earn full degrees . Catherine Brewer was the first American woman to earn a bachelor's degree here in 1840. In 1877, Helen Magill became the first American woman to earn a doctorate from Boston University .

After the civil war

In 1862, the first Morrill Act ( Morrill Land-Grant act ) was passed, which formed the legal basis for a new type of public higher education institution to emerge, which subsequently became widespread: the Land-Grant University . The background to this development was a shift in the national economy away from the exploitation of natural resources and towards agriculture. While the early American universities were mostly liberal arts colleges , the land grant universities were the first to establish institutions that were primarily intended to impart practical know-how. In line with the political desire for a rapid expansion of the American economy, the land grant universities were initially primarily agricultural and engineering schools. They were financed by the federal government transferring land ownership to the states with the condition that the proceeds from the sale or use of this endowment were used for the construction and running costs of the schools. Michigan State and Penn State (both in 1855) were among the first to become land-grant universities . In 2014 there were 106 land grant universities nationwide, including many state universities, but also a small number of private institutions, such as MIT (1861), Cornell (1865) and Tuskegee University (1881). Cornell set the standard for state universities with its fusion of academic and practical. The number of new land grant universities in the second half of the 19th century was far exceeded by the newly established, church-related, multi-purpose colleges. The traditional colleges also expanded their courses in the 19th century or even formed themselves into universities (Columbia 1857, Yale 1887, Princeton 1896). As the example of Harvard President Charles William Eliot shows, it was occasionally individuals who turned insignificant provincial colleges into modern universities.

Johns Hopkins University , founded in Baltimore in 1876, was the first American university to combine research and teaching from the outset. Their role model was the German universities, particularly the University of Heidelberg , which were shaped by Wilhelm von Humboldt's ideas . Until then, research in the United States had often been a matter of initiative by individuals (examples: Benjamin Franklin , Benjamin Rush , Thomas Edison ). Until the American Civil War, only about half of scientists worked in universities. When university lecturers did research, this always presupposed that teaching was not disrupted by the research.

In the 1880s the high school, which until then had been a kind of college for the general public, was transformed into a preparatory school for future college students. The demand for technical courses rose sharply. In the 1880s, 4,000 Americans had earned an engineering degree annually ; by the 1890s, there were more than 20,000, and twice as many in the following decade.

20th century

Number of Bachelor's and Master's degrees awarded annually, 1870–2017

By the twentieth century, the majority of states had chosen to meet their needs for practice-oriented universities not through land grant universities, but through specialized agricultural colleges and colleges of agriculture and mechanic arts ("A & Ms").

Many practice-oriented universities began to work closely with industry in the field of research in the 20th century. It started with MIT, which had already worked with AT&T in the late 19th century and founded a Research Laboratory for Applied Chemistry in 1908 for the sole purpose of industrial research .

After the Second World War

Proportion of American adults who have attended college for at least 4 years (1940-2018)

A great many US universities only became what they are today through the substantial defense spending by the US government after World War II and the Cold War. Before the war, for example B. Harvard University or the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are struggling with considerable financial problems. In addition, there were top scientists who had been forced to emigrate to the USA before 1945 and the Cold War from all over Europe.

Funding the universities

In 2017, the total costs of American universities amounted to US $ 583 billion (compared to Germany: € 54 billion).

revenue

Composition of Revenue of American Universities

The following sources of funding help fund universities in the United States:

• Federal tax funds (public and private universities)
• State tax revenue (public universities only)
• Community tax revenue (mainly community colleges)
• tuition fee
• Income from own economic ventures:

• from student residences, cafeterias, university bookstores, etc.
• from university clinics and other university-owned service facilities

• Investment profits, endowments , donations, etc. (mainly private universities)

Federal grants

In the distribution of federal funding, very few colleges (including elite schools such as Johns Hopkins University , Stanford, and Columbia ) get most of the money.

In 2017, the federal government gave a total of slightly more than US $ 40 billion to all universities (public and private); this sum is made up of funds from the Department of Social Affairs , the Department of Defense , the National Science Foundation, and other federal agencies. In the most populous state of California z. B. Washington's private universities received US $ 1.05 billion, including Stanford alone US $ 0.71 billion, followed by Caltech with US $ 0.28 billion; public universities were funded with US $ 3.05 billion ( University of California network : US $ 2.87 billion, California State University network : US $ 0.17 billion). The country's most generously funded single institution was Johns Hopkins University (2.18 billion) in Baltimore , Maryland.

State and community grants

The states and municipalities raised US $ 8,700 for each student in the 2017/2018 school year and a total of US $ 85.8 billion for the universities.

The states finance, among other things, a. the four-year state universities and the scholarships they award. In the 2016 tax year, they spent an average of 18% of their available funds on universities. Adjusted for inflation, their contributions fell by almost US $ 9 billion between 2008 and 2017.

The communities finance the community colleges. In 2016, they spent an average of 3% of their funds on this. In 45 of the 50 states, communities accounted for less than 25% of college funding. In the 2017/2018 school year, the participation of the municipalities in the public funding within the state was 13%.

tuition fee

A higher level of education not only makes a higher income likely, but also makes unemployment less likely.

Tuition fees are generally charged at American universities . These fees can be very high, especially at private universities and colleges , but the fees at state universities are many times higher than German tuition fees.

In 2016, American universities received US $ 85 billion from tuition fees and fees for other educational services and US $ 27 billion from student dormitories, canteens and the like.

Tuition fee amount

Average tuition costs (tuition fees, room and board; excluding personal needs) in the 2017/2018 school year amounted to US $ 20,770 at public universities and US $ 46,950 at private universities (Germany: including personal needs EUR 9,528) . The pure tuition fees at public four-year universities average US $ 10.230 ( in-state ; out-of-state : US $ 26.290) and at private US $ 35.830. After the British, American universities have the second highest tuition fees in the world.

Superlatives

• Harvey Mudd College , a private undergraduate school in Claremont , California, is currently (2019) the most expensive university in the USA . The cost of tuition, dormitory, and cafeteria add up to $ 75,003 per year. This amount does not include costs for learning materials, personal needs and transport. The costs for the University of Chicago , Columbia University, Barnard College, and Scripps College are similarly high .
• Columbia University currently (2019) charges the highest tuition fees (excluding dormitory and cafeteria costs) , namely US $ 61,850 per year. The tuition fees at the University of Chicago, Landmark College , Trinity College, and Franklin and Marshall College are similarly high .
• The private university with the lowest tuition fees is currently (2019) the Mormon Brigham Young University at $ 5790 .

Study financing and funding

The American population's debt with student loans has increased massively over the past 10 years.

See also : Student Finance and Aid in the United States

Many American families set up a college plan when a child is born . In many cases, however, social hardship is alleviated by an extensive network of grants ( grants , tuition waivers ) and fixed-interest loans. Federal student aid ( Federal Student Aid , equivalent to the German BAföG ) is more widespread and easier to reach in the USA than in Germany, so that some students can undertake an expensive education exclusively at the expense of the state. Government grants (grants) must never be repaid. Not only socially disadvantaged students have a chance of a scholarship. Particularly good students can hope for an academic scholarship, particularly athletic students for a sports scholarship. Its recipients then compete in their sport for the respective university team. A good sports team is important for universities in order to promote their profile and thus gain prestige. Sports scholarships in particular give many foreign students the opportunity to finance their studies in the USA. So-called sports camps offer a good opportunity to get hold of such a scholarship.

In 2018, 44.7 million Americans (13.7%) were in debt with student loans. In March 2019 there were already 54.8 million (16.7%). These borrowers' debts averaged $ 29,200 and totaled $ 1.6 trillion. The student-debt crisis is now a major political issue, and a number of Democratic candidates for the 2020 presidential election - Elizabeth Warren in particular - have called for drastic measures to ease the debt burden and cut costs in tertiary education.

Return on investment

The bachelor's degree at a - inexpensive - public university usually brings the graduates more income advantages in the long term than studying at a correspondingly expensive private university. Only the most expensive private universities bring ROI advantages over a good public university.

In view of the high study costs, many American high school graduates now select their college and the planned degree according to ROI criteria. Employees with a bachelor's degree e.g. B. earn an average of 1.67 times more than those who have never studied.

Universities help their graduates to start their careers and a. through their alumni and by setting up career service offices on campus to provide resources for job search.

Investments, endowments, donations

The universities can also cover a large part of the costs through donations from alumni. In the USA it is common for the so-called alumni to donate large contributions even decades later because of their ties to their former universities.

Income from sports programs

The Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor with 107,601 seats, the largest college sports stadium in the country. For comparison: the Signal Iduna Park in Dortmund has 81,365 spaces.

A small number of colleges generate another significant portion of income from sports programs. This income comes from the sale of exploitation rights to the media industry, the sale of tickets and promotional items and from program-related donations. Sports programs with a high media presence also serve the prestige, reputation and brand management of the university, which then attracts more students and more donors. In the 2017/2018 school year, 38 American universities generated US $ 100 million or more from their sports program. In first place was the state University of Texas at Austin (US $ 219.4), followed by Texas A&M University (US $ 212.4 million) and Ohio State (US $ 205.6). For comparison: Bayern Munich had total revenues of EUR 657.4 million in 2017/2018.

American university sport has been organized under the umbrella of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) since 1910, which oversees many Canadian universities in addition to the domestic ones. The oldest conferences within the NCAA include the Big Ten Conference (1896), the Missouri Valley Conference (1907), the Southwestern Athletic Conference (1920) and the Southern Conference (1921); the best known internationally is the Ivy League (1954). In the 2017/2018 school year, the NCAA programs enrolled more than 480,000 students, or 2.4% of all students, in the United States.

expenditure

Composition of expenditure by public and private (non-profit) universities

The expenditures of American universities mainly include the following items:

• Teaching
• Research and public service
• Operation of university clinics
• Operation of student residences, canteens, etc.
• administration
• Scholarships ( Financial Aid ); at private universities this proportion is less than ½ percent.

School and study forms

Differentiation between college and university

Everyday usage of language

The terms "college" and "university" have several levels of use in English . Colloquially , college is a collective term for any type of college. Go to college ("to go to college ") is roughly equivalent to the colloquial German expression studieren , which also does not include any information about whether z. B. an art academy, a university or a technical college is attended.

The only institutions in the tertiary education sector that are not colloquially referred to as “colleges” are the vocational schools .

Word history

In the Anglo-Saxon world, a "college" (from Latin collegium ) is historically an individual university. University College , one of the founding schools of the University of Oxford in the UK , dates back to the 13th century when Latin was the language of science. The traditional British universities, which provided the model for the American ones, emerged as amalgamations of colleges that still enjoy partial autonomy today. The oldest higher education institution in the state of what is now the United States, Harvard College , was founded in 1636 to ensure the priests of the Massachusetts Bay Colony . In 1782 the Harvard Medical School was added; other schools followed. The official name of the association is still The President and Fellows of Harvard College . It was not until the 19th century that the name “Harvard University” gradually became established.

Factual differences

Although schools that call themselves “universities” are generally larger than those that have the term “college” in their name, there are also very small universities (Faith International University & Seminary in Tacoma , just under 400 students) and very large ones Colleges (Broward College, Fort Lauderdale , 67,000 students). Some institutions do not use either part of the name ( MIT ) at all .

In general, such universities refer to themselves as “colleges”, whose offers are largely limited to associate and bachelor’s courses, while those that call themselves “universities” usually also offer extensive master’s and doctoral courses. However, many schools that have the word “college” in their names also have master’s degrees and doctoral programs (examples: Dartmouth College , Boston College , College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee ).

Universities that are particularly strong in research also usually bear the name “University”. Exceptions to this rule are firstly institutions such as MIT, Dartmouth College and the Colorado School of Mines , which are in fact universities, but have not included this word in their names. Second, many undergraduate schools also offer their students high-level research programs (examples: College of Wooster , Davidson College ).

Often the part of the name “University” also stands for quality of teaching. In fact, in addition to good “universities”, there are also those that take at most a third of their first-year students to graduation and are therefore counted among the worst universities in the country (examples: Fayetteville State University , University of the District of Columbia , Shaw University).

Public vs. private universities

Development of student numbers (in millions) at public and private universities, 1965–2017

Counting universities is a complex task in the USA because many schools are divided into more or less independent sub-schools. However, the National Center for Education Statistics counted 1,626 public and 2,672 private universities in the United States in 2017. In the private sector, on the other hand, she differentiated between 1,687 non-commercial ( non -profit schools) and 985 commercial universities (for-profit schools) .

Each of the 50 American states as well as the capital Washington, DC , Guam , Puerto Rico , the Northern Mariana Islands and the Virgin Islands have either a system of state universities or other networked or individual public universities or a combination thereof. For example, in the most populous state of California . B. in parallel the networks of the University of California (10 campuses) and California State University (23 campuses). The largest public university in the USA is currently the University of Central Florida in Orlando with 68,569 students. Some of the public facilities - e.g. B. UC Berkeley , UCLA and University of Michigan, Ann Arbor - are among the most respected universities in the country.

The non-commercial private universities include both denominational (e.g. Liberty University , Grand Canyon University , Brigham Young University ) and secular (e.g. Stanford , CalTech , MIT ). The eight highly renowned Ivy League universities are also all privately owned: Brown , Columbia , Cornell , Dartmouth , Harvard , UPenn , Princeton and Yale .

Commercial universities are used in particular by students who are dependent on distance learning . Other commercial providers have niche expertise such as B. DigiPen , which is related to the Nintendo company and offers special bachelor's and master's degrees for developers of computer game software.

College type		Number of schools (as of 2017)	Number of students ( as of 2017)	Medium annual tuition	Average annual study costs (including dormitory and cafeteria)	Sources and Notes
				Associate / bachelor's degree; Status: 2018/2019
public universities		1626	14.56 million	in-state: US $ 9,970 out-of-state: US $ 25,620	in-state: US $ 25,290 out-of-state: US $ 40,940
private universities	noncommercial	1687	3.4 million	US $ 35,830	US $ 46,950
	commercially	985	1.7 million	US $ 15,677	US $ 31,137
Explanation of terms: in-state : for students who have already spent all their high school years in the state concerned; out-of-state : for students who are coming to study from another state. Regardless of where they live, children of United States Army personnel are often charged the higher out-of-state fees.

Community colleges

De Anza College in Cupertino (pictured, a lecture hall building) is one of the many community colleges in California.

In most states , the community colleges are branches of the respective state university, which, among other areas of responsibility, have the special task of providing education for relatively little money.

The community colleges are financed from tax revenues from the communities. The tuition fees charged here are comparatively low; in the 2019/2020 school year they averaged US $ 4,812 per year (out of state: US $ 8,586). For financial reasons, many young Americans now study at a community college for two years and then switch to a four-year university, where they can acquire a bachelor's degree in many major subjects after two more years; such arrangements are called “2 Plus 2 Programs”.

Many community colleges work closely with local high schools, for example in the area of ​​gifted students (see dual enrollment ), but also in programs to prevent school dropouts. As part of the latter, some community colleges take e.g. B. on problem pupils who let them be taught in small study groups by university teachers and accompany them up to the high school diploma.

Liberal Arts Colleges

Many four-year colleges are liberal arts colleges , i.e. schools whose curriculum is aimed more at in-depth general education than at preparation for a specific profession. In contrast to universities, liberal arts colleges are mostly small (1000–2500 students) with small study groups and teachers, for whom teaching tends to be more important than research. Notable examples are Williams College , Amherst College, and Swarthmore College .

Vocational Schools and Career Colleges

A widely used alternative to college is attending a vocational school ( trade school , technical school ), where practical skills for individual professions are taught in two-year training courses; the mean cost here is only $ 16,500 per year. Graduates acquire a diploma or certificate , and in some courses also an associate degree . In 2014, 16 million students were enrolled at American vocational schools .

Some of the vocational colleges are commercial private schools. These “career colleges” were most widespread during the 2008/2009 recession. Many had bad reputations and record dropouts. When the economy picked up again, demand for these facilities fell sharply from 2010 onwards and many facilities had to close, including B. one of the market leaders, the ITT Technical Institute.

Distance learning

In autumn 2015, 5,954,121 students were enrolled in distance learning programs. The majority of the providers are commercial private universities. In addition to their online operations, many of them also have a campus.

The market leaders include a. the University of Phoenix (103,975 students), Strayer University (52,253), Walden University (49,680), American Public University System (46,420), Capella University (38,392), Colorado Technical University (25,797) and Brightwood College (20,000).

Many of the public and non-commercial private universities also offer distance learning courses, including B. Purdue University , a public college in Indiana .

Degree programs and degrees: overview

American universities offer courses with up to four different degrees:

graduation	Type of course	Duration of study	Admission requirements	Number of students 2019/2020
Associate degree (Intermediate degree)	undergraduate programs	2 years	High School Diploma or equivalent	989,000
Bachelor's degree		4-5 years		1,975,000
Master's degree	graduate programs	1½ – 2 years	Bachelor's degree	820,000
Doctoral degree	Ph.D. programs	2+ years	Master's degree ; in some cases a Bachelor's degree is sufficient	184,000

Foundation Study Program ( Undergraduate Studies )

Associate programs

Two-year programs (associate degree) are now mainly offered at community colleges , but also at many vocational schools .

Bachelor programs

The vast majority of American universities offer four-year courses. Five-year programs are only the rule in a few subjects, such as architecture . Four- and five-year programs are completed with a bachelor's degree, a distinction being made between BA degrees (Bachelor of Arts) and BS degrees (Bachelor of Science) . There are also special degrees such as Bachelor of Engineering (B.Eng.), Bachelor of Philosophy (B.Phil.), Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA), Bachelor of Architecture (B.Arch.), Bachelor of Design (B. Des.), Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) a. a. m. Designations such as summa cum laude , magna cum laude , cum laude and with distinction are awarded for particularly good performance .

Honors courses, as they are otherwise widespread in the English-speaking world, only exist sporadically in the USA. In addition to the regular course work, the acquisition of the Honors Bachelor degree also requires a thesis.

While the length of studies in German-speaking countries is counted in semesters, Americans tend to view semesters, trimesters, etc. as a purely administrative unit of time and rather count the years. Analogous to the graduation of grades at the high school, a distinction is also made in colloquial language in the undergraduate studies Freshmen (1st year), Sophomores (2nd year), Juniors (3rd year) and Seniors (4th year). In written language, the expressions first-year students , second-year students , etc. are also used.

Comparison USA / Germany

Many professions that do not require a university degree in Germany are learned in the United States through an associate or bachelor's program. Here is a selection:

Job title	Germany	United States
		study graduation	Remarks
Accountant ( Accountant )	commercial training ( dual system )	Bachelor of Accountancy (B.Acc.)
Registered nurse ( nurse Registered , RN)	3-year attendance at a nursing school	Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN)	An estimated 55–60% of all nurses hold the BSN degree.

Advanced Studies ( Graduate School )

Students who have obtained a Bachelor's degree can continue their studies at the Graduate School . This is a colloquial collective name for universities that offer degrees above the Bachelor's degree.

While training at professional schools such as B. Law schools and medical schools usually include a professional doctorate (without a doctoral thesis), a doctorate can be built up on master’s courses , which in the USA always takes place as part of a structured program .

Masters programs

While many universities, especially private ones, specialize entirely in undergraduate students (examples: Swarthmore College , Williams College , Pomona College , Colorado College ), other schools also offer Masters courses. The two most commonly awarded Master's degrees are the Master of Arts (MA / MA / AM) and the Master of Science (MSc / MS / SM); there are also numerous others. Depending on the number of credit points that must be acquired for the degree, the course usually lasts one to two years.

Study requirements

With the application u. a. The following documents must be submitted, although the requirements are not the same for all programs:

• a transcript of the grades from the bachelor's degree; occasionally a certain grade point average (GPA) is required
• Letters of recommendation
• personal essays on motivation to study
• the results from standardized tests such as B. Graduate Record Examiniation (GRE) or Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT)

Some Master’s programs only accept applicants who have previously studied a certain major or have completed certain courses; in others, the content of the previous course is irrelevant. Some programs only accept applicants who have already gained work experience.

Character of study

Master’s programs usually contain far fewer general educational parts than have to be completed in the undergraduate degree, and they go more in-depth. The classes are smaller and the cooperation with the teachers is closer. Although certain courses also have to be completed in Master’s programs and the learning progress of the students is continuously checked in tests, there is a lot of time available for research. Final exams are just as uncommon in master's programs as they are in high schools or undergraduate programs.

Professional Schools

Certain subjects - such as law, medicine, osteopathy , dentistry, veterinary medicine, and theology - are not studied at undergraduate schools in the United States, but at specialized professional schools. Admission there requires, among other things, a completed bachelor's degree with any major subject.

Undergraduate studies

Study requirements and application for a place

Application documents

Mean SAT test scores in different ethnic groups (2018)

The acquisition of the high school diploma entitles to attend a tertiary educational institution. A German Abitur also fulfills the requirements; however, the original document is not sufficient; the applicant must provide a credential evaluation of his Abitur certificate, which he can have an independent specialized institution (not the grammar school) produce for a fee.

Universities are more or less selective when it comes to admitting students and require extensive additional information, including the results of standardized performance tests ( ACT , SAT ) , beyond the acquisition of the high school diploma and the final grades of 11th grade ( Grade Point Average , GPA ). ACT and SAT are offered at all high school locations, but are not the responsibility of the schools, so students have to organize participation on their own initiative.

With the application documents, letters of recommendation from reputable people who know the applicant well, as well as one or more application essays, must usually be submitted. Top universities also invite candidates to face-to-face interviews. In some subjects (e.g. art, architecture), many schools also have to submit work samples. Many high schools today no longer send letters of recommendation and transcripts of certificates ( GPA ) by post or e-mail, but with the help of specialized web-based software (Naviance).

Many universities prefer children (often also siblings) of their alumni. One then speaks of the family in question having “legacy” with regard to this school. One reason for this type of preference is that applicants with legacy are less likely than other applicants to drop out after being accepted.

Direct applications and Common App; Application fees

The majority of universities require applications to be sent directly to their own address, although applications are now almost always submitted online . The Common Application application system (often better known as the Common App ), through which application documents can be submitted centrally, has also existed since 1977 . The applicants then authorize the universities of their choice to access the documents. Currently (2019) almost 900 American and foreign universities participate in the system, which is operated by a non-profit organization. In addition to Common App, there are a few other systems that try to centralize applications, but reach significantly fewer universities ( Universal College Application , Coalition Application , Common Black College Application ).

Regardless of whether the application is submitted directly or through a system, most universities also charge an application fee ; the average is 43 US dollars (as of 2019). Schools in high demand usually charge higher fees than less popular ones. The highest fee is currently (2019) Stanford with 90 US dollars.

Application deadlines; Regular decision, early action, early decision

Due to the complexity of the selection process, the application deadlines end much earlier than e.g. B. in German-speaking countries, namely almost a year before the start of the course. The deadlines can vary from university to university. The deadline also depends on the type of application process in which the student is participating:

• The most generous deadlines are for standard applications ( Regular Decision , RD). The advantages of this procedure for students are that they can take their time for the applications, that applications can be sent to an unlimited number of schools and that the probability of receiving financial help from the university is comparatively high.
• With Early Decision (ED), the application deadline is significantly shorter and the applicant can only choose this procedure at a single university (which of course does not prevent him from submitting any number of RD applications to other schools in parallel); however, if you are accepted, the ED study place must be accepted. The advantage of this procedure is that the chance of being accepted at the university of your choice is comparatively great; the confirmation of a place is also given a little earlier than at RD.
• Early Action (EA) is similar to ED in many respects, only the applicant retains the freedom to send EA applications to any number of universities and, in the event of a place at university, to decline the offer without fines. An additional advantage of this procedure is that the applicant can negotiate financial aid with the university - and this at a time when the school's budget has not yet been exhausted.

With ED and EA, rejected applicants can automatically be pushed into the pool of RD applicants and thus receive a second chance. Whether EA and / or ED is offered depends on the respective university.

selectivity

Distribution of the acceptance rate of American universities (2017)

Taken as a whole, American universities are far less selective than media reports (e.g. Operation Varsity Blues ) sometimes suggest. The Pew Research Center has found that in 2017 only 17 of the 1,364 universities examined admittedly accepted less than 10 percent of all applicants. The list of schools with the lowest acceptance rate is currently topped by Stanford (4%), Harvard, Princeton (5% each), Columbia, Juilliard and Yale (6% each). Some universities are also highly selective with regard to the ACT and SAT test results of their applicants. So z. For example, with Cal-Tech students the mean ACT score was 35 (out of a possible 36) points and the mean SAT score was 1560 (out of a possible 1600) points.

On the other side of the statistics are those institutions that accept half or more of their applicants. In 2017, this applied to more than 80% of all universities. 53.3% of all universities even accepted two thirds or more.

In individual subjects, however, due to the limited number of study places, selectivity in both selective and non-selective schools can be higher than stated here. So has z. B. Virginia Tech an acceptance rate of 70.1%; however, at Pamplin College of Business, Virginia Tech's highly sought-after business school, it is only 52%.

Formalized affirmative actions based on ethnicity or race , such as quota regulations to promote African-Americans , are currently not considered to be constitutional in the United States ( Gratz v. Bollinger , 2003). Partly common and as a result of Grutter v. Bollinger (2003), however, factual affirmative actions that are carried out informally in individual student secretariats (admissions offices) are also permitted .

Application decision

An application for a study place can result in four types of decisions on the part of the university: deferral ( deferral ; e.g. when an application is moved from ED or EA to the RD pool or while waiting for later school grades), rejection, acceptance or placement on a waiting list. Waitlisting is widespread in American universities.

Study regulations

Structure of the academic year

The academic year in the USA is divided into semesters, trimesters or quarters, depending on the university. Many institutions also offer optional summer programs (Summer Classes) , which are usually only 6–8 weeks long, but include the material of a regular course. Many students take advantage of these fee-based programs to catch up on credit points in courses in which they have failed the exam. Others do this in order to be able to complete their studies more quickly or to be able to attend a course in the autumn without wasting time that requires a certain other course.

The universities set their academic calendar individually. This is roughly based on the school calendar, with courses beginning after Labor Day (early in September) and the beginning of the summer vacation in May. The school year is interrupted by short autumn, Thanksgiving , winter and spring holidays. However, many schools with trimester operation do not start their teaching program until later in September and then do not give autumn holidays.

Credits

To a much lesser extent than in German-speaking countries, “large” final exams play a role at American universities. Critical to the successful completion of studies are there rather credits (credits) . The typical number of points that must be achieved for a Bachelor's degree is 120 to 130 (Master: 30–64). Many high schools offer advanced placement and / or IB courses in which credit points can be acquired, which universities can then treat as if they had been achieved by the student there (credit transfer) .

Students who significantly underperform the expected performance can be placed under Academic Probation , a status with a fixed duration in which they must improve their grades. If this does not succeed, there is a risk of dismissal from school.

General compulsory program

Many students use the credits they brought with them from high school to get exempt from part of the General Education Courses (core curriculum) : general courses in subjects such as mathematics, science, history, English and possibly a foreign language, in which the University continue to have credit points to be achieved.

Major and optional minor

The main subjects studied most frequently (as of 2015/2016)

A further requirement for the acquisition of a transaction completing a certain number of courses in a to be selected main compartment (Major) . While at many universities the main subject is chosen at the start of the course, others allow their students to continue studying for a year or a year and a half before the decision.

The major course comprises both compulsory (core courses) and elective courses in which a specified number of credit points must be acquired. The major also determines which academic degree (e.g. Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science ) is acquired.

Students whose interests lie in two fields, can a minor over their major addition (Minor) choose, regardless of whether they plan to use a minor in business or whether it is a hobby. As in a major, a specified number of credit points must be collected in a minor. On the one hand, studying a minor subject creates an additional workload for the student; on the other hand, this often gives rise to an additional qualification that later characteristically distinguishes job applicants from others.

Classes and workload

Student while studying

In the courses, the form can be for lectures ( lectures ), seminars ( discussions ), seminars , laboratory lessons ( laboratory , science subjects), Studio classes ( studio , artistic subjects) and independent Studierzeiten ( independent study , z. B. for research) differ . A widely controversial question in the USA is whether grades (and thus possibly credit points) should be deducted from students or whether the university's own funding should be reduced if they do not appear at the courses. At many universities, teachers are instructed to check the attendance of all course participants every hour ( take attendance ).

Homework is given in many courses . These are larger in scope than school homework; However, more time is allowed for the completion. In order to successfully complete a Bachelor’s degree in four years, students have to spend around 15 hours per week in class and around 30 additional hours on homework and study.

exams

Final exams in the sense of a German university examination do not exist in most subjects, just as little as in primary and secondary education. However, every single university course ends with a written examination ( final exam , final ) at the end of the semester or trimester . Credit points are only earned for the course if a certain minimum grade is achieved. In order to relieve the finals of exam material, many schools also hold midterm exams (midterms) .

Individual training paths

Teacher training

The Teachers College Columbia University

Because education federalism prevails in the United States, states also make decisions about teacher training . However, all states require that public school teachers hold at least a bachelor's degree. Kindergarten and primary school teachers the main compartment must Elementary Education ( Primary Education ) have studied. In many middle schools, and more often in high schools, in certain subjects (math, science), teachers are expected to have majored in that subject. In 2015, around 325,000 new teachers were recruited in the United States (218,000 public schools and 107,000 private schools), but these numbers do not only include newcomers.

Outstanding teacher training institutions include: a. the Michigan State University , the Teachers College of Columbia University and the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Prospective teachers have to give a certain number of lessons under expert supervision during their studies. The exact requirements are handled differently in different states. In California z. B. A minimum of 600 hours of school practice must be completed before graduation. This fieldwork begins in the first year of study.

As in most countries in the world, teachers do not have civil service in the United States . In order to be hired as teachers at a public school, however, the graduates must be licensed or certified. Admission is limited to certain grade levels, i. H. a teacher certified for grades K to 3 cannot teach grades 4 or 5 at the primary school where he is employed. Most states require exams as proof of proficiency in teaching as well as qualification in the subject. Lateral entrants who can prove a bachelor's degree but have not completed the special educational science courses required for certification can complete alternative programs in all states in which they are trained by experienced teachers in their professional practice and only examined later. Private schools often employ non-certified teachers as well.

In order to receive their license or certificate, teachers need to continue their education. Many teachers go back to college sooner or later and earn their masters degree, which not only gives them professional privileges but also better pay. In the 2015-2016 school year, 57% of all teachers employed in public schools had a Masters degree. Very good teachers can also apply for National Board Certification (NBC); This is granted through a rigorous qualification program that goes beyond state certification. A good 91,000 or just under 3% of American teachers own an NBC.

Legal training

Harvard Law School: Library

In the United States, you have to go to law school to train as a lawyer. In 2018, there were 203 American Bar Association- recognized law schools across the country . In addition, there are around 30 others who are not recognized by the Bar Association and whose graduates acquire legal expertise but do not automatically get into the bar. In autumn 2018, 38,390 new students enrolled at the American law schools.

The largest law school in the country, which also receives the most applications, is the Georgetown Law Center in Washington, DC (576 students). The law schools of Yale, Stanford, Harvard, the University of Chicago and Columbia University are at the top of the ranking lists . The most prestigious is Harvard Law School , which has produced 21 federal judges and two US presidents ( Rutherford B. Hayes , Barack Obama ), among others .

Average tuition fees at private law schools in 2018/2019 were $ 48,869; in public schools they were $ 27,591 in-state and $ 40,725 out-of-state, respectively. The most exclusive school right now is Columbia Law School with tuition fees of $ 69,916.

In addition to a personal statement on motivation to study and several letters of recommendation from previous professors, the study requirements include two main things:

• A completed undergraduate degree with a bachelor's degree. Applicants with good grades ( undergraduate grad point average , UGPA) are preferred. Although many law school applicants have majored in political science or other law-related disciplines in preparation, law schools are not expected to specialize in this early stage.
• Successful completion of the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT). The LSAT is a standardized aptitude test for prospective law students. The general applicability of this test is currently being relaxed; many law schools no longer insist on this and instead only require the Graduate Records Examination (GRE) or prefer to conduct their own tests.

A typical course of study that leads to the acquisition of the title of Juris Doctor (JD) takes three, less often two or four years. The JD, a professional doctorate without completing a doctoral thesis, is the standard degree . This degree is usually followed by the bar exam , with the passing of which the graduate is admitted to the bar licensure and may use the honorary title Esquire (Esq.) . The bar exam is taken in front of an authority of the respective state; More recently, however, alternative concepts such as Uniform Bar Examination (UBE) and Multistate Bar Examinations (MBE) have also gained acceptance .

Some schools also offer Masters degrees ( Master of Laws , LL.M ). This course usually does not require an LSAT, usually lasts one year (less often: two years) and does not lead to admission to the bar. Other alternative degrees are the Master of Legal Studies (MLS), the Master of Science in Law (MSL) and the Doctor of Science of Law (JSD, SJD). In addition, various legal certificates can be obtained at law schools . B. for the profession of paralegal .

Medical education

The Yale School of Medicine historical library.

In 2018, there were 141 accredited medical schools (med schools) in the United States , including 85 public and 56 private. The Indiana University School of Medicine (1426 students, as of 2018/2019), which is spread over 9 campuses, is currently the largest medical school in the country . In autumn 2019, 21,869 new students enrolled at American medical schools; 896,819 had applied. The David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA receives most of the applications . Still other schools hold top positions in the university rankings for their research , including Harvard, Johns Hopkins , Stanford, Penn Med, and UCSF . At Harvard Medical School alone , 15 Nobel Prize winners carried out research for which they were later awarded the prize.

Studying at a medical school has several requirements:

• The most basic requirement is a completed bachelor's degree.
• Another study requirement that is widely required today is that applicants prove that they have spent a certain number of hours in voluntary work over a given period of time .
• Each medical school has its own requirements for certain courses (English, Biology, Inorganic Chemistry) that the undergraduate applicant must have successfully completed. It is not assumed that the applicant is studying a medical-related discipline as a major; Although is biology the most widely studied main compartment of the candidates, but there are also very many applicants who have no background in science. The undergraduate schools do not even offer a subject “medicine”. Some pre-med schools - especially universities that operate a medical school themselves - are particularly well prepared for the needs of future medical students and not only support them in the subjects required by the medical schools, but also offer their students the opportunity to do voluntary work , for example in the in-house clinic.
• Applicants must have completed a Medical College Admission Test (MCAT), an achievement test that tests their ability to think scientifically.

The most common medical school in the United States is four years. The median tuition fees (excluding costs for board and lodging) in public schools were 36,755 (in-state) and 60,802 (out-of-state) US dollars in the 2018/2019 school year, and around 60,000 US dollars in private institutions. At the cheapest schools they were just under $ 19,000, while the most exclusive, Dartmouth College's Geisel School of Medicine , charged $ 68,574.

Medical schools, if they are accredited, may award the doctoral degree (MD). This is a professional doctorate without completing a doctoral thesis. In order to acquire the title, however, students must first pass the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE, Board exam ). The study at the Medical School is followed by a 3 to 7-year internship (residency) , in which the graduates gain further qualifications and specialize and gain initial work experience under supervision.

A distinction must be made between medical schools in the narrow sense of the word and the many American osteopathy schools which, if they are accredited, are allowed to award the degree of Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO).

See also : Study of Medicine

College career

In the 2017/2018 school year, 378,865 people were employed as full-time teachers at American universities.

Student life

campus

Colgate University in Upstate New York has a typical campus layout.

The American universities, like the European universities, follow the tradition of medieval monasteries , in which students and teachers studied and lived together in an environment that was isolated from the rest of the world. Following this historical model and the direct example of the major British universities - Oxford , Cambridge - the great majority of American universities were laid out as campus universities , whose premises ideally do not have to be left by the students during the lecture period, because here the Teaching facilities also include libraries, canteens, restaurants, dormitories, sports and cultural facilities, medical services, shopping, post offices and non-denominational places of worship. Most universities even have their own police force .

Dorm

Housing arrangements for students at 4-year colleges

Typical room in an American dormitory

Many students who do not pursue distance learning or whose parents are not on site live in the university's own student residences ( resident halls , dormitories , or dorms for short ). Because living on campus promotes the social acclimatization of new students, living in the dorm is mandatory at many universities for at least the first year of study. Many universities divorce their new students ( freshmen ) so that they can make friends with their peers, comfortably from the older students. Typical living arrangements in American student dormitories are singles (1), doubles (2), triples (3) and quads (4 beds), with doubles , i.e. twin rooms, traditionally being the norm. The cost of room and board is not included in the tuition fees and averages US $ 8,887 per year in public schools and US $ 10,089 in private schools. In places with a high cost of living, these costs can be significantly higher; in the case of New York University ( Manhattan , Brooklyn ) e.g. B. In the 2017/2018 school year they were US $ 17,664. During the summer holidays, and in many schools also during the winter holidays, dormitory rooms usually have to be vacated.

Greek Life

→ Main article : Fraternities and Sororities

There are student associations ( Fraternities , Frats , Sororities , Greek letter organizations , GLOs ) in the vicinity of 800 of the 4,298 American universities , which had a total membership of 384,193 undergraduate students in the 2015/2016 school year . They offer their members housing, support during their studies and long-term social networks in which the alumni take on the role of sponsors of the careers of the younger generation. In the 2015/2016 school year the number of alumni was 4.2 million. Many associations are highly selective when selecting new members. The organizations use Greek letters to denote themselves , so student liaison is often referred to as "Greek Life" in English. The housing costs are roughly the same as in a university residence hall.

Participation in education

Participation in education among the various peoples of the United States, and among the sexes, is in part unequal:

	High school diploma	Proportion of students among the 18 to 24 year olds	University experience at all (including current students)	College degree at all	Associate	Bachelor	master	Professional degree	PhD degree
All	89.10%	40%	60.46%	41.93%	9.67%	20.63%	8.54%	1.28%	1.80%
white	93.42%		65.32%	46.82%	10.45%	23.11%	9.70%	1.51%	2.04%
African American	87.19%	36%	54.12%	32.27%	9.54%	15.03%	6.07%	0.60%	1.04%
Hispanics	72.82%	36%	41.72%	24.06%	7.81%	11.77%	3.45%	0.55%	0.48%
Asians	90.36%	65%	71.88%	59.20%	6.27%	30.23%	15.94%	2.32%	4.44%
Native Americans	72%			27%		10%	6%
Women	89.56%	44%	62.25%	43.51%	10.59%	21.03%	9.33%	1.09%	1.46%
Men	88.60%	37%	58.55%	40.24%	8.69%	20.20%	7.70%	1.49%	2.17%
Orange highlighting: less than 95% of the comparative proportion of the total population. Only people aged 18 or over are included in these statistics. Data source, unless otherwise noted:

There are also significant differences with regard to the performance measured and the drop-out rates:

	Early school leavers	Middle high school GPA	Medium SAT values		Mean ACT value	University drop-outs / student transporters *
			mathematics	Text literacy
All	5.4%	3.0	528	531	20.8	40%
white	4.3%	3.09	557	566	22.2	31%
African American	6.5%	2.69	463	483	16.9	54%
Native Americans	10.1%		480	469	17.3	59%
Hispanics	8.2%	2.84	489	501	18.8	40%
Asians	2.1%	3.26	635	588	24.5	23%
Women	4.4%	3.10	519	534	20.8	37%
Men	6.4%	2.90	537	529	20.8	43%
* Explanation of terms: full-time students who had not completed their 4-year course after 6 years. Orange highlighting: disadvantageous deviation of 5% or more from the comparative proportion or mean value of the total population

Indian population

Hundreds of Native Americans are still studying in the building of the traditional Cherokee Female Seminary (photo from 1928), which has been part of Northeastern State University since 1909 .

Indigenous peoples ( Indians ) are among the least likely to participate in higher education in the United States . Of 5.2 million Indians, only 0.003% (149 people) obtained a doctorate in 2013 (total population: 0.055%).

The reasons for the high drop-out rates and low numbers of new students within the Indian community are among others. a. seen in the fact that this community perceives the public schools, in which there are hardly any Indian teachers working, as alien to their culture and as unsupportive. Indian students are disciplined or excluded from class in schools for behavioral violations more often than members of any other ethnic group.

Universities with a high proportion of Native American students include Northeastern State University ( Tahlequah ), the University of New Mexico , the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, and the University of Alaska Fairbanks . In addition, there are currently 32 accredited colleges that are run by Indian peoples ( Tribal Colleges and Universities , TCUs); the number of students there is around 30,000 (8.7% of all Indian students).

Hispanics

Proportion of university graduates in different ethnic groups, by gender (only people between 40 and 59 years of age)

Another group with comparatively low university attendance are the Hispanics . In 2018, only just under 42% of all adult Hispanics had spent time at a university (total population: 60%), with the proportion of university graduates stagnating for men while it has grown steadily for women in recent decades; of female Hispanics between the ages of 18 and 24, almost 52% had study experience in 2018. In some states, the educational gap between Hispanics and other races is even greater, such as the most populous state, California , where they make up more than a third of the adult population but only 18% have a college degree (white population: 53%) .

The most common factors cited as the educational disadvantage of Hispanics are the fact that many of them are immigrants and / or are very poor. Many Hispanic students carry the burden of being the first in their families to figure out how to study. It is particularly difficult for illegal immigrants to get financial aid to study at university. In 2010, California passed its DREAM (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors) Act to give children of illegal immigrants a chance to study , a law that puts these applicants on an equal footing with the children of citizens in certain respects.

African American

Proportion of college graduates among African Americans, by gender and age

Participation in higher education is also well below average in the Afro-American community, especially among men. In the cohort of 25 to 54 year olds, 43% of women but only 33% of men have a university degree. Obvious factors in the educational disadvantage of African Americans are their poor mean school grades and their poor performance in performance tests such as SAT and ACT.

Numerous theories about the possible causes of the Racial Achievement Gap have emerged to this day, most of which focus on promoting education in childhood and school. Many African Americans prefer to study at historically black colleges and universities (HBCU; examples: Spelman College , Howard University , Hampton University ). In 2017, 298,000 students were enrolled at the country's 102 HBCUs. African American full-time students are more likely to receive financial support than members of other ethnic groups: In the 2015/2016 school year, 88% of them received study grants and 71% received student loans . Nevertheless, the course is often broken off.

Asians

Americans of Asian descent are the only population in the United States where men can keep up with the rise in female education.

In the United States, the 2010 census counted over 17.32 million ethnic Asians, including 3.79 million Chinese , 3.41 million Filipinos and 3.18 million Indians . Two-thirds of this population are first-generation immigrants. In the 21st century, Americans of Asian descent take part in higher education to a significantly higher degree. This development has backgrounds such as B. After the Tian'anmen massacre (1989) on the basis of the Chinese Student Protection Act of 1992 , 54,396 educated Chinese were naturalized. In the 21st century, so many highly qualified Asian-born students applied to the top universities that some of them, u. a. Harvard, introduced Asian quotas, because of the anti-constitutional nature of this measure, of course, because of which they came under legal pressure.

Americans of Asian descent have the lowest drop-out rate (2.1% [total population: 5.4%]) and the lowest drop-out rate (20.0% [30.5%]) of any major ethnic group in the country. Asian American high school graduates have the highest mean GPA, highest SAT, and highest ACT scores (see previous section). More rarely than other Americans do those of Asian origin have an associate degree, while they are significantly overrepresented in all higher degrees. The Bachelor's degree is particularly common among Indians (72%), Malaysians (60%), Mongols (59%), Sri Lankans (57%), Chinese (54%), Koreans and Pakistanis (53% each). Many researchers have pondered the causes of the unique success story of Americans of Asian descent in the American education system; The main factor cited here is usually the high priority given to education and school success in the cultures of the countries of origin, combined with a decline in racist prejudice that had always hindered Asians in the USA in the 20th century.

women and men

Proportion of Bachelor degrees awarded to women (1870-2010)

College Degrees by Gender and Age (2018)

The higher-education gender gap , the unequal distribution of the sexes among students, experienced a reversal in the 1980s: since then, more women than men have been studying. The factors of this development in the 1970s and 1980s included the increasing employment of girls in MINT subjects , as well as a change in the labor market, which offered qualified women more and more attractive jobs.

There are often differences between female and male students in the choice of major subjects (Bachelor's degree). In many of the most popular subjects, the genders are roughly evenly distributed (economics, social science, biology). Others, however, are clearly preferred by women (health, education, psychology, communication science) or by men (computer science, engineering). Since 2016, more women than men have been studying at American law schools (2018: 52.4%). Since 2017, more female than male students have also enrolled at the medical schools (2018: 51.6%).

Despite women catching up in tertiary education, the United States still has a large income gap between the sexes . An associate degree earns women a median annual salary of $ 43,000 (men: $ 59,000), a bachelor's degree $ 61,000 (men: $ 87,000), and a master's or doctoral degree $ 83,000 (men: 92,000) . On average, in order to earn as much as men, women have to acquire one more degree.

Promotion of the gifted

More than 70% of high schools offer their gifted students dual enrollment (also: concurrent enrollment ), the attendance of college courses - especially at the local community college - while they are still in high school. This has several advantages for the participating pupils: in their strongest subjects, instead of taking the school's own lessons, they take courses at college level in which they also acquire normal school grades; At the same time, they also acquire credit points which, under certain circumstances, allow them not to have to take the corresponding courses later in their regular studies.

In the United States there have been isolated cases of extremely gifted people like Michael Kearney , who, after homeschooling - he was not yet allowed to attend a public school due to his young age - obtained his high school diploma at the age of six and then went straight to university and received his bachelor's degree from the University of South Alabama in 1994 at the age of ten. In the 2015/2016 school year, 4% of new students at four-year colleges were under the age of 18.

Student mobility

In 2017, there were more than three times as many foreigners to study in the US as, conversely, there were Americans to study abroad.

Foreign students in the United States

Origin of the foreign students

In 2018 there were 1,094,792 international students enrolled at American universities . 34.5% of them were graduate students. The annual tuition fees paid by overseas students in the United States averaged $ 24,914.

More than half of the foreign students came from the People's Republic of China or India. 0.84% ​​(9191 people) came from Germany. Other European countries from which many young people go to study in the USA are Great Britain (11,146), France (8716) and Spain (7262). Typical subjects studied by foreigners in the United States are engineering (21%), business (19%), and math / computer science (15%).

Applicants from Germany mostly need the Abitur ; Depending on the subject and university, a subject-specific or technical college entrance qualification may be sufficient. The application process for foreigners is largely the same as for nationals. In addition, however, foreigners must demonstrate good English language skills ( TOEFL or IELTS ) as well as solvency; Once they have been accepted for a study place, they must apply for a visa . The most important scholarship providers for Germans who want to study in the USA are the Fulbright Organization , the German National Academic Foundation , the VDAC and the DAAD . Potsdamer service Epro 360 began in 2014, to scholarships for US students communicate .

American students abroad

In the 2017/2018 school year, 341,751 American students earned credit points at foreign universities. In some courses, a temporary study abroad is compulsory for the students.

Domestic American Student Mobility

The main goals of internal student migration (only students at public universities)

In 2014, 180,881 Americans studied at public colleges in foreign states; that was 1.2% of all students at public universities. Pennsylvania , Alabama, and Arizona were particularly in demand ; California , Illinois , New Jersey and Texas had the largest student exports . The main reason for the low internal mobility of students at public universities is the higher tuition fees that are levied on students who cannot prove a residence history within the state ( out-of-state tuition ).

Quality of American Universities

Graduation rates vary greatly from college to college and from state to state.

Which criteria should be used for the quality of a university is widely disputed in the literature. There are several assessments in the United States, including B. Peterson's Guide , the central criterion of which is the question of how much they believe that graduates from a particular university have benefited from their studies.

One of the many criteria discussed is the ability of a university to support its students in such a way that they acquire their degree within the intended period, i.e. to achieve high graduation rates . In the United States, these rates vary widely from college to college. They are on average higher at non-commercial private universities than at public universities. At private universities, 52.8% of students complete their training within 4 years; after 6 years, 65.4% of all students have graduated. At public universities, the corresponding rates are 33.3% and 57.6%, respectively.

American Colleges in Literature

One of the literary genres that offer insights into American university life is the campus novel from the 1950s with examples such as The Groves of Academe (1952) by Mary McCarthy .

literature

In German language

• Andrea Hufnagel: Living and studying in the USA. Training program for students, pupils and interns . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2006, ISBN 978-3-525-49064-8 .
• Christina Klein: Studying in the USA . Interna Aktuell, 2006, ISBN 978-3-937887-84-5 .

In English

history

• John S. Brubacher, Willis Rudy: Higher Education in Transition. A History of American Colleges and Universities . 4th edition. Routledge, 1997, ISBN 978-1-56000-917-7 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).
• Arthur M. Cohen, Carrie B. Kisker: The Shaping of American Higher Education. Emergence and Growth of the Contemporary System . 2nd Edition. Jossey-Bass, 2009, ISBN 978-0-470-48006-9 ( limited preview in Google book search).
• Roger L. Geiger: The History of American Higher Education: Learning and Culture from the Founding to World War II . Princeton University Press, 2016, ISBN 978-0-691-17306-1 ( limited preview in Google Book Search - considered the standard work).
• Christopher J. Lucas: American Higher Education. A history . 2nd Edition. Palgrave Macmillan, 2006, ISBN 978-1-4039-7289-7 .
• Frederick Rudolph: The American College and University: A History . 2nd Edition. University of Georgia Press, 1991, ISBN 978-0-8203-1284-2 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).
• John R. Thelin: A History of American Higher Education . 3. Edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2019, ISBN 978-1-4214-2883-3 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).
• Laurence R. Veysey: The Emergence of the American University . University of Chicago Press, 1970, ISBN 978-0-226-85456-4 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).

Present problems

• Michael N. Bastedo, Philip G. Altbach, Patricia J. Gumport: American Higher Education in the Twenty-First Century: Social, Political, and Economic Challenges . Johns Hopkins University Press, 2016, ISBN 978-1-4214-1990-9 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).
• Derek Bok: Higher Education in America . Princeton University Press, 2015, ISBN 978-0-691-16558-5 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).
• Jonathan R. Cole: The Great American University: Its Rise to Preeminence, Its Indispensable National Role, Why It Must Be Protected . PublicAffairs, 2012, ISBN 978-1-61039-097-2 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).
• Barrett J. Taylor, Brendan Cantwell: Unequal Higher Education: Wealth, Status, and Student Opportunity . Rutgers University Press, 2019, ISBN 978-0-8135-9349-4 .

Web links

Commons : Higher education in the United States  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• USNews College and Graduate School Ranking (English)
• Some Colleges Have More Students From the Top 1 Percent Than the Bottom 60. In: The New York Times. January 18, 2017, accessed February 22, 2020 . 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ SQ World University Rankings 2020. Accessed December 12, 2019 . 
2. ^ Universities in India. Retrieved November 19, 2019 . 
3. ↑ Which country has the most universities and colleges? Retrieved November 19, 2019 . 
4. ↑ Number of universities in China between 2008 and 2018. Retrieved November 19, 2019 . 
5. ↑ International Educational Attainment. Retrieved November 16, 2019 (page 3). 
6. ↑ ^{a b c d} Educational Attainment in the United States: 2018. Retrieved November 7, 2019 . 
7. ^ USA: A Guide to the Changing Number of US Universities. Retrieved October 15, 2019 . 
8. ↑ Germany: Number of universities in Germany in the winter semesters 2014/2015 to 2018/2019 by type of university. Retrieved October 15, 2019 . 
9. ^ Private universities in Germany: Private universities. Retrieved November 15, 2019 . 
10. ↑ US college enrollment statistics for public and private colleges from 1965 to 2016 and projections up to 2028. Retrieved October 15, 2019 . 
11. ↑ Number of students at universities in Germany in the winter semesters from 2002/2003 to 2018/2019. Retrieved October 15, 2019 . 
12. ↑ Germany / private universities Students at private universities. Retrieved November 16, 2019 . 
13. ↑ Table 315.20. Full-time faculty in degree-granting postsecondary institutions, by race / ethnicity, sex, and academic rank: Fall 2009, fall 2011, and fall 2013. Retrieved November 18, 2019 . 
14. ↑ Germany: University Rectors' Conference : Universities in Figures 2019. Accessed on November 16, 2019 . 
15. ^ A Developmental History of Training in the United States and Europe. Retrieved November 22, 2019 . 
16. ↑ 10 companies with awesome training and development programs. Retrieved November 22, 2019 . 
17. ↑ Amazon: Training. Retrieved November 22, 2019 . 
18. ^ Civilian labor force participation rate by age, sex, race, and ethnicity. Retrieved October 15, 2019 . 
19. ↑ More college students are working while studying. Retrieved October 15, 2019 . 
20. ^ Employment status of the civilian noninstitutional population by age, sex, and race (2016). Retrieved November 19, 2019 . 
21. ^ Employment status of the civilian non-institutional population by age, sex, and race (2018). Retrieved November 19, 2019 . 
22. ↑ Should Military Recruiters Be Allowed in High Schools? Retrieved October 15, 2019 . 
23. ↑ top recruiter: Just 136,000 out of 33 million young Americans would join the Army. Retrieved October 15, 2019 . 
24. ^ Demographics of the US Military. Retrieved November 18, 2019 . 
25. ↑ Tuition Assistance in the Military. Retrieved November 18, 2019 . 
26. ↑ Roughly four-in-ten active-duty officers have degree at advanced. Retrieved November 18, 2019 . 
27. ^ Roger L. Geiger: The History of American Higher Education: Learning and Culture from the Founding to World War II . Princeton University Press, 2016, ISBN 978-0-691-17306-1 , pp. 143 ff . ( limited preview in Google Book search).
28. ^ John R. Thelin, A History of American Higher Education . 3. Edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2019, ISBN 978-1-4214-2883-3 , pp. 44 f., 48 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
29. ^ Roger L. Geiger: The History of American Higher Education: Learning and Culture from the Founding to World War II . Princeton University Press, 2016, ISBN 978-0-691-17306-1 , pp. 147 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
30. ^ A Bill for the More General Diffusion of Knowledge. Retrieved November 24, 2019 . 
31. ^ John R. Thelin, A History of American Higher Education . 3. Edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2019, ISBN 978-1-4214-2883-3 , pp. 111 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
32. ^ John R. Thelin, A History of American Higher Education . 3. Edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2019, ISBN 978-1-4214-2883-3 , pp. 108 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
33. ^ ^{A b} John R. Thelin: A History of American Higher Education . 3. Edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2019, ISBN 978-1-4214-2883-3 , pp. 109 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
34. ↑ 120 Years of American Education: A Statistical Portrait. Accessed November 24, 2019 (p. 5). 
35. ^ ^{A b} Roger L. Geiger: The History of American Higher Education: Learning and Culture from the Founding to World War II . Princeton University Press, 2016, ISBN 978-0-691-17306-1 , pp. 315 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
36. ^ John R. Thelin, A History of American Higher Education . 3. Edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2019, ISBN 978-1-4214-2883-3 , pp. 119 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
37. ^ John R. Thelin, A History of American Higher Education . 3. Edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2019, ISBN 978-1-4214-2883-3 , pp. 124 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
38. ↑ Irene Harwarth, Elizabeth DeBra, Mindi Maline: Women's Colleges in the United States: History, Issues, and Challenges . DIANE Publishing, 1997, ISBN 0-16-049115-0 , pp. 3 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).
39. ↑ Mirella M. Moro, Taisy Weber, Carla MD.S. Freitas: Women in Brazilian CS Research Community: The State-of-the-Art . In: Aileen Cater-Steel (Ed.): Women in Engineering, Science and Technology: Education and Career Challenge . Engineering Science Reference, Hershey, New York 2010, ISBN 978-1-61520-657-5 , pp. 301–317, here p. 303 ( limited preview in Google book search).
40. ↑ Linda Eisenmann: Historical Dictionary of Women's Education in the United States . Greenwood Press, Westport, CT and London 1998, ISBN 0-313-29323-6 , pp. 256 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).
41. ^ Charles I. Abramson, W. Stephen Damron, Michael Dicks, Peter. MA Sherwood: The Core Mission of the Modern Land-Grant University: History and Mission . In: Robert J. Sternberg (Ed.): The Modern Land-Grant University . Purdue University Press, West Lafayette, Indiana 2014, ISBN 978-1-55753-677-8 , pp. 3–84, here: p. 5 ( limited preview in Google book search).
42. ^ Roger L. Geiger: The History of American Higher Education: Learning and Culture from the Founding to World War II . Princeton University Press, 2016, ISBN 978-0-691-17306-1 , pp. 283 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
43. ^ ^{A b} Roger L. Geiger: The History of American Higher Education: Learning and Culture from the Founding to World War II . Princeton University Press, 2016, ISBN 978-0-691-17306-1 , pp. 269 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
44. ^ Charles I. Abramson, W. Stephen Damron, Michael Dicks, Peter. MA Sherwood: The Core Mission of the Modern Land-Grant University: History and Mission . In: Robert J. Sternberg (Ed.): The Modern Land-Grant University . Purdue University Press, West Lafayette, Indiana 2014, ISBN 978-1-55753-677-8 , pp. 3–84, here: p. 8 ( limited preview in Google book search).
45. ^ Charles I. Abramson, W. Stephen Damron, Michael Dicks, Peter. MA Sherwood: The Core Mission of the Modern Land-Grant University: History and Mission . In: Robert J. Sternberg (Ed.): The Modern Land-Grant University . Purdue University Press, West Lafayette, Indiana 2014, ISBN 978-1-55753-677-8 , pp. 3–84, here: p. 10 ( limited preview in Google book search).
46. ^ Roger L. Geiger: The History of American Higher Education: Learning and Culture from the Founding to World War II . Princeton University Press, 2016, ISBN 978-0-691-17306-1 , pp. 287 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
47. ^ Roger L. Geiger: The History of American Higher Education: Learning and Culture from the Founding to World War II . Princeton University Press, 2016, ISBN 978-0-691-17306-1 , pp. 275 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).
48. ^ Roger L. Geiger: The History of American Higher Education: Learning and Culture from the Founding to World War II . Princeton University Press, 2016, ISBN 978-0-691-17306-1 , pp. 318 ff . ( limited preview in Google Book search).
49. ^ John R. Thelin, A History of American Higher Education . 3. Edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2019, ISBN 978-1-4214-2883-3 , pp. 130 f . ( limited preview in Google Book search).
50. ^ Karl Rhodes: Founding America's First Research University. Retrieved November 26, 2019 . 
51. ^ John R. Thelin, A History of American Higher Education . 3. Edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2019, ISBN 978-1-4214-2883-3 , pp. 131 f . ( limited preview in Google Book search).
52. ^ John R. Thelin, A History of American Higher Education . 3. Edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2019, ISBN 978-1-4214-2883-3 , pp. 277 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
53. ^ Roger L. Geiger: The History of American Higher Education: Learning and Culture from the Founding to World War II . Princeton University Press, 2016, ISBN 978-0-691-17306-1 , pp. 313 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
54. ^ Roger L. Geiger: The History of American Higher Education: Learning and Culture from the Founding to World War II . Princeton University Press, 2016, ISBN 978-0-691-17306-1 , pp. 298 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
55. ^ Roger L. Geiger: The History of American Higher Education: Learning and Culture from the Founding to World War II . Princeton University Press, 2016, ISBN 978-0-691-17306-1 , pp. 314 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
56. ^ David F. Noble: America by Design: Science, Technology, and the Rise of Corporate Capitalism . Oxford University Press, Oxford, New York 1977, ISBN 0-19-502618-7 , pp. 136 f . ( limited preview in Google Book search).
57. ↑ Total Expenditures. Retrieved November 12, 2019 . 
58. ↑ Issues of the universities in Germany from 2004 to 2017. Accessed on November 12, 2019 . 
59. ↑ ^{a b} How much federal research funding do colleges in YOUR state receive? Retrieved November 11, 2019 . 
60. ↑ ^{a b} Total and per-student state and local funding and public enrollment over time. Retrieved November 12, 2019 . 
61. ↑ ^{a b c} Higher Education Expenditures. Retrieved November 12, 2019 . 
62. ^ A Lost Decade in Higher Education Funding. Retrieved November 11, 2019 . 
63. ↑ If you attend a public school outside of your state, there are additional tuition fees that are not included in this figure; Average Cost of College in America: 2019 Report. Retrieved October 15, 2019 . 
64. ↑ Deduct study costs from tax. Retrieved October 15, 2019 . 
65. ^ University tuition fees in England now the highest in the world, new analysis suggests. Retrieved December 20, 2019 . 
66. ↑ Most expensive colleges in the United States for the academic year of 2018-2019, by total annual cost. Retrieved October 21, 2019 . 
67. ↑ ^{a b} 10 Most, Least Expensive Private Colleges. Retrieved October 21, 2019 . 
68. ^ These five charts show how bad the student loan debt situation is. Retrieved December 20, 2019 . 
69. ↑ 2019 Student Loan Debt Statistics. Retrieved December 21, 2019 . 
70. ↑ 11 mind-blowing facts that show just how dire the student-loan crisis in America is. Retrieved December 21, 2019 . 
71. ↑ What does ROI mean in higher education? Retrieved November 9, 2019 . 
72. ↑ What's the ROI of a college degree? Retrieved November 9, 2019 . 
73. ^ How To Calculate Your College Education Return On Investment. Retrieved November 9, 2019 . 
74. ↑ How to Measure College ROI - The Enlightened College Applicant's Approach. Retrieved November 9, 2019 . 
75. ^ The Average Salary by Education Level. Retrieved November 29, 2019 . 
76. ↑ Lola Fadulu: Why Are not Using College Students Career Services? In: The Atlantic. January 20, 2018, accessed November 19, 2019 . 
77. ^ The Importance of College Athletic Programs to Universities. Retrieved November 28, 2019 . 
78. ^ NCAA Finances: 2017-2018 Finances. Retrieved November 28, 2019 . 
79. ↑ Another record year for FC Bayern. Retrieved November 28, 2019 . 
80. ^ Estimated probability of competing in college athletics. Retrieved November 28, 2019 . 
81. ↑ Expenditures. Retrieved November 13, 2019 . 
82. ↑ Ben Kaplan: How to go to college almost for free . Collins Reference, 2001, ISBN 978-0-06-093765-2 .
83. ^ What is the President and Fellows of Harvard College? Retrieved October 23, 2019 . 
84. ^ "Harvard University" in the Google Books Ngram Viewer. Retrieved October 23, 2019 . 
85. ↑ mastersportal.com. Retrieved October 23, 2019 . 
86. ↑ phdportal.com. Retrieved October 23, 2019 . 
87. ↑ The top 50 research universities. Retrieved October 23, 2019 . 
88. ^ Undergraduate Research / Creative Projects. Retrieved October 23, 2019 . 
89. ↑ Universities of Excellence. Retrieved October 23, 2019 . 
90. ^ The 10 worst colleges in America. Retrieved October 23, 2019 . 
91. ↑ ^{a b c d e} A Guide to the Changing Number of US Universities. Retrieved October 19, 2019 . 
92. ^ Top Public Schools. Retrieved October 20, 2019 . 
93. ^ Accredited Non-Profit Online Colleges & Schools. Retrieved October 19, 2019 . 
94. ↑ ^{a b c} U.S. college enrollment statistics for public and private colleges from 1965 to 2016 and projections up to 2028 (in millions). Retrieved October 19, 2019 . 
95. ↑ ^{a b} Average Cost of College in America: 2019 Report. Retrieved October 20, 2019 . 
96. ↑ Average tuition at private colleges is $ 35,830 a year — but here's how much students actually pay. Retrieved October 22, 2019 . 
97. ↑ Don't forget private, non-profit colleges. Retrieved October 19, 2019 . 
98. ↑ Private (for-profit) Colleges 2019 Average Tuition. Retrieved October 19, 2019 . 
99. ↑ Where Do Military Kids Get In-State Tuition? Retrieved October 20, 2019 . 
100. ↑ ^{a b c} Undergraduate Education System. Retrieved October 16, 2019 . 
101. ^ What is the Difference Between Community College and Junior College? Retrieved October 16, 2019 . 
102. ↑ Average Community College Tuition Cost. Retrieved November 17, 2019 . 
103. ↑ Begin Your Bachelor's Degree at a Community College: 2 + 2 Agreements. Retrieved October 16, 2019 . 
104. ↑ Dropout Prevention. Retrieved November 17, 2019 . 
105. ^ Gateway to College Program Helping High School Dropouts Nationwide. Retrieved November 17, 2019 . 
106. ^ Gateway to College. Retrieved November 17, 2019 . 
107. ^ What Is a Liberal Arts College? Retrieved November 20, 2019 . 
108. ^ What Is a Liberal Arts College? Retrieved November 20, 2019 . 
109. ^ National Liberal Arts Colleges. Retrieved November 20, 2019 . 
110. ↑ Why You Should Consider Trade School Instead of College. Retrieved October 15, 2019 . 
111. ↑ What is vocational education? Retrieved November 16, 2019 . 
112. ↑ What Degrees Can You Earn at a Trade School? Retrieved October 29, 2019 . 
113. ^ Trade Schools On the Rise. Retrieved October 15, 2019 . 
114. ↑ Fact Sheet: Protecting Students from Abusive Career Colleges. Retrieved November 17, 2019 . 
115. ↑ Phil Davies, Ashwini Sankar: The rise and fall of career college enrollment. In: fedgazette. June 2, 2016, accessed November 17, 2019 . 
116. ↑ Distance learning. Retrieved November 15, 2019 . 
117. ^ Student Population at University of Phoenix-Arizona. Retrieved October 20, 2019 . 
118. ↑ Our Top Online College Picks. Retrieved November 17, 2019 . 
119. ↑ Types of Different Degree Levels. Retrieved October 16, 2019 . 
120. ^ Back to school statistics. Retrieved October 16, 2019 . 
121. ↑ How Long Does it Take to Receive a Master's Degree? Retrieved October 16, 2019 . 
122. ↑ Thinking about Doing Honors? Retrieved October 29, 2019 . 
123. ^ New For the Glossary: ​​Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, Senior. Retrieved October 29, 2019 . 
124. ↑ New York's 'BSN in 10' Law And The Push For 80% Of Nurses To Hold BSN By 2020. Retrieved November 5, 2019 . 
125. ↑ Will a BSN degree be mandatory for RNS? Retrieved November 5, 2019 . 
126. ↑ What is Graduate School? Retrieved November 4, 2019 . 
127. ↑ What Are PhD Programs? Retrieved October 16, 2019 . 
128. ↑ What is the Difference Between a Master of Arts Degree and a Master of Science Degree? Retrieved October 16, 2019 . 
129. ↑ Master's Degrees. Retrieved November 4, 2019 . 
130. ↑ ^{a b} Prerequisites for Masters Degree Programs. Retrieved November 4, 2019 . 
131. ↑ https://www.studyusa.com/en/a/177/what-are-the-differences-between-undergraduate-and-graduate-programs. Retrieved November 4, 2019 . 
132. ^ High School Diploma Evaluation. Retrieved October 28, 2019 . 
133. ↑ foreigncredential.org. Retrieved October 28, 2019 . 
134. ↑ Naviance. Retrieved November 9, 2019 . 
135. ↑ What does legacy mean? Retrieved November 18, 2019 . 
136. ↑ Common App. Retrieved October 29, 2019 . 
137. ↑ Universal College App Vs. Common App: Which to Use? Retrieved October 29, 2019 . 
138. ↑ Common App Vs. Coalition App: Which to Use? Retrieved October 29, 2019 . 
139. ↑ There's a Common App for Black Colleges, and Here's How to Use It. Retrieved October 29, 2019 . 
140. ^ How Much Do College Applications Cost? Retrieved October 29, 2019 . 
141. ↑ Here is a list of good universities that waive the fee: 2020 Best Colleges with No Application Fee in America. Retrieved October 29, 2019 . 
142. ^ 55 Colleges With the Highest Application Fees. Retrieved October 29, 2019 . 
143. ↑ ^{a b} Early Action vs. Early decision vs. Regular decision. Retrieved October 28, 2019 . 
144. ↑ ^{a b} The Real Odds of Getting In. Retrieved October 29, 2019 . 
145. ↑ Top 100 - Lowest Acceptance Rates. Retrieved October 29, 2019 . 
146. ^ The 46 Colleges With the Highest ACT Scores, Ranked. Retrieved October 30, 2019 . 
147. ^ Caltech Requirements for Admission. Retrieved October 30, 2019 . 
148. ^ Virginia Tech Requirements for Admission. Retrieved October 29, 2019 . 
149. ^ Virginia Tech - Pamplin College of Business. Retrieved October 29, 2019 . 
150. ↑ Gratz v. Bollinger. Retrieved October 29, 2019 . 
151. ↑ Grutter vs. Bollinger. Retrieved October 29, 2019 . 
152. ↑ What Does it Mean to be Waitlisted or Deferred? Retrieved October 28, 2019 . 
153. ↑ Should My College Student Consider Summer Classes? Retrieved October 29, 2019 . 
154. ↑ US Academic Calendar. Retrieved November 10, 2019 . 
155. ↑ Cal Poly: 2019-20 Academic Calendar. Retrieved November 10, 2019 . 
156. ^ What You Need to Know about Academic Credit Systems in the US.Retrieved October 25, 2019 . 
157. ↑ How do credits transfer from high school to college? Retrieved October 25, 2019 . 
158. ^ Find Out What Being on Academic Probation Means. Retrieved December 19, 2019 . 
159. ^ Mandatory College Classes. Retrieved October 25, 2019 . 
160. ↑ When Do I Need to Choose a Major? Retrieved October 29, 2019 . 
161. ^ Declaring a Major. Retrieved October 29, 2019 (Colgate University). 
162. ^ What is a College Major? Retrieved October 29, 2019 . 
163. ↑ ^{a b} What Exactly is a College Minor? Should I Minor in Something? Retrieved October 30, 2019 . 
164. ↑ Quick Guide: Types of College Courses. Retrieved November 18, 2019 . 
165. ↑ Attendance Policies. Retrieved November 18, 2019 . 
166. ↑ It's time to take class attendance seriously. Retrieved November 18, 2019 . 
167. ↑ college vs. High School: Homework. Retrieved November 18, 2019 . 
168. ↑ Is Your College Student Investing Enough Time Studying? Retrieved November 18, 2019 . 
169. ↑ Midterm and Final Exam Examples. Retrieved October 30, 2019 . 
170. ↑ ^{a b c d e} How to become a teacher: teaching degrees & careers. Retrieved November 4, 2019 . 
171. ↑ Public and private elementary and secondary teachers, enrollment, pupil / teacher ratios, and new teacher hires: Selected years, fall 1955 through fall 2027. Retrieved November 5, 2019 . 
172. ↑ 2020 Best Colleges for Education in America. Retrieved November 4, 2019 . 
173. ↑ Fieldwork Requirements: Guidance for Teacher Preparation Programs. Retrieved November 4, 2019 . 
174. ↑ Education specialist teaching credential mild moderate and moderate severe disabilities program handbook 2018-2019. Retrieved November 4, 2019 . 
175. ↑ Teacher qualifications. Retrieved November 4, 2019 . 
176. ↑ National Board for Professional Teaching Standards Certification. Retrieved November 4, 2019 . 
177. ^ What To Look Out For In Lower-Ranked Law Schools. Retrieved October 31, 2019 . 
178. ↑ How Many Law Schools Are in the US? Retrieved October 31, 2019 . 
179. ^ Law School Enrollment Is Up For The First Time In Nearly A Decade. Retrieved October 31, 2019 . 
180. ^ Largest Law Schools. Retrieved October 31, 2019 . 
181. ^ The 10 Most Popular Law Schools in America. Retrieved October 31, 2019 . 
182. ↑ Best Law Schools. Retrieved October 31, 2019 . 
183. ↑ Harvard Law School Alumnae / i Who Became Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States. Retrieved October 31, 2019 . 
184. ↑ 10 Most Expensive Law Schools. Retrieved October 31, 2019 . 
185. ^ ^{A b} What Are The Requirements To Get Into Law School. Retrieved November 1, 2019 . 
186. ^ What's the Difference Between JD and Esq.? Retrieved November 1, 2019 . 
187. ↑ Ask The Professor: Is The UBE Really As UBE As You Think? Retrieved November 1, 2019 . 
188. ↑ ^{a b} Types of Law Degrees. Retrieved November 1, 2019 . 
189. ↑ Juris Doctor Vs. Master of Law. Retrieved November 1, 2019 . 
190. ↑ What is a Paralegal? Retrieved November 1, 2019 . 
191. ↑ US Medical School Revenues. Retrieved October 31, 2019 . 
192. ^ 10 Medical Schools With the Most Students. Retrieved October 31, 2019 . 
193. ↑ 2019 FACTS: Applicants and Matriculants Data: US Medical School Applications and Matriculants by School, State of Legal Residence, and Sex, 2019-2020. Retrieved October 31, 2019 . 
194. ^ 10 Medical Schools With the Most Applicants. Retrieved October 31, 2019 . 
195. ↑ Best Medical Schools: Research. Retrieved October 31, 2019 . 
196. ^ Nobel Laureates. Retrieved October 31, 2019 . 
197. ↑ ^{a b} Admission Requirements. Retrieved October 31, 2019 . 
198. ↑ Volunteer Hours for Medical School: How Many is Enough? Retrieved October 31, 2019 . 
199. ↑ Best Pre-Med Majors. Retrieved October 31, 2019 . 
200. ^ Earning an Undergraduate Degree in the United States. Retrieved October 31, 2019 . 
201. ^ The 11 Best Pre-Med Schools to Help You Become a Doctor. Retrieved October 31, 2019 . 
202. ↑ Top 10 Universities for Pre-Med Students 2019. Accessed October 31, 2019 . 
203. ↑ 2018-2019 Best Pre-Med Schools. Retrieved October 31, 2019 . 
204. ↑ What's the MCAT exam? Retrieved October 31, 2019 . 
205. ↑ ^{a b} Study Medicine in the US. Retrieved October 31, 2019 . 
206. ↑ Tuition at Every Medical School in the United States. Retrieved October 31, 2019 . 
207. ↑ How many college professors are employed in the US in 2017? Retrieved November 15, 2019 . 
208. ↑ The Annual Report on the Economic Status of the Profession, 2017–2018. Retrieved November 15, 2019 . 
209. ^ M. Perry Chapman: American Places: In Search of the Twenty-first Century Campus . Praeger, 2006, ISBN 0-275-98523-7 , pp. 7 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
210. ^ Stanford University. Retrieved November 10, 2019 . 
211. ^ Penn State. Retrieved November 10, 2019 . 
212. ↑ International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators: FAQs for the media. Retrieved November 10, 2019 . 
213. ↑ Living On Campus In The United States. Retrieved November 10, 2019 . 
214. ^ Reasons You're Required to Live on Campus Your First Year of College. Retrieved November 10, 2019 . 
215. ↑ Choosing a Dorm. Retrieved November 10, 2019 . 
216. ↑ How to Decide Which Kind of Dorm is Best for You. Retrieved November 10, 2019 . 
217. ↑ NYU Tuition & Cost. Retrieved November 10, 2019 . 
218. ↑ Can I Stay in My College Dorm Room During Vacations? Retrieved November 10, 2019 . 
219. ↑ ^{a b} Fraternity Stats at-a-glance. Retrieved November 10, 2019 . 
220. ^ ^{A b} The Advantages & Disadvantages of Fraternities. Retrieved November 10, 2019 . 
221. ^ Public High School Graduation Councils. Retrieved November 7, 2019 . 
222. ^ College Enrollment Councils. Retrieved November 16, 2019 . 
223. ^ ^{A b c} Native American Students in Higher Education. Retrieved November 14, 2019 . 
224. ↑ ^{a b} Degree Attainment for Native American Adults. Retrieved November 14, 2019 . 
225. ↑ Dropout rates. Retrieved November 14, 2019 . 
226. ↑ What's the Average High School GPA? Retrieved November 8, 2019 . 
227. ↑ SAT Scores Are Up, Especially for Asians. Retrieved November 8, 2019 . 
228. ↑ What Is the Average SAT Score? Retrieved November 8, 2019 . 
229. ↑ ACT scores drop. Retrieved November 8, 2019 . 
230. ↑ Male vs. Female - WHO Scores Higher on the ACT ?! Retrieved November 8, 2019 . 
231. ↑ Graduation rates. Retrieved November 8, 2019 . 
232. ^ The Nationwide Racial Gap in College Graduation Councils. Retrieved November 15, 2019 . 
233. ↑ Facts for Features: American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month: November 2014. Retrieved November 7, 2019 . 
234. ↑ Experts: More Focus Needed on Guiding Native Americans to Doctoral Programs. Retrieved November 7, 2019 . 
235. ^ Doctoral degrees earned in the United States by gender 1950-2029. Retrieved November 7, 2019 . 
236. ^ How America Is Failing Native American Students. Retrieved November 7, 2019 . 
237. ↑ Why So Few American Indians Earn Ph.D.'s, and What Colleges Can Do About It. Retrieved November 7, 2019 . 
238. ^ 4-Year Colleges with the Largest Enrollment of American Indian or Alaska Native Students. Retrieved November 8, 2019 . 
239. ^ Tribal Colleges and Universities. Retrieved November 11, 2019 . 
240. ↑ ^{a b c} Behind the Latino college degree gap. Retrieved November 8, 2019 . 
241. ↑ More Hispanics are going to college. The bad news? They're still behind. Retrieved November 8, 2019 . 
242. ↑ https://dream.csac.ca.gov. Retrieved November 8, 2019 . 
243. ^ Theories About the Origin of the Racial Achievement Gap. Retrieved November 8, 2019 . 
244. ↑ Clark McKown: Social equity theory and racial-ethnic achievement gaps . In: Child development . tape 2013 , doi : 10.1111 / cdev.12033 .
245. ^ Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Retrieved November 8, 2019 . 
246. ↑ Indicator 22: Financial Aid. Retrieved November 8, 2019 . 
247. ↑ ^{a b} Graduation Rates and Race. Retrieved November 11, 2019 .  Status: 2017
248. ^ The Asian Population: 2010. Retrieved November 10, 2019 . 
249. ^ Asian Immigrants in the United States Today. Retrieved November 11, 2019 . 
250. ↑ ^{a b} The Other Achievement Gap. Retrieved November 10, 2019 . 
251. ^ Achievement gap widening between Asian American students and everyone else. Retrieved November 10, 2019 . 
252. ^ Offset in the Per-Country Numerical Level for China − Mainland Born Immigrant Visas. Retrieved November 11, 2019 . 
253. ^ After Tiananmen, the US Protected Chinese Students in America. 30 Years Later, Uighurs Say It's Time to Do the Same for Them. Retrieved November 10, 2019 . 
254. ^ A Lawsuit by Asian-American Students Against Harvard Could End Affirmative Action as We Know It. Retrieved November 10, 2019 . 
255. ↑ Dropout rates. Retrieved November 11, 2019 .  Status: 2017
256. ↑ Key facts about Asian Americans, a diverse and growing population. Retrieved November 11, 2019 . 
257. ^ Chinese in the US Fact Sheet. Retrieved November 11, 2019 . 
258. ^ Koreans in the US Fact Sheet. Retrieved November 11, 2019 . 
259. ^ Pakistanis in the US Fact Sheet. Retrieved November 11, 2019 . 
260. ^ The real secret to Asian American success was not education. Retrieved November 11, 2019 . 
261. ^ Asian American Education - Identities, Racial Issues, and Languages. Retrieved November 11, 2019 . 
262. ↑ Girls Have Always Been Better at School. Now It Matters More. Retrieved November 8, 2019 . 
263. ^ Claudia Goldin, Lawrence F. Katz, Ilyana Kuziemko: The Homecoming of American College Women: The Reversal of the College Gender Gap . April 2006 ( online ).
264. ↑ Girls Have Always Been Better at School. Now It Matters More. Retrieved November 9, 2019 . 
265. ^ Table of the day: Bachelor's degrees by field and gender for the Class of 2015. Retrieved November 8, 2019 . 
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267. ↑ Women Were Majority of US Medical School Applicants in 2018. Retrieved November 10, 2019 . 
268. ↑ Women Need One More Degree Than Men to Earn the Same Average Salary. Retrieved November 10, 2019 . 
269. ↑ Should High School Students Take College Classes? Retrieved November 17, 2019 . 
270. ^ Dual Enrollment Programs: The Pros and Cons. Retrieved November 17, 2019 . 
271. ^ Age Distribution of Undergraduate Students, by Type of Institution. Retrieved November 17, 2019 . 
272. ^ Number of International Students in the United States Reaches New High of 1.09 Million. Retrieved November 21, 2019 . 
273. ↑ Number of international students in the United States from 2003/04 to 2018/19. Retrieved November 21, 2019 . 
274. ↑ ^{a b c} Number of international students studying in the United States in 2018/19, by country of origin. Retrieved November 21, 2019 . 
275. ^ International Students in the United States. Retrieved November 21, 2019 . 
276. ↑ Study and live in the United States of America. Retrieved November 21, 2019 . 
277. ↑ Scholarships for the USA: Which are there? Retrieved November 21, 2019 . 
278. ↑ Paul Henkel: On the wave of the joy of discovery. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung. July 20, 2016, accessed November 21, 2019 . 
279. ^ Trends in US Study Abroad. Retrieved November 28, 2019 . 
280. ↑ Why do some degree programs require undergraduate students to study abroad? Retrieved November 20, 2019 . 
281. ^ The Great Out-of-State Migration: Where Students Go. Retrieved December 20, 2019 . 
282. ↑ US college enrollment statistics for public and private colleges from 1965 to 2016 and projections up to 2028. Retrieved December 20, 2019 . 
283. ↑ Assessing Quality in Higher Education. Retrieved December 17, 2019 . 
284. ↑ www.petersons.com. Retrieved December 17, 2019 . 
285. ^ Federal Government Publishes More Complete Graduation Rate Data. Retrieved December 17, 2019 .