Information about studying in USA
Gunjan Bhatia,
Associate Consultant, Strivex Consulting Pvt. LTD, Delhi, India
Introduction
US education has practical focus & enriching experience at the cutting
edge of technology and is a dream destination for almost every student in
the World who wants to pursue higher studies abroad. Besides the fact the
American education equips one with the state of the art professional
skills sought by the employers all over the world. Tremendous exposure in
diverse student community & cultural diversity provides a stimulating
environment where students and academicians interact from the world over.
Such environment, placement opportunities, unique facilities,
technological advancement, etc. and goes a long way in helping a student
raise his potential and makes U.S a dream destination for every student.
Requirement for Bachelor & Master courses
Twelve years of education is the essential qualification required for
seeking admission to an undergraduate course in the US. Colleges and
Universities in the US use tests to help evaluate applicant’s readiness
for admission or to place them in appropriate courses. These tests are
standardized and conducted by the ‘Education Testing Service’ an
organization in USA, at various designated centers throughout the world
including India. A student has to register himself for these tests and
take them on his own expense. The test scores are sent to the students
automatically and they may also request that the scores be reported to the
college/university to which admission is sought. The chart below gives an
idea on the standardized tests, generally taken by students seeking
admission in different courses.
Bachelor Degrees such as BA, B.Sc., B.E., are called undergraduate degrees
in All-American universities and not graduate degrees.
In case of Master’s program the number of tests to be taken by the
candidate would also depend on whether he is seeking admission with or
without financial aid. Also in case of Master’s program 16 years of
education is preferred by most of the American University.
Bachelor’s degree comprises four year of study in American universities
therefore many a times an Indian student may be asked to produce his
postgraduate degree (M.A.) for seeking admission in Masters at an American
university.
Master’s degree is called graduate degree and doctoral a degree is called
postgraduate degree in USA.
Degrees like B.Sc., and M.Sc., are called BS and MS respectively.
An academic year in US is divided into two sessions or semesters. The
first starting in September is called the Fall Semester and other
beginning in February is called the Spring Semester. Admissions are
generally in the Fall Semester however some colleges also take students in
the Spring Semester. Though the semester system is the most common and
constitutes of 16 weeks each, some colleges follow Trimester System or
Quarter System wherein the academic session is divided into three periods
of 12 weeks each or four periods of 10 weeks each respectively. Many
foreign students, to take up additional courses so as to complete the
program earlier, use the interregnum vacations in between.
Pre-Requisites for Admission
TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language): - Compulsory
for all International Students weather going for undergraduate or
postgraduate programs.
GRE (Graduate Record Examination): - For Students seeking
admission to Master’s Programs (other than Management) like BS or MS
GMAT (Graduate Management Aptitude Test): - for Students
seeking admission to Master’s Programs in Management like MBA
SAT (Scholastic Assessment Test): - SAT is compulsory for
Engineering.
1) TOEFL (Test of English Language as a Foreign Language)
About TOEFL
TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) is a multiple-choice paper
measuring one's proficiency in English, and is a required entrance test at
universities around the world including those in UK Australia, Canada
Singapore and US. Applicants take the TOEFL to any level of education,
whether undergraduate, masters or even doctorate programs. Compulsory for
all International Students.
The score requirement varies from universities to universities. Each
university decides the range of scores that are acceptable to them, however
a score of 250 and above is considered good.
Test Structure
TOEFL has four sections, viz. Listening, Structure, Reading and Writing, all
of which are mandatory.
Listening- Listening measures the ability to understand English as it is
spoken in North America. This section tests comprehension of main ideas,
supporting ideas, important details, and inferences. You will both see and
hear the questions before the answer choices appear.
In this section the student will listen to the conversation/talks by using
headphones and then answer the questions based on the conversation heard.
The conversation can be heard only once and even the questions will be
presented only once
Sentence Completion
This will be an incomplete sentence, which will be followed by four choices.
The candidate has to select the word/phrase which best completes the
sentence.
Error Identification
There will be sentences, which will have four underlined phrases or words.
The student has to select the part, which needs to be corrected in order to
make the sentence correct.
Both types of questions will be jumbled in this section.
Reading- It measures the ability to understand short passages similar
in topic and style to academic texts used in North American colleges and
Universities. You will read a variety of short passages on academic subjects
and answer several questions about each passage.
Writing- Writing measures ability to write in English on an assigned
topic.
3) GMAT (Graduate Management Aptitude Test)
About GMAT
If your are planning to do an MBA or a Ph.D. in Business Management or a
Masters program in Finance, Human Resources etc. from a business school in
US, Europe or Canada you will have to take the GMAT (Graduate Management
Admission Test). Many universities in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore
also ask for GMAT scores. In short compulsory for Students seeking admission
to Master’s Programs in Management.
A desired score is 700 and above.
Test Structure
GMAT has three sections, viz. Analytical Writing, Quantitative and Verbal
The Analytical Writing section is always the first section followed by the
quantitative section and then the Verbal section.
All questions are multiple-choice having five answer choices.
You cannot move to the next question until you have answered the one posed
to you. And the difficulty level of the next question is based on the answer
you give for the present question
Analytical Writing Assessment:
Analysis of Issue: Students are required to present their
perspective/opinion on an issue.
Analysis of Argument: Students are required to analyze a given
argument.
Quantitative
Problem Solving
Data Sufficiency
Verbal
Sentence Correction
Critical Reasoning
Reading Comprehension
4) GRE (Graduate Record Examination)
About GRE
For Students seeking admission to Master’s Programs like MS etc (other than
Management). It also includes an essay section - Writing Assessment,
(mandatory only for certain universities). Students need to write this
section on a separate day. The Computer Adaptive Test as the name suggests
picks the questions based on the test taker's response to the given
question.
A score of 1400 and above would help you to get in good universities.
Test Structure
GRE has three multiple-choice sections, viz. Quantitative, Analytical
Writing and Verbal.
The Analytical Writing section is always the first section followed by
either the Quantitative or Verbal.
All questions are multiple-choice having four or five answer choices.
Quantitative
Quantitative Comparison
Discrete Math
Data Interpretation
Analytical Writing Assessment:
Analysis of Issue: Students are required to present their
perspective/opinion on an issue.
Analysis of Argument: Students are required to analyze a given argument.
Verbal
Antonyms
Analogies
Sentence Correction
Reading Comprehension
5) SAT (Scholastic Assessment Test)
About SAT
SAT is compulsory for Engineering. Students applying to undergraduate
schools for admission to a Bachelors program has to take SAT I. It is
paper-based test of General Reasoning. Some universities especially the
highly ranked ones; require the student to take the SAT subject tests
(generally 3 subject tests) in addition to the SAT I. These subject tests
are called the SAT II tests. You can't take SAT- I & SAT- II on the same day
and can't write more than 3 subjects on a day for SAT II.
The SAT is scored out of a total of 1600 points. Each university has its own
cut-off scores. Most universities consider a score of 1300 plus to be good.
1400 plus would be a very good score and 1500 plus would be excellent
Test Structure
SAT-I is a paper-based test & has two sections, viz. Verbal and Math. & 3
sub sections each.
Verbal
Analogies
Sentence Completion
Critical Reading
Math
Problem Solving
Quantitative Comparison
Student Produced
Responses
For more information on the same wait till next week
Written By: Gunjan Bhatia, Associate Consultant StriveX consulting P.
Ltd.
E-mail : education@strivex.com
Gunjan's Brief Profile:
Author is an educational
consultant who specializes in foreign education counseling and works for Strivex
Education Services. Working as an educational consultant. she guides students to
choose and plan a right career . Apart from this , she has been involved in
university tie ups both in India and abroad .
How we do it...............
* Interview candidates to obtain educational background, interest and career
goals.
* SWOT analyis of the candidate
* Identify barriers for studying abroad and assist candidates to develop skills
in their areas of study and career options strategies.
* Administer and interpret tests designed to determine the interests, aptitudes
and abilities of candidates.
* Assess need for assistance such as financial aid or vocational training and
refer candidates.
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