Education in the US, and How International Students are Admitted to Colleges and
Universities in the US
For those not raised in the US our educational system surely must be confusing – for it is
at times just as confusing to those who have been totally education in US schools! It will be my
attempt today to bring some clarity to our structure of education.
Our Primary or Elementary and Secondary education is 12 years in length. Primary or
Elementary school can be preceded by Kindergarten, Pre-Kindergarten, and Nursery School.
Kindergarten is now usually part of a required level of school, but it is not universal. Generally
children would enroll in the First Grade of Primary school at around the age of 6 – though this
varies state to state.
Primary and Secondary schooling follows several possible structures:
At private schools primary education is 8 years, followed by 4 years of secondary school. The
first 8 years is often referred to as “Lower School” while the 4 years that follow are “Upper
School”.
At public schools primary education is 6 years long, followed by 3 years of Junior High School,
and concludes with 3 years of Senior High school. There are alternate structures where Primary
School is 5 years long, followed by 3 years of Middle School, and concluding with 4 years of
High School.
In Primary and Middle or Junior high schools the curriculum followed is essentially the same for
all students. But at the High school level students can choose to follow one of several curricula
or ‘tracks’:
General
Business or vocational
Technical
Academic – within the Academic track several options are possible (but not offered at all
high schools):
College or University Preparatory – preparing students for university level
admission
Honors – a more demanding preparatory program
“Advanced Placement” or “AP” – a program created by The College Board
leading to a series of examinations that will often be granted ‘credit’ by colleges
or universities
“Gifted and Talented” or “G&T” – a rigorous academic program for those
students with exceptional academic talents preparing them for admission to very
selective colleges or universities
“International Baccalaureat” – an international program for university admission
At the conclusion successful students are awarded a “High School Diploma”. Usually the
Diploma would not delineate which curriculum a student pursued. The transcript which would
report the courses taken and the marks received would provide the reader with the
information as to which ‘track’ the student completed. High School Diplomas are issued by the
school, or by the city or county or state where the school is located.
The SAT or ACT:
For those students who desire to pursue post-secondary education many colleges and
universities, though not all, require external tests to be taken and the score presented to the
schools to which the student applies.
The SAT or the ACT tests are not school leaving examinations as many of your own countries
have. These tests assist the post-secondary institutions in determining the likelihood of success
of the applicant at their schools.
Post-secondary education in the US begins following High school:
Community Colleges are publicly funded by cities, counties, or the states. Community Colleges
are “Open Admission” institutions, meaning that any holder of a high school diploma, or are of
a specified age, can be admitted; Community Colleges offer two types of programs:
Academic programs are transferrable to four-year institutions and upon successful
completion award an Associate of Arts or Science. (International students who attend
Community College academic programs would do so on the F-I visa.)
Non-academic programs are technical or vocational in nature and generally result in
various Certificates. Such programs are not transferrable to four-year institutions. .
(International students who attend Community College Non-academic programs would do so
on the M-I visa.)
Private two-year schools are usually called Junior Colleges.
Colleges offer four-year degree programs, referred to as undergraduate, that result in
bachelor degrees, mostly commonly the “Bachelor of Arts”, or the “Bachelor of Science”,
although there are many variations of the bachelor degree titles. Colleges typically offer
bachelor degrees though many now also offer graduate programs leading to the master’s
degree. Undergraduate degrees contain a significant portion of general education courses not
directly related to a student’s ‘major’. This is usually referred to as the liberal arts component
and is found in any bachelor degree curriculum.
Universities offer a variety of degrees: in addition to the undergraduate bachelor
degree, universities also offer graduate degrees in their Graduate School - the Master’s degree,
and the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree.
The Master degree is generally one to two years in length and usually requires coursework and
a thesis.
The Doctor of Philosophy degree length varies, includes coursework and original research which
leads to a dissertation. The dissertation is reviewed by a doctoral committee and is defended
by the student to the committee. Students who complete PhD coursework but do not
complete a dissertation are referred to as “ABD” – All But Dissertation.
In addition to graduate schools are Professional Schools offering degrees in medicine,
law, dentistry, and pharmacy for example. Admissions to such programs require applicants to
have a bachelor’s degree or at least three years of undergraduate coursework and specific
courses as a minimum. Overwhelmingly the bachelor’s degree is required.
It should be noted that degrees from US colleges and universities are not legal
entitlements to practice in one’s profession. In fields such as engineering, law, medicine,
accounting, teaching among others it is necessary to take and pass professional qualifying
examinations to practice in the profession.
Colleges and universities can be publicly funded, or private (receiving no public funding)
or for-profit (where the goal is to make a profit for investors). Tuition at public schools is the
lowest cost, private schools would be more expensive while for-profit schools would be the
most expensive. For-profit schools tend to market to the non-traditional student who is older
and typically employed full-time.
There are several federally funded schools (funded by the US government) including the
military academies, and Galludet University in Washington, DC – a school for the deaf.
Terms such as ‘college’ and ‘university’ are not trademarked or copyrighted or in any
way protected from misleading use. Therefor some schools called ‘College’ would not be
recognized academic institutions.
Recognition / Accreditation:
As the US does not have a Ministry of Education the responsibility of institution
recognition falls to a system of accreditation. Accreditation is a process of self-regulation
where institutions and programs agree on a set of standard requirements that institutions and
programs must adhere to in order to be accredited.
Institutional accreditation:
Institutions are accredited by one of the six regional accrediting associations: New England,
Middle States, Southern, North Central, Western or North Western. There are also national
accreditors that tend to be specialized, i.e., religious schools, distance education, cosmetology.
It is important that students attend institutions that are regionally or nationally accredited.
Programmatic accreditation:
Many – but not all – academic programs are accredited by programmatic or specialized
accreditors. There are currently over 100 such programmatic or specialized accreditors, ranging
from Allied Health to Business to Engineering to Law to Veterinary Medicine. It is important to
remember that not all disciplines have programmatic accreditation; but for those disciplines
that do have programmatic accreditors students should attend an institution whose discipline is
programmatically accredited.
State-based authorization:
As education is a state, and not a federal responsibility, the laws regarding education varies
from state to state. Some states, like Oregon, have very strict laws regarding education. While
other states have lax laws or no regulations at all. Lax laws or no regulations often allow
diploma mills to operate.
Often terms such as ‘licensed’ or ‘approved’ by states are misinterpreted to mean the same as
‘accredited’. Licensure or approval by a state is really just allows an entity to operate as a
business and is not the same as institutional accreditation.
How international students are admitted to US colleges and universities:
There is a process by which international students are admitted to colleges and universities in
the US:
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Complete an application for admission to the school(s) to which they want to be
admitted.
Submit original copies of their academic records to the school(s) where they have
applied. Any document that is not in English needs to be accompanied by an English
translation. Many schools require such translations to be ‘certified’ or ‘notorized’ –
although the latter does not assure accuracy.
Provide financial documentation that they have sufficient financial resources to each
and every year of anticipated study. Some schools have scholarships available for
international students and the applicant should avail themselves of such scholarships if
needed.
Applicants need to provide evidence of adequate English proficiency by demonstration
through one of the English proficiency tests acceptable to the institution to which they
have applied. Lacking sufficient proficiency applicants will have to precede their
academic program with a period of intensive English as a Second Language study.
Once all documentation has been received by the US school, the academic records will be
evaluated to determine if the applicant meets the standard required to be admitted. The
evaluation of foreign educational records might be done ‘in-house’ by university admission
officers. However, many institutions will ‘outsource’ the evaluation of records to a credential
evaluation service. AACRAO’s International Education Service (IES) is one such evaluation
service. IES evaluates foreign credentials for over 1,500 schools and organizations.
It should be noted that credential evaluation services are not regulated by state or federal laws.
There is no accreditation of such services, no licensure or approval of such services. There are
estimates that more than 300 services exist in North America. Unfortunately some students
who apply to multiple institutions might be asked to have evaluations from different services
sent to schools to which they apply. And as there is no required adherence to any national
standards different services could provide different results for the same credential.
Document Fraud / Non-accredited schools:
It is extremely important that when a student applies to a US college or university that official
records be sent from the institution(s) attended directly to the institution(s) to which the
student has applied. Fraudulent documents continue to be a problem and receipt of only
official documents by US schools will help stem this problem.
Similarly, by applying only to schools that are accredited by legitimate accreditors, students will
avoid problems of attending non-accredited schools, or Diploma Mills – schools that have no
recognition or legitimacy.
The Evaluation Process:
There are steps credible evaluation services follow when evaluating foreign educational
credentials –
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The institution attended – is the institution(s) attended recognized by the Ministry of
Education or some similar ministry. A recognized institution is considered comparable
with a US accredited institution. Accredited US institutions can only accept work
previously completed at accredited schools, or in the case of foreign-educated
applicants, from a recognized school.
The credential received – are the credentials received by the applicant actually awarded
in the country where they studied. What does the credential represent in the home
country? Is it academic, or vocational, or professional training? How does the
credential compare with US education? What is the placement recommendation for the
foreign credential in terms of where the student should place in the US?
Grades or marks received – how do the marks received by the applicant compare with
US grades? Are they superior, above average, average or below average?
Document appearance and review – are the documents authentic? Do the documents
appear to be consistent with previously received documents from the same institution?
Or system? Does the sequence of dates seem reasonable? Were credentials received at
appropriate ages? Do there appear to be alterations to the documents? Have items of
information been obscured? Typed over? (This is why it is so very important that US
schools receive copies of official documentation sent directly from the school or schools
attended. Fraudulent documents are a problem and a concern by US admission officers.