Since the economic recession in 2008, many American state governments have reduced their financial support for schools. This has forced both public and private schools to substantially increase tuition fees, many of which have even risen to the point where parents are indignant. You know, their own economic situation is not very good. In this case, China students and other international students who can afford to pay tuition are very attractive to all American schools.
There are about 2,000 colleges and universities in the United States (universities are essentially institutions with more than one college, such as a liberal arts college and a business school). Therefore, if I can simply say that there are four basic types of institutions in the United States.
The first is the community college. There are about 65,438+0,000 two-year community colleges in the United States, most of which are managed by local governments. For international students, these colleges can provide unexpected opportunities and efficiency. I'll explain later.
Second, there are probably hundreds of public universities in the United States. They can be divided into several categories, such as? Area? Universities (such as Western Illinois State University) and? Flagship? Universities are first-class public schools, such as the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where I once taught.
The third is the national private college of arts and sciences, with about 200 colleges. They are called national universities because they enjoy a national reputation and recruit students from all over the country. These schools are usually small, and the number of students is generally around 1000 to 3000.
For-profit schools are a new type and developing rapidly. Some schools, such as Desvry University, offer excellent technical and engineering disciplines. There are also many who focus on earning tuition fees rather than students themselves.
What are the most respected schools in general? Research center? There are well-known doctoral programs that can get millions of research funds every year.
Harvard University is not only an excellent college of arts and sciences, but also a research center. Many public schools, such as the University of California, the University of Michigan and the University of Illinois, mainly focus on their postgraduate education rather than undergraduate education.
Ironically, from my personal experience of teaching in various schools (except for-profit schools), those relatively unknown schools often provide the best education for undergraduates.
For example, community schools generally teach in small classes, and teachers will not be unwilling to teach because of the pressure of academic research. The college of arts and sciences can not only provide small class teaching, but also make each student get more attention from teachers.
Community schools have their own? Open enrollment? System, which means that almost all students can be admitted, but poor students will soon be eliminated. These schools not only have employment-oriented technical majors, but also provide them for four-year universities? Seamless? cohesive force
Tuition in two-year universities is also relatively low, and the tuition for international students is about $7,000 a year. A good example is Black Hawk College, which has two campuses in Illinois. TOEFL scores are not required.
I know a China student studying in Black Hawk (there is no Chinese community there, so the speed of learning English will be accelerated). The student later transferred to the University of Wisconsin-Madison, which is definitely a first-class research university (she was not required to take the TOEFL test because she already had a diploma from a community school). The student then went to George, Washington, D.C.? Washington University is a graduate student and a very good school.
Generally speaking, the college of arts and sciences may provide the best guidance and the greatest care for the development of each student. Professors will do some research work for the project, but their focus is on the students themselves first, and they will not be busy publishing papers all day for tenure.
These schools often invite some excellent foreign professors, such as Professor Gu from Fudan University, who was a visiting professor at Knox College in Illinois not long ago. I used to teach in this university, where President Obama recently gave a speech.
The former 100 colleges of arts and sciences are all high-quality schools. However, many of them are under great pressure. In order to ensure the operation of teaching places (such as laboratories and a large number of sports venues and equipment), these schools have to raise tuition fees to 30-45 thousand dollars per year. At the same time, the government has reduced its financial support for students (students in private schools can also apply for government aid).
Most colleges of science can get very few grants, so mainly? By tuition? Support. In the college of arts and sciences, in fact, few American students pay full tuition fees, and most of them can get some support from the federal government and state governments, or the financial support of the school itself.
However, because the government cuts funds, schools have to invest more of their own funds in financial support for students, which has caused operational difficulties. It is precisely because of this that foreign students who can afford to pay full tuition fees are more attractive to arts and sciences colleges and public universities than before.
In the United States, many parents with poor economic conditions send their children to community schools for two years (excellent education and low tuition), and then continue to enter first-class liberal arts colleges or public universities (more famous), and then may enter first-class graduate schools or law schools or medical schools.
However, it is worth pointing out that the admissions offices of American universities are also very sensitive to the applications of international students. They are actually worried that some applicants will? Overtraining? Get good grades in exams, and some people even memorize articles that require writing.
Whenever possible, the interviewer will try to interview candidates on Skype, so that these candidates can? Leave a manuscript? Leave everything they have memorized, so as to discover the true level of the applicant.
I was told that China's parents attach great importance to ranking and want their children to go to Harvard or Stanford, but only a few people can enter these schools. Although these two schools are excellent, they are not both in the forefront. For example, the computer science departments and electronic engineering departments of the University of Illinois rank much higher than Harvard. The University of Michigan and the University of Wisconsin are also ranked above Harvard and Stanford in many disciplines. There are many opportunities for higher education in the United States, which may allow you to enter first-class postgraduate and vocational studies.