Why do so many people come to the US to get their education? If we look at the top 10 universities in the world, eight of them will be here in the United States. Top researchers and professors work in American universities. Graduates go on to become CEOs of top companies. They are the prime ministers of countries. If you graduate from an American university as an international student, under certain conditions, you can stay in the USUS for up to 3 years to work. Also, there is an opportunity to get financial aid for your education, especially if you’re doing your master’s or PhD. But for me, education in the US is being part of this amazing community of talented people, studying with them, spending years of your life together. American University is not just a building; it’s a small town with its own museum, church, stadium, and labs. Let’s walk around the Stanford campus today and talk about education in the USA. I’m going to talk about how you can study here, what you need to do to get admitted, how you can get financial aid, and, if you’re an international student, how you can get a visa. Let’s walk around and talk about education in the USA.
Let’s talk about the different levels of education in the USUS, soYou can come here for high school. But if you’re an international student, you should graduate from your home country. Because if you graduate from a school here in the US, when you apply for university, they would actually look at your school ranking and your GPA, your average grade there. When you come from your own country, they can’t really tell whether the school was… or not, so you have higher chances of getting admitted because you have higher chances of getting a perfect score back in your country. And another thing: if you come here for high school, you’ll be starting a new curriculum, a new environment, and a new language, and your grades might drop.
So, ideally, if I were you, I would graduate from high school in your own country, then come here for a bachelor’s degree. It typically takes about four years to earn a bachelor’s degree. In your first two years of study, you will be required to take a wide variety of classes in different subjects, commonly known as prerequisite courses, literature, science, social sciences, arts, history, and so forth. This way, you can achieve general knowledge. To get admitted to a bachelor’s program, you would need to take the SAT or the ACT. And if you come from a non-English speaking country, you would need to take a test like TOEFL or IELTS, and some colleges also accept the Duolingo test. Please check the exact requirements and exams on the website of the universities you want to apply to.
A bachelor’s degree isn’t the best level of education for financial aid, because it’s not funded, especially for international students. There is also an option to get admitted to a bachelor’s program without taking any exams. To do this, you can take a program called Pathway for one semester or more. Pathway programs are introductory courses designed to help international students build the skills and knowledge they need to continue their degree. Pathway programs even offer guaranteed admission to a partner institution. However, the cost of these programs is quite high. It’s also important to remember that it’s highly unlikely that you’ll get financial aid after finishing the pathway program. The best thing you could do in terms of financial aid and stuff is to come here for a master’s and a PhD. To get admitted to a master’s program, you need to take either the GMAT or the GRE.
GMAT: You take it for economics-related master’s programs. GRE is for everything else. Some universities don’t require you to take the GMAT or GRE; instead, you take the TOEFL or IELTS to demonstrate your English language proficiency. If you want to pursue a PhD in addition to everything I mentioned, you need to propose a research topic. But a cool thing about a PhD is that there’s like a 90% chance you will get financial aid. But a PhD… Again, in a four-year program, you need a bachelor’s degree from your own country or another American university, but then it opens up a whole world of research. You spend four years on campus, researching, studying, and teaching as well.
Have you ever been in a situation where you’re sure of what you want to study and what you want to be when you graduate, but your schedule ends up with subjects you don’t need? Doesn’t really happen in the U. S. In the U. S., every student has an individual plan. To graduate and receive your diploma, you need to complete a set number of lectures and seminars, which means every student follows an individual curriculum. Another great thing about American education is that you can pursue majors and minors. For example, I decided to do marketing, so my major is marketing.
But I also want to understand customers’ psychology. So I go to the faculty of psychology, and I take my minor in psychology. And this allows you to gain a broad education across different spheres. Let’s take a look at a few popular courses students take. Law. The legal education system in the US is one of the best in the world. Students can enroll in law specialities only after getting a bachelor’s degree. Direct admission with a high school diploma is not possible. Economics. It can be finance, business administration, business analytics, accounting, business… economics, etc. Psychology is a popular and widespread subject in the USUS. According to statistics, 4 in 10 American adults have seen a counselor at some point in their lives.
Environmental studies students study more than just ecological problems and learn about different approaches to solving them. Computer science and computer engineering. It is December right now, and I’m wearing a light jacket. As someone who doesn’t like winter or snow, I am so, so jealous that people get to study in this climate. I attended university in St. Petersburg, and my reality was waking up every morning and walking through the snow. Some winters had a lot of snow. Making my way to university. And if you’re watching this and you’re like, ‘I am super excited about American education, but I don’t see myself spending a year or two in the US studying.’ I recommend taking the courses my husband and I take twice a year, or even three times a year.
It’s called Stanford Continuing Studies. They have short courses. They’re available online and offline. They cost like $300, $600. But you get the same professors, Stanford professors. You get an amazing community of students. And the classes are one of the best. And if you compare them to other courses on the market, I took a course for $2,500. And it was worse than a $300 course at Stanford just because Stanford has this brand and… because they pay a lot of attention to the quality of their education. And you don’t need to pass any tests. You apply, pay, and take the course. It is highly recommended if you want a taste of top American education.
If you’re determined to get a bachelor’s, master’s, or PhD in an American university, but you don’t know where to start, or you don’t know what your chances of getting financial aid are, at LinguaTrip, we have excellent specialists who know the answers to all your questions related to American education. If you’re determined to change your life, I will leave an email in the description box below. You can reach out to my team and get your questions answered. If you want to study in the USUS, you need a student visa. And Marina, is it possible to get a student visa right now? There are two things you need to remember. First of all, when you apply for a USUS student visa, the task of the u. The U. S.
The embassy is to make sure that you are a genuine student and that you’re not using your education just to immigrate to the U. S., and that’s it. So you need to prove, first of all, that you have applied to a good university or college. Because sometimes people apply to a low-ranking community college that’s affordable, the embassy would ask, ‘Why have you decided to pursue education at that institution instead of… getting an education in your own country?’ The second thing they’re looking for is whether you have money to support yourself during your education. If you got full financial aid from a university, then there is like 99% chance, I guess, that you’re gonna get a visa. So just a formality.
But if you did not receive financial aid for your education, you need to prove you have enough funds to support yourself. The funds could come from your employment, a sponsor, or maybe you’ve made some really good investments, and this is what you’re gonna use to support yourself. Another thing they’re looking for is proof that these funds are legal, that you haven’t stolen money, and that it is not a weird loan. So you or your sponsor would need to show a bank statement showing your salary or dividends from your investments. And another thing. Because we’re in this weird era of countries and embassies closing, you need to check whether you.
The US Embassy is open in your country, but we’ve seen on Lingua Trip that you can travel to another country where the embassy is open and apply for your visa there. And again, if you’re a genuine student and you applied to a good university there, it shouldn’t be a problem. And another thing to remember is that if you apply to study in the US, after you graduate from your school or university, it looks logical, like you’re continuing your education. But if there has been a 10-year gap between your previous education and whatever you’re doing now, and you’re willing to travel with your family, there could be more questions. Again, the embassy is always willing to know whether you’re a genuine student or you’re just using this education to immigrate. So you need to prove that you are indeed a student who’s willing to study in the US.
Time to talk about money. Unfortunately, there is no unified system in the US to set education prices. This is why it is super expensive, and every university sets its own pricing. And you not only have to pay tuition, but also accommodation, health insurance, and books. If you’re using a lab, there is an additional fee. Stanford created this table showing the costs of studying and living here. But you also have to note that Stanford is one of the most, if not the most, expensive universities in the country. And it is located in one of the most expensive places in the country, Silicon Valley.
But even if we talk about cheaper universities, it is really hard to find one that costs less than $20,000 or $30,000 a year. This is why many international students seeking quality education in the US are also seeking various types of financial aid. Back in 2015, I received full financial aid from Johns Hopkins University and the University of Florida. Still, I decided to pursue my entrepreneurial career, so we moved to Silicon Valley to build our startup. But let’s dig deeper into what kinds of financial aid you can get as an international student in the USUS. The first type of financial aid is a grant. This is usually a one-time payment from the university to help students cover their expenses.
The amount of the grant varies by institution and may cover different types of costs. Tuition, accommodation, health insurance, personal expenses, etc., the grant is awarded based on financial need. There is a slight difference between a scholarship and a stipend. Stipend, in most cases, means monthly payments from the university. That covers the student’s current expenses, while a scholarship is a more complex concept that can include both cash given to a student and the provision of free… tuition, accommodation, and so on. There are two types of scholarships, need-based and merit-based. Need-based financial assistance is based on students’ financial situation. Based scholarships can cover up to 100% of the cost of tuition, accommodation, and meals. As a rule, you’ll need to provide documents that prove that you and your family are in financial need.
Usually, this type of scholarship is not given to international students. Merit-based scholarships, however, are awarded based on academic or extracurricular achievement. And to get this type of scholarship, you must have a high GPA, as well as academic and extracurricular achievements, such as competition, conferences, publications, and volunteering. Excellent results of the language tests, IELTS, TOEFL, etc. Good exam results on the GMAT and GRE. And a strong motivation letter. Career-based scholarships are awarded both to local and international students. You can find more information about financial aid on the university’s website, in the Financial Aid section. I recently had dinner with a Stanford graduate. He shared that Stanford didn’t want to admit international students because, in America, there is a culture around graduating from a university. You become successful, you donate millions of dollars back to the university, and they put your name on the building, etc.
And there was no such culture among international students. And for Stanford, economics didn’t really work on international students because they didn’t do those donations. The situation has changed, but I’ve talked to several friends—those who graduated from Stanford or international students themselves —and they told me they would actually share money with Stanford. They would make their donations annually because it’s now part of the culture. Because they graduated from Stanford, they gave them this opportunity, and they feel obligated to make those donations—something to keep in mind. Good news, if you’re a student in the USUS, you can actually work while you study. During your first year, you can only work on campus, and the jobs are limited to working at a library or working at a cafeteria, which means you don’t make a lot of money, but you’re still able to cover some of your living expenses.
Don’t think that it pays too much. On average, re in California, it’s $15 to $20 an hour, and you’re allowed to work a maximum of 20 hours a week. Once you finish your first year, there are two options for how you can work. There is OPT (Optional Practical Training). You can find a job either on or off campus, in a company, or in a related field. To something that you study, so for example, if you study economics, you can find a company that would employ you in their financial department. Still, you can’t really go and work at Starbucks if you study economics, like I mean, as a barista. There is also a thing called CPT, Curriculum Practical Training.
This is a work opportunity tied to your curriculum. So you have to do it. And in this case, you go to your coordinator and say that you’re willing to take this opportunity and work. When we talk about working while studying, one thing to remember is that you can work for 20 hours a week. During the year, 40 hours a week during the summer. But unfortunately, if you hope that you’ll be able to cover your tuition or all the living expenses while working, in most cases, it’s almost impossible because, again, you’re making $15 an hour. And education at Stanford costs like $100,000 a year. This is a way to support yourself to cover some of your living expenses.
This is a way to get some real-life experience, but don’t think of it as a way to finance your studies, unfortunately. And now I want to give you a list of universities that offer financial aid for a bachelor’s degree. You can get it at Yale University. Approximately 63% of graduate students, including international students, received financial aid. Yale scholarships range from a few hundred dollars to over $70,000 a year. The average Yale scholarship is over $50,000, as is Boston University’s Presidential Scholarship. The scholarship covers four years of undergraduate studies, provides $25,000 in tuition per year, and applies only to certain programs. Check the university’s official website. University. For those who want to connect their future with music, Skidmore College has a music scholarship.
This scholarship is awarded annually through competition to at least 4 gifted musicians. $15,000 a year for four years. Master’s programs. Stanford University is offering 100 fully funded Knight-Hennessy Scholarships to international students from around the world to pursue a variety of programs. This program is included in the best scholarship programs in the world. Harvard University. Harvard MBA is one of the world’s leading business programs, taught at one of the world’s most prestigious universities. The MBA Harvard Scholarship is granted once every two years for a two-year course at Harvard Business School. The scholarship provides over $100,000 in financial aid per year toward tuition, travel, and accommodation expenses at the University of New Haven. The University of New Haven scholarship is a fully funded scholarship for international students to pursue graduate studies in any subject, including PhD programs.
Duke University and its Cash International Scholarship. This scholarship provides eight semesters of full tuition, room and board, and mandatory fees to Duke University. Scholars also have access to generous funding for domestic and international summer experiences, including opportunities for independent research both in the summer and during the academic year. Cornell University. A fellowship provides financial support to graduate students to pursue graduate studies without associated teaching or research responsibilities. Fellowships are generally merit-based, internal or external awards to support a student in a full-time course of study. Approximately 20% of all graduate students are enrolled in the Cornell Fellowship Program. American universities are among the most international in the world. In some educational institutions, the percentage of international students can reach 50%.
That means that when you study in the US, you get exposed not only to American culture, but to the cultures of students from all over the planet. And because the world is becoming increasingly international these days, we work online and jump on Zoom calls with people from different parts of the world. Education in the US is a great opportunity to get exposed to different cultures, meet people from all over the planet, and create a national network. If you’re excited about studying the USUS and think you would love to explore it, I urge you to start now, because this process actually takes a while. First of all, if you’re not a native English speaker, you need to work on your English.
The process might take up to a year, sometimes up to two years, because you have to take exams, you have to research universities, and you can start doing this now, like where do you want to study, what do you want to study, what kind of exams you need to take. If you need a guide on this journey, the link to Lingua Trip, my company, is below. But even without my company, I want you to do your own research and get acquainted with whatever the American educational system has to offer. Thank you, guys, so much for watching this video all the way through. Suppose you’re not yet subscribed to this channel. There’s a red button down below. Hit it, and like and comment on this video if you enjoyed the content. Thank you so much, and I’ll see you very soon in my next vlogs. Bye-bye.
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