American Higher Education

The recent scandal in America around celebrity parents bribing coaches and exam officials to ensure that their kids get a seat in prestigious schools reminded me how different college is here in America and in the country where I grew up, India.

Going to “School”

I had a hard time figuring out that when an American said they were going to school, it could also refer to a college or university . In America, any institution of learning is casually referred to as school . The words school, college and university can be used interchangeably. To add to the confusion, many schools can be found in a college or university, such as the School of Business, School of Art etc.

Freshmen and Sophomores

Growing up in India, I was used to first year college students being referred to as “freshers”. They were fresh into college. In the U.S., first year students in both high school and and in their undergraduate degree in colleges , universities or institutions are referred to as freshmen or frosh. When someone told me they were a freshman, I learnt to ask if they meant a freshman in high school or a freshman in college.

Second year students are referred to as sophomores, third year juniors and fourth year seniors. The origin of the words is interesting and some articles claim that the words freshman and sophomore originated in 17th century universities in Britain (Oxford and Cambridge). Interestingly, they died out of usage in Britain but continue to be used in the U.S.

Juniors and Seniors

Juniors and seniors are also referred to as upperclassmen and freshmen and sophomores are referred to as underclassmen. Many colleges and universities are switching to replacement words in place of freshman, upperclassmen and underclassmen to be more gender inclusive and politically correct.

The words junior and senior are also used in a different context. Americans use the suffix Jr or Sr to their names if an identical Christian name has been given to more than one generation. For example, Father and Child would be named Franklin Delano Roosevelt Sr; Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr .

Majors, Minors and Credit Hours

My overwhelm with the American Higher Education system didn’t stop there. What was a major and a minor? Could you take more than one major in college? When did you have to choose a major? Was an undergraduate degree the same as a bachelor’s degree, the term that I was familiar with in India? What was a liberal arts degree? What were the different types of colleges in America? What were fraternities and sororities? What was the college admission process? What was a dorm?

A major (sometimes also referred to as concentration) is primarily used to refer to the college discipline/field of study/academic study area focused on during undergraduate studies. A minor is a secondary area of study and is optional. Some students take double majors, but that is fairly uncommon. Student will need to take specific core courses and a certain number of electives for each major and/or minor. Each course is awarded a certain number of credits. A credit hour is a unit of study (usually equivalent to 1 hour a week in class). Most courses carry 3 credits. Many colleges allow a student to declare their major after taking the initial set of core classes which may be a year or two into their degree, so they do not have to fill it out at the time of their college application . Students sometimes select a minor that is complementary to the major they have declared or sometimes choose a subject area they are passionate about but is unrelated to their major.

Unlike in India where a bachelor’s degree is 3 years long, an undergraduate/bachelor’s degree in U.S. typically takes four years to complete. Engineering degrees are four years long in both. Liberal arts degrees, focused on general education, provide a well rounded education in social sciences, sciences and humanities. Medical degrees in US are four years long , are classified as second entry degrees and typically require 3 years of pre-med courses to be completed. This is different from India where a medical degree is 5 years long and can be started as soon as high school is completed.

Then there are colleges and universities . Colleges are typically smaller and offer an undergraduate (4-year) or an associate ( 2-year) degree. A university offers both undergraduate and graduate degrees.

College Admission Process in US

While each college sets it’s own admission standards, the college admission process is based on a number of variables such as transcript in high school, rank in standardized admission tests such as SAT and ACT, extracurricular activities, participation in sports, a personal essay written by the student and many others. Some colleges try to balance diversity in their classes and try to put together a freshman college comprised of students from different socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds.

Everything about higher education seemed different in America. I kept hearing about the student loan crisis. It’s magnitude scared me. Why were fees in public colleges so high that they forced students to either take loans or work through college? What was an endowment? Were there public and private colleges? What was the difference in tuition between them? What is affirmative action? If admission into the US college admission system was based on meritocracy, then why the more recent admission scandals? These and other nuances of higher education in America will be discussed in a future blog post.

College Admission Process in India

Things were so much simpler in India. Middle class families pretty much pushed their kids to get admission into an engineering or a medical college if they were getting good grades in school. The path for admission was well defined. Entrance into public colleges was determined by your ranking in national and statewide entrance examinations. At least in engineering, your score and rank in the entrance exams not only determined the college that you could get accepted into but also your field of engineering such as Computer Science or Chemical Engineering (similar to majors) . Depending on your score, it was probable that you would get admission into a premier college but could not study in your field of choice.

Competition for these entrance exams was fierce. Starting from tenth grade or even earlier, your life revolved around preparing for these entrance exams. A whole industry providing tuition services to help prepare for these entrance exams had sprung up like mushrooms in India. High schools stopped all sports and extracurricular activities. They went to school during the day and tuition in the evening. There was a quota system in colleges that reserved seats for those from backward castes. See my post on black history to understand the caste system and it functioned in India.

It was common to take a gap year after high school to prepare for these entrance exams if you didn’t get through in the first try during 12th grade. If a desired score or rank in the entrance exams was not obtained , another option was for the middle class family to pay their live savings to get their child admitted into a private medical or engineering college ( commonly known as donation colleges).

It was very rare that students would have to work through college to pay for their degree. Middle class families saved up their entire life so their kids could go to college. They wanted the kids to focus on their studies while in college. Some of the academic pressure from high school did ease up in college . Public colleges were very reasonable in terms of the fees charged. I’d never heard of scholarships in college although to promote the representation of girls in certain fields ( a.k.a. majors), the government would often subsidize their fees.

Idioms and Terminology in Higher Ed

Onto idioms or terminology associated with Higher Ed in America . A first-gen or first generation student is often referred to a student who is the first generation in their household to go to a four year degree granting college or university. Joe College is your average college male student. The old college try means to give something your best effort at something seemingly impossible.