United States
In the United States of America, high school students apply to four-year liberal arts colleges and universities, which include both undergraduate or graduate students. Others attend community colleges, who almost always admit all students with high school diplomas, in preparation for transfer to a four year university. Non-traditional students are usually students over the age of 22 who pursue studies in higher education. Students may apply to many institutions using the Common Application. There is no limit to the number of colleges or universities to which a student may apply, though an application must be submitted for each. Fees are generally charged for each admissions application, but can be waived based on financial need.
Students apply to one or more colleges or universities by submitting an application which each college evaluates using its own criteria. The college then decides whether or not to extend an offer of admission (and possibly financial aid) to the student. The majority of colleges admit students to the college as a whole, and not to a particular academic major, although this may not be the case in some specialized programs such as engineering and architecture. The system is decentralized: each college has its own criteria for admission, even when using a common application form (the most widely used is The Common Application).
Common criteria includes ACT or SAT scores, extracurricular activities, Grade Point Average, demonstrated integrity, and a general college admissions essay. Further criteria, used to varying degrees, include athletic ability, legacy preferences (family members having attended the school), race, ability to pay full tuition, potential to donate money to the school (development case), desired class composition (especially diversity, which includes racial diversity, geographical and national diversity, and diversity of interests in the class), perceived fit, subjective evaluation of student character (based on essays or interviews), and general discretion by the admissions office. The importance of the various factors varies between universities, and selectiveness varies significantly, as measured by admissions rate (which depends both on selectiveness and number and type of applicants). The admissions rate can range from 100% (schools that accept everyone with a high school diploma) to below 10%.
- Further information: Transfer admissions in the United States
Read more about this topic: University And College Admissions
Famous quotes related to united states:
“I do not know that the United States can save civilization but at least by our example we can make people think and give them the opportunity of saving themselves. The trouble is that the people of Germany, Italy and Japan are not given the privilege of thinking.”
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)
“Steal away and stay away.
Don’t join too many gangs. Join few if any.
Join the United States and join the family
But not much in between unless a college.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“Television is an excellent system when one has nothing to lose, as is the case with a nomadic and rootless country like the United States, but in Europe the affect of television is that of a bulldozer which reduces culture to the lowest possible denominator.”
—Marc Fumaroli (b. 1932)
“What the United States does best is to understand itself. What it does worst is understand others.”
—Carlos Fuentes (b. 1928)
“What lies behind facts like these: that so recently one could not have said Scott was not perfect without earning at least sorrowful disapproval; that a year after the Gang of Four were perfect, they were villains; that in the fifties in the United States a nothing-man called McCarthy was able to intimidate and terrorise sane and sensible people, but that in the sixties young people summoned before similar committees simply laughed.”
—Doris Lessing (b. 1919)