How is university education organized in America?

Answer

Dear Elin,

In the US, there are two types of higher education institutions, which are difficult to distinguish from each other. Colleges are usually institutions that only offer undergraduate programs (our bachelors, usually in the humanities) and universities also offer graduate (our masters) and doctoral programs (our doctorates). Some states require a minimum of two doctoral degrees to acquire the college title. But the names are mixed up, for example Dartmouth College is a university. Moreover, ‘college’ is also often used for secondary education institutions (such as with our colleges) and – if you can still attend – for parts of universities (our faculties, or our academic bachelor’s programs from one university).

The Ivy League is a group of the eight oldest and most prestigious universities in the US, all located in the North East, above New York, where the ivy they are named after covers the colonial buildings. They are all private universities, which do without government support and therefore have a very selective admission policy: they seek out the best students themselves, conduct very competitive applications, and often demand exorbitant registration fees (from 4000 to 14000 dollars per academic year). Those who submit the correct papers have a 7 to 18% chance of being accepted.

Kind regards,

Karl Catteeuw