I was looking at studying in America next year when I saw the entry requirements could be as low as 5 GCSEs(A*-C) this is insanely low for example I hade double that at age 15. Where as in England you need 3 or more A-Levels which are notorious for being incredibly difficult depending on what you do. I feel this may be something to do with the fact that as far as I know you don’t get formal qualifications until you’re 18.
How hard is high school?, do most people finish it?
To be honest I probably won’t study in America because Jesus Christ I couldn’t actually imagine having to pay off my student loans in full.
Pretty easy. The only people who don’t finish are those who either don’t care or get thrown out.
It starts to get more difficult if you get into an AP class, which is college level material. In hindsight AP seems easier than it was since you were getting college level work without the college level lifestyle or distractions.
Graduating? Comically easy, you pretty much need to be a complete fuckup to not do so. Aside from the worst inner-city areas almost everyone graduates.
Graduating with a decent enough GPA, having taken challenging enough classes, and learned enough to do well enough on the SAT/ACT to get into a mid-tier or better college? That actually takes some work.
Obviously the more prestigious schools go exponentially up from there in terms of how hard you’d need to work in HS to get into.
The UK and US systems are structured differently, you have to make sure you’re not comparing apples to oranges. US university is 4 years, not 3 years like England. The first year of US university is A-level work, it’s not equivalent to the first year of English university. In the US regardless of your major you have to branch out and take classes in a variety of areas. Whereas the UK you specialize much earlier.
Top schools here will want to see AP’s from Americans and A-levels from Brits to show they can handle college-level work. These are both considered equivalent to first-year college classes here. Americans applying to all UK universities on the other hand are REQUIRED to have AP’s so that they will be on the same footing as someone who finished their A-levels.
As a foreigner you cannot get American student loans, you need to pay your own way. International students are primarily viewed as a moneymaker here. In addition to loans being tough there will be many fewer need and merit based scholarship opportunities for you.
One of the rare exceptions is Harvard, which is both “need-blind” and “meets full need” for international students. To translate that American college jargon, that means they won’t consider your ability to pay when admitting you, and they will guarantee you as much financial aid as they feel is required to make it affordable for you. This is incredibly rare and generous – even the best colleges here usually only have those policies for American applicants. First, you have to get in, though, and that will be a challenge; a few years ago, 900 people from the UK applied and only 3 got in. That’s an acceptance rate of 0.3% – way lower than the already ridiculously low 5% general acceptance rate. My guess is that most of the British applicants they got were very smart and did well on their A-levels but weren’t well rounded enough for them.
TL;DR American college is only worth it for Brits they get in to the tippity top colleges here which most won’t. Or they’re so rich that cost just isn’t a factor at all for them. Go to school in the UK, take advantage of the relatively low tuition and generous student loan repayment scheme, spend a semester in America if you want the experience.
It’s not too hard. A lot of the teachers are pretty lenient and forgiving and will love you if you ask them for help if you need it. Most people graduate as far as I’m aware.
Schools differ from district to district and state to state. Private schools are different even still. Public schools will often be very lenient on graduating requirements because without a diploma/ged it is difficult to make a living in America. But, having a high school diploma doesn’t mean anything in the job market, it’s expected.
How well you do in school dictates your opportunities for higher education. Tuition, especially out of state tuition, is expensive in the US. We provide students with a ton of financial aide which drives up costs considerably. The benefit to our system is that if you’re smart enough to get into our good schools we have some of the best universities in the world. Additionally, our job market for out of college grads is much better than most of the world.
That being said, if you’re of average or slightly above average intelligence it may not make sense to come to the US and pay the costs associated if it is not a place you want to live post-graduation.
High school starts at 9th grade (13-14 years old). We don’t really have the formal qualifications thing at all. In CA we have a high school exit exam, but it can be taken and passed in the second year of high school so it is no big deal.
Most high schools will have an honors or AP level for many classes which will be more rigorous. Likes others have mentioned AP classes give you college credit depending on your AP exam score and where you matriculate.
Don’t sleep so much and look alive every once in a while. You’ll get by.