Education system in the USA

Community General Chat
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I wanted to know some things about the educational system in the US. I’m from other country and I have no idea about how the schools , colleges , universities work here. I wanted to incorporate these in my stories . It would be better if you answer some of my question

Question
  1. How old are the students studying in schools, colleges , universities?
  2. What are the subjects in the universities and the students choose them and on what basis?
  3. How are different semesters held , what is the gap between them…?

I have many questions but for now these are some of them…
Kindly answer in this thread so it provides help to others as well…

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I’m very curious to know what country you’re in. :thinking:

But for ages it depends on what grade you’re in
College/universities can be any age because some people go back to college to finish their schooling, but it also the same for high school too.

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Subject’s for universities can range to a bunch of things. But if you want to know you can check google.

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Moved to General Chat since this doesn’t fit into any Creator’s Corner category. Make sure to check out our Forum Tutorial for more info about creating topics, and feel free to PM me if you’ve got questions. :smiley:

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General tiers:
“Elementary school is kindergarten through 5th grade ( ages 5-10), middle school is grades 6-8 ( ages 11-13), and high school is grades 9-12 ( ages 14-18).”

Combined schools:
“Elementary school (K-6), and junior and high school combined (7-12).”

Starting age:
“U.S. children enter formal schooling around age 5.”

College/University:
College is also used a lot more commonly than “university.”

“There are basically four levels of college degrees: associate, bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees. Earning any of these degrees can take around 2 to 8 years, depending upon the level of the degree and the major you choose.”
“1st year” is someone who’s started their first year of their degree and it goes on “2nd year”, “3rd year” etc or these terms can be used just like in high school: freshman/frosh, sophomore, junior, senior.

For exact courses you can look up what real colleges offer and pick from undergrad courses or postgrad courses (depends on your characters).

Dates:
Starting/ending dates also vary from school-to-school and state-to-state.
“The school year usually runs from early September until May or June (nine months) and is divided into ‘quarters’ or terms (semesters). Most schools use a semester system made up of two sessions: fall ( September to December) and spring (January to May ).”

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  1. Elementary schools have kids from ages 5-11 (kindergarten-5th grade), middle school is 11-14 (6th-8th grade), highschool is 14-18 (9-12th grade), and college+university depends but usually around 18-24 but it can go higher.
  2. There are a bunch of majors that people can choose to pursue and it’s based on what they choose on their own. I don’t believe they really have core subjects like math and science where it is required in highschool and below, but it’s depends on what your major is. Like if you’re going into a more scientific major, you’re going to be doing a lot of maths.
  3. Semesters just basically divide the school year into 2, I don’t believe there are any gaps in between them, and they just transition straight into the next semester.
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I’m not in college, but I’ve had three older siblings in college/university, so I hope this helps :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

1. How old are the students studying in schools, colleges , universities?

It depends on the person and whether they want to go to college right away, or wait a year or two (or not go at all). All of my siblings went straight to college after they graduated high school when they were 18/19 years old. On the other hand, when I graduate high school, I’m planning on taking a “gap” year before going to college, which is just taking one year off from school to do things like make money, or look into more colleges and what you would like to do in future years.

2. What are the subjects in the universities and the students choose them and on what basis?

College students can major or minor in subjects. For example, my older brother majors in computer science (I don’t remember what his minor :sweat_smile:), and one of my older sister majors in psychology, and minors in music. I believe they take other classes as well, like history, math, etc., but I don’t remember that well :sneezing_face:

3. How are different semesters held , what is the gap between them…?

Throughout my school career, and it’s basically the same in college, there are 2 semesters, with 2 quarters in each. So one year is composed of 2 semesters, which is divided into 4 quarters, 2 quarters in 1 semester. Usually, the first semester ends with “Winter Break,” which is basically a break time for holidays and New Years, stuff like that, and then after we come back, the new semester begins. It can be different though, where after Winter Break ends, there may be 2-3 weeks before the new semester begins.

Hope this helps :smiling_face_with_three_hearts: :sweat_smile:

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In Elementary school it goes from Kindergarten to 5th grade and it goes from about ages 5 to 10 years old. In middle school it from grades 6th-8th and the ages are from 10/11-13/14. High school is 9th through 12th grade, and average is 14/15 through 16/17/18. For college it normally depends but I’d say the most common is 18 to 25 maybe? 18 is when we’re legally adults here.

It ultimately depends on what to major on and what a student is there for. There are no required classes I believe like in high school you need a certain amount of years of history, math, science, and a language. If you choose to pursue something the field of chemicals then you need science as a required course.

There’s 2 semesters per year. The school year commonly starts in mid/early August and ends in the beginning to mid June of the following year. The first year would be August through late December then a 2-3 week break called “Winter Break”. In between the first semester is normally Fall Break which is like 1 week if I remember correctly. Then in the second semester there’s Spring Break usually in mid March (which I will be in, in 2 weeks) which lasts 1 week. It’s the same in college too. I’m not sure about the breaks though.

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Thank u so much

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Thank you so much

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Thank you for the information

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Thank you

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What would the ages be of juniors and seniors in college?

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I’d say 20-23 if you start immediately after high school :thinking:

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Actually, the first two years are usually for gen ed classes. These include basic liberal arts courses, such as English and history, as well as science and math. They are required before you start your major classes. Foreign languages are required for most majors, the years depend on your major. I had to take 3 levels of Spanish throughout my college career.

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