Over 1,000,000 international students come to the USA for a chance to pursue a career which makes it one of the highest amounts of student migration for any country. This article will look at everything you need to know about studying in the USA.
If you are a student and are thinking of coming to the USA to study, this complete guide is for you.
There are numerous reasons why students choose to come to the USA to study at either an undergraduate or graduate level.
In the section below, we would be outlining some important aspects you need to understand if you are going to be pursuing a degree in the USA.
- Preparation
- University to study in the USA
- Subject Selection Guides
- Application process
- Tuition Fees for study in the USA
- Financial Aid to study in the USA
- Part-time Jobs in the USA
Preparation
This is the preliminary stage before you actually embark on traveling to the USA to study. You would have to prepare all the necessary items that would help you recreate your life in the USA.
Things to get ready at this stage are your student visa, travel items, and some financial aid. You would also need to undergo some medical tests and many other preliminaries before traveling to the USA to study.
It is essential to be sure you got everything down before traveling in order to avoid forfeiting your admission into the University due to document misplacement.
University to study in the USA
Another important factor to consider is what university you would be applying to. This would have been settled long before you even applied for a study visa in the USA. You would have to apply for admission into a US University from your home country.
After which, once you are given admission, you need to apply for a study visa in the USA using your letter of admission among other documents listed below:
- Letter of admission
- Proof of funds
- International Passport
- Medical Clearance
- Transcripts
Subject Selection Guides
Subject selection is something you need to do when choosing your University to study in the USA. Login to the University’s official website; you would need to select the subject of your choice. Note this is an important stage as once this is done, you might find it quite difficult to change once you have been offered admission in such courses.
Application process
The application process for US universities can sometimes be complex and confusing and so many international students are intimidated by its steps.
The goal here is to try and apply early enough in order to create an adequate time frame for each process. Some of the things to take note of in this section are:
- TOEFL
- IELTS
- SATs
- Essay writing
- Credential Evaluation
Tuition Fees for study in the USA
The average tuition fees for study in the USA are about $12,000 depending on your choice of university and location in the United States.
Some states in the USA cost more in terms of tuition fees, such states you can expect to pay as high as $25,000 per year and for subsequent years might be reduced to about $15,000 – $20,000.
This is why most international students find it difficult to study in the USA. There are however alternatives which are financial aids, scholarships, and grant that covers for such expenses.
Financial Aid to study in the USA
Paying your tuition fee as an international student in the USA is not easy, this is why financial aid was introduced to support those coming to the US to study.
With the right tips and guidelines, you could well apply for financial aid and get approved. What this does is that you are given financial support through scholarships or grants to study in the USA.
These grants can come from Universities, individual bodies, or government grants. Point is, to try and research and get in contact with the University administrative department on requirements for financial aid.
Part-time Jobs in the USA
Another way out is getting part-time jobs in the USA while also studying. There are part-time jobs you can apply for once you have gotten admission into the University.
You can work these part-time jobs using your student visa right there in the States. Part-time jobs require you to work for at most 20 hours each week during school periods and 40 hours during summer breaks.
These jobs would help you pay for your tuition fees and also other expenses like accommodation, feeding, and transportation (if you are staying outside the campus).
Note, you would not be allowed to work if you are on some sort of scholarship program in the United States.