Let us begin by getting one thing straight: studying abroad is a two-way street, where no one is going to do anyone a favor and no one owes anyone anything. Perhaps this applies especially to such a pragmatic country as the United States. And if a foreign student is interested in a good American education, then the United States is also interested in a good foreign student. “It is absolutely clear that it is in the long-term interests of U.S. national security to attract foreign students to study in our country,” explains Allan Goodman, president of the Institute of International Education. “Foreign students help broaden the horizons of their American classmates, contribute to the revitalization of research activities, strengthen the economic situation of the communities in which they live, and create lasting ties between their countries and the United States.” In addition, let us not forget that foreign students contribute more than $13 billion a year to the U.S. economy, paying for tuition and covering living expenses.
Overall, education in the United States should be approached with the same pragmatism that Americans themselves apply to it. When choosing your educational orbit, you need to soberly weigh the pros and cons of academic programs available on the American market, which vary in quality and price. Naturally, in the end, most foreigners are interested in higher education. But given the significant differences between the Russian and American education systems, gaining admission to a university in the New World may not be so simple. For starters, a Russian secondary school certificate “weighs” 11 years of schooling, while an American one is 12. Thus, by formal American standards, our applicants are “a year behind,” and although the domestic certificate is recognized, the applicant sometimes has to pass a number of exams. In order to follow this “main road” or choose the side paths, one needs to understand the U.S. education system.
As in other foreign countries, in the United States the most convenient path to a university for a foreigner goes through a private boarding school, where one can obtain a full secondary education. The last grades of high school (High School) are exactly what we need: they purposefully prepare children for the assault on the university, teach them to work with information, and write essays. In addition, the English language becomes your own easily and naturally. To get into an American High School, you need to pass the Secondary School Admission Test, which checks knowledge of core subjects, and the English proficiency test TOEFL, as well as submit a transcript of school grades and write an application. Keep in mind that the United States does not have a unified school curriculum, and therefore the level of preparation in schools can differ. This must be taken into account when choosing an educational institution.
Perhaps it is easier for you to enter a Russian university and complete at least one year there, and then transfer to an American university. You could also try to get into a university in the New World on the “home stretch,” that is, with our bachelor's or specialist diploma in hand, entering directly into a master's program. But there is another, typically American path to a higher education diploma, which goes through colleges. The college system in the United States is extraordinarily developed and popular, which is connected to the traditional American two-level system of higher education (bachelor-master). The American college as a place for obtaining higher education is absolutely undervalued in our country. Yet it is a wonderful opportunity to get a bachelor's degree (four years of study) at a much lower price than at a university. Moreover, the two-year associate degree programs, for which Community Colleges are especially famous, provide a convenient “bridge” to jump directly into the third year at universities in the same state. The savings are again substantial—at a college you will pay $7–7.5 thousand per year versus $17–35 thousand at a university.