<p>Okay so I have been admitted to Colby, Macalester and Reed
my other option is to go to australia where the education is much cheaper,
although it is not that my family can not afford US fees.</p>
<p>My problem is that I have very little to judge these colleges by other than
what I read in college guide books. </p>
<p>Could someone please give me some insight into how well Colby, Macalester and Reed are viewed in the US? Are they amazing colleges, good colleges or average colleges?</p>
<p>Think about how your everyday life would look like at one of the American colleges vs an Australian university. I took a few classes at a German university before coming to the US and the difference is huge. Instead of lectures with 200 students in Germany, I now have small classes with 4-10 students. Instead of living all across the city, students live together in dorms on campus. I address my professors by their first name and they are concerned about my academic as well as personal well-being. My major department has payed me for a summer research project and given me money to attend a conference. It is plain obvious that American colleges have a lot more money than German universities, but that may or may not be true for Australian universities. I also appreciate the freedom to pick almost whatever classes I want to take. A college education back in Germany would have entailed stricter major requirements and would have not allowed me to take any classes outside of my major. In the end I have probably taken more classes in my major in the US than I would have back in Germany, all while taking a few courses in fields I would have not otherwise had a chance to explore.</p>
<p>That being said, small liberal arts colleges tend to feel much like boarding schools, and sometimes we miss the freedom of cooking for ourselves or having pets or…</p>
<p>If your interests are in academia or research, Reed shares the top spot with Swarthmore of LACs producing the highest percentage of future PhD earners, averaged across all fields. Some similar schools with a high concentration of academics are Carleton, Grinnell and Oberlin.</p>
<p>Many of EU colleges are better than Ivies just they dont cost fortune (thereofre they dont have that strong marketing) coz education in Europe is much different than the one in the states.
in europe everyone can go to the college while in the states only smart/rich can go.
and i think american high school system is one of the worst in the world.</p>
<p>Well, we are talking about Australia and not Europe. Australia charges hefty fees (at least for internationals - not sure if that applies to the OP or not) as well, but not quite as high as private tuition in the US.</p>
<p>I also disagree with the comments about the American high school system. I think in principal I would rate it as one of the best in the world! Nowhere else (I am aware of) do students have the chance to be accelerated in a single area or receive remedial support in a single area. Everywhere else programs are standardized; the only way to accelerate in one subject is to accelerate in all subjects (by skipping a grade) and if you want to slow down in one subject you will have to slow down in all of them. </p>
<p>Of course the absence of a standardized curriculum leads to difficulties in the college admission process, and I think this is where the system needs improvement.</p>
<p>“in europe everyone can go to the college while in the states only smart/rich can go”</p>
<p>I am familiar only with Germany, where university admittance is determined by a high-enough Abitur (high school exit examination) score, but they are free (at least in Hessen) or nearly so. </p>
<p>In the U.S. every high school graduate can go to college, ranging from Ivies (“free” for the “poor” who are “smart” enough) to community college (low cost for everyone), depending on qualifications.</p>
<p>@ barlum
you are right, im off topic but i’d like to make few replies.
well every country has a different educating high school system and i wouldn’t say american high schools are that good. few of my friends came from american high schools to the IB MYP (that is considerably easier than DIP) and they passed with lower grades than the majority. also didn’t know basic general knowledge like whose napoleon, che guevara, etc. i’m not talking about one or two students but at least 6 people. i’m not generalizing just saying what i’ve concluded from my experience, their stories and newspaper articles.</p>
<p>@Vossron
yep it is true but in europe there is no bigger difference between bocconi, sorbonne and let’s say trieste university + public schools are WAY better than private ones (oxford, Cambridge, Imperial, Sorbonne, etc…) and some private schools are 50-100 times more expensive.
I’m saying that European education is much more affordable, while in the States if you have no enoguh money you won’t attend Ivies or private colleges (which are MUCH better than public ones, in the EU is vice-versa) even if you get some scholarship. Who wants to be in debt 100k dollars after they finish college?</p>
<p>‘‘In the U.S. every high school graduate can go to college, ranging from Ivies (“free” for the “poor” who are “smart” enough) to community college (low cost for everyone), depending on qualifications.’’- well why people who don’t have ENOUGH money wouldn’t get equal opportunity as well as the rich? in europe it’s up to your grades and work, nothin about $.</p>
<p>Oxford (3225 punds = app. 6k dollars) vs. Harvard (50k dollars)
I believe this says everything.</p>
<p>I compared europe and the states (ncoz i live here) just to say that price does NOT mean primarily much better education. therefore i believe it’s the same in australia.
its just up to you what u want in ur life.</p>
<p>That’s an extremely biased comparison, to say the least. </p>
<ul>
<li><p>American high schools teach US history before they teach World History. World History is typically taken by juniors and seniors, so students who switch to the IB would not know much world history because they leave before then. </p></li>
<li><p>European high schools don’t teach much World History either. I can promise you that 1/2 of my high school class in Europe did not know Che Guevara, and most of the rest only knew of him because one kid had a t-shirt with his name. We never talked about anything related to Latin American history in high school.</p></li>
<li><p>You cannot compare the “average” American high school student to the “average” high school student elsewhere because, at least in Europe, the “average” student never gets beyond 10th grade. In the US most students at least get 12 years of schooling. That’s a big step up. A high-achieving American student can take 6+ AP classes in high school, which is effectively about as much as most European high school students would learn. Of course the question remains if American high schools should encourage more students to pursue academics at that level of rigor, but the opportunities are definitely there.</p></li>
<li><p>Although some American courses cover less material, the students seem to know the material better. If you ask an American student a math or physics or history question one week after an exam, they are usually still able to give you a pretty good answer. German students are not. Heck, calculus and statistics are high school graduation requirements in Germany, but the average in those classes (and all the math classes below them) hover around a C- or D+. I think many German students would benefit from the American approach: taking math at a slower pace but learning it properly.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>I calculated my cost of attendance at a US College and after good financial aid it went out cheaper than studying in Germany.
Sure, tuition in Germany is around 700 $ per term, but you have to pay for everything else like a place to live, food, transportation etc…Almost all of my friends studying in Germany will be in debt when they graduate, cause with a workload that comes with a bachelor degree in 3 years, they dont have the time to work for enough money.
I calculated that I have costs of 10,400 dollars for 2 terms in Germany, including housing, tuition, food everything…Those things are covered in the US with only 9,500 dollars (if you have sufficient FA, which you get if you are admitted at a college that is need-based)
I cut out the cost of going to and leaving the US, but in the end I will probably end up with the same debts I would have had if I had studied in my homecountry.</p>
<p>A while back, I could have gone to Australian U at a much cheaper rate. If that’s the route I took, Australia would probably be my home now. I sometime wonder if I’d have a better life there. Sydney is rated highly in quality of life…</p>
<p>hi, i’m from australia, so ifyou want to ask about a particular university, i could probably tell you a bit about them. </p>
<p>i read one of teh replies above, recommending anu. it is the top ranked university in australia, but i wouldn’t recommend it. The best in Australia are sydney and melbourne universities. </p>
<p>If you go to uni in another country, you have to consider what the areas are like so here goes:
anu (canberra): extremely boring, ask any aussie not from canberra and they will say it’s a hole. anu isalso relatively new so doesnt have that strong history behind it.</p>
<p>usyd (sydney): its been around for a long time, has great history behind it and it’s a great place to live. keep in mind that this may be a biased opinoin. but if you’re used to large cities with lots of people, you’re most likely to feel athome here.otherewise,</p>
<p>umel (melbourne): a bit like sydney only smaller, fewer people and less symettrical. but melbourne now has the melbourne model so its system is very much like teh american with the general requriements. i think its also a member of the law society in usa. melbourne university has a very good rep too. </p>
<p>Hey developed! Congratulations on your acceptance to Reed!</p>
<p>It’s such an awesome school that I would drop everything just to go there! Forget about Australia since your parents can afford the education! Seriously, Reed’s academics is definitely on par with Ivies. </p>
<p>I would really laugh at myself, if I were you, to attend ANU/Melbourne etc for Reed.</p>
<p>Oh by the way, Australian schools (including ANU) is known for accepting alot of extremely uncompetitive student from this education system known as the polytechnic in Singapore. Most of the students in Singapore are simply the lousier ones who turn to Ozs. The schools simply see them as cash cows.</p>
<p>I’m definitely committing a loop-sided argument of I say ALL students belonging to the above category are uncompetitive, again, this applies to only a small minority. Some decent and competitive students from polytechnic do go to Oz colleges as well.</p>
<p>“Reed’s academics is definitely on par with Ivies.”</p>
<p>IMHO, undergrad academics at Carleton, Grinnell, Oberlin, Princeton, Reed, Swarthmore, UChicago and Yale beat undergrad academics at the other Ivies.</p>
<p>@ developed
I also live in Australia and can tell you that ANU is ranked 16th in the world (higher than Stanford). That’s not to tell you that you should go on ranking alone, different unis are known for different things - e.g. Melb Uni has a world class bio med course. Also take into account the different academic years.</p>
?</p>