Students interested in getting a degree in the United States have countless individual situations to consider carefully before their arrival.
In this post I want to address the most general of general requirements, assuming a student has met whatever language requirements necessary and doesn’t have college credit to transfer from his or her home country. (Language requirements and transfer credits are something I will discuss in the future.)
The picture above is an example of a typical check list for students in the USA. Most of the subtleties of the individual checklist will be addressed in the paragraphs above the list of necessary courses. It is very important that you get to know the checklist! It will save you time and money if you understand what you have to do completely.
Even experienced academic and international student advisors have to closely look at these lists to make sure student have everything they need to continue with their education.
For example, the first thing I noticed when looking at the checklist from Cal State was that they required 60 credit hours before a student is admitted. My current school requires 64 credits before a transfer student is admitted to a bachelor’s program. Without getting into too much detail, the difference between 60 and 64 credit hours can mean the difference between being able to transfer or not. As I said earlier, the process is very individual, and the better you’re able to recognize your individual path, the more likely you are to graduate in a cost effective manner.
Pay close attention to things like difference in Humanities vs. Natural Science credits as they relate to your Bachelor’s Degree, the amount of total credit hours needed, and required NonWestern Civilization and US Constitution credits. The US Government (somewhat ironically for you) wants it’s student to know about the US Constitution and the world outside of the United States!
Remember to ask a lot of questions, and feel free to post something here if you have a general question regarding general academic requirements.
Cheers!
International Student Advising 