American College systems is such a waste of time and resources!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The longer I observe the American college system, the more I am confused by it. In America, an average college major requires you to take 10-12 classes. You get 4 years to complete them. It takes 2 years tops to complete those courses and the other two years are usually squandered away by students because college here is a 4 year vacation paid for by mommy and daddy. Most schools do not really provide much academic rigor and are just easy diploma factories. Also, whats up with the "college experience?" What does that even mean? You go to school to specialize in a field so you can get your degree and join the workforce.

Don't even get me started on the medical education system here. A student takes 4 classes in undergrad to qualify as "premed" and then spends another 4 years getting a medical degree. Most other countries have medical colleges where students get MDs after graduating college!

You are dead wrong. Like in other countries, a student must complete a full 4-year undergraduate degree before attending another 4-year medical school. To be admitted to medical school, the student must have extremely good college grades and score extremely well on the MCAT exam. After completing medical school, a doctor must complete a 3-5 year residency to become fully licensed. It is very rigorous and many students do not complete the entire process.

[Anonymous]

Nobody goes to medical school before completing an undergraduate degree, and most who apply do not get in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you haven't been through an American University, you really can't judge.

I was hoping your post would talk about how they raise tuition to cover gyms, fancy dorms and amenities. I have only good things to say about the education I received though.

My children have and I have come to this conclusion having had conversations with them. So much money goes into "general ed" classes such as P.E. or Public Speaking 101. And you are correct, the students do NOt need fancy dormitories or state of the art laundry facilities or Gourmet cafeteria food. Excess at its worst.

So what Pakistani universities will your children be attending?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If this is so, then why is the U.S. consistently ranked at the very top of all countries for higher education?

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-Issues/2012/0516/College-rankings-Which-countries-have-the-best-education-systems/No.-1-United-States

http://www.universitas21.com/article/projects/details/152/u21-ranking-of-national-higher-education-systems

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2010-11/world-ranking/analysis/usa-top-universities

Who does the ranking?

[Anonymous]

Step One, OP - actually do your homework about U.S. universities. You clearly have not.

[Anonymous]

I'm foreign-born as well. What boils my blood is that some (?) colleges require freshmen to live in dorms and pay through the nose for shitty food in the cafeteria. Really? College experience? Ugh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm foreign-born as well. What boils my blood is that some (?) colleges require freshmen to live in dorms and pay through the nose for shitty food in the cafeteria. Really? College experience? Ugh.

There are thousands of schools. If you don't like the requirements of one, then pick another.

[Anonymous]

Cool story, bro

[Anonymous]

I assume that a medical degree is the only option for your children (just from what I understand from your first post and from what I've heard from other Pakistani parents). Just send your kids to a state university instead of a private liberal arts college. If and when they are admitted to medical school, they are going to accumulate a huge debt and there is no reason to add the debt of an overpriced private college to it. Keep in mind that they must complete an entire bachelor's degree with extremely high marks to even consider attending medical school in this country.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I assume that a medical degree is the only option for your children (just from what I understand from your first post and from what I've heard from other Pakistani parents). Just send your kids to a state university instead of a private liberal arts college. If and when they are admitted to medical school, they are going to accumulate a huge debt and there is no reason to add the debt of an overpriced private college to it. Keep in mind that they must complete an entire bachelor's degree with extremely high marks to even consider attending medical school in this country.

This is OP.

Actually, a lot of Pakistani and Indian students excel in the sciences and go to medical school in this country.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I assume that a medical degree is the only option for your children (just from what I understand from your first post and from what I've heard from other Pakistani parents). Just send your kids to a state university instead of a private liberal arts college. If and when they are admitted to medical school, they are going to accumulate a huge debt and there is no reason to add the debt of an overpriced private college to it. Keep in mind that they must complete an entire bachelor's degree with extremely high marks to even consider attending medical school in this country.

This is OP.

Actually, a lot of Pakistani and Indian students excel in the sciences and go to medical school in this country.

But is that the only option? I know one Pakistani parent who forced his son to enroll in pre-med. The son wanted to study engineering. Do your children even have a choice? Do you now understand that students must complete an undergraduate degree before starting medical school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I assume that a medical degree is the only option for your children (just from what I understand from your first post and from what I've heard from other Pakistani parents). Just send your kids to a state university instead of a private liberal arts college. If and when they are admitted to medical school, they are going to accumulate a huge debt and there is no reason to add the debt of an overpriced private college to it. Keep in mind that they must complete an entire bachelor's degree with extremely high marks to even consider attending medical school in this country.

This is OP.

Actually, a lot of Pakistani and Indian students excel in the sciences and go to medical school in this country.

Did anyone doubt that that this was the case? Your complaint was that the schools are not very good because students have to take P.E. and other non-science classes. And then you complained that it was too easy to get into medical school because you didn't know that students actually had to complete a bachelor's degree first.

[Anonymous]

You can't exactly compare the US education system to a Pakistan which has one of the highest illiteracy rates in the world and does far worse than other equally poor countries. If the US only bothered to spend 2% of GDP on you'd need everyone to be a doctor, engineer plus a couple nuclear engineers to bomb India.

[Anonymous]

If OP wants to hold up Pakistan as the educational model for the U.S., I'm not going to stop him. However, I will also conclude that he is very ignorant and hasn't attended a decent university himself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm foreign-born as well. What boils my blood is that some (?) colleges require freshmen to live in dorms and pay through the nose for shitty food in the cafeteria. Really? College experience? Ugh.

+1. It's plain stupid. As is ending up with $100k+ in debt before you have any real work experience