Peter Davos on Advantages of studying at US universities

1. Peter Davos Peter Davos on Advantages of studying at US universities

2. UAE students face an array of choices when determining where to pursue their undergraduate studies in a foreign country, with Canada, Britain, Australia, and the United States being the most popular global destinations for an international education. • While leaving the comforts of one’s home country and studying abroad is an educational experience in and of itself, not all options are created equally. • Students should take particular care in making what is surely the most important decision of their young adult lives, as the years spent in university are among the most formative. • For reasons of flexibility, variety of choice, culture, and resources, American education system continues to remain at the forefront of the undergraduate educational experience. • The main benefit of studying in the United States is the flexibility of the undergraduate curriculum offered by American universities. Students are encouraged and compelled to take a broad assortment of courses and are only required to declare their major at the end of their second year of studies. • They are not required to pursue the intended major they have declared on their application, which most students subsequently change their minds about at least once.

3. For example, recently at Penn State, according to the New York Times, 80 per cent of freshmen were undecided about their major and over half changed their minds even after they declared. American universities view this as part of the normal exploration and development processes inherent in pursuing an undergraduate education. Students at American universities are allowed to choose a minor, double major, or triple major, as long as they fulfill the prerequisite course requirements. • America is a large country, teeming with educational options and courses of study. There are over 4,000 degree-granting institutions of higher learning in the US. Arizona State University, America’s largest with over 72,000 students, offers over 250 academic programs from which to choose. • Harvard offers over 40 undergraduate fields of study, called “concentrations”, which include Folklore and Mythology, Slavic Languages and Literature, and Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, among its more curious offerings. Can’t identify a major that interests you at your university? Most will allow you to create your own.