It's not *all* money. But money is a big factor - USA is far more expensive.
But there are other important differences, too. For starters, the number of Universities in the US is much higher than the number here, and *most* of them are private (while the vast majority of ours are public). This is part of why they're so expense - but it means they're also free to be much more highly regulated. It's not uncommon for private Christian Universities in the states to expel students for "non-virtuous behaviour" (I once talked to a girl who said that if you were caught with alcohol - even if you were over 21 - twice at her school, they'd expel you, zero-tolerance). This can have a major negative effect on administration, since financial legacies can play a very real role there (which they generally don't here).
One other thing you don't typically find at a US university - student unions. Here, every campus must have one (we have Feds... yayyyy...), but whether or not an American school has one is really a toss-up.
As far as quality of education goes between here and there - it varies from school to school, and program-to-program, really.
I was talking to my prof about grad school and he explained that mark boosting is way more common in US - which is stupid. A lot of courses here use a fuller spread, (ex. avg 75%, 12pt Stdev) while in many US schools, an 80% is considered low. This means a lot more people graduate with a 3.9/4.0 GPA. lame.
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ReplyDeletehella expensive
ReplyDeleteEssentially the same, but ridiculously expensive stateside
ReplyDeleteCanadian>>>American
ReplyDeleteIt's not *all* money. But money is a big factor - USA is far more expensive.
ReplyDeleteBut there are other important differences, too. For starters, the number of Universities in the US is much higher than the number here, and *most* of them are private (while the vast majority of ours are public). This is part of why they're so expense - but it means they're also free to be much more highly regulated. It's not uncommon for private Christian Universities in the states to expel students for "non-virtuous behaviour" (I once talked to a girl who said that if you were caught with alcohol - even if you were over 21 - twice at her school, they'd expel you, zero-tolerance). This can have a major negative effect on administration, since financial legacies can play a very real role there (which they generally don't here).
One other thing you don't typically find at a US university - student unions. Here, every campus must have one (we have Feds... yayyyy...), but whether or not an American school has one is really a toss-up.
As far as quality of education goes between here and there - it varies from school to school, and program-to-program, really.
I was talking to my prof about grad school and he explained that mark boosting is way more common in US - which is stupid. A lot of courses here use a fuller spread, (ex. avg 75%, 12pt Stdev) while in many US schools, an 80% is considered low. This means a lot more people graduate with a 3.9/4.0 GPA. lame.
ReplyDeleteYep, mark inflation is serious business. I wonder how much that's taken into account by anyone who cares (employers etc).
DeleteHowever, in the US an 80% grade is a B-
Deletehttp://www.lawschoolpredictor.com/wp-content/uploads/Law-School-Predictor-LSDAS-GPA-Calculator.htm