Dear Bob,
No, the process is not difficult. However, while the enrolment process
itself might not be difficult, it is sometimes hard to be accepted to
the university: there are certain standards that one should answer to;
and the number of places offered in each programme might vary, but
might be actually meager.
How to Enrol to a University
============================
Unlike some countries, there is no central office, through which one
could enrol to several courses or institutions, with the hope of
having their first priority fulfilled. Each university has an
admission office of its own (and its own admission policies), and one
should go through the process with each university they'd like to
choose.
How do you choose an university or a programme?
There are several factors that should come into consideration. First
of all, one could look at the reputation of the university, such as
its ranking. University rankings are available (full version for a
fee) at the US News and World Report, as well as in other sites:
US News and World Report: Rankings and Guides
<http://www.usnews.com/usnews/rankguide/rghome.htm>
Another factors that might be worth considering are the chances of
finding a job in the university or in the area; the chance of
receiving a studentship (grant/salary as a teaching or research
assistant), and of course - subjective considerations: weather,
partner, friends, family, etc.
After you chose the appropriate programmes, it is time to enrol. Now,
since you've mentioned USC, we'd have a look at this university, but
also - in a comparative manner - on other options:
University of Southern California
<http://www.usc.edu/>
If one alerady has a Bachelor degree, I assume he wants to enrol to
graduate programmes, or to professional ones. However, just if this is
not the case, and he wants to transfer or do another bachelor degree,
here is the link to the admission office of the USC.
Undergraduate Admission
<http://afaweb.esd.usc.edu/>
USC offers a great number of Graduate programs. In order to get in,
you need letters of recommendation, official trascripts and grades
from your university, and the application form. This is also true
regarding other universities. It is important to note, that you need a
four-years (or hons.) degree, with at least "b" in average. Depending
on the school you are planning to attend, you'll also need to do an
entrance examination. The standard entrance examination is called GRE;
however, candidates for medical school (for example) need to do a test
called MCAT; candidates for law school need to do a test called LSAT;
and candidates for MBA need to do a test called GMAT - it depends on
the degree you're after. You could go through the departmental
requierments of the programme you'd like to do, in order to know which
tests are required.
If you have to do the GRE, it enrolment details are available on the GRE site:
GRE
<http://www.gre.org/>
The basic process is descirbed in this document, but one should note,
that if you want to go to a professional programme, you might have to
use other forms:
Basic Applciation Process - USC
<http://www.usc.edu/dept/admissions/grad/html/answer2.html>
Applcation Brochure - Graduate School
<http://www.usc.edu/dept/admissions/grad/images/gradap0405.pdf> -
important document!
After sending your transcrips, GRE (or other tests) grades, letters of
recommendation and your application form, you might be invited for
interviews (depends on how much competative is the programme), but
usually you'll just be accepted or rejected.
As for the tuition fee, the USC estimates that it costs $34,500 per
year in "regular" programmes; many other programmes cost more. The
details could be found in the last pages of the document I gave
before. This sum does not include the living expenses you might have.
However, there is a difference between public schools and private
schools. USC is a public school, and it is more expensive than public
schools in California. For example, the University of Califonia in
Berkeley, which is a public school, estimates the costs of two
semesters (one year) at about $24,000.
See: UC Berkeley
<http://registrar.berkeley.edu/Registration/feesched.html>
As mentioned before, if one enrols to a graudtae program, there are
different tuition costs in different programmes.
As an American citizen, one might be eligable to financial aid, or to
grants, to finance the studies. All universities have information, in
their application brochure, on financial aid. The formalities are
explained in the application brochure (the PDF document).
I hope this answered your question. Please contact me if you need any
clarification on this answer before you rate it.
I used mostly my experience as an academic advisor, but also search
the web, for example : "gre", "usc". |
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