American schools

[Marlene5]

I have a couple of questions about grad schools in America. One is, how old are you guys when going to a Master's degree, on average? And how long are those Master's degrees? In Europe it's 1-2 years. Two, how does your GPA work? What is the maximum and minimum grade? Is 1 the best or the worst? What tis the other end of the scale? How many courses do you take per term? And finally, if as an international studnet you go American grad school for Master's, how likely are you to find employment in America? Do people socialise in Master's degrees or not really? How is the enjoyment of life part? But that last question is rather a general one, not related to place. 

[Marlene5]

I wanted to ask about the GRE too. It is written that there is writing graded 0-6 and two tests: quantitative and verbal scored 130-170. The points for the latter are very counterintuitive but whatever. What is the average result? Am I right thinking that 160 should be a top grade, 150 a good one, 140 average, 130 poor? Or is it more bell curve based? Could someone tell me if I'm right? Is this just an American test? Or do European universities want it too? 

[jmillar]

On 8/20/2018 at 3:38 AM, Marlene5 said:

I wanted to ask about the GRE too. It is written that there is writing graded 0-6 and two tests: quantitative and verbal scored 130-170. The points for the latter are very counterintuitive but whatever. What is the average result? Am I right thinking that 160 should be a top grade, 150 a good one, 140 average, 130 poor? Or is it more bell curve based? Could someone tell me if I'm right? Is this just an American test? Or do European universities want it too? 

The percentiles change from year to year, but the average is around 150 for V and Q. It's a bit more bell shaped. Most try to shoot for above 150 for each, more quantitative programs try for above 160. Not sure if other countries accept it.

[PsyDuck90]

On 8/20/2018 at 3:33 AM, Marlene5 said:

I have a couple of questions about grad schools in America. One is, how old are you guys when going to a Master's degree, on average? And how long are those Master's degrees? In Europe it's 1-2 years. Two, how does your GPA work? What is the maximum and minimum grade? Is 1 the best or the worst? What tis the other end of the scale? How many courses do you take per term? And finally, if as an international studnet you go American grad school for Master's, how likely are you to find employment in America? Do people socialise in Master's degrees or not really? How is the enjoyment of life part? But that last question is rather a general one, not related to place. 

Age varies a lot, I believe. There are plenty of people who go in right after undergrad, which would make them around 21-22, and there are plenty of folks who wait awhile. I believe the specific programs would have more information.

Also, the majority of your questions could have varying answers depending on the discipline. Typically, they take around 2 years, but that is also degree specific. The GPA is typically on a 4.0 scale, with 4.0 being the highest. Getting a 1.0 GPA would be very, very bad. Number of courses per semester is dependent on a variety of factors. Are you full time or part time? How many classes do you need for the degree?

Again, employment is discipline specific, and I assume immigration-status specific. If you come to the US on a student visa, you may not be able to work. 

Lastly, socialization is really dependent on the culture of your particular program, the dynamics of the current students, and your personality. There is really no way to answer quality of life on here without knowing your specific discipline. It also would be dependent on your specific program and a better question for current students in the programs you're eyeing. 

[PokePsych]

On 8/20/2018 at 3:33 AM, Marlene5 said:

I have a couple of questions about grad schools in America. One is, how old are you guys when going to a Master's degree, on average? And how long are those Master's degrees? In Europe it's 1-2 years. Two, how does your GPA work? What is the maximum and minimum grade? Is 1 the best or the worst? What tis the other end of the scale? How many courses do you take per term? And finally, if as an international studnet you go American grad school for Master's, how likely are you to find employment in America? Do people socialise in Master's degrees or not really? How is the enjoyment of life part? But that last question is rather a general one, not related to place. 

1) I'm 26, some people in my cohort are 22. I also know people who started their PhD (Master's is often a part of the PhD) at 30. Varies per discipline, department, cohort and so on.

2) Usually 2 years - but tends to be a part of PhD of many schools.

3) 1 - 4 GPA. You can look for online converters to see where you grade. Most schools will also have an official grading conversion scheme or info on that. Google will tell you more (I mean, this info is just on wiki). I know my funding is tied to me having at least a 3.0 GPA. 

4) Varies per school and discipline. I currently take 2 classes, but people in economics at the same school take a full courseload now.

5) Depends on your visa and degree. Some degrees are more in demand than others. You generally want to find info about F-1 visa, the OPT, and the job market in your field - international offices at universities will also have info on this. A lot of people tend to be on H1-B visa's after their OPT/student visa and this visa type is limited in the number of people that can get it and is currently undergoing change. There are also caps on H1-B visas that vary per country and so on. Again, international offices and google are your best friend for this as it is so dependent on field, country, etc. If you're on a F1 visa, also not that employment opportunities next to your studies are very limited! 

6) Depends on department and department culture.

7) Depends on department, location, culture, stipened, cohort, your personality, etc.

 

On 8/20/2018 at 3:38 AM, Marlene5 said:

I wanted to ask about the GRE too. It is written that there is writing graded 0-6 and two tests: quantitative and verbal scored 130-170. The points for the latter are very counterintuitive but whatever. What is the average result? Am I right thinking that 160 should be a top grade, 150 a good one, 140 average, 130 poor? Or is it more bell curve based? Could someone tell me if I'm right? Is this just an American test? Or do European universities want it too? 

Varies per section It's harder to get a high percentile score on Quant than Verbal for example (i.e., I got 161 on verbal - 88th percentile, 159 quant - 73d percentile). I know in psych if you're below 310 you'll have a hard time getting into a top school tbh - quite some department websites even indicate even that they use 310 as the cut off score. But it does happen and schools vary in how much weight they give the GRE - so if you have a stellar GPA and other good parts of your application it may balance it out. What matters more than the actual scores are percentiles. I've seen my fair share of prof websites that say they want someone with scores of 80th> percentile rather than stating the actual cut off, and percentile scores vary a bit per year too. You can find more info on the GRE and scoring easily online - such as the GRE website. The importance of scores and sections varies per discipline too. If you're doing English language, I doubt if they're gonna care about your quant score for example.

European universities generally do not require a GRE score.