College Daze Preparing For College So Much Different Here Compared To Yugoslavia

Coming from a foreign country, it’s been very strange to see what seniors here have to do to get into college. They’re running around collecting letters of recommendation, writing applications and essays, taking the SAT or ACT and going through interviews. And most of them are worried about how they’re going to pay for their studies.

All this is very different from my home country, Yugoslavia.

Back home, all my friends are still “having fun” and not worrying about college. Most will start preparing for college around the middle of February. By this time they will already have chosen the college they want to attend. All of the colleges, except the management college, are state funded and tuition is free so anyone can attend them. Students pay for their books and housing only. Even the cheapest state college in the United States is more expensive than our colleges.

All that you have to do in order to attend college in Yugoslavia is have a good GPA and do well on the tests required for admission. The tests are different for each college. For example, if you want to attend the electrical college, you have to take tests in math and physics. But if you want to go to the medical college, you have to take tests in biology and chemistry. The tests carry 60 percent of the consideration for admission. The rest of the decision is based on your grades in school and GPA.

Students who don’t score high enough for admission may still enter college but are required to pay their own way. But there are more government-funded students than not.

Spending my senior year here in the United States will greatly affect my college tests. I am not learning the physics and math that I would be at home. My studies here are not as advanced as they would be at home, so I will have a lot of making up to do when I go home.

But I have met many wonderful people here and made many friends. I have also learned a new language, and in my country, we have a proverb: “The more languages one speaks, the more one is worth.”

Hopefully that’ll prove to be true in the long run.

It’s strange to see the vast differences in the two education systems. Is one better than the other? I’m not sure, but I think I prefer the system back home. At least we don’t have to think about college for a few more months.