Grade: - Uniformed Services University Of The Health Sciences: Fill & Download for Free

I’ve written some more answers about this, but briefly: in the US, the school you attend between the ages of 14 and 17 is called “high school.” (Or in some systems, between 15 and 17. US education is less standardized nationally than yours is. We rowdy, undisciplined Yanks lack the loving, gentle, yet firm touch of Ofsted to keep us on the right path.)Anyway, after high school, you can attend a college or a university. Usually, the difference is that a “college” doesn’t offer masters’, doctoral, or professional degrees, or at least doesn’t offer many, while a “university” will offer at least some masters’, doctoral, or professional degrees. But both will offer baccalaureate degrees, which take four years (as they do in Scotland but not England, I believe). So, for example, I teach at the University of Central Arkansas, and across town we have Hendrix College. Both will grant you, for example, a Bachelor of Science degree in biology. The coursework is much the same, and the degrees are equivalent qualifications. The main difference is that at UCA you can go on after your BS degree for a Master’s Degree in biology. Hendrix College does not offer that.In the US, a “junior college,” “community college,” or “technical college” usually offers only two years of study after high school. You could either take the first two years of a bachelor’s degree program at one of those, and then transfer to a four-year institution. Or you could take a certification program (which might be shorter than two years) in things like certain health care professions, business management, automotive repair, culinary arts, industrial mechanics, welding, things like that.We have over 3000 universities and colleges in the US, and they range from huge to tiny, from urban to rural, from moderately expensive to what-the-f*** expensive, and from internationally prestigious to deservedly obscure. The USA is kind of a big country. Do some thinking about what you want to study; if you love marine biology, the University of Washington is a much better choice than the University of Nebraska. Think as well about what sort of lifestyle you’re looking for. If you love big-city environments, Boston University will thrill you, but the University of Arkansas at Monticello will make you want to chew glass. If you do best in warm, sunny climates, the University of Arizona will be dear to your heart—the University of Minnesota, not so much. And so on. You’re the only one who can decide what’s acceptable for you and what’s not.Once you’ve got some sense of which unis you could see yourself attending, look them up on the Web. They should have an office that caters to international students. At my uni, it’s called the Office of International Student Services, but it would have different names elsewhere. They should have some experience with interpreting British grades and test scores, and evaluating them fairly. They can give you more details about what documents you might need to apply, how you go about getting a visa, how much your education might cost, whether you can qualify for any financial aid, and so on. (Unis that are funded by a particular state charge more to students that come from other states, but I just found that international students at my uni can pay the in-state rate as long as they live on campus. That’s good to know, but it may not be true everywhere.)If I understand the British system correctly, you study a limited number of subjects in depth in your last years of secondary education, and you take GCSEs in those. And then your university education is focused primarily on just one subject. US universities tend to require more breadth; everybody is expected to take a certain number of courses in English, science, math, history, culture, and such, mostly during the first two years. (My uni calls this the Core; others may call it something else.) An advantage of this approach is that it’s easier to change your mind; if you come in wanting to study engineering, discover that you hate it, and find that what you really want to study is 19th century French literature, you have some time to switch programs of study. Eventually you do have to choose a major field of study (your “major”). At my uni, you have to do this by the end of your first year, although you can ask to delay the choice, or to switch majors after you’ve declared one.University sports in the US make no sense, so don’t try. When I spent a year at the University of Aberdeen, there were plenty of student clubs, including sports clubs for those who wanted to play them—I can say that I fenced for Aberdeen competitively, although I wasn’t very good at it. US universities have student clubs as well, and intramural sports between groups on campus. But we do this thing in the US where official university teams compete against different universities, mostly overseen by a big bunch of bureaucrats called the National Collegiate Athletic Association—especially in this sport that we call “football” and you call “like rugby, but in funny helmets and stopping a lot.” People lose their damn minds over college football. Imagine what would happen if University College London took over the operations of Arsenal FC, while London Metropolitan University owned Chelsea FC. Don’t try to understand it. There are universities that are crazy about football, and universities where it’s kept in more reasonable measure. Other than that, social life and opportunities vary a great deal, but you can probably find student organizations that interest you. The legal drinking age is 21 here, though. (Not that has ever stopped any 18-year-old from getting legless, but the social mores around drinking tend to be different.)I’m sure there’s more I should be adding, but I’ll sign off with that. Good luck, wherever you end up going!

About 12 years ago I was attending University. I had just gotten my grades back for my exams. I was thrilled - I was the first person in my family to go to Uni and was the only female in my Bachelor of Computer Sciences courses. I worked my ass off during and before Uni, also doing 2 years at TAFE as well.My grades were good, HD’s and D’s across the board. When I got home, excited to share the news with my dad - he brought me to a screeching halt. I handed him my grade paper - he dismissively looked at it, dropped it on the table and said “I don't care about your grades, you're never going to get a job in it anyway. Why should I care, you should be working making money so you can pay me and move out!”. (I was also working part time as a chef, pretty much since I was 16 too)I regret saying back to him “Aren’t you proud that I worked hard to get good results and got through some rough times to complete this?”His answer: “No, I’ll be proud once you finally leave home and get outta my way”.I regret asking him that because I finally had confirmation of what I had always thought - I wasn't anything to be proud of and he preferred my younger sister and brother to me.When my younger sister finished her Bachelor of Children's Services 2 years later, Dad was over the moon for her. He went to her graduation, organised a fancy dinner that he paid for and generally bragged about her.I’ve never asked him why he treated us so differently and it wasn't just the above either. He always said and thought I was ‘useless’ , a ‘waste’ & ‘lazy’. But the sun rose and set on my sister and brother - especially once my brother started doing really great at cricket and football.This affected me for a very long time and I’m still dealing with the emotional stuff he put me through and the effects depression, addiction and health problems have had on me. I still live at home with my parents. We’ve done therapy, that has helped Dad and I’s relationship, but it's still a work in progress.I'm slowly climbing out of the black hole that I've always been in, sometimes I fall backwards but I try to keep going.Cheers

In 2009… wow, was that almost 10 years ago already? In 2009, I was fresh out of university and believed I was ready for the “grown up” jobs… so I tossed my anemic resume at every firm that had an opening in-office. I had experience with sales-type jobs and customer service jobs, but no office jobs.I didn’t get any calls back.I had graduated shortly after the announcement of the Recession. Millions lost their homes. Millions lost stable, high paying jobs. Careermen with top quality experience could not find work. The portion of career men who could find work were hired to similar positions as the jobs they’ve lost, at a fraction of their original wages. It was a discouraging thought to dwell on: there were many of people with lots of experience willing to work for low wages, and then there were the rest of us with little to no experience. I lost all hope that a degree meant anything; not only were degrees of all types nearly worthless during this time, liberal arts degrees were especially worthless (and would have been even during a good economy). During my telemarketing days for the university, a gentleman told me his Chem E degree was worth less than toilet paper and that the uni wouldn’t get a single dollar from him.I needed to make rent and food, so I accepted a position at the Star Trek Exhibition in Hollywood as a photographer during the holiday season. It was brutal. Stood 12 hours a day, ran after children, watched the same films over and over again. Dealt with the crowds. The cold. The commission quota. Somehow I managed to hold on. During the final week of the Exhibition, my knee gave out on me. I could not sleep at night because the pain would twist up and down my leg and cause hours-long cramps and back pain. In this state, it was impossible to do another customer service job. At the close of the Exhibition, I went back to sending 100 resumes every 2 days. I scored a phone interview after weeks of pounding the listings. I could have jumped after that initial interview when the girl told me to come in! (But I didn’t because that would have really hurt.)When I came in for my in-person interview, I waited for almost an hour. A handsome man in a tailored suit sized me up, and with a noticeable sigh led me into the biggest office of the law firm suite. It may have very well been its own circle of hell. I learned the man across from me was one of the firm partners, looking for a personal assistant. My interview lasted 2 or 3 minutes. The man kept looking at his phone and putting it down. He made those few minutes feel like hours. He asked me where I went to school 3 times during that duration. When we got up, he did not shake my extended hand. I hobbled away on my crutch. In my head I was dwelling on the injustice committed against me: why didn’t he give me a chance? I knew I could do it if I put my mind to it. Why did he blow me off?When I got home I took a long look at myself.That long look revealed the following: I was obese. My hair was improperly made. My makeup was cakey and off color, my eyeliner thick as a raccoon’s eye circles probably because I was trying not to cry during the interview. Leaning against a crutch. Why did I wear lace up boots to a law firm interview? Why did I wear a green work-shirt looking button up with a long flowing spandex skirt? It dawned on me that having very little office experience was the least of my problems. I was also out of touch with simpler rules of engagement, which I will impart to you here:When you look your best, you feel your best.Unlike fairytales, most people judge books by their covers and judge you by your looks.Often times your looks are a reflection of your level of thoughtfulness, organization, and personality.You do not have to be physically attractive to put yourself together well and have others admire your style or feel at ease with you. Take it from me. I’m about a 4 out of 10 without makeup but I put myself together well and dress modestly and tastefully. People smiled more at me when I dressed well and brushed my hair. I used their reactions to help me understand what to wear with my body shape, while also considering what makes me feel comfortable and happy.There aren’t very many excuses to be obese. Your health is an asset, just like your time and money are. Being obese because of poor living habits is just like squandering money.Failure is only failure if you refuse to look at the most basic self evident truth: you are responsible for your success. If you begin to believe this, failures turn into lessons that take you to higher heights. No veteran ever earned their stripes by being perfect. They got their feet wet and took the punches—and one thing they never did was give up.Engaging in uncomfortable personal truths is the fastest way to improve yourself. For me, it was recognizing for the first time in my life, literally, that I was physically unattractive. School life insulated me from noticing that sort of thing—I was told I was ugly a few times but I chalked it up to mere bullying. I also had a lot of faith in my intelligence to win me grades and cool friends. Maybe your uncomfortable personal truth isn’t about your looks. Maybe it’s about how you hate the opposite sex, or how you hate liberals or conservatives, or hate religion, or how your mother always critizing you as a teenager has affected your self esteem, how you are very jealous of your friend with his or her seemingly perfect job, family, and house, or how you grew up in poverty and how you are unable to imagine what it’s like to be rich.—the uncomfortable truths are the ones that reveal what’s wrong, ugly, or inbalanced in your character, attitude, belief system, or situation. Knowing why you overlooked your uncomfortable truth and making a plan of action to confront it is THE most effective way of generating a successful life.I knew I could not give up. I knew I had to stop lamenting with my former classmates about not finding jobs in a “shitty economy”. All the time I wasted complaining could have been dedicated to learning something new, and I certainly wasn’t learning anything new dwelling on the same old boring excuses and complaints!Once I took an honest, literal look at myself, I vowed to make changes. I hit the gym with my last few hundred bucks and rehabilitated my knee over 3 months of rigorous, meaningful exercise. I ate healthier. I interned unpaid for those 3 months to get office experience, taking a bus 2 hours to work and 2 hour back. My unpaid internship turned into a paid internship, and from a paid internship into a $12.00 hourly. Then to a $15.00 hourly. I also, through some fortuitous occurence, did editing work for them which paid $35.00 an hour. I left the agency and maintained my editing work for them while I went after data entry jobs. One gave me a chance at $17.00 an hour. The opportunity ended and I got hired at a new company. I left there at $25.00 an hour. My next job paid me $35.00 an hour. At every turn that seemed like a failure, I took an honest, literal look at myself. Was there a self evident truth that I was avoiding? If there were one, how would I work on confronting it?I recently quit a very lucrative job to start all over again. I do not regret doing this. Was I scared to quit? Not really. For the first time in my life I wasn’t afraid. I had lots of money in the bank and a very good resume, and lots of determination. I decided to take a year off. 10 months into my 12 month vacation, I received a call from an employee I worked with years ago about an opening at a corporation for a mid level job. I ended up getting many calls that week, without ever once looking for work or mentioning I was looking for work. Payloads from investments rolled in. I traveled to different countries. Could I have seen myself being this comfortable a decade ago? No.Success isn’t so much an external thing.Many men who have accumulated wealth, prestige, and admiration still view themselves as failures.Why? Because they’re not actually tackling the uncomfortable truths. They’re not taking that long, hard look in the mirror.Success is actually the science of comfortable confidence—from which springs forth an actual scientific fact that no matter what economy you’re in or what obstacles are in front of you, you’ll do great because you are DETERMINED to make success. You are DETERMINED to stay honest with yourself. You are DETERMINED to learn from every situation and convert it into a new plan of action for self improvement. DETERMINED not to let excuses overrun your life, others’ woes overrun your life, bad health overrun your life. You will not be alone if you believe you are the person who can turn your life around. Once you truly incept this belief, people will come crawling out of the woodworks to help you succeed! And you will feel the deep fulfillment that comes from being in harmony with yourself, and having your thoughts accord with your actions, and your time sought after by people more powerful than you. Others will find your determination infectious, and they, too, will begin to shake off their own excuses and complaints.