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Hey IR community

Some time ago i got the idea to study in the USA.. im from Portugal btw. (Europe)
But if the educational system is not the same in Portugal and Spain that are in the same Peninsula and Continent, how about the USA? Big change..

I would like to start a thread where people could give info about the Educational System in their country, to help others that are thinking going there.

I will start with Portugal, and i was thinking you guys saying something like this:
Age | Grade (School Level) | Number of Classes (or what classes)

5 | Enter School (1st Grade) | Portuguese (Main Language), Math, Environment Studies (Like biology and history together)

9 | Middle School (5th Grade) | Portuguese, History, English, Math, Art & Technology, English

11 | High school (7th Grade) | Portuguese, History, Math, English, Gymnastics, Art&Design, Technology, TIC (Computer learning, excel and shit), Physics and Chemistry, Biology and Geology, French, English

14 | High School (10th Grade) | Portuguese, Math, Physics and Chemistry, Biology and Geology, Gymnastics, Philosophy (SUCKS), English (I didn't learn shit, everything i know is from games)

16 | High School (12th Grade) | Portuguese, Math, Gymnastics, (here you can choose 2 from : biology, geology, physics, chemistry, psychology)


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Now the interesting part, when you finish High School (12th grade) with maybe 17 or 18 years old, you can go to university aka college. To do this you need to have a specific average on your grades depending on the career you want. Example: I wanna go to Computer Engineering, the average is 14, this means the average of the final grades of the 10th, 11th, 12th grades are added and divided by 3, so you can know me a little better.. i dont study so this average is now 12

So.. if i finish 12th grade ( im in 12th grade now) with less than 14.. bb my college, there are other colleges in Portugal but not as good as the one i want .. its like the Harvard from here.

So here it is.. the Portugal Educational System!! Please help this database getting bigger, share your educational systems

The thing to understand abut the US is it is so large and complex. Just the state of alabama is larger than portugal. We are kind of like 50 countries in one. Each state has their own education system that is somewhat governed by the federal government.
There are around 150,000 schools in america and around 5,000 colleges or more. Then the option of home school has grown. You have a few million kids at least home schooled and in the US you have the right to homeschool them and there is very little governing you on how you teach them.

Our youngest daughter is six and home schooled and we created the entire kindergarten year for her. I was actually tempted on creating a home school assistant website.

The normals of US schools are k-12th, then college if you got the money.

Wow, that's big, i know portugal is small country, but i heard some pretty cool thing i think i would be more recognized with a US course maybe.
That homeschool it has the good sides and the bad sides.. for good i think you can teach what the child will really need, not this philosophic garbage that only creates more problems than solutions.

Thanks a lot, but it would be cool to get other countries to the list maybe some basic info just so people could know.

PS: halls i didn't know u had kids

This is true. Each state is very different, even in higher-education. What would probably be best is if you ask any questions you may have, and what state you are looking at, and we can provide as much info as possible. I personally am familiar with Tennessee and Texas college systems.

Well, based on some help from you and halls, i think i would like to try maybe Georgia... But it's hard to choose.. there are more than fifty states.. and since i dont swim in money i need to think very deep on this.

The Southeast and Texas are a pretty good mix of quality education, good price, and decent acceptance rates. The general quality seems to be a bit better in the Northeast, but the prices are crazy and the high populations really ratchet-up the competition. California is crazy expensive and crazy competitive lol.

Alabama is expensive because of the football.