What do you need to do to get into a university? Actually, it depends on where you live. Let’s look at university admissions in four countries: Austria, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
In Austria, getting into a university is very simple. Getting into a university in Austria depends completely on a student’s score on a national achievement exam.2 Subjects on this exam include German, mathematics, and a foreign language. Students who pass this exam can go to a university in Austria.
In Turkey, high school students take a national achievement exam in March. If they pass that exam, they take another exam in June. Getting into a Turkish university depends mostly on these exam scores, but universities also consider high school grades. In Turkey, students usually study very hard for the national exam. If they don’t pass the exam, they can’t go to university.
Students in the United Kingdom take achievement exams when they are 16, 17, and 18 years old. Universities consider a student’s scores 20 on all of these exams. Students also provide3 a very short personal statement, a reference letter from one teacher, and information about their extracurricular activities.
The university admissions system in the United States is quite different from those in Austria, Turkey, and the UK. Most universities
in the United States consider a student’s score on a special aptitude test called the SAT. Unlike an achievement exam, an aptitude test measures a student’s ability to learn. It does not measure a student’s knowledge of school subjects. Most universities also look at a student’s high school grades, an admissions essay, and several reference letters. Extracurricular activities, such as sports, clubs, and volunteer work, are also very important. Students often do many activities in high school so they can get into a good university.
1 university admissions: getting into a university
2 achievement exam: an exam that measures what you learned in school
3 provide: give
4 extracurricular activities: things that a student does outside of class