8 Things I Liked About the US Education System
What Surprised Me (in a Good Way) About Learning in the US
In today’s newsletter, I’m sharing the top 8 things I liked about the US education system, based on my experience over the past 8 months and two semesters at NYU.
8 Things I Liked About The US Education System
Less Intense, More Intentional
I took 3 courses worth 3 credits each, i.e a total of 9 credits/ semester.
Each course had 2.5 hours of classes/week, i.e just 7.5 hours/week of in-class time across 3 courses. This was a stark contrast to undergrad in India, where we had class from 9 to 5, five days/week. The lighter structure at NYU makes classes feel less intense, and more intentional.
Deadlines Actually Matter
Assignments are submitted weekly on the course portal and graded either weekly or fortnightly, depending on the professor. Deadlines matter. We’re given a week to complete each task, and late submissions are rarely accepted. This is a sharp contrast to undergrad in India, where most assignments were crammed into the final week of the semester. You’d find yourself standing for hours in 45-degree summer heat outside the professor’s office, hoping to get your work signed (for three days straight).
Projects matter. You’re expected to put in consistent effort and work on them throughout the semester. They’re graded seriously. Professors often provide individual feedback to each student. Of course, if you want your project to stand out (resume-worthy), you have to go beyond the academic requirements (building it with real-world relevance), for which professors will help you, but only if you ask.
Assignments are often creative and hands-on. For example, in our Design Strategy class, one assignment required us to go out conduct user research in cafés across NYC, take pictures with them, and present what we learned. In our Global Innovation class, we were expected to read and critically analyze one article each week from The Economist. Sample is linked here.
Well Curated Reading Material
As mentioned earlier, the reading material is designed to push you beyond the classroom slides and encourage deeper thinking. It often includes industry-standard articles, research papers, newspaper features, business books, and even podcasts.
One of the benefits of taking a beginner-level course in a subject you're curious about is access to well-curated content handpicked by a professor who has probably read 100s of sources to bring the top 10 to the class.
Decentralized Education Design
Each professor is allowed to design their own course, including the grading system and exam pattern: Is the final evaluation just a semester-long project? Is it a combination of project, participation, and exams? Are there mid-term and final exams, or just one at the end? Is the exam an MCQ-based online test, or a written paper? Countless options. Again, a stark contrast to my undergrad experience, where one university would set a fixed pattern that had to be followed by 20+ engineering colleges and countless departments under them for years.
Sep 2024 — First Day of Economics Class at NYU
No Rote Learning
Like I mentioned earlier, out of the six courses I’ve taken so far, only one had a pen-and-paper exam: Financial Analysis. It was a math-heavy, formula-based exam. But here’s the interesting part: I didn’t have to memorize a single formula. We were allowed to bring one sheet of paper with anything we wanted written on it for reference during the exam. I filled mine with formulas. No rote learning. Just pure application of concepts taught in the class.
Professors actually have an industry experience
My Global Innovation professor spent 30 years at Verizon before becoming a full-time faculty member at NYU. My Design Strategy professors are product leads, investors, startup founders. My upcoming Entrepreneurship professor is a VC, author, and entrepreneur, who also teaches at Columbia University.
Because of this, the gap between industry and academia feels minimal, real-world experience is seamlessly brought into the classroom.
I’d love to become a professor in my 30s, teaching an entrepreneurship-related course. Given my energy for the subject and love for teaching, it’s actually one of my goals.
Adaptive to new technology trends
Back in India, especially in many tier 2/3/4 colleges, we often found ourselves complaining that what we were learning felt outdated, disconnected from what was actually happening in the world. In contrast, US universities often focus on what's current, or even what's coming next.
The reason is simple: combine points 4 and 6 above, i.e the industry experience of professors and the autonomy they have in designing their courses, and it becomes clear why the system here is so adaptive.
We were literally discussing Generative AI and AI Agents in class during our second semester. That kind of real-time relevance gives the education system here credibility, and a clear edge.
Majors, minors, and interdisciplinary education
If you choose to pursue an undergraduate degree, and to some extent even a graduate degree in the US, you can start with one major in mind and graduate with something entirely different.
The concept of majors and minors (based on the number of credits you take) is amazing. I’ve seen undergraduate students combine fields that traditionally aren’t paired, like majoring in data science with a minor in film and culture, or double majoring in economics and computer science.
This flexibility opens the door to broader perspectives and interdisciplinary thinking. It leads to cross-functional collaboration and the creation of ideas that a tunnel-visioned degree might not offer.
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