Differences between Colleges

One of the biggest differences between the U.S. and Chile that is most relevant to my life is college life. I acknowledge the fact that I’m basing my comparisons primarily off just one specific Chilean school, which Universidad Alberto Hurtado (UAH), the university that I attend. But from talking with Emily who goes to a different university (Universidad Católica), as well as her boyfriend who goes to a third university AND from talking amongst Chilean students with friends in OTHER universities, I've gathered that these differences do appear to be across the board.

            First and foremost, there are no dorms in Chile. All students live at home throughout their studies and commute daily. All of the best colleges in Chile are in Santiago, the biggest, most advanced city in the country, so unless you live right in Santiago, it can be a pretty long commute. Some people drive over an hour every day to make it to class. Other people who live super far away will move the city for a few years and stay with friends or family or even strangers, just to be able to attend a more reputable school.

            Students also go to school for a different amount of time: 5 years versus our 4. I asked my host dad about why that is and his response was that it’s because there is such a vast difference in quality from all the high schools, so they have to spend at least 1 year “adjusting” everyone to the same level. That means helping some students from inferior high schools catch up and slowing down some of the more advanced students from getting too far ahead. The university administrations strive for equality and fair opportunities so students spend the first year taking basic classes, to equal the playing field, and then the rest of the 4 years are spent actually studying their major and concentrations.

            A third interesting difference, which is possibly just a characteristic of my university, is the ”set in stone” structure of the curriculums. For every major, everyone takes the same exact classes at the same points in their academic careers. For example, everyone in a particular major is required to take the same 5 classes in their first semester for their first year and then a different 5 classes in their second semester for their first year. This continues on for their second, third, fourth and fifth years.  There is a very small percentage of students in Chile who study my major (Communication, which here in Chile is just summed up as Journalism) and I believe at UAH there are only about 30-40 Journalism students per graduating class. That means that there is usually only 1 section of each class offered each semester. Since everyone takes the same classes, and there is only 1 section of each class, these kids have the exact same schedules, Monday through Friday, for the next five years.  Obviously students have the option to take extra classes like fitness or dance classes, art classes or other "electives" where they can branch out but they definitely don’t have the same elective options that universities in the U.S. have.

Other minor differences include: No one uses laptops in class to take notes, no one is required to buy textbooks (the teacher lists on the syllabus the readings for each week and students go to the library to make photo copies of the selected pages), people are ALWAYS late to class (including the professors), and the grading scale is 1-7, with 7 being the highest. (Letter grades don’t exist nor do numbers up to 100)