AIBU to ask you some questions about the USA?

[BreakfastInAmerica]

I've been reading lots of US fiction over lockdown, I've never been there.

What's the big deal with joining a fraternity house at College? What is the benefit of it? Why the Greek frat house names?

Is public access television still a thing?

Why do they call savoury muffins English Muffins when I'm more likely to see a blueberry or chocolate muffin when I'm out and about?

How do Americans eat things like thick pancakes with cream for breakfast, even the people who are slim?

What are grits?

Why are Automatic cars so prolific in the US, rather than manual/stick shift?

I'm sure I've got lots more questions and please pitch in with your own questions and answers.

AIBU to ask for your answers and questions about the small differences between the US and the UK?

X2 if you were lucky, you would go to a school that offered some AP History classes -- these are more difficult classes, the equivalent of a year 1 college class (more or less). So even if you weren't great in math, you could try to do well in a really hard history class, and that would also be noted when you applied to college.

How does the funding for university work in America ? We have student loans etc ,do you have to have to have certain income or can someone from a very low earning family attend university,and is it similar to the UK in that an education from a very high ranking university is considered better than a very low ranking one ?

Funding is similar to the U.K. You complete an application for federal student aid and have it sent to all of your potential schools. Until you are 23, the application requires your parents’ financial details too. The application is used to calculate your EFC, expected family contribution, which then your chosen schools use to calculate the total financial aid package. Usually this will contain student loans and parent loans, and possibly some combination of grants and private aid through the school.

And yes, the prestige and rank of the university matters the same as it does in the U.K.

Each university has its own tuition and fees. There are scholarships from the universities for various things — academic, athletics, need, etc. There are also privately funded scholarships that students can apply for (like from fraternal organizations and the like). There is also a federal financial aid form that families can complete that awards needs based subsidized loans as well as unsubsidized loans. You could also get private loans.

University can be eyewateringly expensive and people can end up with hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt.

Thanks for everyone's comments such an interesting thread .

Many jobs only care that you have a degree, not where it’s from. There are a handful of universities that really open doors in terms of prestige for graduate school admissions, alumni networking, and just general name recognition on resumes.

Apologies if this has been asked before, but is it true that if you have no faith, of whatever persuasion, it is considered abnormal and a barrier to finding support and friendship in the community?

Re: faith no, not unilaterally true.

Geographically speaking faith is more central to life in some communities than others. I’ve never lived somewhere where this is true.

There has become a culture however in the UK where lots of people have a degree is it the same in the USA ?,I live in a town with a university that's very near the bottom of the ranking table in the UK there must clearly be a diffence between a degree from that University to say Oxford or Cambridge.

It depends where you are and what the rest of your professional/friend circle is. When I came here, people from the local churches used to come round and see if I wanted to come to their church (I didn't, at that time) but they were perfectly friendly and not pushy. I actually do go to a very liberal Episcopalian church now, and am one of very few of my friends to be a churchgoer, but we are all leftish university professor types in a leftish town so not entirely typical. In other places, I suspect that being part of a church is much more important for one's circle.

I’d say if your university is nationally recognisable by name, it helps. There isn’t one national set of league tables so “top” university has a very flexible definition!

I know this is a straw poll, but in my entire wider circle of friends and acquaintances ( say about 60 people) I only know one who is a practicing Christian, meaning they attend church mist weeks, although I suspect many would opt for a religious symbolic occasion such as a funeral, or wedding.

@x2boys As with so many things in the US, it’s regional. A decent school in a particular area might give you a little boost in that area, but it might not have the same impact if you moved to another state. The nationally recognized universities will have a larger impact no mater where you are — Harvard, Stanford, etc.

I would say in the UK lots of people might say they are Christian ie they have some Christian beliefs and might believe in God but don't actually attend church regularly is it similar in the USA ?

And yes, university degrees are increasingly common. Many companies are looking more and more for people with graduate degrees to differentiate candidates because of this (at least in highly competitive job markets).

Do Americans eat roast potatoes? And do you have ham and stuffing and cocktail sausages/pigs in blankets with your turkey?

@Timetospare

I know this is a straw poll, but in my entire wider circle of friends and acquaintances ( say about 60 people) I only know one who is a practicing Christian, meaning they attend church mist weeks, although I suspect many would opt for a religious symbolic occasion such as a funeral, or wedding.

Sorry, I failed at finishing my comment! Is this your experience too? I know n the UK nobody expects any politicians to have a declared faith, but is it a pre requisite in American politics?

I think it's probably similar in the UK @Gotakeahike there are always going to.be more nationally recognised universities,we have Oxford , Cambridge St Andrews. etc would these compare to the ivy League?

Sort of. The Ivy League is actually based on athletics. There are a number of prestigious universities in its ranks of course. The universities are Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University, and Yale University. Obviously some are better known than others. MIT, Stanford, Cal Tech and a few others would have the same prestige as Harvard, but are not “Ivy League”.

@Timetospare Most people where I am are very religious. DH isn’t, but the rest of his family isn’t. We actually went to his cousin’s Baptist wedding recently and I could barely sit through it, despite considering myself a very tolerant person. 75% of the service was the pastor lecturing about his wife to be ‘submitting’ to her husband and being Godly and obedient.

Companies have religious rights as if they were people. For example, our rubbish collection truck has a scripture verse on the back, as does the digital sign outside our local ice cream place. Companies that have those beliefs are allowed to not provide health insurance for their employees to have abortions, contraceptives etc. It’s a big part of life here.

Many people still tithe too. Several of my colleagues give 10% of their income to the church. DH went to a private church school and he believes his education was woefully inaccurate and biased towards religious indoctrination over facts.

*The rest of his family is religious.

And that's why, as a New Yorker , it was less traumatic to move to the UK than Texas :)

@dreamingbohemian I can 110% see that being the case! I’ve been here for several years (DH is a native Texan) and the more we’ve travelled together the more he is also saying we need to leave. I took him for his first ever trip to NYC in January for his birthday and he was ready to move. I told him he better get a better job!

We’re in the only liberal (ish) metro area in Texas (I’m sure you know which!) but even here you still encounter a lot of stereotypical Texas values and beliefs.

Do it! Life is grand in the East Coast Republic :)