United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world’s third largest country in population and in area. It consists of 50 states and a federal district. The conterminous (excluding Alaska and Hawaii) United States stretches across central North America from the Atlantic Ocean on the east to the Pacific Ocean on the west, and from Canada on the north to Mexico and the Gulf of Mexico on the south. The state of Alaska is located in extreme NW North America between the Arctic and Pacific oceans and is bordered by Canada on the east. The state of Hawaii, an island chain, is situated in the E central Pacific Ocean c.2,100 mi (3,400 km) SW of San Francisco. Washington, D.C., is the capital of the United States, and New York is its largest city.

The outlying territories and areas of the United States include: in the Caribbean Basin, Puerto Rico (a commonwealth associated with the United States) and the Virgin Islands of the United States (purchased from Denmark in 1917); in the Pacific Ocean, Guam (ceded by Spain after the Spanish-American War), the Northern Mariana Islands (a commonwealth associated with the United States), American Samoa, Wake Island, and several other islands. The United States also has compacts of free association with the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Republic of Palau, and the Federated States of Micronesia.

The climate of the United States varies due to differences in latitude, and a range of geographic features, including mountains and deserts. West of the 100th meridian, much of the US is semi-arid to arid, even desert in the far southwestern US. East of the 100th meridian, the climate is humid continental in the northern areas (locations above 40 north latitude), to humid temperate in the central and middle Atlantic coast regions, to humid subtropical in the Gulf and south Atlantic regions. The southern tip of Florida is tropical. Higher-elevation areas of the Rocky Mountains, the Wasatch and Bighorn mountain ranges, the Sierra Nevada, and the Cascade Range are alpine. The climate along the coast of California is Mediterranean, while upper West Coast areas in coastal Oregon and Washington are cool temperate oceanic. The state of Alaska, on the northwestern corner of the North American continent, is largely subarctic, but with a cool oceanic climate in the southeast (Alaska Panhandle), southwestern peninsula and Aleutian Islands, and a polar climate in the north. The archipelago state of Hawaii, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, is tropical, with rainfall concentrated in the cooler season (November to March).

The United States is the premiere destination for international students from all over the world. The main advantages of higher education in the USA are as follows:

World class learning institutions

The United States has more institutions of higher learning than any other country in the world. More importantly than that, however, is the quality of these academic bodies. Most American colleges and universities offer top-notch education programs with highly qualified teaching staff. The research at many of these universities is cutting-edge and often published in journals worldwide. Many of the professors at these schools are leading authorities in their field. The list of world-class learning institutions in the USA is endless and include, but are not limited to: Stanford University, Harvard, Yale, Cornell, California Institute of Technology, UC Berkeley, University of Pennsylvania, MIT, John Hopkins, Northwestern University, etc.

One of the best things about studying in the USA is the vast number of academic options offered to students. Since the USA is such a large country with vast resources, almost every field of study is available in the country. One can study everything from Russian history to nuclear physics. That is why so may foreigners choose to obtain their training in the USA. If you can perceive it, you can probably find some place in America to study it.

Education in the United States is provided by public schools and private schools.

Public education is universally available, with control and funding coming from the state, local, and federalgovernment.^[4] Public school curricula, funding, teaching, employment, and other policies are set through locally electedschool boards, who have jurisdiction over individual school districts. State governments set educational standards and mandate standardized tests for public school systems.^{[clarification needed]}

Private schools are generally free to determine their own curriculum and staffing policies, with voluntary accreditation available through independent regional accreditation authorities. 88% of school-age children attend public schools, 9% attend private schools, and nearly 3% are homeschooled.^{[5][citation needed]}

Education is compulsory over an age range starting between five and eight and ending somewhere between ages sixteen and eighteen, depending on the state.^[6] This requirement can be satisfied in public schools, state-certifiedprivate schools, or an approved home school program. In most schools, education is divided into three levels:elementary school, middle or junior high school, and high school. Children are usually divided by age groups intogrades, ranging from kindergarten and first grade for the youngest children, up to twelfth grade as the final year of high school.

There are also a large number and wide variety of publicly and privately administered institutions of higher educationthroughout the country. Post-secondary education, divided into college, as the first tertiary degree, and graduate school, is described in a separate section below.