I'm technically a Canuck, but we've the same system as the U.S., so it counts. Over here, you go to school like this. From Age 5-Age 18 (sometimes 17, sometimes 19. Depends on when your birthday is)= regular, pretty much mandatory education. The most basic an education can get. You can't get much work without graduating high school, and if you do get work, it's usually at like McDonalds, or some other menial job with little room for improvement. Next level up from a high school degree would be University (I'm not counting community college, since it doesn't count in this string of events). First, you get your Bachelor's Degree. You can get them in Arts, Fine Arts, Science, Business, all sorts of things. They usually take about 4 years to get. After obtaining a Bachelor's Degree, you go to grad school for a Master's Degree. If you have a Bachelor of Arts, you get a Master of Arts after that. Then after that, you can keep going to grad school, and you get a Ph.D. Then you basically become a Doctor of the Arts (or whatever area of degree you have). So, while I can't give you the actual equivalent, I hope you can figure it out from the information I have provided.