Well, in Iran we have a 12 grades school system which is under the Ministry of Education and Development. You can do this for very little to no money, however, the quality of private schools which cost ridiculous amounts of money is of course better than some average public institution. Unless you’re an overachieving gifted kid who can then enroll in development programs from the state by that.

After that 12 years, you do a “Konkur”. It’s a SAT of literally the entire population of people who want to go to undergrad. You compete in the Konkur exam for a seat in the university. You provide a list of universities/degrees you want to enroll in, and you get accepted in one of those based on the order of your preference and your rating in the SAT. There is also some equalization factor here, people from less developed areas and other special cases get varying degrees of bonus % in the SAT scores. This has lead to some village kids from bumfuck nowhere villages getting into top public institutions before.

NOTE: Iran has both Public and Private universities. Unlike the west, Public ones are better by a -massive long shot-. Private and Public institutions use the same SAT; but you have to declare your willingness for going into private institutions separately.

Private institutions are generally much more lax, lazy, and really shitty in terms of education quality. You also pay for tuition. This is to the point that many parents will straight up soft-disown your ass if you only get accepted for private institutions. Public institutions are the scientific backbone of Iran and are much more difficult, but they are free (at the time of admission) so everyone wants a piece of that particular cake! The competition is fierce.

Personally, I have done both my university degrees in Public universities, and I gotta tell you they are fucking brutal. I don’t honestly yet know if the insane pressure was worth it yet. I sure as shit have more knowledge than my peers, tho.

Now there is a thing if you’re unfortunate enough to be born male you HAVE to do mandatory conscription which is -hell- so if you fail konkur they put your ass in the trains and send you off for 24 months of torture, so the pressure levels (and suicide rates) are really high in the male 17-19 years of age range.

EDIT: The universities are under Ministry of Science and the SAT is under the Sanjesh Organization but primary education is under Ministry of Education and Development. Bureaucracy is fun!