most popular US expat schools, do we have this right?

Lots of great advice on here. We moved from the US a few years ago and have personal experience of two of the international schools (with kids from KG up to college counselors) and the British system (incl going through the 11+). I’ve lots of friends with kids at ASL, ACS Cobham, Marymount Intl (not boarding tho) and TASIS, as well as different London schools. If you’d like personal insights, albeit with my quite opinionated overlay, please DM me. Happy to share!
Brief version: we love the PYP at the international schools for primary. Neither central London international school at secondary level has been any good - and that’s an understatement. Like, serious understatement, and the college advising is terrible. Our oldest DC is so frustrated and disappointed. We think the IB is excellent but you are still dependent on having experienced teachers who stay, and consistent leadership, as well as a motivated peer group. She’ll be fine but all she does is study and we’ve hired tutors. Luckily she wants British universities so we don’t have to worry about more than academics. Last year kids with top predicted grades had a hard time getting offers from top schools. They got the grades and took gap years - and now have the acceptances but it was very very hard on them, and really problematic that the schools get to show them off when clearly there’s something very wrong when the kids can’t get the offers in the first place.
We are very happy with the British private school our middle DC attends, lots of kids go on to top US and U.K. colleges, but I’m emotionally scarred from 11+ process. lol. We are in the process again but a bit more knowledgeable this time!
The majority of the American friends I have send their kids to ASL and feel very confident in it. Many have been there from KG, but there is a big departure of kids each year - but seemingly less than at the international schools. While every single parent I know at ASL is American, friends I have who went from the international schools to ASL, tell me it’s more international. The extra curriculars at ASL can’t be beat. The international schools in London don’t have the space.
ACS Cobham, TASIS, and Dwight are farther out of town and that seems to be what those parents like.
Another place to look for info is in the Times Parent Power tables. They list the top state schools as well as the top privates.
Feel free to DM for more specifics and/or personal experiences.

@snapjack543 If your second oldest child just turned 9, not 10 as you said three times, your child would be in the equivalent of Y4 now, going into Y5 next Sept. So they'd have two years of primary school. You'd apply for their secondary school October 2025.

Many US universities gave up mandatory SAT/ACT scores so they could game admissions to let in more students from traditionally underrepresented groups who tend to score poorly on same.

@snapjack543
British schools have set entry points, they don't redo admissions every year... plus private schools have a notice period of a term usually. So if you want State schools, you need to apply straight away. However your younger DD will go through Secondary admissions at the correct time (when she is 10, as you apply nearly a year before they start Secondary).

Only one of my American relatives (NN) has offspring who got the "very generous" bursaries that MNers talk about. Is that because MN offspring are all hyper talented?

NN & their young adult offspring started plotting how to get him to Ivy League when he was about 12yo, true.

I've lived in the US and UK and have very recent experience of high school and the university systems in both countries.
If you are going to be in the UK until they go to university then I would 100% be encouraging them to apply to the top UK universities, they'll qualify for home fee status and you'll save close to $1,000,000 across all 3 DC's fees.
The top UK universities are at least as good if not better than T20's in the US and they can easily go on to do postgraduate study in the US, hopefully with an employer sponsoring them, at a later date.

@snapjack543
once you arrive, in terms of finding immediate schooling for your kids then i’d recommend contacting the local council and finding out where has current spaces in terms of local state schools. Nothing to lose. You might get lucky. You council might agree to tell you in advance where has spaces but wouldn’t be able to hold them for you until you had a confirmed address that you could proove. Privates won’t be too worried about where you live as long as you can pay the fees!

If they’re in the U.K. they’ll be eligible for home student status after 3 years

Is that a personality thing though?

Curriculum covers the foundational knowledge and skills students need. Those skills and that knowledge apply universally.

There are different methods of imparting it, but in the end, multiplication is multiplication, calculus is calculus, grammar is grammar, and chemistry is chemistry, etc.

Children generally don't get a choice about the schools they'll attend, and when it comes to applying to university, they will apply to places they are likely to have a shot at getting into, with a ranking from safety to reach.

The OP has mentioned Big Ten and other schools in the midwest - excellent universities - and schools further afield.

The advantage of choosing a university in the US is that her DCs will not have to nail down their degree subject until the end of their sophomore year ( though if they're applying to Illinois, they will be required to state their preferred major on their application and apply to specific schools within the university so it's more than a little set in stone).

They will be able to choose a university that appeals to them, taking whatever factors into account that they feel are important - city vs rural/ small town campus, specific degree options they are interested in, reputation of the university in a specific subject, availability of campus housing, party/ sports mad school, sororities/ fraternities, etc.

Parents have a pretty good idea at 10-12 where their children will end up applying, and American parents have a pretty good idea of what they can afford, so they shepherd their children in that direction. Prediction and careful aim are important elements of university choice in the US and the majority of American middle class parents do this.

Of course students apply to university with fewer than eight GCSEs.

Not if you count international fees at UK universities, and not if you count the very generous bursaries US universities can offer.

I don’t really understand why you’re so def on US universities if you’re moving permanently to England. Many of our universities are on par with the US ones you’ve mentioned and far cheaper

No one has said that, though.

It's interesting to note that many universities are now 'ACT optional', having seen the prep cottage industry and the advantage it confers to students from wealthier backgrounds.

Watching this thread with interest , my DS is hoping to apply to the US for university. He has been working on his ec's for quite a few years and will apply with his A .levels in hand. It seems like a lot of work but he is very motivated. Hopefully it will work out for him, he will need financial aid which appears to be very generous at the colleges he is applying to.

Seven to ten students from my local high school are accepted into universities in the UK and throughout Europe every year (from a graduating class of about 850 annually). Last year's crop went to St Andrew's, Edinburgh, Durham, Trinity College Dublin, Berlin University of the Arts, and Uppsala. This is in addition to the many students who were admitted to highly regarded US universities. And of course, lots of students also head to the local community college or on to apprenticeships or the armed forces. The local HS caters to a wide range of ability and aspiration.

I myself was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the curriculum all through the US system - the explicit instruction in writing was an eye opener, and I agree, mathematics and critical thinking were very strong. The history offerings were excellent locally too.

UK students are sometimes able to skip Freshman year (in a 4 year degree) in some US colleges if they have decent A levels. Similar case if they have an International Baccalaureate Diploma. This won't be the case in the most competitive universities however. No decent 4 year college will accept a student just with GCSEs - I have never heard of that particular myth before!

@mathanxiety my younger daughter transferred from the US system to the U.K. one. She was light years ahead of her peers in maths and critical thinking, had studied a wide range of world history (despite everyone saying they would only learn US history).

As someone who worked as an independent college counselor for International Schools I would say the other schools showing more kids attending unis in Europe will be more a reflection of the families (less USA students and preferring EU/UK). However most likely your kids would still be very well prepared for US entry. You may want to talk to the college counseling departments in any schools you are interested in.

I think you need to drill down on these headlines.

For example, Eton sends a lot of students to international universities because of the attraction of needs blind financial aid at well endowed institutions, and also token fees at EU universities. A large proportion of B-Blockers will have free places at Eton, and this will probably be attractive to US institutions. In addition, there is a large proportion of very wealthy students at Eton who can go anywhere they like. Ticked that box and all that. They didn't know about Phillips Exeter Academy, so Harvard is the next best thing.

As for school publicity material, read into them what you like.

If you look at a staff list of any larger independent school (500+), you will see that, in addition to normal teaching responsibilities, there will be teachers i/c American admissions, Oxford and Cambridge, Medical, Veterinary and Dentistry applications. It's hard to imagine how any normal school can employ someone full time just to oversee American admissions. It's something for the prospectus.

My DH used to recruit at ASL (the one in St John's Wood?) for his alma mater, and was seriously under-impressed.

Do these poor kids get a say in anything? They’re not even at secondary school yet as parents you are making decisions based on nothing educationally. You know nothing about British school curriculum and how none of it is based on anything American. You pull your kids out of US schools then put then to a British school all the while telling them to crack on but they’ll be back in the American system and the kid isn’t even 10 years old. I have a couple of friends who’ve ended up in the US and out of 9 kids 8 of them hated the US school system. Yours might feel the same going the other way.

A Times article from 2022 detailing the rise in US applications, the main cause being the decreasing likelihood of acceptance at oxbridge:
https://www.fhs-sw1.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/The-Times-17th-August-2022-Private-school-pupils-turn-backs-on-Oxbridge-to-chase-Ivy-League-places-1.pdf

https://www.sevenoaksschool.org/academic/beyond-sevenoaks/us-international/
"Our Head of US and International University Applications leads the team of staff who deliver the US and international support programme. Each student applying to the US has a dedicated college counsellor and can also access support from one of our specialist writing tutors"

https://www.stpaulsschool.org.uk/academic/academic-13-16/careers-and-universities/
https://www.stpaulsschool.org.uk/academic/academic-13-16/careers-and-universities/us-universities/
"We have our own dedicated team of ten US counsellors and support staff for US University Applications."

https://www.goodschoolsguide.co.uk/international/transitions/from-american-schools-to-british
"5 GCSE passes at grade C or higher are considered the rough equivalent of a US High School Diploma (without Honors or 'Advanced Placement' (AP) classes). This will be sufficient for a student to gain entry to less selective US colleges and universities"

Just because you "can't imagine" it, doesn't mean it's not true.

I don't think that it is fair to say that independent schools are pushing students towards US universities. It might be an attractive thing to put into a prospectus but without any real conviction. This will also extend to other attractive world universities. It's much easier and beneficial to the students to focus on the UCAS process.

IME, students that head to universities abroad are based on either family heritage or for specific scholarships. I don't think you get many spontaneous applications - they just go to our prestigious institutions here, and there is life beyond Oxford and Cambridge.

I can't imagine many schools appoint advisors for US admissions. They will just give the post to a random Mathematics teacher, just as the give Oxford and Cambridge admissions to a random Classics teacher. They will get one free period a week to do this job.

As for 5 GCSEs being equivalent to the standards of a poor US university - no student would apply to university with fewer than 8 GCSEs and three Level 3 qualifications. It's not a race to the bottom.