To ask if anyone has any experience looking at US universities?

[BegoniasAndPetunias25]

Dd is 16 and currently in Year 11

She’s planning on going to university in the US - dh is American and his parents have offered to pay all the fees if she goes to university over there. She’s their only grandchild and they are very keen to have her nearer to them for a few years.

We’re starting to plan a trip this summer to look round a few universities she might be interested in, but it’s proving quite difficult to decide which as there are just so many! There also seems to be far more variation between universities than in the UK - state, private, liberal arts, Christian etc.

How does one start to narrow it down? Dh is no help as he went to university here (how we met).

If it’s relevant, dd is reasonably intelligent, and if she was applying in the UK I expect she’d be aiming for universities of the Exeter/Bristol/Warwick calibre (she definitely wouldn’t be Oxbridge material though).

And thank you so much for that list @SenecaFalls - I’ll get her to do some research on those unis!

Are the grandies very minted? Coz overseas fees are like $40k/yr.

They’re pretty well off.

It also helps that dd is an only child and their only grandchild, so they’re only volunteering to pay one set of fees.

We were told that by the organisation at the open day that the US universities were very interested in extracuricular activites- seem more interested in stuff like Music or Drama grades, DoE etc. than UK universities seem to be. DC1 had a classmate who was awarded a scholarship to one of the prestigeous US universities on the back of her high level sport achievement and good grades. I think they approached her at an event.

College of Charleston seems to be quite well regarded

Extra-curricular activities are important, but if she lacks these, the fact that she is from the UK might make up for it. US universities tend to value geographic diversity in their student body make-up. if she is good at a sport, that is a plus, but she would have to be highly proficient to get a sports scholarship.

What an amazing opportunity for your DD!
I went to High School in Texas and, while it was quite an adjustment to begin with, I ended up loving it. Wish I’d been able to stay and go to uni there too.

If you’ve narrowed down the area and type of school, then start looking up which degrees they’re well known for.
Also consider sports and extracurricular activities that your daughter might be interested in, as some schools will have teams and groups that are more highly ranked / rated than others.

I would also echo what @DaisyMay2 said about the application process: US schools look for (and expect) a well-rounded student. So that means, in addition to good grades, they’ll be looking for: sport/music/dance/drama, etc., possibly foreign languages, and community/charity work.

I hope your DD has a wonderful experience!

Surely it comes down to what exactly she wants to study? And also what the grandparents can afford - Harvard/Browns/MIT/Columbia/Yale will cost a lot more than the others presumably?

I second the College of Charleston.

It differs in lots of way. I'm trying to think of how as I read here.
The degree takes four years (unlike the three in UK) they do classes not related to their major so they are more well rounded.
Ds did a degree in Business with a minor in accounting. He took fitness classes, biology, music. All sorts at the same time.
Many colleges encourage 1st years to live on campus in the dorms, where Ds went the dorms were shared by two, and the bathrooms down the hall. He did two years in the dorms and two years in the Campus apartments. This was cheaper for us as all other bills were covered, Wi-Fi, gas, electric etc. Included was also some meals, each term he had money attached to his card and used it to buy food on campus. Had he rented a flat or shared they would have had all sorts of other costs.
He went to a private uni, worked out cheaper for us with scholarships and some paid through FAFSA (government) so our costs were less.
Total cost was something like $50,000 before all his help it's gone up since then.
I don't remember there being any limit on how many places you can apply to, he only applied to two. It cost $55 per application back when he did it.
After graduation he moved straight to UK, and got onto a good graduate program right away. You can get the degree results converted easily.
You can look up the rankings for Unis she may want to look at Here you can also look by googling based on what her major will be. I'm sure I'll think of more.

@Troels has the brunt of it.

It will come down to what your daughter wants to study. We don't have to decide right away (you decide generally at 1.5 years what to major in, and you can do some fundamental courses and electives in the interim to decide what makes you passionate, but some people do know going in what they want to do). Different universities are better for different core subjects. Ask her what she wants to be and then google universities that are well suited to that subject. Also I'd consider weather - ie I would've been miserable going to Northwestern in Chicago because the cold is amazing (-40 in winter?!) and loved the heat in Austin and Phoenix but everybody is different.

There's no limit to how many universities you can apply to, or there wasn't when I went. Some charge a small fee to apply though.

Vanderbilt University?

Also, I did my undergrad in the US (I'm Canadian American) and moved onto postgraduate in the UK without a problem. As someone else said, it seemed to make me stand out a bit among all the other applications.

We collaborate with people from Chapel Hill, & colleague went to Duke, so I am partial to those (esp. for science). NC has amazing beaches!

$38k to $54k/yr in tuition fees, though. Living costs, books, etc., will be additional.

Hi OP,

I went to university in the US (as an international student) and worked for a few years as an admissions consultant for UK students wanting to go to university in the US. My advice would be:

1. Double check with the grandparents as to their budget - this may be an awkward conversation, but it is better than DD getting into her dream school only to find that it is WAY more than the grandparents had expected. For four years she will be looking at a minimum of $100k (for an inexpensive state university), going up to $240k or more for a private liberal arts college. If the grandparents have not paid for college in a while they may not realise quite how expensive the fees are these days - they have increased WAY faster than inflation.

1. Get DD reading and thinking about different kinds of US university experience. A book like this www.amazon.co.uk/Complete-Colleges-College-Admissions-Guides/dp/1524757942?tag=mumsnetforum-21 is a really good start. Does she want to live on campus or off? Does she want a party atmosphere, or somewhere more academic? Does she want it to be very "American" (frat parties, football, etc) or would she like something with a more international feel? Is she currently at a big or a small school? Does she like it (or not)? Big or small classes? etc etc. Narrowing down to the TYPE of school that she is looking for will help the search.

1. As PP have suggested, narrow down further by geography - if she doesn't want cold winters, then that will already cut out a whole swathe of the country.

1. She should ideally go to the best university that she can get into - and the best way to figure this out is to take the SATs ASAP. She should definitely take some test prep before she does so, though - it is hard to do well without it, as they tests require a very specific way of thinking that will not come naturally. They can be taken multiple times (and there is no prejudice against doing so) so the earlier she starts, the better.

1. Once she has an idea of the budget, the sort of school she is looking for, her potential locations, and her likely SAT scores / grades, she can start to narrow down. Using a book like the College Guide is a good place to start - there are also lots of online guides that do something similar. Most US applications apply to between 6 and 8 schools: 1 or 2 "reach" schools, where she is at the lower end of the grades / scores that have been admitted, and thus where she cannot be sure she will get in; 3 or 4 "comfort" schools, where she is solidly in the middle of the grades / scores and can be relatively confident that she will get in; and 1 or 2 "safety" schools, where she is above the average grades / scores and thus can almost guarantee that she will get a place. Obviously, she should be happy to attend any of the schools on her list.

Best of luck to her! I really enjoyed my US college experience (I loved being able to take courses in lots of different subjects, not just in my major) and I am sure that she will too.

The degree takes four years (unlike the three in UK)

Four in Scotland.

Nothing helpful to add, but what an amazing opportunity for your DD! Good luck to her, what a wonderful experience she’ll have (I’m only slightly jealous )

I'm in the US and have a senior (17) who has just done her college apps, and a sophomore (15) who has just done her first PSAT and started thinking about college.

Lots of good advice above. Don't assume that private universities will necessarily be more expensive. They have a lot of scholarships to offer, and a huge amount of need-based aid to give, and international students often qualify for that aid. For comparison, the University of California system (ie state) colleges such as UCLA and UC Berkeley are over $60k a year for non-California resident students and give most of their financial aid to California residents.

Your daughter needs to take the SAT or ACT then start seeing which colleges she can even get into. You can take it more than once if necessary. College Board and Prepscholar.com have a lot of info. She'll have to register with College Board if she wants to take her SAT and get the results. Not sure how the ACT works.

OP, I know that you said that your daughter doesn’t like the cold, but she should be aware that the heat and humidity in the southern US will probably be a bit of a shock. The horribly hot summer that the UK suffered last year would be considered a summer cool spell in much of the US south. There will be air conditioning everywhere though.

It will be an exciting adventure for her. There are numerous websites online that rank schools for different majors, student life, etc. that can help her narrow things down.

I was in the US education system for high school and under grad. She can apply to as many universities as she wants. There is usually an application fee. Attending a college fair is an excellent idea. They hold them several times a year in London. Most US embassies have an education officer who may be able to provide advice.

In terms of college choice and applications, application dates vary so it is important to keep that in mind. The first year of US university is spent doing gen-ed (general education) requirements - a language, maths, English, history, a science, a business class etc. This gives students a year before they have to ‘declare’ or choose a major. However, coming from the UK system, she may well have AP (advanced placement) credit which means she can skip some of the requirements. Some colleges also allow you to test out of them. Overall, that means she will have less time to make her choice of major and possibly less than the standard four years at university (the vast majority of degrees are 4 years).

It is much easier in the US to transfer from one university to another than it is in the UK. If she hates it or finds a better university for her subject when has chosen a major, she will be able to transfer quite easily.

SATs are an important part of the application. The testing system is quite different to the UK. She should plan on doing it more than once. Her scores will improve if she hasn’t done that type of test before. PSATs (pre-SATs) are also available and most people use them as a practice run but depending on dates, you might find it is just easier to do the SATs multiple times.

If she is unsure about what type of college she wants, a state university will be the best bet. This is because it is very large and will give her more course options. They are usually cheaper, even for international students. If she is considering sciences, the facilities are generally better and more up to date than at private colleges.

In her shoes, I would compile a very long list of a) school’s I had heard of and sounded interesting, b) schools that were the best for any of the degrees she is considering and c) geographically appealing. It will be a very long list! Then I would start whittling it down by admission criteria (depending on her grades, that could eliminate most or none).

Not sure if it's the same for international students, but the deadline for regular decision for most colleges is around Jan 1st to 5th.

If you do early action or early decision it's the prior Nov - usually between 1st and 15th.

App fees for DD were around $70 per college IIRC.

Depending on the GP ability to pay you should also consider a UK degree with US study, it’s essentially an exchange so you pay fees in UK even for the us study portion.
I did my second year at a US university I was given a list of over 50 to choose from (I went straight into their 4th year classes) I then could have also completed a year work placement out there, in a state of my choice. All for the price of UK tuition fees.
Check out Lancaster and UMIST for those type of courses for another option.

I am in the US and my third child is a senior who has just done all her college applications. 2 already in college.

You have had loads of great advice on this thread already. The only thing I would say is you and your dh need to have a very frank discussion with the grandparents about what exact level of financial support they will be giving and under what circumstances.

If your dd decides to go to US instead of UK, she is turning down one option in favour of another. The US option could cost anything from 20k to 70k (dollars) per year without factoring in flights and living expenses. Are the grandparents willing to pay that for 4 years? Do they know how much is involved? Do they have restrictions on colleges? Will they continue to pay if she fails a class or has some difficulty? Better to have this discussion right up front so everyone knows what they are getting into.

In terms of location, do the grandparents expect her to go to college local to them? If so, I think this limits her and you should have another frank discussion about how often they expect to see her. My dd is at university and hour and a half away from me and I don't see her except at holidays. My son is 20 mins away by commuter rail and I don't see him much either. Fine with me - this was the point of it all but will it be fine with her grandparents? Will they expect her to spend all her holidays with them? If so, what about you and her dad - will you just see her during the summer.

I wouldn't entertain this without a really open discussion with the grandparents and a real sense of commitment from them - what if one year in they need the money for something else?

Also I really really agree with the pp who said she should go to the best college she can get into (that suits her obviously). Taking the SAT or ACTs will give her some indication of where she should be aiming.

I've thought of something. I wonder if she will be considered an International student or an out of state student (for fees) as she hasn't been living in the US even though she's a citizen?
They charge more for international and out of state students.
I was charged resident fees as I had been in the state a year when I went to a local college.

I was at the USA College day in September and they were generally talking 80k per year for tuition, accommodation and books. That needs to be tied out with the grandparents.

As a US citizen your DD will be assessed for financial aid on your income/assets but a lot of financial aid seems to be in the form of loans.

US News and World Report is the best place to get started - it tells the ranking, location, synopsis of the school, admission requirements and usual admitted student profile (SAT score, grades, etc).
There may be exceptions but their aren't generally different prices for international students but the cost for in-state residents can be MUCH cheaper.
Academic freedom in what the student wants to study (and it almost always changes during study) is why many international students go to the US.
Most will require the SAT and/or ACT score though more and more are finally dropping the requirement.
School costs can range dramatically from $25,000 - $100,000 per year when you include room and board with tuition but most will get bursaries of some sort.

The amount of choice can be overwhelming but is also one of the biggest draws to Uni education in the USA.