Would you move to Texas for USD 5k more a month

[Constance17]

DH has been offered a job in U.S, we have children aged 6 & 8. What concerns you most?

Jennymanara but as I just stated, that depends. Many kids in the UK doing arts A levels would struggle to still be doing math in the upper 6th, many taking university level math while still taking lots of other subjects.

One system is not better than another, just different.

You couldn't get into my dd's uni without As in math, English, science and at least one other language whatever you were planning to study.

I said it was easier because British students can get in with lower level of qualifications than British universities.

This makes no sense. You're comparing British Students with British Universities.

I think your original point was that US students get into US universities with lower levels of qualification than British students need to get into British Universities.

You offer no evidence of this whatsoever, it ignores the wide range of universities in both countries, and even if true, might simply indicate that you need more university places in the UK to accommodate more of the students who want to go.

The systems are very different. In the UK we specialize earlier, dropping many other subjects. Obviously if you are only studying 3 or 4 subjects, you would expect to be at a higher level in those subjects when leaving secondary school/high school.

If you study twice as many subjects and then need to take APs (Advanced Placement Exams - college equivalent) to compete for a place at the best unis in the USA, believe me those students are well prepared.

In the USA which has 50 states there are hundreds if not thousands of different school systems nationally. Each state will have it's own requirements for graduation from high school. Then within the state different school districts can have different standards. So it can depend a lot on the school district and the high school you attend how well prepared the average student will be for university. The English & Welsh National Curriculum would be equivalent to one of the states, not the whole nation. You don't compare California as a state to Western Europe.

I really think because we speak the same language there is a constant tendency by Brits to try to directly compare the UK with the entire US which is a false and misleading equivalency.

Nope - I don't like how American taxation/healthcare/welfare is structured... I don't like heat and the gun control issues in the US would bother me.

Plus I like our crappy British efforts at "extreme weather" - an old friend moved over there and is always commenting on FB when there's a hurricane alert or whatever - couldn't deal with that. Plus the aforementioned friend's husband is an absolutely avid gun-mad Trump supporter and I wouldn't want to live in that kind of social climate.

I like the UK - it's got its flaws but they're flaws I'm OK dealing with and trying to change.

Here are the PISA results from 2015 for Massachusetts. As you can see they place lower in the world than many Asian nations but higher than the UK and Germany. If you look at North Carolina their results were equal to the UK. I am sure other states would be lower.
nces.ed.gov/surveys/pisa/pisa2015/pisa2015highlights_7.asp

The USA is vast and has huge differences economically and historically. When moving to the US parents should always do their research and make sure they move to a school district they are happy with.

Our local school district offers the IB Diploma and GCSEs/A levels called "Cambridge Exams" here. So there is plenty of choice in many areas.

Actually I just realised I read the PISA results incorrectly, only Singapore had higher science test scores than Massachusetts.

@IdaBWells congratulations to your eldest daughter. She's done spectacularly well and worked very hard. My daughter is starting her senior year of high school next month so we are up to our eyebrows visiting colleges and working on applications. Mine took AP world history and AP US history last year and got 5's on both. She's taking AP chemistry and French this fall.

Her brother just finished his first year of university so we've been through the process before. How many more do you have to put through?

With a population of only 6.9 million, Massachusetts is stacked with some of the best Universities and Colleges in the world and the nation (114 total); Including Harvard, M.I.T, Smith, Boston College, Amherst, Tufts, Williams, Berklee College of Music etc. So as one of their major service industries is education it's hardly surprising that the public education system is excellent.

Alabama has 61 institutes of higher education but none are considered world class or even nationally significant.

So depending on which state and school district you are comparing to the UK, you could come to very different conclusions.

Thanks MissConductUS dd worked hard and it paid off. Congratulations to your dd that is amazing! I have 3 teens, 18, 16 & 13. I worked as a college counselor for a while but with international students applying to the UK, USA and Canada.

Sorry OP I am derailing this thread spectacularly !

MIT, Harvard, Yale, Stanford and many others are incredibly hard to get in to. The five hardest in the world to get in to are ALL in the States.

Four of the top five universities in the world are American (other is Oxford, Britain does well having 4 in the top 10!)

And probably 100% of the students who apply to those unis are well prepared and could all succeed at those unis. So it's just down to how many seats are available. To some extent it is rigged however as a certain number of seats go to legacy candidates and student athletes.

Good grief, I think some posters have watched a few too many episodes of The Wire.

Mass gun killings are tragic but typically kill under 100 Americans a year, from a population of 330 million. You are highly unlikely to be a victim of gun crime if you (a) live in a good area (b) don''t own a gun - most gun deaths are suicides, followed by domestic/close acquaintance homicide. Unless you're planning to deal fentanyl on corners, you are highly unlikely to be the victim of a gun homicide by a stranger.

The risk of a US child dying in a school shooting is far less than the risk of a UK child dying in a traffic accident, but I imagine most of us still take our kids in cars without breaking into a cold sweat each time.

Not travelling to a good area in the US because of a fear mass gun homicides would be like an American reading about stabbings in south London and deciding not to come to the Stow-on-the-Wold. It's not that the risk in Stow is zero, but it's tiny.

The reasons I would hesitate to live in Texas, having lived elsewhere in the South are: (a) it's frigging hot and (b) it's a ball ache to have to drive everywhere. With the exception of a few older cities, walking is basically illegal in the States (only a slight exaggeration). Sometimes you can't get from a mall on one side of the road to a mall on the other side of the road without driving - nothing is set up for pedestrians.

There's loads of good stuff about living in the US though. Americans are just so friendly and welcoming (Presidents excepted..) that it's a great place to be an ex-pat. If the finances work and you're up for an adventure, go for it.

Going back to the original topic I think doing due diligence by the OP about reality on the ground is the way to go. Not hysterical news reporting of the Daily Mail variety.

My American FIL believes that Europe has been "invaded" by people from the Middle East and is due to become Muslim within a few generations. He is also paranoid about terrorism because of all the news reports. I have to calmly explain that the US is the most statistically dangerous place in the West. Of course he lives a comfortable life in the California sun and somehow can't see it.

Love your post XXcstatic.

WE do own loads of 'stuff' here but I found homeowners in the US had every motorised gadget available - leaf blower, golf buggy, jet skis, motorboat, classic car and/or souped up truck, everything in the home even though they eat out a lot. This was Texas.

WE do own loads of 'stuff' here but I found homeowners in the US had every motorised gadget available - leaf blower, golf buggy, jet skis, motorboat, classic car and/or souped up truck, everything in the home even though they eat out a lot. This was Texas.

Wow. I'm just back from there. Have close family there and my daughter is about to marry a man from there. Golf buggy? Where do they live? My future SIL's grandparents are incredibly wealthy and they don't own a golf buggy or a 'souped up' truck or a motorboat or jet skis (they do own a yacht but it's kept in another state). Plenty of people don't eat out a lot, either. There are 29m people in that state alone.

The generalisations just keep coming.

If they have a boat I assume there must be lakes, rivers and/or ocean nearby. We are on an acre so we need some "gadgets" to take care of it. We also have a classic car (a Triumph) but we've been moving it around with us as DH still hasn't restored it! He finds restoring Vespers and other scooters more fun. I thought that was regarded as "upcycling"?

My future SIL's grandparents are incredibly wealthy and they don't own a golf buggy or a 'souped up' truck or a motorboat or jet skis

Some of the wealthiest people I know are quite frugal. It's part of why they are wealthy. It's people with the flash lifestyle that are more often one dollar away from disaster.

In my family we have two old Subaru's and a Honda lawn mower, and we're pretty well off. DH is a saver.

I don't think a boat is something outrageous. You can pick up a second hand boat and it can make sense if you enjoy being out on the water a lot. Many pple like to fish who are working class in the states. Just like cars, boats come in all shapes and sizes and income levels. Messing about on a boat in the evenings and weekends can be a cheap way to enjoy the water and also be a cheap holiday if you tow your boat and camp. Many states have lakes and rivers that are very beautiful and unspoilt.

Making judgements on possessions can be very subjective. In the UK people usually ski in another country so it is considered quite an expensive and elite sport. In many states, including my own you can drive to the mountains in an hour or so. Therefore as a sport it's much more accessible and second hand sports equipment stores mean you can ski on a budget. Many state schools even have "Ski Bus" in the Winter and the kids go straight up to the mountains after school to ski.

I’m not seeing consumerism at all here and we’re currently staying in Cape Cod which must have a wealthy influx.We’ve been swimming in a pond today. Have been so impressed with how much simpler life is. Kids amusing themselves for hours with no plastic crap or inflatables, families rushing off from road side sea food shacks to watch the sunset, families cycling everywhere, stopping for ice cream is a serious business( a treat made with careful deliberation), families just sitting, reading and watching the sea and sunset.... Have been driving these roads for a week and seen only one boat being towed, I see more in Cornwall. I live near the sea in the UK and everything near our beaches is so much more consumer orientated( hoards of boats, jet skis, boogie boards, plastic crap and bloody dogs rampaging everywhere).

I love it here, I’d live in the US in a heartbeat.Weve visited the West coast several times and are loving the East just as much. The people are so laidback. Is it because they have so much space and beauty I wonder?

No chance. But then my children aren't white so we wouldn't even go there for a holiday with the way things are there these days.

WE do own loads of 'stuff' here but I found homeowners in the US had every motorised gadget available - leaf blower, golf buggy, jet skis, motorboat, classic car and/or souped up truck, everything in the home even though they eat out a lot. This was Texas.

Oh you'd hate my friends then. Several have their own float planes. Bastards.

We have six boats but we live on an island. And Dh is a boat captain.

Even the poorest of people the poor where I live have boats. But fishing is the main industry.

We have a leaf blower but we have five acres with mostly trees and live in the worst place for lymes disease in the world. Blowing leaves away is essential to our family's survival (we also have anaplasmosis and powassan).

We have a big truck but we live miles down a dirt road and in the winter it's insanely terrifying.

I think a lot of the bigger vehicles, bigger machines thing is down to the much greater distances, rural aspects and extreme weather. We need a huge truck because we need to attach a snow plow or we wouldn't get out for days.

Same as lots of friends have their own planes. It sounds posh but when you live in buttfuck nowhere it's actually much cheaper to fly!