Degrees At US Universities

[Leeds2]

I have read a lot of artcles recently about the pros and cons of British students doing their degrees at universities in the States.

Has anyone's child done this, or is going through the application process now? Can anyone recommend a book and/or website that sets out what you need to know? Did your child's school help with their application, or did you have to do all the research yourself?

World rankings also take into account research and postgradute studies too. I used to find the results of the national student satisfaction survey much better. However this is only in the UK, but you can hear what the students thoughts are rather than how their research and carbon footprint adds to their ranking.

My daughter is 18 at the end of the month.

She has just been accepted to study in Michigan and will be going out there in September.

She really doesn't know what she wants to study, just that she wanted to go to Uni, so America is great as she doesn't have to choose her final major until the end of her 2nd year. She can do lots of different subjects and will hopefully by then know what she wants to do.

The Fulbright commission have an open day which she found quite helpful.

She has been the first person in her school to apply abroad, so it was all new to her school. She is very organised and informed the school what they needed to do towards her application.

I am so proud of her, as she has got a scholarship too. I am going to miss her big time though, as she is my "baby". The youngest of 3. She will go in September and will not come home until the end of the Uni year in May. We can't afford for her to come home at Christmas. It's going to be very strange without her here.

I went to a seminar recently with my dd where this was a topic. However, there were lots of other choices available eg The Netherlands, Australia, Sweden, Czech Republic, Italy.

Here's the link

I realised from a comment on another thread that it might be helpful to mention a few other pros and cons that don't usually get mentioned. It isn't really suitable for undergraduate medicine, something to do with American universities not wanting to recruit people who wouldn't stay there. Students have to sign something about returning to the UK as part of their visa application. I'm afraid as it wasn't relevant to us I don't remember the details.

On the plus side it takes the pressure of with the last A level exams. Although American universities do expect you to complete them registration for undergraduates is earlier than UK universities, usually August. If A levels results weren't as exected you'll already be there and they are unlikely to throw you out.

One of DS's closest friends is now holding an offer from a very well known Ivy League, was fully supported by her state school and will get significant financial help from the institution.

She's very, very bright.

I know a few sons and daughters of friends who go. Dartmouth, mentioned above, is said to be fantastic for undergraduates, because its small and not overshadowed by the graduate schools. Harvard is said to be better for postgrad teaching. Yale and Princeton better for the families of the wealthy as the Americans there are are well off. MIT (not ivy league) hasn't been mentioned but is outstanding. Need to plan 2 years in advance to make all the deadlines comfortably but its not hard to get in.

It's also worth mentioning that for some courses like VetMed it is way way more competitive in the USA and actually American students come here to study in high numbers.
I was lucky enough to get an exchange scholarship to Virginia Maryland at Virginia tech. Coming from a UK Vet school which like medicine has a work hard play hard attitude I was shocked at the level of alcohol consumption at the Freshman's party, most of them under 21 and then they got in their cars and drove!!!
I was also shocked that in general with marking 50 percent is the minimum hence the very high grade levels I went from being a 50 to 60 percent student here to being a 95 percent student there.

Yeah, must admit I LMAO at the notion that Freshmen don't get to drink just because they're under legal age. Ha! Just like nobody ever has sex under 18, uh hunh...

I am American. It is inconceivable to me that DC could get degrees in the USA, even with us & 2 sets of financially comfortable grandparents who might be willing to help fund. The money adds up hugely. British system a much better bet, imho.

"Prereqs" -- the broad based courses, that are out of one's specialist area, how many of these that you have to take depends enormously on indiv Uni policy. There were virtually none at Cal Berkeley when I went (don't think it's ever called just "Cal", btw, that just sounds so weird), but tonnes of quite specific PreReqs I had to do at the Cal State Uni I transferred to (other CA state Uni system). Quite annoying, I graduated with like 25% extra courses as a result. But some courses I enjoyed very much & am grateful for: Middle East politics was simply fascinating, rainforest pharmaceuticals, history of Western Civ (had never studied that properly before). We had to pass a basic writing course, too, but you could take an exam to get out of that one (thank goodness).

OH, and you need your jabs. I had to have the Measles jab whilst i was there because they declared that my babyhood vax had been given when I was too young.

SecretSquirrels

Here is a link to UCIrvine Gen Ed Reqs, a Uni in the upper tier of CA State Uni system.
Under General Education Requirements it lists things that you will have to check off somehow, as part of the liberal arts education, to get the Bachelor's degree from UCI in any subject.

So at UCI you typically have 9-11 courses a year (quarter system). And therefore 36-44 classes over the whole 4 years. Of those 36-44 classes, perhaps 12-16 will be taken solely to satisfy GenEd requirements for graduation, they aren't obviously part of your specialist subject (major).

My HS class Valedictorian (top grade student in my year group, stand up dude) went to UCI. He majored in Electrical Engineering & courtesy of FB I just discovered he's now a Yoga Teacher [bushock]. Happy with it, I'm sure.

Has anyone any experience of sports scholarships to US uni's?

My 17 year old son is considered an elite UK athlete and has the potential for future Olympics. He seems to think USA will give him opportunities he can't get here and also seems to think he'll get tuition, accommodation free on a sport scholarship. He has been in contact with a company called Firstbound USA based in Scotland who seem to advise on admin procedures and all things related.

However, I'm mindful of the fact they only want you to know certain things - the positives. Dreading the thought of a 18 year old who isnt particularly streetwise or independent going so far away with little support system and lacking funding to come home too often.

Is it really something you'd be a fool to turn down or are there hidden disadvantages. Son is also doing 3 A Levels with expectations of AAB or ABB and has a Grade 8 music so would probably go to a UK uni to study something else - it's just the lure of elite sport training may influence his decision. Any advice?

What is the sport?

Middle / long distance track athletics

Sounds promising.

thanks, ragged, no doubt son would qualify for it all being a national top ranked uk athlete for age group. just wondered if anyone else on here had experiences of relatives doing this. It just seems such a big step to take at just 18. No one in our family has even been to uni before, let alone undertake this, so naturally I'm a bit aaaagh, help

Thanks ragged, son is a national top ranked for age group athlete and would probably get a scholarship.

Just wondered if anyone here had experience of relatives doing this, as no one from our family has been to uni before, let alone undertake this. Naturally i'm a bit omg about it all, and it would be very interesting to hear the other side of the coin

You probably thought of all this, but just in case...
In terms of drawbacks, a lot depends on where he goes (what the town or city is like). And how much support they would give him as a foreign athlete not knowing the culture/system. If he's good enough, they will move mountains to keep him happy. Also, consider travel costs. Note prev. poster who said they can't afford to bring their child home for Xmas.

I think odds are that it would be much much better for his athlete potential to be in the USA. Make sure the degree/college are good ones, which college you go to matters even more in the USA than it does in UK, more than the actual subject degree is in almost. Since injury could destroy his athletic potential at any time, he needs a solid degree to fall back on. Full Sports scholarships are usually at colleges that are practical rather than theoretical approaches to the major, make sure that will suit his other ambitions. Clarify what happens to funding (scholarship) if he doesn't perform to expectations or what if he gets injured. Make sure he can both live with the answers. If it sounds like a good deal, get it in writing. Make sure his medical is nicely covered whilst out there.

american universities are expensive but there are some very good academic scholarships available at a few of them.

Those selling advice on American universities tend to be optimistic about sports scholarships. We were told that British international standard generally won't be good enough, especially in minority sports. America is a large country and you are competing against their own sportspeople. Olympic standard might get you a scholarship but generally it will be renewable yearly so any accidents or injuries could be a problem. However the support athletes get is better if they do make it.

Anyone intending to apply needs to consider if they want to go for early action/early decision if available and if they want to do tandem applications with uk universities or apply in different years.

hellp happyinherts
As a former athletics coach I have had experience of athletes going to US universities, and, with very few exeptions, they have not been terribly impressed. It seems to be a culture of using the non US athletes as much as possible during the US season whilst keeping the US athletes running sparingly
and then turning the US athletes out at the 'big meetings'. This keeps the US athletes fresh and over works the non US athletes. As far as training plans go some of the athletes complained that the plans were ' type fits all' rather than individualised to each athlete.
Your son would need to be very sure of what he would receive in terms of individual training plans and competition.
As a top ranked UK athlete can he not talk with people who have already been out there, or post on the athletics forums where he should get good advice. There have also been features in 'athletics weekly' past copies on this subject, so he could research in their archives.

I don?t know of a British student studying in the States, but I do know that any well-reputed college (not just the Ivy League) will make provisions to help students from the time of admission right up to graduation. I?m going to give you the example of a college I?m currently looking into- California College San Diego. When you visit the college, students can meet up with a financial planner and an admissions consultant. This helps to simplify the admission process and students get a better understanding of the kind of professional goals they should pursue based on their interests and aptitude. Of course, I?d recommend that everyone read up on student reviews and keep an eye out for recurring complaints against a college, just like I did by reading up on reviews and complaints about California College San Diego. Hope this helped.