Advice for overseas UK applicants to UK universities

[JesusWeptLady]

So my kids have had all their schooling in the USA and want to apply to UK universities for 2025 entry. Both DH and I went to UK universities in the 90s and we can see a lot has changed. There's still UCAS but there's also now the Russell Group.

We have a sense of the AP exams they need to take as A level equivalents and the range of expectations among different universities including Bath, York, Nottingham, Bristol, etc

What I don't know and I'm hoping some people can chip in here, is this - are some universities more inclined towards the international applications than others? I did see in this year's clearing that many spots were for "international applicants only" but I don't know if that's a greater reflection on those academic depts. or just something to do with clearing.

Sorry this is sounding a bit vague as a question. I don't know if anyone has experience of a similar situation or knows people who have done this. I suspect any info would be great. Thanks.

@TizerorFizz I am pretty sure it was Kings College London who have the 3 years hall guarantee for overseas students. My info might be out of date, though!

@JesusWeptLady KCL accommodation info says first year undergrads. No mention of all years for any undergrads. At Imperial, for example, this would be 50% every year. Kings not that far behind and a considerable bonus given housing costs. I don’t think any university has that much accommodation other than some colleges at Oxbridge.

All unis want money from international students but if you need to look at housing costs, some cities are more expensive than others. Supply and demand basically. London students, typically, cannot afford to rent in the campus areas for y2 onwards. So the student population gets dispersed. This applies to UCL, LSE, Kings, Imperial, SOAS mostly. Slightly less to QMU and a few others which are less central. However transport is pretty good. Obviously London is a high priority destination for many international students but comes with higher costs than many other cities.

AFAIK, Brunel guarantees campus accommodation for all three/fours years for international students.

Manchester also guarantees accommodation for international students for the full duration.

Yes! Brunel at Uxbridge. Not really London though is it? Manchester guarantee accommodation for a year it seems.

Manchester guarantee accommodation to international students for the full duration of their studies.

"We guarantee a place in a University-owned (or managed) hall of residence to every international student for the full duration of their studies"
https://www.manchester.ac.uk/study/international/accommodation/guarantee/

@JocelynBurnell Interesting. I read this. No mention of all 3 years.

Ignore me! Just seen the reapplication bit! Right at the bottom. The top para tends to suggest 1 year.

@JocelynBurnell Thank you so much for the Manchester Uni link. It's now on our list. The only reason it wasn't previously was that when I was an undergrad about 100 yrs ago, I visited a friend there and found the city massive and somewhat intimidating (and I'm from London), especially Hulme - which I know has been done up now.

@JesusWeptLady What you thought 30 odd years ago isn’t relevant now is it? My DDs didn’t want where their Dad (or me) went: parents’ experiences are not up to date. Neither would I choose based on 3 years in halls. DC will be stuck with all international students and a changing group of first years. No one else will stay or want to stay from the cohort. Be careful about thinking this is a bonus. Many home based students like to branch out.

Thanks for your input @TizerorFizz

DD currently in the process of applying to UK uni. She is a senior in a regular Public high school (I am British & DH is very American). Did the UCAS application ourselves & got her favorite History teacher to write the reference (I put together a guide for him on what he needed to do as school had no idea whatsoever). Applied to 4 places for Law & Business mid October. Have had 2 offers already one of which was an unconditional from RG.
I think the fact that she got 2 APs (5&4) in Junior year were the key. Her grades are very good/SATs not phenomenal so not shooting for Oxbridge but have applied to Edinburgh for giggles (of course not heard back from them..)
DH was not keen at 1st but got very frustrated with the US Unis which seemed to demand so many exceptional extracurricular & would have cost him $80k per year. He is now about to buy a load of £ while the exchange rate is in our favor.

@Itsbetterbythebeach
how did it all shake out for your DD and where is she going to go?
(We worked out that even paying international fees for 3 yrs, we'd be saving $80k instead of paying the lower, in-state tuition for 4 yrs in the US.)

Sorry to highjack this thread, but I was wondering if anyone could give me some advice. My son is currently in his final year at Middle School and starts at High School in the Autumn. We are permanent UK residents, it is just my son who is studying in the US, but I would like to keep the option option open for him to return to the UK to attend University, should he decide that's what he wants in a few years time.
I am just looking for some general information on what qualifications he would require, in order to be eligible to apply for UK universities, so that we can guide his choices over the next few years.
To complicate things, his High School do not offer AP classes, but you can do up to 2 Community College courses in Years 11/12, which will earn you up to 6 college credits.
Any advice would be appreciated, on the best way to go about getting him qualified enough to apply for UK Universities.

@northlondondad1976 in my experience, UK universities will want a GPA and an ACT or SAT score. The ones my DS applied to also wanted at least 3 AP scores at grade 5, Oxbridge wanted 5 AP's.
I don't know if they consider dual enrollment scores but I suspect not as they are not standardized, I would have you DC start calling admissions offices as soon as possible to check on the requirements for any universities and courses you are interested in so they can plan their high school classes appropriately.
If any of the courses require an entrance exam such as the MAT, you will need to find an authorized test center in your area but you have plenty of time for that as registration will be in the summer before senior year.

@JesusWeptLady
Sorry. Long post warning but if you’re looking to apply next year here’s what I think.
So ended up applying for 4 Uk Unis and 3 US Colleges. Heard from everyone except Edinburgh (I think she meets their requirements but does not exceed them by much so they are keeping her on hold while they wait to see how many Internationals accept the offers they have already made). Think she will probably pick Exeter. she went to the offer holder day a couple of weeks ago and (despite the journey from hell - they got stranded in Dublin & it took 30 hours to get there) she loved it. My family all live down South so at least they will be within a few hours drive if she has any problems.

Getting towards the end of the process (hopefully) I think my takeaways would be:
1/ AP exams are king. The more you have already passed (5/4 for top tier) Junior year the more desirable you will be.
2/ if your kid has good AP exam scores already & is in AP and honors classes be ambitious. I would say with the exception of Oxford/Cambridge/LSE/Imperial and a few others you have a very very strong chance of an offer. Certain courses like computer science, economics etc might be trickier.
3/ I would say that all the Unis are currently VERY motivated to recruit quality International students. We have definitely “felt the love” from all of them. A bright student whose 1st language is English but who will be paying international fees is highly desirable (even more bonus points if you have a UK passport too).
4/ Make sure you know how you are going to pay for it. The UK tuition fees/halls are fine for taking out of the 529 college savings account I think. The only one we think might get a bit tricky is when they live off campus year 2&3. I think that those are allowable expenses but only up to the cost of what it would be to live in catered halls on campus which might be a problem in some expensive areas as there could be a big difference in the cost.
5/ Don’t stress too much about the UCAS application. It’s a bit confusing when applying from overseas but perfectly doable (the only thing we whiffed on was not putting in predicted grades for the AP exams she is taking in her senior year - Edinburgh wanted them). I didn’t want to use an agent as I was worried they might try to push us towards Unis that would be easy to get into, plus I’d rather the University get to keep the money rather than pay commission to an agent.
6/ If possible get them over this summer to visit some of the campus you are interested in. We visited last year & were able to book student led tours round all of them even though it was July. It made it a lot easier when it came applying. I had thought DD would love York but she did not gel with it when she went round.
7/I was surprised by the US college offers that we got. We only applied so we had a backup option in case DD got cold feet but I have been pleasantly surprised. DD does have a good gpa (3.8 unweighted) but is not an elite athlete or anything and all the schools have been giving her very substantial merit scholarships of between 20-50% off tuition and board which would bring then in between $35-60k per year(and we live in the NE where the Uni prices are high compared with further South). Might be worth throwing in a couple of US applications to see how much the cost would really be.
Hope that all your applications go well next year. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Thanks so much @Itsbetterbythebeach for the comprehensive response! Wow. 30 hours, that would have completely ended my will to live.

Both have some APs already, due to take 3 more this May and a further 4-6 next year (depending on offers). All the unis they are interested in have been contacted and we've been given detailed "this year we required these grades / combinations" for x and y courses etc. So that's helpful

Both visiting UK this June with a view to seeing some open days and other Uni's whose open days they won't be there for.

I also read recently that the foreign office refused 33% of visas for students overseas wanting to study in the UK. Am very glad we still have our UK passports. And yes, we'll do a few applications here, we are in state for CA so there's a couple of good options.

Thank you so much again, for taking the time to respond. Super helpful.

@northlondondad1976 I think your kid has to be in the country for 3 years in education leading up to University to qualify as "resident" rather than "international" but I know some admissions offices make exceptions. Best of luck with the process, feel free to hijack at will - its all helpful.

@JesusWeptLady If they score a few 5’s with that many APs in hand by the end of Junior year I would say that your kids will be accepted pretty much anywhere they apply. I’m fairly sure with those qualifications they would have no problem getting a student visa if they had needed one.
Fortunately my husband did the epic trip to Exeter with DD while I stayed home with the dog. I had been bummed not to go but was glad to miss it in the end. I figure if DD liked Exeter after that journey and only 5 hours sleep it must be a winner. The final kicker was that DH locked his mobile phone in the hire car when he dropped it off at the airport and there was no one at the desk to unlock the car for him as it was a Sunday. Hopefully UPS will be delivering it back to him today😆
@northlondondad1976 I second the advice to contact the Universities and see what qualifications they accept. All bar one of the offers that DD received required her to graduate with a minimum gpa (normally around 3.0) but she was being admitted mainly on her APs. Depending on the University some do and/or certain SAT/ACT scores. They do know that not all students have the opportunity to take APs so I think there can be alternative paths . The one thing I have noticed though having gone through the UK school & Uni system myself is that my daughter’s US HS honors classes are nowhere near as challenging as UK sixth form classes. The only thing that is coming close to preparing her for the more focused studying in the UK is those APs .

@northlondondad1976 most if not all UK universities will detail the international qualifications they require on their website, e.g. I go to this page by picking a random university (Manchester) and course (Biochemistry) and choosing the relevant option under Entry Requirements:

www.manchester.ac.uk/study/international/country-specific-information/usa/entry-requirements/#country-profile

Thank you for your replies.
Firstly, regarding if he qualifies as a UK student or International, I believe (though I'm far from certain) he would qualify as a home student, although reading the comments above it may be easier to get offers if he was an international student.

From What is my Fee Status? - University of Cambridge:
Being absent from the UK/EU due to study abroad is usually considered a temporary absence and does not affect ordinary residence if the home/permanent address is within the UK/EU.

Also, this "Determining if a person is properly settled in the UK in order to establish if they are ordinarily resident here" document from the Department of Health says:
Finite periods of volunteering, missionary work or study abroad while the person remains a UK resident will not prevent a person being ordinarily resident

Secondly, yes I'm aware that University courses state their requirements for individual courses, but MarchingFrogs link was the first time I've seen college credits mentioned, the requirement always seems to be AP classes.
As I stated earlier, he has no access to AP classes, so I was just looking to see if anyone had any alternative ideas to get the qualifications needed.
Currently, I think his only options would be:
a) Return to the UK after graduating and do A-Levels at a private college or on-line.
b) Try to take some AP classes on-line whilst finishing High School, although I think this would be very difficult in his High School environment.
c) Do 1 year at a US college and use those grades to transfer/apply to UK universities.

I've only just started looking into this, so I feel there's much more knowledgeable people who may be able to give me other avenues to investigate.

You need to email admissions at the universities/courses that your son is interested in. Talking to other parents (unless their children are doing similar qualifications and have similar university plans to yours) is a haphazard mode of research and universities change their requirements often. Doing the SAT/ACT is very helpful for US schooled students because it does give a ball park value to your child's academic standard that then allows you/him to hone in on universities/courses at about the right level.

@Itsbetterbythebeach Yes, getting a 5 in the AP exam appears to be absolutely crucial. I read yesterday that only 14% of AP exam takers, across the board get a "5". They don't need student or any other kind of visas. We are UK nationals. We can come and go as we please, thankfully. I mentioned the foreign office refusing visas as a possible small advantage to us - because we don't need them.

@northlondondad1976 on fee status there are two elements. The status the uni assesses you as and this determines the fees they’ll charge you, and then whether student finance considers you to be eligible for support. The two don’t necessarily line up, so you could find yourself as being accepted as a home student by the uni, but student finance wouldn’t consider you eligible.

No, you'll pay as a foreign student.

But actually not everywhere is expensive, my DD's fees are £14,800 for Uni of Westminster to study politics, and DS is £13,875 for Foundation year at Reading for Business & Management. AFAIR the UK fees are about £9,900 so really not so bad - I was expecting £20k plus.