Son raised in US applying to UK unis - any recs for a 'consultant'/ service to help?

[Expatmum2023]

Hi all

My son wants to apply to UK unis from the States where we live right now and where he's mostly gone to school apart from a few stints in Italy. (I grew up in the UK and went to UK unis but am sure a lot has changed since the dinosaurs roamed ..) I need someone/a consultant to guide him through the process, in particular someone who knows how various subjects are taught in various places. E.g. if you like hands on engineering go to X, whereas more theoretical go to Y. There seem to be lots of 'consultants' online but I have no clue who is good or bad.. Has anyone used them? I'm looking for something that won't break the bank but will be active in hold his feet to the fire so to speak in terms of writing the essay and turning things in on time.. Better I outsource this and preserve my mum-son relationship (: he's that kind of kid.. Thanks all

@Expatmum2023 is this what you're looking for?

Maybe you could please provide an http type link rather than the one above that could be anything and people won’t want to click on?

Generally speaking each university has the information you need on their website these days, I don’t know anyone who used a consultant for higher ed.

unlike in the USA most universities teach all subjects unless they are specialised (which is generally in their name) so it’s more down to what their grades are like and where they feel comfortable living eg big city, small city, town, more rural? Applications from abroad to England and wales at least (can’t speak for the Scottish ones) are not as complicated as some countries, you certainly don’t usually need to submit an essay or anything that difficult - grades and money are the requirements. the only universities that are particularly tricky are Oxford, Cambridge and perhaps imperial for engineering, beyond that as a qualified overseas student with fluent English they will want you!

the bigger issue for us based students is that they don’t have the same level of qualifications so that’s the key deciding factor for higher ranked universities, sort that and it’s welcome to Britain (does he have dual citizenship?)

You can see the URL without clicking on it if you hover over it. And it was a British Council link that the pp posted, so nothing untoward!

If you hover over the link, at the bottom of your screen it shows the site you will click onto.

oops! I see @MrsBennetsPoorNerves has already answered 😊

You may get some more responses if you ask for this to be moved to the Higher Education board.

Have sent you a pm

I don’t think there’s any need for a consultant. Uni websites will tell him all he needs to know (and will tell you about overseas fees - I assume you have deep pockets). If he is interested in engineering then the courses should be accredited by one of the engineering councils - he’ll need to aim for integrated Masters (MEng) which will add a year. Appreciate that might have been an example subject though. But again websites should tell you about course content and assessment types.

Rule of thumb - aim for the highest ranked (QS world rankings, CUG) that he meets the grade (GPA?) for, having worked out whether city, coast etc is where he’d like to be.

Thank you all for replies - he's not a self starter so I know he could theoretically look on all the uni websites.. I also know he just won't. (Has a bit of ADHD tendencies..) In the US it's so incredibly complicated that there are lots of consultants who help (even inexpensive ones) and I know I need one for the UK or it simply won't get done or with me bugging him it'll not end well.. I'll look at the link - thank you - but am wondering if anyone out there has used one of the many consultants on the internet. Am sure some are a scam but perhaps not all? Deep pockets no but they need to be much deeper in the US so it's a relative bargain for him. (Harvard 90000 a year minimum..no that's not a typo!) plus he will be away from the current instability in US unis

How do I move this to the higher education board?

There won’t be many people on here who have experience of using consultants because it’s not really the done thing here

its enormously more transparent I think

depending on what he wants to study, a quick google for the best place to study x in the UK will send him in the right direction

Looked at the link - thank you - it's the British Council. Yes I know it's not common.. but not sure where else to ask.

@Expatmum2023 just go to your first post and click report (on the bottom right, under your post)

Explain you'd like it moved to HE

reply immediately above relates to this post

If he can’t be bothered to look online at basics such as does x university do the subject I’m interested in and go I have the grades, then he’s not ready/or really interested in doing it is he? You need to sit down with him and have that chat, not try and pay someone else.

Don’t do it for him, and there aren’t consultants here that do that as the process is simple. If he wants to do it he will.

I want to go to Bristol to study zoology, check they offer it, yes they do, do I have the grades/ predicted grades, yes I do….apply on the UCAS application form online. If I dont have the grades look elsewhere for a uni with lower grades that do the course in question

Tenporaryname158 - I know what he should do but he will not do it until it's too late and obviously as mums we don't let out kids fail and just say 'tough shit' . It's a very different reality in the US - kids are 'supported' in lots of outside tasks that in the UK they do themselves, so you can't expect him to suddenly do something he's never had to. Eventually they all figure it out and stand alone. He'll be on his own soon enough but I'm not going to let him fail because in the UK many kids do this themselves (and why then are there so many educational consultants/agents for UK kids too if everyone did it themselves and why do UK 6th forms have teachers who help figure out what Jimmy wants to do/suggest unis etc. Even in my time we had a university advice office. Obviously his US school doesn't have knowledge of UK unis that a UK school would have.)

Consultants aren't a thing in the UK.

You decide the subject you are interested in, decide if you want campus, city etc, look at your A level grades and work out what is reasonable and aspirational and then use websites, forums, friends and visits to do everything.

Sometimes it is the child who does all the research themselves (I was that kind of kid) and sometimes it is mainly parent driven (yes DD, I am looking at you) especially if there is SEN in the mix! Generally it's a mix.

There may be consultants out there, but they're not needed (I have found calling/emailing universities very easy and helpful) and you would probably need an overseas forum to suggest. I have never heard of anyone using one.

I think if you just said here what course he is interested in, what his predicted grades are and whether he has any preference over campus or city unis or north south, then you would probably get some sensible suggestions of which unis to apply to. You apply through ucas and get 5 uni choices. It's pretty simple.

Agree with @3WildOnes - but if you want to do some online research, Springpod has some videos called Subject Spotlights that can give a flavour.

https://university.springpod.com/discover

But when he comes here to study he will be expected to just get on with it. Those skills won’t develop by magic, and they certainly won’t when he’s in a different country with no parental support on hand. And much as we’d love his fees, if he doesn’t pass each year he’ll have to repeat or leave.

Realise fees are expensive in US - but is he really Harvard material? In-state college fees are much lower aren’t they?

His (academically challenging - top 5 in US) prep school does not do APs (the US equivalent of A levels) so the only 'metric' is a SAT (in the mid-high 1500s- you can take it many times) and a couple of APs he took in his own time. Liked St Andrews, liked Oxford, liked Imperial, liked Edinburgh. ! Subjects he's not certain.. (US system doesn't focus on WHAT you want to study until the last of the undergrad years - don't get me started.. it's closer to the Scottish system but IMHO in the US I think it's about extracting money from parents) but likely something STEM - engineering/biology/ physics? perhaps economics. Definitely a joint degree or some kind. Preferably one that lets you change to a similar subject if you detest the one you were accepted for (e.g. from biochem to bio or similar) Liked the feel of St Andrews - uni in smallish city but think wld also like London as some US friends there, really liked Oxford (I know the requirements/deadlines) We didn't visit anywhere else.

Yes he's Harvard material. Remember that in the US it's not just grades that get you in to Ivies. If you're good at a sport the coach has spots to hand out, if your parents went there there's legacy admissions, if you're a certain ethnic group you get preferential treatment. About 30% or so of admits have a leg up in some way, depending on the uni. The playing field is NOT level. NO I don't like the system. Yes he'll get on with it once in, but it is too much of a change to make this particular kid (unlike my other one) change his spots, hence am providing a temporary crutch. I find some f the replies quite preachy and repeating things that in my first post I clearly don't need help with (grew up in the UK, I know how UCAS (or UCCA as it was) works) If you want to fling stones and find reasons why I should let him sink or swim then please don't bother answering. I'm going out now. Thanks to all who replied with helpful answers.

given the differences between the US and U.K. education systems and that your DS sounds like he may need a bit more hand-holding, it occurs to me that maybe an appropriate way in to U.K. universities would be via a foundation degree of some sort? Obviously it’s another year and more money both in fees and living expenses but it might possibly set him up better to succeed.
I am not any sort of expert on this, but I’ve just searched for ‘foundation degrees for overseas students’ and come up with a lot of hits from good universities.
One tip for filtering internet hits which may or may not be obvious - proper academic institutions will be in the .ac.uk domain.

You can't easily move between subjects in England, not so sure about Scotland. So he really does need to pick a subject.

Without at least 3 APs he won't meet the minimum entry requirements for most of the unis you have listed for STEM degrees You may have to look at foundation degrees.

In the UK it’s true that there is less experience of paid consultancies because families who have money and care about this stuff will pull strings and access informal networks, which is why social mobility is fairly crap here compared to the US.

I’m hoping that you will get some useful PMs. I’m going to send you one, this is someone who I know myself and know is a good person with lots of relevant experience, but we don’t know each other very well, and I’m afraid I don’t know what she’s like as a consultant. Hope it’s some help.