Studying in the USA as a non citizen

[everymeeveryyou]

DS3 is in Y12 and after asking him to narrow down Unis for visits he has presented me with an option of studying in America instead. 2 of his siblings have been through/are going through the English Uni system and I am looking for advice on what to consider and expect if we support his request.
He is looking at Marine Biology in Florida or California.
Currently DD is in London so we are already experiencing the cost of that, but am aware that US universities are much more expensive.
Any advice, signposting or information would be gratefully received.

@poetryandwine "In particular the elite liberal arts colleges - this is a notion foreign to the UK - offer some of the best educational opportunities around. Some are about as competitive as the top Ivies for admissions."

Did you have any particular élite liberal arts colleges in mind? In the very recent past several European families I know well have had awful experiences with East Coast liberal arts colleges - think very woke culture that was at odds with intellectual development.

What about Amherst, @ceramique? (Amherst, MA)

Excellent academics, reputation for friendliness and sportiness also. The PhD student I had from Amherst ( some time ago as I have been in the UK for a while) was probably just slightly left of centre politically and had been a varsity athlete. They were a really lovely person in addition to being well prepared for our very competitive doctoral programme.

Also, Amherst is one of the rare liberal arts colleges that does needs blind admissions for international students, giving parity with Americans.

Unfortunately the acceptance rate was only 7% last year, according to a quick search.

Also, @ceramiq, what about the Claremont Colleges in Claremont, CA? Roughly east of LA.

This is a consortium of five colleges including a women’s college, a STEM college, one with a strong business and finance focus, etc. AFAIK only Pitzer has a reputation for being super progressive.

All five are considered highly selectively with two or three typically among the top 10 liberal arts colleges in the American league tables -and Pitzer, while superb, may be the least elite.

The group functions as an academic collective with students able to cross enrol, etc.

My DS had a part scholarship and it worked out way more expensive than we imagined. He wasn’t able to work at all for the 2 years he was there plus flights home at Christmas and summer. The health insurance was high and didn’t always cover everything. But he said it was the best years of his life. He was doing sport so it was a very clean and healthy way of living.

@Namechangedasouting987

you can’t use an esta for land crossings, it was $16 last time I crossed at the I5 crossing, admittedly a few years ago. Straight forward but you have to go into the building and queue up, took about an hour - very jolly border guards but took their time.

Off topic but it does appear there is a fee for land crossing with an ESTA ESTA Land Requirements Frequently Asked Questions

Sats - American kids know they have to take it. Brits? A fairly quick awakening unless you have mentor or are in a private school where lots go to the states. The average comp won’t be clued up.

SAT/ACT is really more about providing a basis for comparison, since there aren't required exams like A-Levels. It's very rarely make or break.

Many of the liberal arts colleges are on the lefty side, but not all. Claremont McKenna is known for being on the more conservative side. Pomona next door is probably the best liberal arts college on the West Coast. The Ivy League is historical; they're not the only top universities. No one would dispute that MIT, for example, is one of the best universities in the country. Or the University of Chicago.

The top SLACs are generally considered to be Wesleyan, Amherst, Williams, Swarthmore. If your interests are in the liberal arts (this includes general sciences, but not engineering usually) they're a wonderful experience as they're smaller and very teaching focused with small classes. Eldest attends a SLAC.

One of the important things about choosing a university in the US is choosing what sort of college you want. There's a big difference between attending a large state school and a small liberal arts college. It's not better or worse, just different.

@knitnerd90 "The top SLACs are generally considered to be Wesleyan, Amherst, Williams, Swarthmore. If your interests are in the liberal arts (this includes general sciences, but not engineering usually) they're a wonderful experience as they're smaller and very teaching focused with small classes. Eldest attends a SLAC."

One of those four is the college where several European families I know have had woke issues in recent years. Stuff of every parent's nightmares.

Same. I remember the volumes of never ending paperwork you had to fill in hard copy for the application and visa. Nothing was online when I did it.

I was trying to guess, @Ceramiq

I thought Amherst least likely to be the problem but it was only a guess.

I really would not order things so tightly. You can find some league tables to, sometimes, support OP’s assertion, and other times not.

A couple of the Claremont Colleges crack the top 5 reasonably often and I think only Pitzer is known for a political view.

I’ve also left off plenty of other colleges because of what you said.

Ah, @Ceramiq , I see that while I haven’t been looking Amherst has developed quite a woke reputation.

OTOH Claremont McKenna College seems distinctly middle of the road. FWIW, ranked No 7 amongst liberal arts colleges nationwide in the granddaddy of US league tables, US News and World Report, for 2026 and consistently gets excellent employability ratings.

The liberal arts colleges in the Northeast run liberal politically for the most part. Despite the dread tales about woke, and eldest is at a campus (not one of those 4) that's known for it, she's mostly had a good experience. There are some very noisy people. Keep in mind we're also Jewish and that opens a whole can of worms politically as well. I can certainly tell you which colleges do the worst job of handling that. There are certain subjects that tend to attract left wing professors generally.

Of the Claremonts, Pomona is considered to lean left though not as much as Pitzer. CMC is more conservative. Harvey Mudd is STEM and consequently less political. I believe Scripps leans liberal, but it's also a women's college.

@knitnerd90

Thanks for mentioning Harvey Mudd. I didn’t know how many MumsNetters would be interested in it.

It is a fantastic college, currently No 10 in that US N &WR league table I mentioned above. Unlike UK degree programmes, students have opportunities (and some early years requirements) to study outside their discipline, gaining a broader education and placing their studies in context. Excellent opportunities for independent study and research.

My US employer has a pipeline to HM for doctoral students - as do many top STEM programmes - as one marker of its quality.

@poetryandwine And it wasn't Amherst I was referring to but one of the other three!

I really do encourage parents whose children are considering US universities to speak to like-minded parents of current students. IME independent university guidance counsellors are mostly in the business of maximizing their own revenue and encouraging multiple applications rather than being cautious.

I have my suspicions of which of the three it was. And that suspicion is based on having toured it.

I think this is a little patronising - it doesn't take more than 5 minutes of googling or chatGPT-ing to find out what foreign universities require.

Touring is obviously an extremely wise idea but the parents I know whose children have had such disasters all toured US colleges before applying and nevertheless got caught out. I'm not quite sure why it's so tricky to get a clear and truthful picture of the future student experience - though perhaps in 2026 parents are more alert to signs of woke overload than they were pre-Covid? In any case, from having had many conversations with both parents and students, I would advise VERY detailed research. And there is really is a lot of interesting HE in Europe at a more moderate cost and while it may superficially look harder to research, that is by and large because there are fewer misleading marketing materials and events compared to US universities. Uncovering the truth about what's going on is likely to be equally hard work on both sides of the Atlantic.

@Muu9 The Brits arrive late to the party though. It’s not about your googling skills. It’s about being prepared and understand what’s required from every stage of your education. The USA system is different and many dc don’t know that. Not sure the op did!

Agree that visits are key. DS visited 3 colleges (in a crazy week) that were likely to make him an offer before deciding which to choose for Early Decision. One was streets ahead (in his view), one was good and the other was an absolutely no way!

@everymeeveryyou

It might be worth investigating The University of Tasmania in Hobart, Australia.

It offers a “premier, globally ranked (no 2) Bachelor of Marine and Antarctic Science, making it an ideal destination for international students”.

Based at the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) in Hobart, the 3 year programme features hands-on temperate marine studies, with tuition around AUD $29,710 per year (£15,398) per year. International students can access pathway programmes and scholarships

www.utas.edu.au

My sister’s nephew has just started this course and loving it - although he’s a dual British/Aussie national and lives in Queensland so gets the home student tuition rates.

It's true that most British students don't think about US university admissions until sixth form, but many US students also don't really put too much thought into what it takes to get into top US schools until late in their high school career, either.

A good UK student with 9s in GCSE Maths and English and continuing Maths into A-levels will not be unduly challenged by the SAT - test prep with a good tutoring firm is essential but not particularly challenging and can be done in the spring of Y12.

Doing well on the SAT is absolutely not all you need to get into a good US university. It is a small fraction of what is needed, and in no way equivalent to GCSEs or A levels. They are not comparable at all.

Also, unfortunately, lots of US kids (and their parents) do think about college admissions from very early on and in a way that is not comparable to what goes on in the UK.

I wasn't drawing a comparison between GCSEs and A-levels and the SAT, nor insinuating that the SAT is all that is needed, just pointing out that the SAT isn't terribly challenging for a good English school pupil.