[MarshmallowJunkie]

Hi
I'd kinda like to apply to a US university as the courses are so much more flexible and I haven't found a UK uni that has a course I can really imagining myself doing. Two things:

1) Can anyone recommend a US uni that has a good liberal arts/humanities rep? I don't want something that's as pressured or insane as an Ivy, but something that has a reasonable academic reputation.

2) How does the whole major/minor thing work? Can you major/minor in more than 1 subject?

Thanks

[franveri]

Hi!

I currently live in the US, so hopefully I can help.

It sounds like you're looking for a liberal arts college. These colleges allow you to explore a wide variety of subject areas before declaring a major. They also are more focused on the undergraduate students than large universities. There are many with really great reputations. If you are interested in languages, then I would look at Middlebury College. Some others include Vassar, Bowdoin, Williams, Amherst, and Swarthmore. If you want to look at the tables for liberal arts colleges, then this is the link

If you have any specific questions feel free to ask. (Also, the US is a really huge country, so you may want to first decide whether city/country or environment will factor into your decision.)

Most universities (a.k.a. colleges in the US) will allow you to double major or minor. So, you really can study more than one subject and decide what interests you.

[devil09]

The first thing you need to figure out is how/if you can afford an American college. The good ones are VERY expensive. While some provide a decent amount of financial aid to admitted international student, not all do.

(Original post by MarshmallowJunkie)
Can anyone recommend a US uni that has a good liberal arts/humanities rep? I don't want something that's as pressured or insane as an Ivy, but something that has a reasonable academic reputation.

There's lots. You'll have to be considerably more specific. Do you want a college in a big city or a suburb or a rural area? A small college (1000 students), medium (8000), or large (30,000+)? Are you especially interested in any region of the country?

(Original post by MarshmallowJunkie)
How does the whole major/minor thing work? Can you major/minor in more than 1 subject?

The US system is based around a course system, where a course essentially equates to a module in the UK (or a paper at Oxford, I suppose). Typically students take around 32 courses, which means you take 4 or 5 courses a semester (8-10 a year). Although it is possible to take more courses than this (overloading), most people don't. Taking too many courses almost always leads to poorer academic performance and also cuts into the time you have available for extracurricular activities, which can be equally important when it comes time to apply for a job. In any case, colleges often charge extra for going over the usual courseload.

Majors usually require somewhere between 10 and 12 courses (~1/3 of your total), although majors like biology can have pre-requisites and thus require extra non-biology courses (intro chem, intro physics, etc.). Engineering and business are exceptions to this trend, however, as both tend to require many more courses than normal.

The other 2/3 of your courses are used for lots of different things. Most universities have distribution requirements (e.g. 2 science courses, 2 humanities courses, 2 writing courses) that you're required to fulfill. You can also use the remaining classes to add a second major or a minor (typically requires about half the coursework of a major). Finally, you can also use your remaining courses to just take electives in whatever areas you want to.

When you select a major varies from school to school. We were required to select one by spring break of sophomore (second) year at my college, which is probably the latest deadline for most schools, but a few may expect you to pick one late in your freshman (first) year. Don't worry too much about this, because you're allowed to change your major. In fact, most people do change at least once. Minors or second majors can be added at any time, but you're usually required to have declared them by winter of your senior (fourth/final) year.

The number of majors and minors you're allowed to have will depend on your college. My college put the max at two majors and a minor or a major and two minors, but some colleges allow triple majoring, two majors/two minors, etc. Only a few schools don't allow double majoring at all (Princeton, Harvard, maybe a couple others).

[MarshmallowJunkie]

(Original post by franveri)
Hi!

I currently live in the US, so hopefully I can help.

It sounds like you're looking for a liberal arts college. These colleges allow you to explore a wide variety of subject areas before declaring a major. They also are more focused on the undergraduate students than large universities. There are many with really great reputations. If you are interested in languages, then I would look at Middlebury College. Some others include Vassar, Bowdoin, Williams, Amherst, and Swarthmore. If you want to look at the tables for liberal arts colleges, then this is the link

If you have any specific questions feel free to ask. (Also, the US is a really huge country, so you may want to first decide whether city/country or environment will factor into your decision.)

Most universities (a.k.a. colleges in the US) will allow you to double major or minor. So, you really can study more than one subject and decide what interests you.

Thanks so much! I've been looking at someone of the ones you suggested and am pretty much set on a Liberal Arts college over a 'normal' one.

How late can you choose your minor(s)?

How much help (financial/pastoral) is available for international students? Or is this very college-specific?

Sorry if these seems like obvious questions but I am hopelessly lost :P

[MarshmallowJunkie]

(Original post by devil09)
There's lots. You'll have to be considerably more specific. Do you want a college in a big city or a suburb or a rural area? A small college (1000 students), medium (8000), or large (30,000+)? Are you especially interested in any region of the country?

Not in a city/urban area! And small - maybe ~5,000 students or less?

Region: NOT coastal or near New York (and by that I mean within a 2-state radius :P). And not too conservative or very religious.

Thanks so much for all your help! Just to clarify the major/minor thing: if I majored in English, say, and minored in two other subjects how much time would be left over for electives or other random courses? I'm guessing from your description it would be 1/3 but I'm just clarifying

[MarshmallowJunkie]

Also, does anyone know how UK/English qualifications are viewed by US colleges? I can't find any info on A-Levels on the sites I've looked at, just on IB

[franveri]

(Original post by MarshmallowJunkie)
Thanks so much! I've been looking at someone of the ones you suggested and am pretty much set on a Liberal Arts college over a 'normal' one.

How late can you choose your minor(s)?

How much help (financial/pastoral) is available for international students? Or is this very college-specific?

Sorry if these seems like obvious questions but I am hopelessly lost :P

Both of these questions are really college specific. It would definitely depend on the colleges you are applying to. Once you have a list of about 15, I would suggest that you look specifically at the college websites and try to figure it out (for some colleges the websites are absolutely awful, so sometimes it can be really hard to find answers)!

Also, does anyone know how UK/English qualifications are viewed by US colleges?

They will look at them like they look at IB scores. All acceptances in the US are kind of unconditional (meaning that you are accepted unless you do absolutely terribly on your exams, or fail out). However, most US schools also ask that their international students take the SAT or ACT (and SAT subject tests, if necessary). All of the admissions/application requirements should be easily locatable on the website of the college.

I hope that helps!

If you have any more questions/or need any more help, feel free to ask!

[NYU2012]

No one seems to have addressed this yet, but...

Can you afford US tuition costs?

[MarshmallowJunkie]

(Original post by franveri)
Both of these questions are really college specific. It would definitely depend on the colleges you are applying to. Once you have a list of about 15, I would suggest that you look specifically at the college websites and try to figure it out (for some colleges the websites are absolutely awful, so sometimes it can be really hard to find answers)!

Thanks Okey smokes, I'll do some more hunting online

They will look at them like they look at IB scores. All acceptances in the US are kind of unconditional (meaning that you are accepted unless you do absolutely terribly on your exams, or fail out). However, most US schools also ask that their international students take the SAT or ACT (and SAT subject tests, if necessary). All of the admissions/application requirements should be easily locatable on the website of the college.

I hope that helps!

If you have any more questions/or need any more help, feel free to ask!

That sounds so much less stressful than the UK, where if you miss like ONE grade then you pretty much can't go. Thanks for all your help, I'm questioned out for the moment!

[MarshmallowJunkie]

(Original post by NYU2012)
No one seems to have addressed this yet, but...

Can you afford US tuition costs?

I'm pretty sure this won't be an issue (hopefully!) but I was wondering whether you have to pay tuition/room costs up-front, or do you pay back the fees once you start earning? Are there student loans for living costs?

Sorry if that seems stupid but I'm used to the UK system and most of the time you pay after you get a job. I've tried looking on college sites for info but I can't find anything specific to international students, other than bursary oppurtunities.

[MirandaPanda]

(Original post by MarshmallowJunkie)
I'm pretty sure this won't be an issue (hopefully!) but I was wondering whether you have to pay tuition/room costs up-front, or do you pay back the fees once you start earning? Are there student loans for living costs?

You pay student fees upfront; if you don't have the fees (i.e. you can't show in a bank account that you have enough fees to support your entire degree), you don't get a visa. Moreover, on your second question, as you are not a US citizen, you do not qualify for any loans (and the UK government obviously doesn't give out any loans for those studying abroad).

[NYU2012]

(Original post by MarshmallowJunkie)
I'm pretty sure this won't be an issue (hopefully!) but I was wondering whether you have to pay tuition/room costs up-front, or do you pay back the fees once you start earning? Are there student loans for living costs?

Sorry if that seems stupid but I'm used to the UK system and most of the time you pay after you get a job. I've tried looking on college sites for info but I can't find anything specific to international students, other than bursary oppurtunities.

As an international student:

(1) You cannot get loans or funding from the United States Government, unless you have a family member or other relative or family friend who is living in the United States AND is a US citizen AND is willing to co-sign loans for you.

(2) Tuition is due up front for each semester. E.g. my tuition is around $18,000/semester PLUS room and board; which is also due up front for each semester. All-in-all the total comes out to around $30,000 per semester, due up front before the semester starts. Since I'm a US citizen, I have financial aid from the US government and from NYU. However, you will not qualify for assistance from the government and VERY few schools come anywhere close to meeting need for international students. Many schools don't even give aid to international students.

(3) If you were to get a loan from a US company, you MUST start paying it back immediately after graduation REGARDLESS of whether or not you are employed and regardless of what salary you're making.

I would personally recommend staying in the UK for education, as it's far cheaper and much easier financially. For many US students, it's cheaper to go over to the UK and pay international fees than it is for stay in the US.

[NuclearFusion]

(Original post by NYU2012)
As an international student:

(1) You cannot get loans or funding from the United States Government, unless you have a family member or other relative or family friend who is living in the United States AND is a US citizen AND is willing to co-sign loans for you.

(2) Tuition is due up front for each semester. E.g. my tuition is around $18,000/semester PLUS room and board; which is also due up front for each semester. All-in-all the total comes out to around $30,000 per semester, due up front before the semester starts. Since I'm a US citizen, I have financial aid from the US government and from NYU. However, you will not qualify for assistance from the government and VERY few schools come anywhere close to meeting need for international students. Many schools don't even give aid to international students.

(3) If you were to get a loan from a US company, you MUST start paying it back immediately after graduation REGARDLESS of whether or not you are employed and regardless of what salary you're making.

I would personally recommend staying in the UK for education, as it's far cheaper and much easier financially. For many US students, it's cheaper to go over to the UK and pay international fees than it is for stay in the US.

Yeah, when I see Harvard is charging $50,000 a year (just for tuition), then it makes the UKs tuition fee rise seem very small indeed

[NYU2012]

(Original post by NuclearFusion)
Yeah, when I see Harvard is charging $50,000 a year (just for tuition), then it makes the UKs tuition fee rise seem very small indeed

Well... For US students, Harvard is extremely wealth and for those families who make less than $150,000/yr Harvard only expects minimal contributions. I.e. $10,000-$20,000/yr.

However, there are many other top colleges that are not as wealthy and expect larger contributions. Even Yale/Columbia/Stanford/Princeton are not as generous as Harvard (no one is). Typically, the lower ranked the college, the less generous they are with giving grants/scholarships.

The downside of course is that many of the top schools provide little to no financial assistance to foreign students.

[MarshmallowJunkie]

Thanks for your help everyone!

On the loans front: I have an aunt who is a US citizen, so would I then be applicable for funding from the US government?

On the UK/US front: yes the UK is cheaper but OH MY GOD I hate the sound of UK courses. :P (And to anyone wondering, I have researched them and applied this year but am planning on turning down my offers. I honestly cannot see myself studying in the UK.)

[MirandaPanda]

(Original post by MarshmallowJunkie)
On the loans front: I have an aunt who is a US citizen, so would I then be applicable for funding from the US government?

No; YOU have to be an American citizen to qualify for federal loans. Whether your aunt/uncle/cousin is an American citizen is irrelevant frankly.

[NYU2012]

(Original post by MirandaPanda)
No; YOU have to be an American citizen to qualify for federal loans. Whether your aunt/uncle/cousin is an American citizen is irrelevant frankly.

That's not true. If you have someone who will co-sign the loan for you and is a US citizen, then you can get loans from the US government.

https://www1.salliemae.com/internati...n_us_students/

"Smart Option Sallie Mae Student Loan" is one of the ones which Sallie Mae offers.

I have no idea where you've been getting your information, but it's very clearly misinformed

[MarshmallowJunkie]

(Original post by MirandaPanda)
No; YOU have to be an American citizen to qualify for federal loans. Whether your aunt/uncle/cousin is an American citizen is irrelevant frankly.

Okay - I was referring to NYU2012's comment about counter-signing loans if a family member is a US citizen. Now I'm confused

[NYU2012]

(Original post by MarshmallowJunkie)
Okay - I was referring to NYU2012's comment about counter-signing loans if a family member is a US citizen. Now I'm confused

Yes, if your aunt is willing to co-sign the loan for you, you can get US Government loans from Sallie Mae. As I posted in the above post, here is a link which clearly shows non-U.S. citizens (foreign nationals) may get loans from Sallie Mae:

https://www1.salliemae.com/internati...n_us_students/

[MarshmallowJunkie]

(Original post by NYU2012)
That's not true. If you have someone who will co-sign the loan for you and is a US citizen, then you can get loans from the US government.

https://www1.salliemae.com/internati...n_us_students/

"Smart Option Sallie Mae Student Loan" is one of the ones which Sallie Mae offers.

I have no idea where you've been getting your information, but it's very clearly misinformed

THANK YOU!

You may be single-handedly responsible for me not bursting into tears right now over university/college/whatever you wish to call it.