[AliCal]

Hello, I've just finished my first year at University in Exeter doing PPE and just managed to get a high enough grade to do a year abroad in my third year and I'd love to go to North America. So really I'm looking for ANY advice people can give, I'm pretty certain about it after a lot of uhm-ing and ah-ing but I'd really just like to get some idea of how people have found going from the UK (particuarly if it's a third year deal like mine, is it weird being a couple of years older - I presume I'd be in accommodation with freshmen?). I've heard Americans tend to be super friendly as well so anything about how easy it is to 'fit in'?

Out of the options Exeter has given me my preferences are University of Denver and University of Southern Mississippi. Then maybe also College of William and Mary or University of Ottawa though these two I'm less sure of,, but if anyone knows anything about any of them that would be great.

So yeah any advice on picking where to live, on money and generally what it's like etc would be great.
Thanks

[zero_Gravity91]

(Original post by AliCal)
Hello, I've just finished my first year at University in Exeter doing PPE and just managed to get a high enough grade to do a year abroad in my third year and I'd love to go to North America. So really I'm looking for ANY advice people can give, I'm pretty certain about it after a lot of uhm-ing and ah-ing but I'd really just like to get some idea of how people have found going from the UK (particuarly if it's a third year deal like mine, is it weird being a couple of years older - I presume I'd be in accommodation with freshmen?). I've heard Americans tend to be super friendly as well so anything about how easy it is to 'fit in'?

Out of the options Exeter has given me my preferences are University of Denver and University of Southern Mississippi. Then maybe also College of William and Mary or University of Ottawa though these two I'm less sure of,, but if anyone knows anything about any of them that would be great.

So yeah any advice on picking where to live, on money and generally what it's like etc would be great.
Thanks

Well, I don't know most of these universities that you've mentioned, but I can tell you about the University of Ottawa. Since you are in PPE, you might be interested in Ottawa, since Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. This means that you can immerse yourself in Canadian culture and be located at the centre of Canadian politics at the same time.

If you decide to live in Ottawa, expenses should not be that big of a problem. The exchange rate favours the pound, since 1 British pound is currently the equivalent of 1.58 Canadian dollars. At the same time, you should not have too many problems finding your way to the university, since it lies in downtown and there are several bus routes that take you there.

Ottawa is a beautiful city. You can skate on the Rideau Canal in the winter and you can enjoy the beautiful weather walking along the Rideau Canal in the spring, so there are a lot of recreational activities available. The university is really close to Parliament Hill, so you can visit places within the vicinity of the university.

If you want more information, you can send me a private message or just continue to quote me.

Good luck with the selection process!

[mds0213]

The College Of William and Mary has a beautiful campus, based in Williamsburg Virginia, only university in the US with a Royal seal, bond, or whatever it is! If you're interested in PPE, which isn't really found in the US as a combined course, I would consider trying to focus into either the area that interests you the most or in International Relations, Political analysis, etc, find something that interests you, America, the beauty of the system is you can study almost anything alongside to what you're studying as your major(course). The University of Denver, the mile high city, if you've been to the alps, it's a little bit higher, if you ski, best place to go, but otherwise not necessarily the best as if you're not used to the altitude then the altitude sickness can last for weeks, it plainly sucks. The University of Southern Mississipi, very nice area, you'll meet the most hospitable people in the south, not Florida, can't consider it as a southern state, Southern Hospitality they call it. Haven't actually looked at it but I'm sure it'd work fine. I'm from New England, thirty minutes west of Boston, and some of the colleges and universities in the area are the best, yes you have Harvard and MIT, but there's also Boston College, it has one of the best ba programs for politics in the country, then there's Amherst College, fifty miles or so out of Boston, very nice campus, and has a lot to offer I'd look into it. The people and atmosphere in the north are much different, oh and did I mention it snows, not like Denver but its wet and heavy snow. So location matters a bit more! And if you have any other questions just private message or quote etc. And Glad to Help! And now its 1 am and I have no idea why I'm up!

[NYU2012]

I would definitely recommend William and Mary, it's one of the US's top public universities (Right behind Berkeley, UCLA, Michigan, UVa and UNC). It's comparable to schools such as Boston College, Wake Forest and Tufts, as it's not a large research institution such as the aforementioned public universities.

W&M has a very nice campus and a very good student body; for politics it's very well known, as a number of politicians are graduate of W&M.

[GooseNation]

(Original post by AliCal)
Hello, I've just finished my first year at University in Exeter doing PPE and just managed to get a high enough grade to do a year abroad in my third year and I'd love to go to North America. So really I'm looking for ANY advice people can give, I'm pretty certain about it after a lot of uhm-ing and ah-ing but I'd really just like to get some idea of how people have found going from the UK (particuarly if it's a third year deal like mine, is it weird being a couple of years older - I presume I'd be in accommodation with freshmen?). I've heard Americans tend to be super friendly as well so anything about how easy it is to 'fit in'?

Out of the options Exeter has given me my preferences are University of Denver and University of Southern Mississippi. Then maybe also College of William and Mary or University of Ottawa though these two I'm less sure of,, but if anyone knows anything about any of them that would be great.

So yeah any advice on picking where to live, on money and generally what it's like etc would be great.
Thanks

You're a couple of years older than freshman students, but generally you'll be taking classes that are at the same level as 3rd year classes at Exeter so you'll meet people your age that way. My roomate is a year younger (second year) but in my hall overall there are people from all 4 years, so it's a bit of a mix really. You can apply for specific housing though or state that you dont want to live with freshmen and I'm sure the uni that you pick will be able to accommodate your needs. As long as you're friendly and outgoing, you'll have no problem fitting in. There's loads of clubs to join, sports to play etc!

[AliCal]

(Original post by zero_Gravity91)
Well, I don't know most of these universities that you've mentioned, but I can tell you about the University of Ottawa. Since you are in PPE, you might be interested in Ottawa, since Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. This means that you can immerse yourself in Canadian culture and be located at the centre of Canadian politics at the same time.

If you decide to live in Ottawa, expenses should not be that big of a problem. The exchange rate favours the pound, since 1 British pound is currently the equivalent of 1.58 Canadian dollars. At the same time, you should not have too many problems finding your way to the university, since it lies in downtown and there are several bus routes that take you there.

Ottawa is a beautiful city. You can skate on the Rideau Canal in the winter and you can enjoy the beautiful weather walking along the Rideau Canal in the spring, so there are a lot of recreational activities available. The university is really close to Parliament Hill, so you can visit places within the vicinity of the university.

If you want more information, you can send me a private message or just continue to quote me.

Good luck with the selection process!

Thanks for the advice Ottawa does sound great as it's the capital city, and I'd love to be that close to the North East as there are lots of places in that general area I'd love to visit, the only thing that puts me off a bit is the weather, as I don't think I'd be there much when it is warm (as that'd be the Summer break I'm presuming?) and it's known for being pretty cold, but it would be amazing to be somewhere with proper snow!

Do you know much about the actual university/the students? Like do they go out in the city a lot, are they mainly locals or do they come from lots of different places?

(Original post by NYU2012)
I would definitely recommend William and Mary, it's one of the US's top public universities (Right behind Berkeley, UCLA, Michigan, UVa and UNC). It's comparable to schools such as Boston College, Wake Forest and Tufts, as it's not a large research institution such as the aforementioned public universities.

W&M has a very nice campus and a very good student body; for politics it's very well known, as a number of politicians are graduate of W&M.

Yeah W&M definitely seems the best as far as the actual university/academics goes (though I didn't realise it was quite that good, thanks!) but I'm just a bit concerned that I might lose something because the town/area is so small, I kinda feel like I'd want to live somewhere more metropolitan where I can really get immersed in America. I'm probably expressing that totally wrong, plus of course I don't really know what it's actually like there at all. Do you know anything about the area?

(Original post by mds0213)
The College Of William and Mary has a beautiful campus, based in Williamsburg Virginia, only university in the US with a Royal seal, bond, or whatever it is! If you're interested in PPE, which isn't really found in the US as a combined course, I would consider trying to focus into either the area that interests you the most or in International Relations, Political analysis, etc, find something that interests you, America, the beauty of the system is you can study almost anything alongside to what you're studying as your major(course). The University of Denver, the mile high city, if you've been to the alps, it's a little bit higher, if you ski, best place to go, but otherwise not necessarily the best as if you're not used to the altitude then the altitude sickness can last for weeks, it plainly sucks. The University of Southern Mississipi, very nice area, you'll meet the most hospitable people in the south, not Florida, can't consider it as a southern state, Southern Hospitality they call it. Haven't actually looked at it but I'm sure it'd work fine. I'm from New England, thirty minutes west of Boston, and some of the colleges and universities in the area are the best, yes you have Harvard and MIT, but there's also Boston College, it has one of the best ba programs for politics in the country, then there's Amherst College, fifty miles or so out of Boston, very nice campus, and has a lot to offer I'd look into it. The people and atmosphere in the north are much different, oh and did I mention it snows, not like Denver but its wet and heavy snow. So location matters a bit more! And if you have any other questions just private message or quote etc. And Glad to Help! And now its 1 am and I have no idea why I'm up!

Thanks for all the help! I've seen skiing mentioned a lot in relation to Denver, I've been once but I don't think it's something my budget will be able to stretch to once I'm there! Do you know much about what the city is like? Unfortunately the list of places I could apply to was pretty small and none of the north eastern ones you mentioned were on the list

Aaaand does anyone know much about Hattiesburg, that's where Southern Mississipi is?

[zero_Gravity91]

(Original post by AliCal)
Thanks for the advice Ottawa does sound great as it's the capital city, and I'd love to be that close to the North East as there are lots of places in that general area I'd love to visit, the only thing that puts me off a bit is the weather, as I don't think I'd be there much when it is warm (as that'd be the Summer break I'm presuming?) and it's known for being pretty cold, but it would be amazing to be somewhere with proper snow!

Do you know much about the actual university/the students? Like do they go out in the city a lot, are they mainly locals or do they come from lots of different places?

You might be put off by the weather, but I'm sure you'll enjoy skating on the Rideau Canal in the winter! Actually, this year is one of the warmer years, since the ice on the Rideau Canal actually melted off and it felt like spring in January.

Well, it depends on what you'd like to know about the university. University of Ottawa is a bilingual university, so you can improve on your French language skills if you are interested in learning the language. It is a member of a group of research-intensive universities in Canada, so its reputation is pretty good within Canada.

As for the students, they come from many different places. Some students are locals who commute to the university, but there are many students from across Canada and from other countries who attend the university. If you want a great international experience, then I would suggest looking for housing around the university in an area known as Sandy Hill, so that you will be able to meet lots of friends.

There are a lot of activities for international students. This includes organizing several excursions that are prepared by the International Office to holding meet-and-greets with other international students. There are other kinds of activities that you can actively participate in, such as clubs and societies, that also hold activities of their own.