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International Studies

Hi!
I have been wanting to study in america for a few years now and I am currently studying my AS level in the UK. I am looking to get a sports scholarship as I play hockey at a high level.
I was wondering, how shall I go about and get started with getting a scholarship and applying to universities?
Also i'm really confused about how to find their entry requirements for UK students as they are american grades.
Thank you!

p.s if you have any idea of any us universities that are good for science degrees, but don't have really high entry grades, please let me know! :smile:

Reply 1

John Wallis

A few things to know about US unis (forgive me if you already know this, but it's important to be clear):

You can't study a specific subject or get a degree in a specific subject. Rather, you do a general bachelors degree, which follows a "liberal arts" curriculum. This means you get a broad and well-rounded education across lots of subjects. The degree lasts at least 4 years. The first two involve a breadth of courses, some of which are compulsory. The second two allow you to narrow down and concentrate on one or two subjects if you want.

Entry requirements are roughly similar as they are for UK unis. In other words, at the best US unis, you'll need really good A Levels (or equivalent) to get in. At mid-range unis (many of which are still very good actually!), you can get in with mediocre A Levels, and at the low-end unis you can probably get in with five passes at GCSE.

In addition to your UK exams, you WILL need to take a US standardised entrance test. This means either the SAT or the ACT, it doesn't matter which. You will have to study for and take one of these tests in the UK before you apply. These tests are extremely important for getting accepted to US unis - if anything they'll count more than your A Levels. Thus when you see the "American grades" listed on the uni websites for entry requirements, these apply to you too! (as long its SAT or ACT grades)

Another thing they might list as entry requirements on US unis is a GPA (grade point average). This is something US students get at their high schools - you don't need to worry about it. They will look at your A Levels, GCSEs and any other grades you have in place of this. They'll also look at your school references.

US unis also care quite a lot about your extracurricular life and achievements, unlike UK unis.

Overall, the application process takes a long time and is quite complex, so start working on it asap. It's worth it in the end, though, as US unis are awesome, and you definitely won't regret going.

As for getting sports scholarships, there's good introductory info about that here and here.

Unis that are good for science but not impossible to get into. You could look at Virginia Tech. Or maybe somewhere like Boston University. Uni of Massachusetts and of North Carolina are also good bets (the latter is a fantastic uni, though maybe quite tricky to get into). I think UC San Diego is supposed to be sciency too. There are ranking lists to get started here (but don't put too much weight on this). And if you want more help choosing a good college, the people at College Confidential can be quite helpful. Some search engines are quite good too, like the College Board one, Peterson's or the Princeton Review.

Finally, an excellent resource is Uni in the USA. They have reviews of loads of US unis, as well as general advice for applying, choosing and everything else. Also a forum where you can ask specific questions from the experts. And it's all aimed specifically at UK students.