Study in the states

Ive only recently been thinking about going to university in the states BUT i have been wondering whether im too old to go (im 20 in december), as well as whether i'll be good enough to get in.

You see the thing is that i have good grades at GCSE 5A's 5B's and at a-level AABB in Maths, Economics, English Lit and Lang and Geography. Ive also decided that i want to study Classics/Ancient History now, not Economics and Management originally. Im really worried that i may not get in at all and that im just not good enough.

Any advice or comments would be greatly appreciated.

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Reply 1

dismal_laundry

You are definitely NOT too old. There is a rising trend for students to take longer to complete degrees- this is partly due to students having often to pay for part or all of the degree themselves, and some take a lighter class load. Also, many students transfer to a different college and/or a different major at least once, and the process can involve having to take more credits overall. Your A levels are fine.

About not being good enough, of course you are good enough. There is an enormous amount and variety of courses in US higher education.

The only area where things might be difficult is money- college is expensive. Many students work, but I don't know if you can work legally. Try to get some financial aid. Any ideas where you'd like to go? What city or area?

Reply 2

Mr H

i was thinking of the ivy league uni's yale, princeton, chicago. as well as ucla and berkeley. I suppose that i have to do well in the SAT's. I did a practice one that i had checked and i scored a 2300.

Reply 3

shady lane

Is it just me, or is everyone on this forum only wanting to apply to Harvard and Yale?

Reply 4

Mr H

i no what you mean but for my course its one of the best

Reply 5

shady lane

Is it just me, or is everyone on this forum only wanting to apply to Harvard and Yale?

Isn't it for the same reason you picked LSE over UCL? :wink:

Name recognition (particularly in home country).

Reply 6

Champagne Breakfast

I can understand Harvard.. but Yale is just a strange little university with strange little people.

Anyhow no I think people on these forums are considering a range of universities. The OP mentioned Princeton, Chicago, Berkeley, UCLA.. I've seen MIT and Tennessee mentioned, among others.

Reply 7

shady lane

Isn't it for the same reason you picked LSE over UCL? :wink:

Name recognition (particularly in home country).

There are many schools in the US that have international name recognition.

In terms of my choices, I applied to LSE, UCL, King's, and SOAS. What I chose isn't the same as what I applied to. I never expected to get into UCL or LSE to be honest. I didn't apply elsewhere because I wanted to go to London exclusively.

Reply 8

shady lane

There are many schools in the US that have international name recognition.

But Harvard and Yale's name recognition is greater than any other US schools.

Reply 9

Aimless2007

MIT is internationally better known as Yale, which is especially true for asian countries. But HPYM are one of the few US unis that are need-blind for int. students, and thats probably y so many intels apply there...

Reply 10

Champagne Breakfast

shady lane

What did you apply for at SOAS? Does it have a good reputation in the US?

Reply 11

dismal_laundry

What are the UK FCO and the DfID?

Reply 12

shady lane

dismal_laundry

What are the UK FCO and the DfID?

Sorry

FCO: Foreign and Commonwealth Office
DfID: Department for International Development (analogous to USAID)

Thanks!

There are an incredible amount of universities in the states that are considered "good"(maybe not internationally, but there are plenty of jobs in the states). In addition, I always consider the name recognition of a graduate degree to be of much more importance than an undergraduate degree.

Edit - someone did mention Princeton, haha

Reply 15

Earlham

When it comes to money, keep in mind that lots of smaller schools (which are awesome, but you may not have heard of) love to throw money at international students. It may not be Harvard, Yale, MIT or Stanford (sorry, but they're not the only four schools in the country!), but you'll get an education that's as just as good (or better!) and avoid massive amounts of debt! Earlham College, my alma mater, is just one example (lots of basically free rides, especially, at the moment, for UWC folks), but there have to be others who really want to encourage international students to come!

Reply 16

Mr H

Are these grades good enough for Ivy league schools, and the top public schools like Berkeley and Stanford? I also do a ton of extracurriculars, both sport and music. Also would the fact that i want to do Classics and not a popular course like History or English work in my favour?

Reply 17

M_Jenkins

shady lane

Is it just me, or is everyone on this forum only wanting to apply to Harvard and Yale?

Not really, if I could ever go to a US uni I'd like to got to Berkeley or Stanford but I'm not to sure about the admission process and I'm afraid I'm not good enough.

That's quite true.

Mr H

Sigh. It probably won't matter that you want to do Classics. US schools don't generally admit you to a specific degree program (they might admit you to the school of liberal arts or engineering, depending on the size and organization of the school), because they know that students change their minds once they arrive and get a feel for their subject. At my college, we didn't have to declare a major until the end of our second year.

So, yes, the application will ask what you think you'd like to study, but it honestly doesn't matter very much what you put down there.