Distressed American Applying to LSE/Oxford

Maxnl, thats a great question and it boils down to a few reasons.
Firstly, in the United States, Unis are obsessed with how well you did in say woodworking, chemistry, etc even if you intend to major in Finance. This is largely due to the "holistic" admissions process in the U.S. (this holistic approach was actually initially created primarily to keep Jews out of Harvard because they would ace the exams - no joke). This coupled with extracurriluras and volunteering (which btw I'm completely fine in with nearly 500hrs volunteering and great extracurriculars). My main problem is that classes like chem or woodworking (which you uave to take) factor into my GPA, the most important part of the admission process. This means my GPA is much lower than my scores in my respective interests. This further means I do not have a real shot in places like the I vies and my best shot would be at a semi target for IB/finance. On the other hand, the UK process works much more to my advantage (in my opinion more fairly) and might give me a shot at places like Oxbridge, LSE or Warwick/UCL/ICL - all targets for IB in London.

Ive also lived in England for about a year and my cousin is British and recommended me to UK unis (He did accounting btw).

If I went onto uni in the US , theres a real chance i would go jnto the excruciating study of medicine (8yrs uni plus residency plus specializatin plus im more interested in finance )
finance btw is massively geared toward what uni you went to.

So...yeah. Although recent immigration policies by Home Secretary Theresa May (just today news broke concerning how non EU students wont be able to work during studies (no internships) and would have to leave immediately back to their native country before applying for a work visaa - which you already have to get a company sponsor for whobhas to prove you are more capable than any UK or EU candiate)....are sort of making me rethink applying to UK unis.

LSE has posted an update(july 14) to the tier 4 students visa(see below). Recent student visa changes does not impact University level students . It only impacts college further education students( pre university). University level students can still work part time and apply for internships.
http://www.lse.ac.uk/intranet/students/ISIS/News.aspxImmigration Updates International Student Immigration Service (ISIS) Changes to the Immigration Rules 14 July 2015
Recent news articles have suggested that all Tier 4 students will lose the right to work in the UK. We can confirm that this will not affect degree level students at LSE.

Don't let the last bit about the new visa regulations affect your decision. That is for people studying at further education institutes and not higher education institutes which is what a uni is.

if you watch the following youtube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wW_3rLQOLNQ or search for "youtube BBC PANORAMA STUDENT VISA SCANDAL" you will understand why the changes were made by the home secretary. Very hard to predict future visa changes for uni students . T
here is a shortage of skilled people in the UK of IT, engineering and other areas.
These student visa changes have been triggered by visa fraud. International Students pay up to twice the fees of the domestic students, if the international students decrease it is inevitable the domestic fees will increase or the UK government will need to increase funding.

Hi everyone! I'm an American applying to Oxford this fall, but I think I have a small conflict. I am applying early decision to a university in the US (as a safety) and will have to make my decision my January 1. I know Oxford sends acceptance letters one week later from that. I have heard of people who have gotten their decision announcement earlier than January.. How is this possible, if so?