Any Lancaster Students willing to answer a few questions?

It'll be in Munich. The geology department there is excellent and they run a summer school for researchers that I'm hoping to go to. Where did you live in Germany?

Yes, Machester apparently offers flights to...
Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Las Vegas, Miami, New York, Orlando, Philadelphia, Washington in the USA and Calgary, Toronto and Vancouver in Canada. Some of them might have connections but there are direct flights to and from Chicago. It might be cheaper to travel to Heathrow, but you'd have to spend a while researching that as there are so many places you can buy flights from and the prices are almost always changing! Looks like it is possible to get the flights for about £500 if you search hard enough, though.

Nope, you don't need economics. Realistically to study earth science at Lancaster you'd only need something relating to geography or environmental science. According to the website they ask for ABB with "One science from Biology, Environmental Science, Human Biology, Chemistry, Computing, Geography, Information Technology, Mathematics, Physics or Psychology is required for entry". Essentially they want people who are at least slightly scientifically minded and ideally are comfortable with mathematics. IF you're planning on doing calculus, EVS and Geography then that's a strong set of subjects and I think it would be fine. They do seem to suggest that you contact the administration staff if you don't have UK qualifications though:
http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/lec/undergraduate/courses/earth-and-environmental-science-bsc-hons-ff68//#entrycriteria
And as a guideline they say they want "Pass with a CGPA of 3.3 or 3.6 plus three Advanced Placements (APs) with grades ranging from 544 to 555 in Group A subjects. SATS are accepted as supplementary evidence only." for USA students but this may vary between courses. I have no idea what that means though!
http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/international-qualifications/


Open days only really happen in the summer but there's info here:
http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/study/open-days-and-campus-tours/open-days-and-booking-form/
The start of April is fine, that's just before term starts so the university will be quiet and it will mostly just be research students and staff around (we don't have long holidays like undergraduates do!). So you might not get the full experience of the atmosphere. Although even if you were to visit the week after it is term time but it's also exam season so things might still be quiet. I was worried that your visit might coincide with the Easter holiday where the university is completely shut down and virtually nobody will be there except security. That happens between the 23rd and 31st of March so it's all fine.

When you get a response on your applications will vary. Some will get back to you within a few weeks and some might wait until all applications are in (the deadline is middle of January) before considering who to interview. Interview days are happening over the next few weeks in the environment centre and most people get responses a day or two after the interview. Then you place is confirmed whenever your results come through. In the UK this is the middle of August, but I imagine it will be different for you.

I think our system seems a bit fairer than the US system. I had a friend in SC who really struggled to pay the administration fees for every university he applied to.

Sorry for rambling on - it's more interesting than doing actual work

I lived in Sachsenhausen (not the concentration camp). It is a suburb of Frankfurt. It's near the airport in the southern part of the city. Munich is really nice! Go the the "Englischer Gardens". Thats where the riversurfers are. The river is also good for swimming and the park is nice. It's an expensive city though. What university will you be at over there?

Sounds cool! It's usually cheapest to fly into Canada then take the train to the US border from Toronto. Philadelphia doesn't seem bad either. I sometimes fly there then fly on a cheap airline out of NJ. The possibilities are endless!

I noticed the American school system seems to be really broad. You can have students know random factoids from each subject but not really have a strong subject. It is useful for trivia won't get you far in life.

Crap...All APs I have are social sciences (US history, Government, and Macroeconomics). I will be taking AP environmental science, calculus, physics, and geography next year though but AP results don't come until July of 2017 which is kind of late...I'll contact them to ask about that. Thanks!

I have a 3.82 for GPA which is above what they ask. I'll email them about the APs because the results for the ones they ask for will come too late.

Oh, that sucks. I looked at the tour link and there won't be any when I'm there. Do most students usually do tours around that time? In the US, most universities are packed with prospective high school students during spring break.

Middle of August?! Thats when university students start here. Do they accept international students earlier then?

It is indeed. Then again, America was built for the rich and the stupid. Going to the UK will actually save me money even with the international fees, which are the same as in state here.

haha, it's fine. Also very helpful!

I did actually visit Munich last yeah and did go to the English Garden, it was nice but doesn't resemble actual English gardens, even formal ones XD I'm really looking forward to going back because the city is very pleasant and the beer is rather good, too! It will be with Ludwig Maximilian University, which I understand is one of the top universities in Germany. I should get a fair amount of my costs reimbursed by the university as it's an educational visit...mostly

We also have quite a broad education system to a point. Up until the age of 16 students have to do English, Mathematics and Science and usually at least four other subjects. After 16 we're free to chose whatever we want.

If your results come out at the end of July 2017 then that's totally fine for 2017 entry. As I mentioned, UK students get theirs in the middle of August and then start in September or October of the same year. This isn't a problem because most people have conditional offers. I don't think they'd accept international students earlier but you'd have to check with them really.

Normally the university has a small number of very big open days where pretty much any prospective student can come and take a look around and they are very popular. The reason they prefer big open days rather than constant floods of prospective students is because it's more economical to run them this way. They employ maybe 200 tour guides and student helpers to make sure that everyone gets to the bit of campus they want to get to. It's not economically viable to do this all the time as they pay us very well (just under £13 per hour and it's usually a five hour shift or more, this is something you could get involved in as a student if your visa allows it).

I'm happy to take you on a campus tour though as I do know my way around!

It is kind of crazy that it's cheaper for you to come over here and pay the full international fees than it is to study in your own country, though!

Haha, really?! I was an exchange student in Germany and my host family decided to take me there. Also went when I lived there. Cool city though. Haha, lucky! Sounds like a fun time though!

Interesting. We have "credits" over here. You have 4 years of high school and need 4 English credits (4 years of English related classes), 3 math (almost everyone does 4), 3 science (most people do 4), 2 foreign language (I'm doing 4), 3 social studies (I'm also doing 4), and 1 art. It is pretty pathetic in some ways but good in others. I'm not a fan of English but am taking 20th century literature since it is politics based and I'm currently enjoying it. It allows people to take classes tailored to their interests.

Oh, really? That might be an issue...
There is one American school I am interested in. That is University of Michigan. In the US, you have to commit much earlier though. So there is a chance I may have to commit there before knowing if any British schools will accept me. What happens if your first and second choice of schools both reject you? Or is that highly unlikely?

That makes sense. Here they do similar things. Not sure because I haven't really looked at many American schools besides the University of Michigan :P

Sounds like a fun job! I think my visa would allow for it actually. I'll look into that.

Really?! That would be awesome! Thanks for the offer

It is crazy. Some schools here cost 60,000 dollars if you're out of state! It is pretty crazy...They need to do some serious reforms here though. Most tuition money goes to billionaire endowment people, Americans are dying of curable diseases because they can't afford it, we have clowns like Trump running for president and gaining support...It is pretty messy!

That sounds like you have a great opportunity to live there. I visited for an interview for a PhD and the idea of living in another country (especially as I don't speak German) was very daunting. It is a cool city to visit though, I just don't think I'd want to live there as I'm not a fan of big cities.

I personally wouldn't like the idea of being forced to study something. I quit English and Art as soon as I possibly could because I really didn't enjoy them, I've always been more interested in sciences.

If you don't have any offers then there's a system called UCAS Extra which allows you to apply to a few more places and that is active at around this time of year. In addition to that there's a system called Clearing where if you miss the offers for your first and second choice then you can maybe get a place at another university. It's not desirable though as you might end up at a university you've never visited before and you have very little time to make up your mind if you do get an offer. It's also worth pointing out that if you miss an offer then the university might still accept you. Lancaster are generally quite lenient for this and I know people who missed their grades by quite a lot and still got in to the university.

There was a guy from Vermont on my Masters course and I think he said he was allowed to work up to a certain number of hours per week (maybe around 10 hours a week?). To work you need a National Insurance number which you might need to pay a small amount for as a non-citizen. For UK citizens we all get given one when we're 16 and it's free for us. You need it for tax and national insurance purposes, most jobs won't let you work unless you have one, even if you don't actually pay any tax. In the UK the first £10,000 of your annual income is not taxed so most students don't pay any tax. I assume this is the same for international workers.

In the UK we do get quite a lot of news about the US election and it's quite worrying to us that so many people take the Republican party seriously. In the UK people with their views are considered backward or a joke. Most UK students probably align their views pretty closely with Sanders. Personally, although I agree most with Sanders, I think Clinton will win the Democrat nomination because her views are seemingly more moderate in America and the Democrats kind of need someone who is considered 'safe' to stop Trump or Cruz or some other Republican winning. Anyway, that's a little off topic!

I'm not a big city fan either! So you can go to other countries for PhD work? That sounds pretty fun!

I got a response from Lancaster and they basically said what you said. I think I am going to take AP bio, physics, and calculus cause they seem to prefer those 3.

Yeah. Same. Thats why I let one year of engineering as an art credit and TV and Radio production for English one year.

That sounds good. I'm worried about doing 3 APs! What do they think of work experience, volunteer hours, getting published (a lot of universities here like that), or other things? How many scholarships and stuff are there for international students?

Alrighty. Sounds like an easy system! Ours is so overly complicated...

Oh geez...thats embarrassing...I'm pretty worried as well. If a Republican gets elected, then I am for sure moving out of here! I honestly don't want anything to do with America if we go down that road. The whole Republican party is a joke where I live. I'm all for Sanders. He is the only sane one. I actually protested at a Trump rally and got kicked out. Here is a newspaper article on it:
http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2015/12/why_they_got_kicked_out_protes.html
He literally spent an entire hour complaining about the media, polls, Angela Merkel (he was mad she got person of the year and he didn't), and minorities.
I agree that Clinton will win. I just hope Trump nor Cruz gets any further.
Haha, yeah! Thats basically the only thing people here are talking about!

Apologies for being slow to reply - been busy with work and social life recently!

It's more a case of "where are there courses that can help?" and then finding some money to go there. I know people who quite regularly travel all over the world for PhD work. There's actually quite a lot of money floating around for things like this, in addition to studentships paid to the student directly.


Physics and calculus will be really helpful. You probably won't encounter that much calculus but the thought processes involved will be useful for understanding other things.

Work experience and volunteering will help your application, provided that you can link them to what you're applying for. If you've been published then that's a great asset for you! I don't know how many scholarships there are for international students. Generally they're not huge here, anyway. Maybe £1000/year. They're not really intended to help pay for tuition fees but as a way of encouraging people to work harder, I think.

At the risk of getting too off topic, I can't blame you for wanting to leave! I think if our Conservative party wins the next election (unlikely as that is!) then a lot of young people will leave the UK if they can as they are trying to push a lot of policies which seem to damage the young and the poor. For example, threatening to force graduates to pay back their loans regardless of how much they earn. At the moment UK and EU students only pay back their loans when they earn over a certain amount and they only pay 9% of what they earn above that. It's very favourable at the moment.
Well done for taking a stand against Trump, although I imagine he'll just try to use it to his advantage.