How do you chose a college as an international student?

Name and recognition is a fair place to start, but also google which universities are good in your preferred subject - a good number of universities are good in certain subjects but are not overall "big-name" unis.

Admissions to US universities is less grade-oriented than in the UK. Also, you'll study many subjects, and it is far from uncommon for students to change majors, so there is less focus on your particular subject of focus / major. What subject are you wanting to major in? Look at the kind of classes they offer, what opportunities they offer for your program, etc. I'm not sure what you mean about a grading system? You don't apply for a specific subject in the US, rather to the university as a whole. Generally, universities like to see greater accomplishment in one subject and some accomplishment in other interests, which can be extracurricular. This is moreso true, I think, in highly ranked unis.

Hello, international student here. I am looking at applying to college in the US.

I'm from the UK and have based all of my choices for universities mainly on their 'name' as in how well they are known and recognized, but also what grades they are asking for the subject I am applying for. Using this method I just ranked them and I will decide from there.

I have struggled to find any grading system for each course on US college websites so I have no idea how to rank them and to know which are the best to worst for that course. My idea is that a university/college will ask for higher grades if they are a better education provider in that subject as more people apply. Any advice?

Here in the UK, when you apply to a university, you apply to a course they are offering. So for me, I am applying to universities that offer mathematics and computer science joint honours.

The reason I am also looking at the US is because I was told they offer really good academic scholarships to international students. Do you think this is true?

Generally their reputations are well known in the US, so you may want to look at more US centric resources to get a better idea. It also depends a bit on what you're looking for and to a lesser extent, what you think you might want to major in. But probably the major decision is whether you want to go for a selective liberal arts college (benefits include smaller student bodies and excellent student-staff ratios, and often a lot more scope for individualised learning and teaching) or a big research university.

However honestly as an international student your biggest bottleneck is going to be funding and thus the biggest thing you need to be aiming for are colleges that commit to meeting a student's full financial need (including international students), and ideally those that are need-blind admissions (although need-aware ones are an option). Wikipedia has further information and a list although I don't know if it's up to date: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Need-blind_admission

Note also the assumption that a university asking for higher grades is "better" is erroneous, and universities (in the UK certainly) prey on this misconception - some universities are well known to artificially inflate their published grade criteria, but routinely accept students considerably below that. A few historically also would take make lots of "unconditional if firm" offers meaning incoming students often had lower average converted Tariff scores compared to other universities, although the government has tried to stamp that practice out.

Also worth noting the most prestigious and "highest ranking" universities are not always the ones that provide the best teaching - often those are in fact very research focused and undergraduate teaching can be poorer as a result. While TSR as a whole rails against the ex-polys the irony is that those often focus much more on undergraduate education than research focused Russell Group universities or the like.

Thanks for the insight.

The reason I am looking at college in the US is to possibly get a degree in the field I want to go into cheaper than if I were to go to university in the UK. Do you think I would be able to pretty much get a full scholarship from a good college or what do you think the likelihood is?

Based on a lot of the responses I have been getting on many different forum sites, they say stay in the UK.

Going to university in the US will not be cheaper than in the UK in any situation unless you either a) are from a low income family and get into a college that meets all demonstrated financial need or b) are a US citizen or green card holder and go to a state college as an in state student.

I'm a US citizen and it was still cheaper for me to stay in the UK for a degree as a home fees student, as I could get into similar or better universities here than in the US and it would cost much less (granted part of that is that I'm in-state in a state which does not have notable state schools).

If you are aiming for category a) you really need to be at such a level that you would be a competitive applicant for any UK university and have done a wide range of extracurricular activities otherwise. The colleges that meet all demonstrated financial need are generally statistically harder to get into than either Oxford or Cambridge.

So as I said, your main metric for selecting places to apply will practically be those that commit to meeting your full financial need, and ideally that are need-blind (need-aware is a possibility too). These also tend to be the most competitive colleges that also tend to be considered the most "prestigious", for whatever it's worth.

In any case this isn't to necessarily dissuade you from applying in the US, but more to ensure you do so with your eyes open, know what to look for, and realise that in a sense it might be better to see US applications to the colleges that meet those conditions as "aspirational" or "dice-roll" applications and not peg your hopes and dreams to them. Fortunately you can apply to both the US and the UK at the same time (as you don't apply to US colleges via UCAS so you are free to submit a UCAS application to UK universities as well).

Thanks for the insight.

The reason I am looking at college in the US is to possibly get a degree in the field I want to go into cheaper than if I were to go to university in the UK. Do you think I would be able to pretty much get a full scholarship from a good college or what do you think the likelihood is?

Based on a lot of the responses I have been getting on many different forum sites, they say stay in the UK.

I’m confused as to how you ever thought it was cheaper to study in the US than in the UK?? . It’s well known that typical uni fees in the US are about $50,000 a year…

I don’t know much about the process, fees, what it’s like, etc about uni in the US.

My cousin who classifies himself as a B grade student said he took his SATS, got an alright grade and applied to uni in the US and got a 50% scholarship.

So I thought it might be worth a try because based on my grades, I am an A/A* student and I might be able to get a 100% scholarship.

The thing is after having spoken to people and some of the research I’ve done, it seems that is unlikely. I might apply to some need-blind colleges but I don’t think anything will come of it.