UK 6th form student to study in the US

(edited 7 years ago)

If California is your place, then deff apply to University of Southern California and the UC system. Beware: they are both going to be expensive, and the chances of you getting into a decent UC(UCLA or UCB) are pretty slim, given your grades.

More importantly: you need a good extracurricular profile, and a "story". Grades are only important up to a certain degree, but then your profile is much more important.

Yes. American Unis look at GCSEs as much as A-Levels. All 4 years of school are important to them. Try to get straight As at A-Level, and you might have a shot at some good schools.

Beware: studying in ANY American uni is hella expensive.

Reply 2

lnicholson88

thanks for a response, but how much is 'hella expensive'? Any UK course i am looking at are going for 9k per year (so 27-36k for the full course) then add on living costs, LSE estimated you would spend 1K per month, so per year at LSE it would be about £21K!!. How much would an american Uni cost?

TBH living in america is something i have always wanted to do, so i dont want to let costs stop me from doing anything, as long as it is within reason.

Also, what things would i need to have for a 'good extracurricular profile, and a "story".' Like work experiences? What i do in my free time? Things i enjoy? Why i want to go?

At GCSE i got 8 A's and 4 B's, so nothing extraordinary but for my A levels, now i only have 4 subjects i am really focusing and concentrating on my studies to do as well as i can! :smile:

Reply 3

calumsteele1

from what ive heard and been told by admissions staff at US unis your English schooling grades count for very little when applying, by this i mean you wont get in simply for having 5a's or what have you, it may well help but it all rests on you SAT scores.

and with regards to your question about costs if i remember rightly including living expenses harvard was about $70,000 a year for a foreign student... could be wrong though :biggrin:

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 4

lifeisgood.

Original post by lnicholson88

Well UCLA has tuition(including residence) at £34,684 per year. I've already converted it for you into pounds. So, fairly expensive.

If you're dead set on American schools, look outside Cali. Cali is a pretty nasty place to look for "good" schools as an international, since the competition can be higher than most for the public schools. Look at the USNEWS rankings and formulate a list of 10 colleges you're applying to. Apply to 4 Reaches(schools with acceptance rate of <20%), 4 Matches(schools with acceptance from 20-50%) and 2 Safeties(schools with acceptance from 50 and above). This way, you'll definitely be able to attend uni in America.

As for your "story" - this matters a lot with US universities. You need to demonstrate passion in stuff. Extracurricular activities like sports, music, volunteering, student government, public speaking etc. For the really great schools, like the Ivies and UC Berkeley, you need to demonstrate LEADERSHIP in these areas by starting a club or something. Write good essays that expose your personality and emotion. PLEASE don't write US admission essays like you write UK personal statements.

Also: for UCs, you should probably get a pretty high SAT Score. I'm thinking 2000+ and you'll have a shot at some UCs. It's not hard to go to a university in America(in fact it's really easy, if that's all you want), but its quite hard to go to a GOOD university in America.

If you have any more questions, ask.

Reply 5

MirandaPanda

Original post by calumsteele1

This is not true.

The IB and British A-level systems are the most established forms of teaching anywhere in the world, so they are certainly considered properly when applying to the US. Heck most systems of education, from the French to the German say, are known by US admissions officials and can thus be interpreted properly. To say that it "all rests on your SAT scores" is nonsense. Your GCSE and A-level grades are your main body of academic work, as you've spent the last 4 years of high school on them, so they'll be considered with as much regard as your SAT scores at the very least.

- I've applied to and been through the process this year, being successful in my admissions.

Reply 6

ariadne1

Original post by lnicholson88

Hi, first post,

I've always been interested in living in the US since the age of 5 and i've visited Orlando,FL on holiday and been to LA with my dad on business(shadowing)/getaway holiday. So ive seen a bit of what the US can offer.

So basically, all i want to know is, is it even possible for me to pick up from manchester,UK and move to the US? I'm currently in 6th form(Year 12) at one of the top schools in the north west and the UK. I got decent GCSE's and i got 2 a's in my first modules of As. I study Maths, Spanish, Computing & Economics at As and I am most likely going to drop Spanish at A2.

At the end of A2 hopefully i will have AAA or AAB. Are these grades good enough to get into a US uni, and do they even look at GCSE's? ATM the UK uni's i am looking to go to are; LSE, UCL, Nottingham, Leeds to study Economics or something similar, ie at LSE they do an International Relations course which looks interesting.

But recently i have started to think about studying in the US, ideally in California.
How would i go about trying to get into a university in Cali, or even moving away from the UK at the age of 18?

If anyone here has moved from the UK to the US to study could they share their information on how they went about moving and applying and how do you find living in the US compared to the UK?

Also, do people even recommend doing this? or would i be better off doing a UK course with the opportunity to do part of the course in the US? Like a sandwich course?

Any responses would be greatly appreciated

thanks :smile:

Well, I'm going in the opposite direction (CA to England) so I can't give you a lot of advice, but I am familiar with the UC system. Most of them will want/require SAT scores, so far as I know, but they might accept your A-levels also. If you would like to go to a school like Berkeley or UCLA, I would highly recommend taking the SAT, but there are many schools (UCSB, UC Davis, UCSD, etc.) that are less competitive.

People here mostly seem to go based on location and reputation, unless they're top students. I assume that you're familiar with the US academic system and are aware that many people experiment with different courses in their first couple of years.

Don't know anything about financial aid. Tuition was just raised, but that might not apply to international students. Note that if you have lots of extracurriculars and have some kind of inspiring story, it hugely improves your application.

Reply 7

ququ-pops

Hey dude
I'm in the exact same position on you, I'm also in year 12, in a sixth form in (Bury) manchester , and want to go to cali.
For now i would just say try speaking to your sixth form counsellor, sign up for your SAT ASAP, so you'll have more chances are taking, join lots of EC's that you'd like and just do your research in the summer.
Also don't your mind on just cali because US has some great unis and you could always move, also try looking at funding opportunities like different scholar ships or unis with need blind financial aid for international students.

Reply 8

victoryshinesonus

Hmm...unless you're incredibly wealthy, you're going to struggle to afford it. America are the free market masters and don't have a loans system I don't think, certainly not for internationals. Yes it may cost a fair bit here in the UK, but it's far higher in the States. Here in the UK, students are going mad saying 'it's a waste of money' etc. but essentially, you're paying for nothing up front. In the US, you need the money there and then in the uni's account.

Or, you need to be incredibly bright to enable you to be in receivership of scholarship and bursaries. If you're in between, you'll struggle.

The universities you are considering all have 1 year exchange programmes with unis in the States, will that not meet your needs? I'm going to Manchester, and they do it for a semester - Sept to Dec/ Jan-May/June (I'd prefer the latter :tongue: