American Applying to UK Universities

First off, which universities do you know and rate highly?

Sheffield, (which is tecnically in the north btw lol) where I'm from has 2 unis and so a large student population, there are still some historical sites, although we were bombed a hell of a lot in WWII. We have cheap rent, a great live music scene and the yorkshire accent is not particularly strong. This is just my opinion as someone who was raised here, but people are also very friendly and welcoming.

Apart from Oxford and Cambridge, some unis off the top of my head are: Bristol, Bath, KCL, Northampton, Nottingham, and ICL.

It appears to me that the UK goes more by standardized test scores, including AP exams, and less on soft criteria, like extra-curricular activities.

I would suggest that you pull up the League Tables on the internet, and see the various rankings of the various schools by the subject matter you wish to study.

I know you said you'd prefer to study in England, however, (although I may be a little biased as I live here) universities in Wales may offer everything you're looking for. For example, Cardiff is an extremely popular student city with a friendly feel, and a lovely castle plonked in the middle of it! You'll find great nights out and a cracking atmosphere when the Six Nations rugby is on!

If you want somewhere smaller, Bangor University is lovely. It's a small city set in between the mountain range of Snowdonia and the (seemingly) never ending coastline of North Wales. Also has the longest high street in Britain!

Accents shouldn't be a problem, if you've ever heard Tom Jones or Catherine Zeta then you'll know what to expect :P

I also believe that both these unis have brilliant History departments

It appears to me that the UK goes more by standardized test scores, including AP exams, and less on soft criteria, like extra-curricular activities.

I would suggest that you pull up the League Tables on the internet, and see the various rankings of the various schools by the subject matter you wish to study.

Thanks! I usually do very well on standardized tests and I only do a couple of extracurriculars so this is good news. Colleges in the US put too much emphasis on extracurriculars, in my opinion.

Northampton most definitely isn't in the same league as the rest of the unis you've mentioned!



Argh, no! League tables are a load of tosh. They are based on differing criteria that are very easy to manipulate to get the response that the organisation funding a particular league table wishes to achieve. Don't trust them!

I think some people have been watching too much Geordie shore. Its nothing like that up here

What a good way to treat the north as a monolith, completely ignoring that there are vastly different cities and universities in the north. From smaller, more historic Durham, York and Lancaster to the larger Newcastle, Leeds and Manchester.

Plus some of the cities, Newcastle in particular, have a reputation as offering the best party and student nights out in the country as well as fantastically friendly and hospitable cities with plenty of culture that doesn't involve naked orange people.

Having travelled across the UK, as well as witnessed plenty on programmes such as Street Crime UK, binge drinking is evident across the country and isn't just a northern problem.



To be perfectly fair though, I'm not sure how much of the accent you'll really encounter at university. Students will be from all over the country and, indeed, world, and usually middle class (Newcastle has a particularly large privately educated, middle class intake from the south of England). Academics will also be from across the world.

Plus not everyone has strong accents. Not everyone from Tyneside has a strong, or even noticeable, geordie accent. You'll probably soon become accustomed.

Also, which cities have like a cozy feel? By that, I am talking about narrow streets, old pubs, stone (not brick) houses, but still have a generally young populace. I've been to York, Oxfordshire (Witney and Oxford) and Manchester. I liked York most of all, but the heavy Yorkshire accents are hard for an American to understand. I am not bad at understanding accents; I am familiar with English accents from a variety of regions, but the farther north you go, the harder it gets to understand the locals.

Origami:

I disagree about the League tables. Obviously, they are not definitiive, but they do provide some good GENERAL guidance. If you want to study economics, for example, and one school is ranked number 20, and another number 3, I think it is fairly safe to say that number 3 is the stronger choice.

Stronger in what way? It might be that No. 20 is lower because of a lower student satisfaction rating. However, I go to a uni that is known for its low student satisfaction - but I've never had a problem myself. It might be that No. 3 spends more on research than the other - but that is almost completely irrelevant until you are a postgraduate.

I think things may be different in the States with regards to league tables. In the UK, they have been up for a lot of criticism (see wikipedia for a summary http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rankings_of_universities_in_the_United_Kingdom#Criticisms ) and are generally not to be trusted. If I had my way I'd ban the things altogether.

When employers are recruiting, they tend to think of universities in terms of overall prestige, unless they are a very specific sort of employer (e.g. a firm of architects looking for a graduate architect). The overall prestige tends to run in tiers, which run along the lines of
Oxford / Cambridge
Russell Group
1994 Group
Ex-polytechnics and other institutions that became universities in 1992 or afterwards
Colleges that also offer degrees

Apart from Oxford and Cambridge, some unis off the top of my head are: Bristol, Bath, KCL, Northampton, Nottingham, and ICL.

I would suggest avoiding most northern universities. They generally have the worse in terms of British culture (ie naked orange people drinking far too much and puking).

Of course there's London, but I don't think it's very good for campus-based university atmospheres. Perhaps try Sussex, Surrey and Kent. They have university bubbles, but they're close to London if you would like to visit.

For a course in History, and you want to be in England, then you should consider KCL and Bristol then. Followed by Bath and Nottingham. ICL does not offer history and Northampton is really not prestigious.

This might help you understand UK prestige:

http://www.nairaland.com/141689/rough-guide-best-most-reputable