Hi guys! American applying to UCL

One difference you should note is that you finish attending school in the UK at 16 or 18. We don't refer to higher education institutions as "schools". It sounds really strange to the English ear (as it begs the question, "aren't you a bit old to be going to school?"). Go with universities or, better still, "unis".

But yes, as others have said, there is generally less flexibility... at least at English unis. I think that the Scottish system does give a bit more room to manoeuvre.... but Scotland doesn't have London! :smile:

Reply 22

if you get into UCL go there. UK unis you declare your major to start as you probably know as this is the course you apply to but the course will cover all modules required to have a full appreciation and grasp of that subject so uk undergrad=US undergrad in the major subject. you can still take what are essentially minors as optional subjects but they will not usually give you extra credit. other than that UK unis do sports mostly for fun so you can basically join any team you want unlike US where its pretty competitive.

Reply 23

Svefngenglar

11

General university rankings are practically worthless. Subject rankings are more helpful, but still relatively useless, particularly when you are comparing universities like Saint Andrews and UCL.
If you are coming to the UK from the US you may as well try and get as unique and different an experience as you can get. Saint Andrews is a small university in a village, and its close-knit and ancient environment is quite unlike what you will find in London. It's true that UCL has a history of excellence in research, but if I were you I would do my undergrad at Saint Andrews and then opt for a research-strong university for a post-grad. If your heart is set in London, why not Imperial or King's? Imperial has a remarkably strong position in science, which seems to be your area of interest. But bear in mind that (and I know Londoners here will strongly disagree) Scottish people tend to be more friendly than people in London.

Reply 24

... although it's worth remembering, most of your fellow students won't be Londoners. They'll be from all over the UK and the world. Plus, not many of the regular residents of London are actually Londoners through and through. It's very much a multi-cultural city, perhaps even more so than NYC.

Reply 25

Ed.

17

Svefngenglar

General university rankings are practically worthless. Subject rankings are more helpful, but still relatively useless, particularly when you are comparing universities like Saint Andrews and UCL.
If you are coming to the UK from the US you may as well try and get as unique and different an experience as you can get. Saint Andrews is a small university in a village, and its close-knit and ancient environment is quite unlike what you will find in London. It's true that UCL has a history of excellence in research, but if I were you I would do my undergrad at Saint Andrews and then opt for a research-strong university for a post-grad. If your heart is set in London, why not Imperial or King's? Imperial has a remarkably strong position in science, which seems to be your area of interest. But bear in mind that (and I know Londoners here will strongly disagree) Scottish people tend to be more friendly than people in London.

Stop trying to thieve him from UCL. That is where he wants to go. He will be happy there. Don't nick our americans.

Reply 26

Svefngenglar

11

Ed.

Stop trying to thieve him from UCL. That is where he wants to go. He will be happy there. Don't nick our americans.

I am an impartial observer. He clearly is not 100% sure he wants to go there, or he would not be writing his post. It's less americans over-crowding London Uni halls, think of it that way.

Reply 27

dude im unbiased and i know science well. if you get in to UCL go there.

Reply 28

Jean-Paul Sartre

OP

It's nice to know that sports are a large part of unis in the UK, I wrestle competitevely in high school and would love to continue in college.

Right now I'd rather go to school, I mean "uni", in England because it is three years so I can come back to the US for either my PhD or for med school. I looked at Imperial and King's but they don't offer all the courses I was interested in.

Is it difficult to adjust to living in England? I'm used to life in a large city (I'm a half hour away from NYC) so that isn't a problem for me. I just don't know if I'll be able to adjust well to England or Scotland.

Reply 29

Ed.

17

Jean-Paul Sartre

It's nice to know that sports are a large part of unis in the UK, I wrestle competitevely in high school and would love to continue in college.

Right now I'd rather go to school, I mean "uni", in England because it is three years so I can come back to the US for either my PhD or for med school. I looked at Imperial and King's but they don't offer all the courses I was interested in.

Is it difficult to adjust to living in England? I'm used to life in a large city (I'm a half hour away from NYC) so that isn't a problem for me. I just don't know if I'll be able to adjust well to England or Scotland.

I don't think we wrestle at all over here. sad times.

Reply 30

Svefngenglar

11

Jean-Paul Sartre

Right now I'd rather go to school, I mean "uni", in England because it is three years so I can come back to the US for either my PhD or for med school.

If you're thinking seriously about medical school, you can take do medicine as an undergrad in the UK. I am not entirely sure of this, but I believe in order to get into medical school in the US you need a fixed number of credits obtained in an american college, so doing your undergrad in the UK would be no use.
Getting into medicine in the UK is quite difficult, but not impossible; if this is your final objective you may as well pursue it now.

Reply 31

Jean-Paul Sartre

OP

Ed.

I don't think we wrestle at all over here. sad times.

That sucks, I played soccer (football) when I was younger but I'm absolutely terrible. I'm a pretty large guy maybe I'll play rugby or I'll find something new in the UK that I'm good at.

I'd rather not go directly into medical school into the UK. I might want to puruse my masters or PhD in Europe before returning to the US. Medical schools in the US only require a semester of Calculus, Bio, Chem, and Organic Chem; as long as I complete all those courses I'll be fine for medical school.

Reply 32

I don't know of any English people who wrestle. But there are loads of American students and expats in London, so they've bound to have organised something for those that do.

Reply 33

Jean-Paul Sartre

That sucks, I played soccer (football) when I was younger but I'm absolutely terrible. I'm a pretty large guy maybe I'll play rugby or I'll find something new in the UK that I'm good at.

dude you wanna wrestle!!!go to ****ing london!!!im semi pro at MMA over here, im sure u knw wt that is right?anyway obviously i wrestle (freestyle) and London is FULL of wrestling,MMA ,muay thai and BJJ gyms. i would love to train with an all american wrestler :wink:

perhaps we could train sometime if you come to UCL?i will be at Imperial and theres a full on MATTED dojo (free to use) there.

Reply 34

Jean-Paul Sartre

That sucks, I played soccer (football) when I was younger but I'm absolutely terrible. I'm a pretty large guy maybe I'll play rugby or I'll find something new in the UK that I'm good at.

American Football has a small, but loyal, following in the UK. A lot of unis have American Fooball teams. But yeah, why not give rugby a go.

Reply 35

Jean-Paul Sartre

OP

I love mma! I just stared doing BJJ a month ago and it would be awesome to train with someone else. I wrestle folkstyle which is similar to freestyle and I'm about 80kg. I really hope I get into UCL, thanks to you guys it is now my first choice uni.

Reply 36

Jean-Paul Sartre

I love mma! I just stared doing BJJ a month ago and it would be awesome to train with someone else. I wrestle folkstyle which is similar to freestyle and I'm about 80kg. I really hope I get into UCL, thanks to you guys it is now my first choice uni.

lemme know if you get in man we should hook up as my wrestling could use some american input :biggrin:

. we have Iranians and russians in all the UK gyms oddly. youd think itd be US wrestlers since they speak english lol. anyway look up http://www.pancraselondon.com/ and http://www.londonshootfighters.com/. they are the top London MMA gyms but there are about 4 more. jess liaudan is a trainner at pancrase and london shoot has arguably the best shootfighters in Europe. we also have ROGER GRACIE in london!!!dont know why he decided to bless us with his presence but hes the best BJJ fighter alive. marcelo obv best pound 4 pound. anyway yeah PM me if you get in man.

Reply 37

username149848

1

Jean-Paul Sartre

Right now I'd rather go to school, I mean "uni", in England because it is three years so I can come back to the US for either my PhD or for med school. I looked at Imperial and King's but they don't offer all the courses I was interested in.

Depending on what you end up doing afterwards, you might have trouble in the US having not gone to a four year university. Even though it is exactly the same thing (if not better) as a degree and the emphasis on four years is meant to guard against AA degrees and unorthodox BAs getting into certain graduate level jobs, the four year time frame is so deeply ingrained into the American psyche that doing a three year one can cause problems in employment. It is one of those stupid incompatibility issues, but it does hurt people especially those who want to go into government work (in areas which mandate a four year degree specifically). Something to think about, Scottish degrees do not have this problem.

Reply 38

james s

7

Just do an undergrad masters, that's 4 years, and you get a masters instead of a batchelors :wink:

Was gonna go on about how awesome London is, but you seem to be pretty set on it now.

Reply 39