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how different are american unis?

I've been admiring the way American's do everything since a young age and always thought of it to be a much better place than the UK. Now that I'm going into uni, I was hoping for doing a course with a year abroad in an American Uni to study too. I'd love to go to an American uni that has a lot of greenery, lad culture, big in sports and anything but the old English unis that maintain their old architecture. I narrowed my choices down to computer science with a year abroad or psychology with a year abroad (both of which I have no particular passion in, but stuff I wouldn't mind doing.) After spending hours looking at American unis, I've changed my mind and believe I'd be happier studying in America for the whole duration, rather than just the 1 year, where I get to meet new people, different cultures, different lifestyles etc. My parents would like to make me happy so they aren't against it, and if I were to go to an American uni, I see myself doing marketing, business and economics, which I don't see myself doing/enjoying in England. (Why? I do not know.) I'd like to know about perhaps any MAJOR differences in the way things work around there, I've read that you take a course of your choice but in order to maintain your acceptance in that uni you'd need to take separate/other mini courses, which I'd love to try out. I am currently studying maths, physics and business at A level, of which I'm doing better in business. I already have an A level in Russian with a grade A, which is really beneficial, I guess. Maybe I'm just biased in thinking that American unis are better, not too sure, but I've been putting off my choices since I feel like the uni I choose WILL decide the rest of my life. I'd like to meet people who actually do care about their grades, and still want a social life. The people in my school now are all clueless and would rather go to a horrific uni just to get a tick in the box to say they went. I'd love a great experience with the chance to meet the right people for me. Is there anything I should look out for? And could someone explain what SATS are and how I could take them in England?
Reply 1
Never studied there myself.
But based on what I learnt through various sources including YouTube vids and an American friend of mine-US unis can be quite different.
Unlike UK where outside lectures you do whatever you want, US uni heavily encourage you to join clubs. Ranges from sports to hobby to course related clubs. Personally I think US unis are much much better than UKs in this regards. If you’re truly hardworking and want to succeed in life, take advantage of this and study/work hard.
In US you are at advantage at expanding huge networks, which is crucial if you want a career as a businessman. Not to mention the huge diversity of all kinds of business you can do with high potential ceiling. Uk can’t compete in that unless certain specified field/area of industry.
If you graduate at US uni you might be able to secure work visa at a firm in US much much easier, as opposed to graduating in UK and then try to get visa to work in US.
Reply 2
I'm in the opposite boat - an American applying to UK unis for postgrad - so I don't have much experience across the pond but I'm quite familiar with how the US university system works. Whether or not you're encouraged to join clubs really depends on the school you go to. I went to one with a strong sense of spirit and community (the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) and another where everyone did their own thing and mainly focused on internships and other career-related activities (New York University). Both are great schools, and I'd recommend either one. For what you're looking for (I'm guessing lad culture is like our fraternity system? Like a bunch of guys get together and drink and socialize?), UNC Chapel Hill would be a great option. Other well-ranked public universities in college towns would also offer a similar experience. UNC has a lot of greenery, fraternities, sports (soccer/football isn't big here - just basketball and American football), and strong programs in pretty much every area (including business, comp sci, and psych). I'd definitely recommend it as an option.

At US universities you start as an undecided student (meaning you aren't focused on a specific subject), and the university mandates that you take subjects in a wide variety of areas. The mini courses you referred to are electives, and they're basically classes in areas other than the subject you want to focus most of your studies on. After a while (generally by the end of your second year), you pick a major (you can also do this earlier), then you focus a lot of time on taking classes in that subject. Many students double major, meaning they pick two subjects to focus on. You can also minor, meaning you take a few courses in a subject (but not nearly as many as you'd take for your major).

You'll want to go to a well-ranked school or a smaller private school (like Swarthmore) if you want passionate students who aren't just there to tick a box. Schools like the Ivy schools are really competitive and I'd honestly say a lot of those students are probably there to tick off boxes.

SATs are standardized tests that cover reading, writing, and math. There's a heavy emphasis on vocabulary, so people stereotypically have to memorize a bunch of vocab words to do well on the test. They aren't like GCSEs or A levels because they aren't part of your regular school classes. They're a separate test that you study for and take outside of school, and you don't prepare for them in your classes (some teachers teach vocab words, but there's no requirement to do so). Some people pay for practice SATs or take courses to help improve their scores, while a lot of other people don't. They're long tests - like 4 hours long if I remember correctly. Students generally take standardized tests in 11th grade (their second to last year before college) and early in 12th grade (their last year). They pay a fee to send their scores to universities, who use the scores to help inform their admissions decisions. Most well ranked schools judge applications holistically, meaning that you can get into a school with poor SAT scores. There's also the ACT, which is a similar test. You may be able to take the SAT at a UK testing center, although I'm not too sure about that.

Hope that helps! Feel free to ask if you have any other questions.
Reply 3
Hopefully I'll be able to answer some of these questions - I'm going to Yale from the UK this autumn, but I feel as if yoshimax has answered everything. You can take both the SAT and ACT here in the UK, although it's stupidly expensive but there are many testing centres. If you are a year 13 student, you won't have time to apply, as most college deadlines are the 1st of January or a bit after.

In terms of the culture you're describing (motivated, smart and interesting) you'll probably want a small/medium sized private college, like Swarthmore, Amherst or Connecticut College. These also generally offer much more freedom in terms of what you study and have good need-based financial aid for us internationals. However, they will generally have weak engineering/CS/math programs compared to the humanities.
Original post by hoixw
Hopefully I'll be able to answer some of these questions - I'm going to Yale from the UK this autumn, but I feel as if yoshimax has answered everything. You can take both the SAT and ACT here in the UK, although it's stupidly expensive but there are many testing centres. If you are a year 13 student, you won't have time to apply, as most college deadlines are the 1st of January or a bit after.

In terms of the culture you're describing (motivated, smart and interesting) you'll probably want a small/medium sized private college, like Swarthmore, Amherst or Connecticut College. These also generally offer much more freedom in terms of what you study and have good need-based financial aid for us internationals. However, they will generally have weak engineering/CS/math programs compared to the humanities.

Wow, congratulations on getting into yale! Are you getting any financial aid?
Reply 5
Ayyy Conn Coll ( I just got accepted to Conn from the UK so I’m very excited.) Also huge congratulations on Yale.
Reply 6
Original post by risephrl1
Wow, congratulations on getting into yale! Are you getting any financial aid?

Yes, I'll need it lol. I haven't got the exact numbers but I'm hoping on near a full-ride, so roughly $70-75k of aid a year. A lot of money lol. Yale are 'need-blind', and so don't care about finances when admitting students. I guess that's what happens when you have an endowment 8 times larger than the University of Roehampton per student. Yup, that's per student.
(edited 4 years ago)
Reply 7
Original post by Oabeg
Ayyy Conn Coll ( I just got accepted to Conn from the UK so I’m very excited.) Also huge congratulations on Yale.

Sutton Trust?
Reply 8
Original post by hoixw
Sutton Trust?

Apologies I’ve only just seen this now and no I’m an “independent candidate” 😂

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