Attending uni in the UK as an American

Hi! I am an American who plans to study criminology in the UK as an undergraduate. I have been accepted into Ulster University and Bath Spa university and my first choice is Durham but I have not heard back yet. I have a very limited understanding of uni structure and the grading in the Uk. Can anyone help me out? and does anyone have questions about studying in the US?

Reply 1

Chester Student

Official Rep

Original post by Sofia_the_1

Hi @Sofia_the_1,

It's great that you plan to study in the UK!

I'm a UK student currently studying abroad in the US, and I can say that the structure and grading I have experienced are vastly different from each other. In the UK, you generally commit to a single subject for your degree and the modules you take will be specific to your course, unlike in the US where you have more options to explore. The number of modules you take in a year can vary depending on your course and university, but typically it is between 5-8.

The teaching is similar, with classes being a mix of seminars, lectures, and discussion sections. Class sizes can be small, but with courses such as criminology, this is not always the case.

The grading system is quite different in the UK:

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First-Class Honours (1st) - 70 - 100%

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Upper Second-Class (2:1) - 60 - 69%

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Lower Second-Class (2:2) - 50 - 59%

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Third-Class (3rd) - 40 - 49%

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Fail - 0 - 39%

In addition to this, extra credit is not very common in the UK. You will typically only have a few (2-4 being common for me) assignments, presentations, projects, or exams throughout the year, instead of lots of quizzes, papers, etc each semester.

I hope this is helpful, and please let me know if you have any more questions!

Isabella
Third-year Geography with a Year Abroad BA (Hons) Student

(edited 1 year ago)

Reply 2

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

Original post by Sofia_the_1

Note that unlike in the US, it's very unusual to get grades at or near 100% - or even substantially over 80%. The grade range for the highest classification (grade) is, as above, quite large. There's a lot of "room at the top" to distinguish yourself but in practice getting even more than 85% would be well in excess of what would be expected for undergraduate work, at least outside of STEM fields/languages (where there is technically a "100% correct" model answer).

Note that assessment is often based on a smaller number of "bigger ticket" items. It's not uncommon for modules (classes) to be assessed 70% by final exam for example, or 50% by each of 2 essays or similar. You don't get the much more granular grading as in the US as much where you have lots of quizzes, homeworks, essays, final exams and so on all adding up to the total. You may well have those activities still but often they count for a small proportion of the overall grade aside from one or two of them, or they are just formative (i.e. not for a grade, just for feedback).

Also worth noting in the UK you normally study just one (or in a combined honours subject, two or sometimes more) subject throughout your degree, along with ancillary courses as needed in other areas. There are no "gen ed" requirements. So for example a physics student would study just physics, plus some mathematical methods modules, a sociology student would study almost entirely just sociology etc. Your optional modules (classes) are often of the "selective" variety where there's a set list of options you choose from; it's less common to have a true "elective" module where you can choose from across the uni (although it does happen - more commonly available in humanities and social sciences subjects).

However as often modules may have prerequisites from A-level study (equivalent to AP classes, also taken in high school here), there are still limits in what you may take outside of your department. So people tend to not have quite as much of a mix and match of different subject areas - you wouldn't realistically be likely to be taking your criminology classes alongside a chemistry elective for example (whereas in the US not only is that very possible, with gen ed requirements you probably would have to!). This does allow you to get a lot more breadth and depth in one subject area though.

Also worth noting in England and Wales at least, degrees are normally 3 years long for a full undergraduate bachelors degree. In Scotland they are normally 4 years long in common with the US (no idea about Northern Ireland).

Those are some of the major differences I can think of off the top of my head. @Sandtrooper might have some thoughts, being familiar with the systems on both sides?