(it’s cool to skip to last paragraph) I am very interested into going to school in London; I was looking at UCL, LSE, King’s, and Imperial College. My high school did not offer AP classes so I took mostly dual enrollment and IB. I should have ~24 credits.
I have looked at the international students sites, and the only one that had a path outside of AP straight from high school was King’s College. You could apply with 3 subject tests + SAT which is actually very convenient as that’s not far from what I was going to apply with to US schools anyways.
The other two options I saw were a foundation programme or completing a year at a US university. I’m not sure if credits are looked at as the same, but I’ll probably only be a few credits off of a full year in US (30). Say I was able to reach that before I graduate or the summer after or some way, I wasn’t sure how it would stack up compared to other applicants or if like where you had your year of credits at mattered(or if my ~24 will be enough)? Ik I should contact admissions and do more research lol, especially with how unfamiliar I am with admissions in the UK, but I was wondering if anyone was familiar with this or knew how they looked at like a foundation programme vs a year of dual enrollment hs credits from an easier US university etc. Always a chance I guess that given my situation of not having AP the others might accept an application similar to the 3 subject tests + SAT that King’s does, but I thought I would still ask about the other two and how they are perceived. Thank you!
Some do accept SAT subject tests in place of APs, but it will depend. I suppose you haven’t been able to do the full IB? That is a straightforward admission route.
You are looking at some quite difficult-to-get-into places. You may be advised to contact admissions in your circumstances. What subject are you interested in? Math? LSE and Imperial don’t have many degrees in common. If so then my gut reaction is to say that as many college level courses as you can get in math and probably physics would be helpful. You don’t want to do a foundation programme if you’re actually dropping down a level.
On your other thread you are looking at IR.
By any chance did you just pull all the London universities? b/ct Imperial is all- STEM and does not offer IR. IR at LSE is highly competitive, and will require 5 AP scores of 5 (they will not accept SAT subject tests) OR a year of university (NOT dual enrollment). UCL, like Kings, will take subject tests.
Foundation years are mostly for either students who need work on their English, or who late in the day decided on a course for which they were missing essential classes. They are nice earners for the colleges. If you decide to go that route do your due diligence.
Not your question, but as friendly advice: take a harder look at the courses you are considering applying to (your including Imperial makes me suspect that you haven’t looked closely at them). The UK system is very different than the US: think of it as enrolling just for your major, with no gen eds, etc. For both KCL & UCL you have no options in year 1: everybody takes the same modules (classes), and they are all IR-based. In Year 2 at UCL half your modules are required and half chosen from a list of (related) classes whereas at KCL one module is required and the others (chosen from a list). The options lists are different, reflecting differences in the overall program.
Finally for somebody who didn’t want to go more than a 3 hour drive from ATL, this is a pretty big jump- and remember that the only financial aid is from FAFSA (~$5-6K/pa).
Oh I didn’t check imperial I knew about the other three being very strong in IR I should have checked before posting, sorry. Thank you, I didn’t know UCL also took subject tests. And I know haha a very big jump. I look at it differently though than like going to a school a few states over. I guess part of it is I’m very very lucky that my family is in an area with good schools that I may be able to get into to. To me, going to a great school near family vs going to another school in the states not near my family, even if the latter school may be slightly better, I’d take the first choice. But going to school in London is a different story, that’s like such amazing option. I would love to live there someday, and the thought that I might have a chance to go to school there was so was exciting when researching, but in the end idk If I can pass up going to school near family. I should have thought about it more rationally before I posted I let my imagination run away with it lol. And thank you so much for your information on Hope in my other post! For some reason it did not let me reply
I’m not sure attending college in London would be “fun” per se. You’d spend a lot of time on the tube (even dorms can be 1 hour away from lectures), it’s very very expensive, and a lot is reading books to teach yourself, which requires considerable autonomy, something most us high school graduates don’t have till 1-2 years in college
(you’d likely have 8-9 hours of class a week, everything else would be on you.) It’s hard for A level students but at least they had 2 years training. In that sense a foundation year would be a good transition year for you and would guarantee you admission. It also wouldn’t jeopardize your freshman status in the US in case you’d want to return after that year.
Add to this that with Brexit the country is likely to be a mess for a year. Interesting to observe as a foreigner I suppose but perhaps not great to experience if you can’t buy fresh food (or at gold ounce prices) due to living in a huge city.
Honestly if you’re interested in IR and cities, I’d focus on Belfast and Edinburgh as those are going to be very interesting wrt Brexit consequences, and then, unless Johnson gets a no confidence vote in Commons and the country proceeds toward a deal or an article 50 revocation, focus on smaller towns near agricultural areas.
I knew about the other three being very strong in IR I should have checked before posting, sorry. Thank you, I didn’t know UCL also took subject tests. And I know haha a very big jump. I look at it differently though than like going to a school a few states over. I guess part of it is I’m very very lucky that my family is in an area with good schools that I may be able to get into to. To me, going to a great school near family vs going to another school in the states not near my family, even if the latter school may be slightly better, I’d take the first choice. But going to school in London is a different story, that’s like such amazing option. I would love to live there someday, and the thought that I might have a chance to go to school there was so was exciting when researching, but in the end idk If I can pass up going to school near family. I should have thought about it more rationally before I posted I let my imagination run away with it lol. And thank you so much for your information on Hope in my other post! For some reason it did not let me reply