The same posts seem to occur with regularity concerning UK schools. Admission to UK schools is relatively simple if you have the grades and follow the guidelines. Every school posts what is required as a minimum for admission on their website. I sometimes feel with Americans, used to the American system, the challenge seems to be gaining admission to an elite school and then they are set. In the UK gaining admission to an elite school is generally the easy part, graduating with a first class honours from the likes of Durham, St Andrews and Imperial takes an incredible amount of hard work and dedication with very little hand holding. UK schools expect you to start and finish in time advertised for the course, if you fail exams then you fail with little scope for retakes, a year out maybe allowed in extenuating circumstances. Graduating undergrad in 5-6 years is unheard of, 3 or 4 years is standard depending on the course length. As far as Oxbridge is concerned, ask yourself honestly, if you have the academics to get into HYPS and can hold your own in the interview then you have a very good chance of admission, with the acknowledgement that some courses are more competitive than others and many well qualified applicants will be rejected. To do well in a UK school you have to be focused and prepared. Good luck everybody.
Elguapo1- thanks for the reality check. Do you know the graduation rates for popular UK schools like St. Andrews and Edinburgh? What I am wondering is how many complete the degree in 3-4 years?
Edinburgh is at 92%.
Most students graduate within the expected time. Resits for failed assessments and end of year exams are usually possible before the beginning of the next academic year. Otherwise the student may be required to leave and successfully resit the following year as an external student to continue. A very practical reason for completing on time was the time limit set by student loans, which I presume still remains with the current revised systems, though I have not checked,
@KaffeineKitty . Kitty, UK schools are self selecting, to gain admission to an elite school you have already demonstrated your academic ability through your national high school test results, A levels results for UK kids, AP for Americans, IB etc. Nobody gets admitted to the university that the admissions officer doesn’t think cant complete the course. The big difference, and indeed advantage for American kids applying to UK schools, is that American kids will quite possibly have the required entry requirements of 3 good AP’s in their junior year, rarely if ever do UK kids have the required A levels when applying unless having taken a gap year. As a result it is not uncommon for American applicants to receive unconditional offers within a month of applying. As for on time graduation rates at good schools, they will be in the mid 90’s, rarely do kids drop out due to academics it is usually for health or financial reasons. As for grades, unlike the GPA system, UK schools award degrees according to merit in four different bands, 1st class, upper second 2:1, lower second 2:2, third class, anything else is not worth bothering about, I would say on ave these days 65-70% of kids graduate with one of the second class degrees. Your degree classification is dependent on end year exams, so typically 15%-35%-50% of your final degree will be determined at the end of each year with written papers and oral exams when appropriate. No continual assessment and no multiple choice exams, so writing a coherent essay is important. As an aside, I think some Oxbridge degrees are still determined 100% on your final exam after 3 years but I could be mistaken on that. I hope this helps. Good luck.
You are correct, @elguapo1 - a number of subjects at Oxford base your degree on your final year exams, though often one of the exams is actually a dissertation submitted in the spring of final year. So yes: your entire degree comes down to your results spring of final year. Huge- sometimes crushing- pressure.
The British Honours system may seem pretty wacky to an American. For some subjects at some unis, 80-90% graduate with a 2:1.
It depends on the subject as stated. D17 has done a couple of interviews so far and is majoring in chemistry and they all said the grade/degree depends on laboratory work in addition to exams (My degree is also in chemistry and trust me you would not want to hire a chemist who can only pass written exams.)
@PurpleTitan Source?
Just as one example, 86% of students studying econ at Durham get 2:1 or above:
http://university.which.co.uk/durham-university-d86/economics-3-years-9000-l100-24556
How long have you been out? 80%+ getting a 2.1 (or better) isn’t uncommon at top British unis these days.
I may be understating the percentage who get Firsts.
At Warwick, a quarter now get Firsts and 55% get 2:1 :
https://theboar.org/2013/01/quarter-warwick-students-now-get-firsts/
It will differ by course, though.
Hats off to you purple. You are right I have been out far too long. I found this article…
The only thing I could argue is the best schools attract the best students who will attain the best grades, but I had no idea grade inflation had got so bad in the UK.
@elguapo1, well, it’s pretty bad in the US as well at top schools (outside of certain “hard” disciplines at certain schools).
At least a “First” is still relatively scarce.
At Harvard, I believe over half the graduation class gets some sort of Latin honor and in some majors at some schools, the vast majority of students have a 3.8 GPA or better.
And the education at top UK unis is quite rigorous.
It is in many disciplines in top American unis as well. Go to Japan, however, and many classes at even the top unis are described as a joke.