<p>I was just wondering how tough the admissions are for some of the best universities in England, Australia, etc., for US students.</p>
<p>Colleges such as...
Oxford
Cambridge
Imperial College London
University College London
Australian National University
King's College London
University of Edinburgh
University of Sydney
University of Melbourne
University of Manchester
etc.</p>
<p>Also...what about the American Universities (in Paris, Cairo, etc.)? Are they "prestigious" at all?</p>
<p>Admission to Oxford or Cambridge is tough for a U.S. student fresh out of High School. You can improve your chances significantly though if you apply after completing one year of college-level education in the States. Note however that you won’t be considered as a transfer student in that latter case; instead, you will still have to apply and be admitted as a freshman. </p>
<p>In any case, if you decide to apply to Oxford or Cambridge, in addition to a solid GPA and good SAT scores, admission tutors probably will be expecting you to have taken four or five AP exams, with a 5-5-4 score or higher in 3 subjects that are considered directly relevant to your intended major. You may also have to go through an oral interview during which you may be required to take additional reasoning tests and/or answer questions of a technical nature. Depending on your prospective major, those can be for example math/physics problems or questions about a previously unseen passage/text you will be asked to read prior to the interview.</p>
<p>Thanks, bruno123 and yourfire_escape! What about the other British colleges? Are their admissions as strict as Oxford or Cambridge? And Australian colleges as well?</p>
<p>british colleges DONT require subject tests
they require AP exam scores like someone said above. i have a ton of friends who live in switzerland and they are applying to UK schools.
they get conditional acceptances which means it is dependent on how their AP scores are.
and also what bruno said about 5-5-4 is correct. top schoool…eg cambridge oxford london school of economics imperial all require you to have really good scores like that. for US students i think the requirenemnts can be even harder for some majors
just look on these colleges admissions pages. they tell everything you need to know</p>
<p>How are the admissions rates though? I know to Oxford and Cambridge are very very strict, but to Imperial, King’s, Manchester, etc.? How are those? Is there anywhere where I can find the admissions rates for international students?</p>
<p>Hey everyone, Im a 2nd year undergrad at Oxford (Im British but fairly familiar with the American education system) Basically the admissions rate for internationals hovers around 12-15% type area. </p>
<p>Oxford isnt too bothered about SATs, as it says on the website they will look at them but they are nowhere near as important as they for getting into universities in the US.</p>
<p>You would probably be looking to get at least 5,5,5. They will consider you with less but you would be facing an uphill struggle with less. Most of the basis on whether or not you will get in is the interview. This is nothing like the interview you will get in American universities. They wont ask you “Why do you want to go to Oxford” etc etc
They will grill you on academic topics, so be hot on this. (Id probably advise you to look over the A level specifications – they shouldn’t be too dissimilar to the AP equivalent perhaps a little harder but not much)</p>
<p>I know a lot of the shizzle the US universities base there admissions on is to do with extra-curriculars. From what ive heard you wont get into Harvard, Yale, Princeton et al without being strong in this area (please correct me if im wrong) Oxford simply does not care one iota. On your personal statement dont write I play Baseball for my state or whatever you guys do. Concentration (almost) entirely on academic matters (academic books you have read, taking part in maths olympiads etc) </p>
<p>Also, as mentioned by other poster, the Oxford website is actually misleading. Basically, in order for an application to be succesful, admission tutors must be satisfied that the candidate has the necessary background to pursue a course of study leading to an Oxbridge Hono(u)rs degree. For UK students, the usual requirement would be at least 3 subjects studied at the so-called “A-level”. The A-level curriculum, however, normally covers material that would be considered to be at first-year college level in the U.S, meaning that there is no way a U.S. candidate’s application can be realistically competitive without AP courses. That is particularly true in areas like natural sciences and engineering where for example AP Calculus up to the BC level would probably be necessary for a competitive application (SAT II Math would NOT be sufficient !).</p>
<p>One big advantage of study in Australia, is that you automatically receive a work permit with your student visa. You can work up to 20 hours a week during university terms either on or off campus. You will have to check the rules for term breaks. I believe that you can work more hours then. If you can afford the airfare to Australia, and can come up with the tuition and fees, you should be able to cover most or all of your living expenses by working part-time.</p>
<p>Which is exactly the same as the UK. You automatically get a visa which allows you to work up to 20 hours a week during term and more during the vacations. However, it is extremely unlikely that you could cover your living expenses in the UK through part-time work, and you are usually not allowed to enrol on a course unles you can prove that you already have the money to complete it. You can’t tell them you will earn the money later. Better check if such restrictions exisit in Australia (it’s much cheaper to live there though).</p>
<p>But there must be hundreds of applicants with 5-5-5 AP scores, along with excellent personal statements and teacher recommendations. How do they sort out the prestigious from the mediocre then without a transcipt or interview?</p>
<p>they never require a transcript, and im positive that you can get in without an interview because i know someone who did just that</p>
<p>as for how they select with such few criteria, i have no clue haha</p>
<p>this makes it questionable whether EC’s really do play no part… possibly they carry far less weight than academics, but, when you have 90% of applicants equal in terms of academics, EC’s can be the tipper? you can only show your EC’s in your personal statement, though.</p>
<p>Sometimes, when an overseas applicant cannot be interviewed, he/she may be asked to submit a sample of written work or take a (written) admission test instead.</p>
<p>I would also like to know about the American schools abroad (like American University of Paris, the American University of Rome, John Cabot University in Rome, etc.), because as far as I can tell, they aren’t ranked anywhere. If you look at their websites, most of these kinds of schools list where their graduates have gone, but I don’t know how much that means since it could just be one student going to Harvard or Yale or whatever. Anyone know anything?</p>