Advice on UK Uni choice

Student Lounge International Students
21

FWIW - while my son didn’t attend a HADES prep school, he did attend an academically challenging day school in the US. The intensity of the work at Oxford at is well beyond anything that he experienced in HS. When he chats with his HS classmates at Brown/Yale/Stanford he tells us that his work load is at another level from theirs.

The youngest son of dear friends of ours in Surrey recently graduated from Imperial as an Electrical Engineer. It was a four year program and the last two years were challenging according to him.

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One way to look at this is that at Oxbridge you are strongly discouraged (even nominally forbidden) from taking on other work during term time. Though that’s not universal in the UK, the underlying idea is that your course is a full time job. When I contrast that with my S at college in the US, where he had a 20 hour per week internship last term as well as running several clubs and doing other ECs, in addition to his classes, I’d agree there’s no comparison in the academic work load.

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23

Had to look up HADES! LOL

Why not SHADE?

24

Hmmm. Does he have friends at Wellesley/Caltech/Harvey Mudd? Not sure whether this is the right comparison.

25

Given that we are New Englanders, Caltech/HM aren’t popular destinations. Wellesley does their JYA at his college - not sure what he’s learned from them.

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@Tigerle
Thanks – I can completely see the US students acting as you describe :slight_smile:
My D is partly drawn to UK unis for the flexibility you describe. And she is not a fan at all of mandatory core curriculum classes
She did great with her AP exams which included BC calc, bio and physics last year. In fact, i was a little worried about her laid back approach - until her scores cam back :slight_smile:
Your input is helpful!

27

@HazeGrey, you are taking me way too literally! My point is that top colleges in the US have varying stress cultures and I picked some that always come up as having a high stress culture in discussion, which Brown, Stanford and Yale do not, even though I’m sure the students do work hard (Brown is on the “students study the most” Princeton list, though, which surprised me).

Though I’ve experienced the Wellesley stress culture, thus it would actually be interesting to hear those students’ input.

I’m sure maths and CS at Oxford ranks right up there on the stress scale (not a STEM person myself), but, again IME, it wasn’t the workload so much but the demands for independence which stressed the US students most, not the workload in hours, which they considered perfectly normal.

Edited to add that I can see US students mentally adding jobs, clubs and sports to the overall, stress inducing workload, whereas the UK students, particularly at Oxford or Cambridge wouldn’t, being more focused on their subject. What @Twoin18 (nope, sorry, @HazeGrey, but I’m sure Twoin18 would use the same expression) describes as the “intensity”. While many do have ECs, they appear to me to be more focused as well - you do English, focus on Elizabethan drama and are in the drama club, or music, and are in several choirs. When they do college sports, they play it as a hobby, it’s not like it’s their main job nor do they need to play in order to keep a scholarship.

Imperial, being a STEM school, may be rather more “intense” in that way. Again, it’s culture I think you need to look at, rather than ratio of waking hours. Not that she couldn’t step up, rather that she might be unhappy.

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28

She isn’t a fan of mandatory core curriculum classes? She understands that she will have very little choice in the classes she takes at a UK university? Very little flexibility until 3rd year, all classes are in your subject or course - and if you don’t like it, you have to start again at the beginning, as there is no transferring (except back to the US).

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29

I understood this to mean OPs daughter isn’t interested in the breadth a core curriculum demands, but would like to focus on biosciences right away, the way a UK course would, and the flexibility she likes refers to the flexibility in organising your workload which the UK system offers.

Good cautionary points to keep in mind, though.

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OP, please keep us posted on her decision! :slightly_smiling_face:

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31

I mean she isn’t a fan of having to take English, foreign language and humanities classes to meet the core curriculum requirements at most US schools
She reviewed the courses extensively before choosing where to apply so she is very aware of what is required at each.
I meant it exactly how @Tigerle interpreted
And I will keep you updated on her decision – she is waiting to see where is accepted in the US but leaning toward UCL at this time…
:slightly_smiling_face:

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32

OK jolly good :slight_smile:

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33

In reality, the overall vibe can really be judged by the vibe of an overwhelming majority of the student body.

For the universities I would say the vibes are:

Imperial - Nerdy and stressful (especially in the Engineering and Science departments) as the university intentionally tries to create a pressure cooker environment like Oxbridge but without the extensive support structure one sees at Oxbridge. One’s ability and independence will count for a lot.

UCL - Mixed bag as it is a huge multi-faculty and diverse courses university; but a little stressful in the science departments. You will find the nerds and the normal but bright students and then you can choose your crew and pace. UCL students can also use any of the Uni of London facilities, so a chance to mix easily with students of universities close by like LSE and KCL.

Durham - Full of a lot of private school kids that are not too nerdy, but many to whom academics is not too hard for. The risk here is that there are a lot of cliques formed by these private school kids. But the school is unlikely to put too much pressure academically (still academically robust though) and, as there is less distraction, one can get on with his/her work in the university.

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@LutherVan
Thanks
The way you describe Imperial (“stressful” and “pressure cooker environment” is what has given D pause. She keeps gravitating to UCL
I think Durham has fallen out of the running. She isn’t into cliques and would prefer to be in London

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I think I recognize you from the PMG college group! I’m so happy for your daughter - she has great options.

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@littlerobot
yup - you did see me there! small world :slight_smile:

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37

What a journey! So out of the UK schools, my daughter decided on UCL. The uni open days were actually quite helpful since we couldn’t visit the campus. She also managed to connect with current students at both universities.

Next decision - off to London versus staying in the US.
:slight_smile:

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38

Thank you for the update! Best of luck to her. What are her US choices currently?

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39

Congrats - great college. Good luck with the country choice!

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40

Very good choice.

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