anyone here who graduated HS outside US?questions about uk universities.

Applying to College
1

<p>this is a long thread, so pls, take your time reading this and give me some info.</p>

<p>ive been doing a research about going to study for the rest of the school years outside united states and live somewhere in uk eventually. i was wondering if anyone here graduated HS outside US and are currently living in US after graduating HS.
im trying to look up the requirements for entry to university of st.andrews, edinburgh, nottingham, imperial, glasgow and UCL. but i dont see any that is from my country <em>philippines</em> i emailed them but only one university answered my question <em>glasgow</em> and this is what they said:</p>

<p>If you have NOT APPLIED AT ALL through UCAS in 2010, and NOT holding any
offers from any other Universities, you MUST contact me, Ms Vicki
Stewart to be considered for entry as an International fee-paying
applicant. Please contact me at <a href="mailto:V.Stewart@admin.gla.ac.uk">V.Stewart@admin.gla.ac.uk</a> or by post at
Recruitment & International Office, University of Glasgow, The Fraser
Building, 65 Hillhead Street, Glasgow G12 8QQ. You must send full
history of past and current qualifications, including course
descriptions/syllabus, academic reference, and an English Language test
-if you have one. You will receive a reply in due course regarding your
request for entry.</p>

<p>--im so stuck and i cant do anything for now because i havent heard from the rest of the universities mentioned above. i dont know if i can do IB program because that is actually hard from what i heard and im working full time so im not sure if i can take the stress of it. and obviously we dont do A Levels here in US. anyone here who went through the same situation like me? i really need some info about this.</p>

2

<p>so are you from Philippines? and are you studying there?</p>

<p>if ur studying the local curriculum, you will be definitely be disadvantaged. no question there.
especially because UK wants students to take subjects that are related to their course. for example: medical students better take chemistry and math. Economics students must take Math at higher level.
the schoools ur looking are quite competitive, especially imperial, edinburgh, and UCL(depends on which course).</p>

<p>1) you can do IB. if you have the motivation in you, theres no reason you cant do it. Im an IB student and even though im not the most hardworking one, I manage to get through with good grades.
2) Im sure you cant work full time and take IB. IB is a lot of work and some schools / teachers give lots of hwk.
3) and you know that UK offers very little scholarships / financial aid. im serious here, its quite rare that anyone gets aid.</p>

3

<p>im not in philippines anymore, as i said im already here in US. and im going to a community college to take something related to medicine coz right now im working in the medicine field. i know uk offers very little scholarships that why im going to get a loan. i have a friend in UK and he said he didnt pay anything because he got a loan. im emailed all of the university in UK regarding about my situation and ask them if going to a community college here is okay for me to get into the university.</p>

4

<p>Im sorry, I dont quite understand your situation. Please tell me your status: Are you a HS student, graduated HS student, college student (in CC) or what? please be specific.
If I may know, what part of the medical field are you working in? </p>

<p>and are you planning to go to UK for an undergraduate or graduate degree?</p>

5

<p>graduated HS student. might go to community college this coming fall *but not sure yet because im waiting for the email of the universities asking for some advices and some guidance.</p>

<p>im working as a nurse assistant right now.
im planning to go to uk for an undergraduate degree.</p>

6

<p>As far as I know, Im not too sure that you can apply as an undergraduate IF you go to community college. I’m really not too sure about this, but as far as I know, you need to be a fresh HS graduate student. I have a suggestion, since you’ve finished HS, why don’t u just work this year and apply to UK this fall? You would be considered a mature student and you will have a reply that is either accept / deny. The conditional offer does not apply to you since it is used only for “normal” students that apply to unis when they are at their senior year. </p>

<p>the nurse assistant thing is a HUGE PLUS if you’re applying to UK med courses. Seriously, as in like HUGE POINTS. but, the main thing is still your grades though.
Also, Medicine (and law - which I’m applying to this fall) is one of the MOST TOUGHEST COURSES TO get into in UK. and i mean it. no offense here, you might be a chem olympiad and the best of ur school, and you still have a LARGE CHANCE of being denied to super schools med course schools like Imperial, St. Andrews, and Edinburgh. </p>

<p>What’s your AP scores / SAT?
what are your ECs RELATED to medicine (this is serious, UK med schools dont really care at all if you are a choir singer, or like athlete).</p>

<p>okok, ive been rambling on and on. post your stats and i can give you a rough idea of your chances.</p>

7

<p>I am not sure if I understand your situation fully but i will reply as best I can.</p>

<p>You can always (in fact HAVE TO) apply as a new undergraduate applicant in the UK, no matter how long ago you left high school, or how many other colleges or CCs or whatever you have attended anywhere (they probably won’t know what a CC is anyway). There is no real concept of transfer so you won’t be able to transfer any credits.</p>

<p>I understand that you have graduated from high school (in the US or not?) and are from the Phillippines. you want to apply for undergraudate medicine in the UK.</p>

<p>I need to point out to you, as heffendy already has, that you chances of admission are very very low. Medicine is one of the most competitive courses in the UK. For international students it is the most competitive. there is a quota for inetrnatioanl students. they have to plan fill all the predicted vacancies in the UK national health service with UK/Eu students before they can admit any internationals. That means at somewhere like Oxford about 7 or 8 out of 150+ medical students per year are internationals. A UK or EU student only has to be in the top 150 UK/EU applicants. You have to be in the top 7 or 8 of international students, all of whom will be stellar students who have taken lots of A-levels/APs/IB and excelled at sciences in particular.</p>

<p>Also, payment is going to be a big problem. Tuition is going to cost you something like £20,000-£25,000 per year. You need an additional £6-7000 to live on, realistically £9-10,000 in London or the South-east of England. You have tomprove you have the money in advance before you can get a student visa. It is CRAZY to take out loans for this amount. You will be paying it off for the rest of your life! Is someone going to co-sign such loans for you?</p>

<p>I agree the nursing assistant is a plus, but it won’t make up for not being a stellar student (and having proof of this such as APs/IB). It’s just too competitive.</p>

<p>The lady at Glasgow was basically telling you that you are applying too late for September 2010 entry, but they may consider you if you are an exceptional student. </p>

<p>I suggest applying for September 2011 entry. Email all of the schools you are interested in now, explaining all of your current qualifications (that means APs etc). Explain that you are interested in applying for medicine, explain that you are studying at a CC (explain what that is). Ask if you take hard science courses at the CC and excel, and have experience as a nursing assistant, if they would consider your application?</p>

<p>In the meantime, investigate if there are any scholarships for people from the Phillipines. I don’t know about your country specifically, but foreign students here often have scholarships from their own governments (you’ll get nothing from the UK. You pay them. that is how they make their money)</p>

<p>Now you just have to get amazing grades in lots of hard science courses at your CC (unless you already have good AP scores. Not mentioned?).</p>

<p>Good luck in your application
-Cupcake.</p>

8

<p>HEFFENDY: The person below you is like advicing me to go to CC, im not sure what to do or not if you are advicing me to just work and apply to uk this fall, i believe im too late for that, and i might have to apply for 2011 entry, your advice was a good one, to gain more experience in medical field. btw, im havent take the SAT/ACT/APs yet. because in my country they dont do AP, but i heard that, i could just take the AP exam here and not take the AP class. I might do that, and also, im going to take the SAT/ACT exam too. im worried about that, a lot of people are telling me to just take the ACT instead of the SAT I/II because ACT is more accurate and more easier, a lot of people are confusing me, what do you think? should i take both of them? and also btw, this is gonna be embarrassing, but what do you mean by EC’s related to medicine? sorry for asking to many question.</p>

9

<p>cupcake im not in the philippines im in the US right now and ive been living here for almost 4yrs. i might take the ap exam, act/sat exam and see how i do. for the meantime i have to wait for the advices of the universities that i talked to. and also, i think my mom is going to co-sign for me. but right now im actually saving a lot of money just in case.</p>

10

<p>kristina, I dont think that cupcake was advising you to go to community college “**There is no real concept of transfer so you won’t be able to transfer any credits.”<br>
and yes, you MUST TAKE AP exams. And I’m not going to sugarcoat it here, if you dont get 5s in solid subjects like Calculus, Chem, (I’m not too sure about the AP system because Im and IB student), your chances are 0.
And as to SATs, you dont need them to apply to UK. And to tell you the truth, unless youre aiming to get 750+ at each section, it wont help you at all.
EC means extra curricular activities.
Those related to medicine would be things like volunteer in hospitals, competing (I MEAN WINNING) in biology / math/ chemistry competitions, and those kinda stuff, maybe even summer courses about biotechnology. get me? things like choir, athletics, music, doesnt count.</p>

11

<p>In my high school we dont do much, and my high school is not that known or famous in the philippines, ive been out of school for like 4yrs since i got here. my high school is weird in a different way, like, they will only make you do competitions if the teacher likes you. and we dont do a lot of competitions. its just going to school, and the teacher will discuss and take exams and go home. i was in the ROTC though, but still, that doesnt count because my high school is not like any high schools here in US. but im working right now, and im planning to volunteer as possible as i can, because my work schedule is on rotation. im doing research about some hospitals here and see if i can volunteer.</p>

<p>–i thought they needed SATs?the people that told me who got in to some of the schools in UK they gave their sats and aps, some of them didnt even gave their transcripts. unless the university ask them to send it?
and i did some research and went to a forum<em>im gonna guess you know which forum im talking about</em> students going to UK universities and they said the same thing, they gave their sats and the like.</p>

12

<p>“ve been out of school for like 4yrs since i got here”
wait i dont quite understand your condition here.
so you did not graduate recently? how old are you?
can you please explain clearly your academic background (include years) like HS, CC, etc?
and how long you’ve been working or whatever you’re doing?
Im really confused right now. </p>

<p>as to SATs, you can send them, but i doubt they are a requirement. and unless its 2300 / 2350 ++, it wont be any help at all.</p>

13

<p>no offense , I dont want to sound like a jerk, but with no AP scores, sat scores, top competitions, your UK chances seem quite bleak.
Why don’t you just apply to US? US colleges care more about your condition and all that.</p>

14

<p>Im turning 21 this year, since i graduated HS in my country i came here together with my family. i graduated HS year 2006. and ive never been to school here only to the NA Program which made me became a NA. Ive never been to a CC. like i said, im going this year to CC to make sure, and im waiting for the emails of the UNIs in UK because i was asking them for advice… I have been working for almost 7months as NA and the past year i was working on a different field because of the recession and its hard to get a job as NA eventhough i applied to a lot of nursing homes/facilities. But im also going to volunteer this year when i get a chance to talk to my supervisor about my schedule. </p>

<p>thats why im going to register for SAT/ACT and everything just in case. even AP. just to make sure, and the exam for AP is on MAY next year. for now ill just do CC and take the sat/act exam. Glasgow informed me the same thing, they want my SAT score and they dont need my transcript.but they said i should have it ready just in case they ask it to me.</p>