<p>Hi, I am an International Baccalaureate Diploma student from New Delhi, India. I was one of the few students in my relatively small high school who applied to both the United Kingdom and the states. I was extremely fortunate in my admissions process in the UK as I got all 6 of my UCAS offers. </p>
<p>However, now I am stuck in a dilemna, where I have to choose between the following colleges:</p>
<ul>
<li>Claremont Mckenna : US</li>
<li>University College London : UK</li>
<li>Warwick University : UK</li>
<li>Bristol University : UK</li>
</ul>
<p>The last three institutions, the UK one's, have conditional offers, i.e. they are subject to my obtaining a certain grade level in my IB Diploma final exams. </p>
<p>Claremont Mckenna, on the other hand has given an unconditional offer. Their reply date is May 1st, which also happens to be the starting date for my finals.</p>
<p>If I select any of the UK options, there is an element of uncertainity, and I would have to forego Claremont in such a situation.</p>
<p>Well, the obvious question first: forgetting about the conditions, which school would you most like to attend? If your answer is CMC, then life is easy.</p>
<p>And secondly, if life isn't quite so simple: you know yourself best. What do you think your odds are of obtaining the necessary grades on your finals? If they're high, then just choose your favorite school and go from there. If odds are low or you have no idea, then either take the sure bet, do EVERYTHING you can to raise your odds, or buckle down and think up an answer to Question #3...</p>
<p>Finally, if CMC isn't your first choice and you don't obtain the necessary grades, do you have or can you think of an appealing back-up plan? If your answer here is "yes," then you've really minimized the risk of the situation, because it becomes a no-lose.</p>
<p>I don't know how your school works, but you might try talking about this with some teachers. Tell them your dilemma, ask if they think you're capable enough to rely on final grades, and see if there's any study help they can give you. At the very least, these are respectable questions and you'll get another opinion.</p>
<p>Santino, I got into similar situation like yours. I got generous offers from Imperial, LSE, UCL, Kings and Warwick majoring in Mathematics but at the same time I got admitted by Duke and Northwestern but rejected by Stanford. The deadline is approaching and I am still not sure where I am going to end up.</p>
<p>i think one can accept a uk offer and a us university cuz anyway your place at the uk ones won't be confirmed till like early august right? '</p>
<p>i don't know anything about bristol but the major difference between ucl and warwick would be city versus small town location. people get really spread out in a city and on the weekends they may go off in click-y groups shopping clubbing anywhere in london. with warwick, everyone's contained in a smaller space and it's easier to develop strong friendships with a broader range of people.</p>
<p>Haha, I at first thought his username alluded to the dish chaat, you know the thing with peas and different chutneys and then you put in the chaat masala; oh great, I'm hungry now. Anyone know a good place to get chaat in NY (near the city or on LI)?</p>
<p>ahahahhaha i think i was really craving some chaat when i created this account. nyjunior, i have friends in newyork and apparently there are a ton of good indian eateries there so don't you worryy</p>
<p>Back to the point, Student615 I really like the way you've thought about it. Logically your method is perfect. The problem is i'm perfectly happy at any of the four mentioned unis (except bristol). I can't seem to find that one pro or con to overrule everything else. I have a fairly good idea about my conditoinal offers etc, but I guess the timing is so bad..</p>
<p>Well if you'd be perfectly happy at any of them besides bristol, i'd cut bristol and claremont from your list. UCL and Warwick, especially UCL if ur not studying business are top ranked institutions and will give better employment prospectives. I know everyone says don't look at prestige, but if you're seriously happy either place, then what else do you have to go by =P Warwick campus uni, UCL you're in one of the major cities of the world along with New York, expensive too, so see what you're up to.</p>
<p>wow..lol..I love the way any decision making process becomes so clear and simple when an outsider looks at it lol.</p>
<p>I guess everyone has given very accurate and appropriate opinions till now. I do have slight anxieties like salaries and experience etc.</p>
<p>I didn't want to complicate this problem further, but since Inshallah mentioned it, well here goes:</p>
<p>I do the IB program and selected a very open range of subjects like Eco Phys Math Bus etc.
Therefore, for university level education, i was open to go into literally any field I wanted to.</p>
<p>I probably should have mentioned it earlier, but I really like both Physics and Economics. I feel its in my blood (grandad scientist at National Phys Lab, Dad Engineer, Mom Economist)</p>
<p>I find both courses interesting...</p>
<p>I understand if now you feel this is too complicated and quit!! lol</p>
<p>huskem55, I agree with you completely..CMC offers a brilliant education for Govt, Economics and blend it with leadership as well. I guess that adds to the equation :)</p>
<p>I know students at Scripps (also in the Claremont consortium) who are majoring in Mathematical Econ. I don't know which college it's through, but you might look into that possibility at CMC. Sounds potentially up your alley. I also know of a Mudd (another Claremont) student who's aiming to go into Financial Engineering, and I <em>think</em> that there's a CMC student in the same class who's a math/econ major with an engineering minor...but I might be dreaming that.</p>
<p>The nice thing about Claremont is that you're not pigeonholed into "school of engineering" or "school of letters." For an unusually wide variety of pursuits, you end up with incredible facilities at your fingertips. I can't speak for the other schools on your list, which could easily be just as flexible, but it was a big draw for me (came in torn between English/engineering, although wound up as neither).</p>
<p>Claremont is a good school, a very fine school, but little known to many people in the US because it is a small school. But that doesn't matter if you are planning on eventually applying to grad school for econ or an MBA. If you do well in school and employment, it won't matter.</p>
<p>UCL seems to be the most famous of the schools you've applied to.</p>
<p>I would say that your choice would depend first and foremost on where you think you want to live and pursue your career. Go to UCL or other, if Britain. Go to Claremont, if US.</p>
<p>If you are going back to India after college, wouldn't UCL have the highest profile?</p>
<p>As far as tactics goes, accept your offer with Claremont (if you are willing to forgo the deposit which you'll have to sacrifice if you don't go there and assuming they don't collect the rest too soon) and see how it goes with your UK alternatives.</p>