Applying Abroad!

<p>Hey there! I'm an American senior looking to study at St. Andrews for International Relations! I visited the university over the summer and loved the atmosphere and surroundings. I've traveled extensively and can see myself studying abroad full-time and have the full support of my parents and their checkbooks.</p>

<p>Stats:</p>

<p>Female
Public School in Northern Virginia
GPA: Weighted - 4.19 U/W: ~3.8 [both going to increase//strong upward trend]
Classrank is largely irrelevant but top 20%
SAT Reasoning: 740 CR, 780 M, 720 W [2240/1520]
SAT 2: 680 maths 2 [should I submit?], 700 United States History
AP scores: 5 World History, 4 US History, Spanish, 3 Calculus AB
Predicted Scores: 5 for Chemistry, Literature, Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, US government, Comparative Government, and Statistics</p>

<p>Awards: National AP Scholar with Honors
Extracurriculars: 4 years of choir including final year - Vice President of Choir
All-County Choir all 4 years, All-District choir all 4 years
Piano for 10+ years
Varsity Girls Tennis
Drama
Work Experience in Tutoring</p>

<p>Recommendation: AP Literature teacher who is a Harvard alumni; knows me very well.</p>

<p>Any advice would be helpful! I'm really hoping to get in!</p>

<p>My advice from here in the UK is apply and see what happens. It is however extremely rare for Americans to be admitted directly from an American high School. Those Americans that are admitted almost invariably have some British connection or went to international schools.</p>

<p>You should also note that British universities do not consider extracurriculars when making decisions. They will be interested in your AP scores in RELEVANT subjects (they will tell you the subjects). Things like sports, music, volunteering will be disregarded. </p>

<p>The British system is very, very different. You should also realize that you won’t be allowed to stay or work in the UK, and will have no access to career services that are relevant to the US or American employers. That can be a serious limitation. And of course you will not be eligible for financial aid and overseas students pay much higher fees.</p>

<p>I don’t mean to sound negative but for most people, it simply is not practical to consider a British education unless you have a British connection.</p>

<p>I appreciate your input. However, I heard back this morning, unconditional from St. Andrews. So apparently I still had what they wanted!</p>

<p>Thanks</p>

<p>Congratulations!</p>

<p>The New York Times recently ran an article on St. Andrews that would be of interest.
[Going</a> Off to College for Less (Passport Required) - NYTimes.com](<a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/01/education/01scotland.html]Going”>Going Off to College for Less (Passport Required) - The New York Times)</p>

<p>Congratulations missx! I think your ECs could be a HUGE help is getting acculturated.</p>

<p>My D played Rugby for her US school, and when she did study abroad at Edinburgh, she wound up playing with their First 15. The team was like a family away from home, and my D stayed busy, with touring, visiting St. Andrews, playing her sport, bagging a Munro*, sipping single malts, eating haggis, and oh yeah, some time at school too - and no time to get homesick. </p>

<p>Good luck and enjoy the heck out of it!</p>

<p>*[Munro</a> - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munro]Munro”>Munro - Wikipedia)</p>