I’m a junior in high school and I have a general understanding of how applying to American colleges work and what they look for. I’m considering applying to a couple British universities. What are key differences between what British universities look for and American universities look for? (in terms of grades, APs/SATs, college essays, teacher recommendations, etc) For example, I know that British universities don’t weigh in ECs unlike higher-tier American universities but that’s as far as my knowledge goes.
Would an SAT II serve as a sufficient replacement for an AP exam? I’m planning on majoring in Chemistry or Biochemistry and it’s too late to take the AP now but I did get an 800 on SAT II Chemistry.
Sometimes - it depends on the universities you’re applying to,
Could you take the AP exam next year, with a bit of revision?
A couple of other APs, preferably STEM ones, would be helpful.
Your personal statement needs to be focussed on your subject.
I can and will take the AP Chem Exam next year but by that time, I’d have already applied to college. I’m looking to get into a top 10 school, but not necessarily Cambridge or Oxford.
That’s fine - it just means that if you get an offer if would probably be conditional on your scoring 5s in the APs not yet taken.
A lot is covered in this forum:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/united-kingdom/
Read through threads there. Also be aware that UK unis are quite different from US unis (detailed in numerous threads there).
Also this and other threads in that forum:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/international-students/1877839-north-american-universities-vs-european-universities.html#latest
If you search, most UK Universities will have a requirement criterion for what US students need. Most say you need a certain SAT score and like 3 APs with respective scores. And you also need to write a personal statement. SAT II won’t help much tbh, I was told they don’t look at subject tests. I applied with my SAT scores and predicted AP scores. Since I hadn’t taken my AP tests yet, I got a conditional like @Conformist1688 mentioned, which means I need a certain scores to get in.