<p>Hey so I'm thinking of applying to some UK Schools including:
U of Manchester
UCL
Richmond, The American Int'l U in London
U of Edinburgh</p>
<p>So i know Richmond offers US Degrees...but I want to know what the difference is between a US and UK degree. Like is a UK degree looked down upon in America? I'm really confused but i'm seriously considering studying at a UK University.</p>
<p>The rule of thumb is to get a college degree in the country you want to live in afterwards. Not because UK degrees are looked down upon in the US, but because many US employers don’t know much about UK universities to begin with. You would also miss out on the opportunity to do some valuable networking in the US, which might land you a first job. </p>
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UK degrees are generally much more focused. In the US you might spend 4 years in college collecting 140 credits, 50 of which might be in your major. The other 90 credits might be general education requirements (English, math, history, etc) and random classes you choose to take because they sound fun. In the UK you would only study 3 years to get a degree, but you would not take a single class unrelated to your major. Great if you know exactly what you want to study and dedicate a period of your life to it, not quite so great if you are undecided or don’t like your major enough to think about it for 40 hours a week. One of the main reasons I decided to leave Europe for college was that I could not imagine taking nothing but math for 5 years (the standard terminal degree is a Master’s degree in my country). I do like math a lot, but I appreciate the opportunity to take a fun non-math class every semester to take my mind off of theorems and proofs for a little while.</p>
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<p>That is not entirely true. Most UK universities now offer joint honor (en-GB honour) courses, where you can combine two or, sometimes, even three different subjects. </p>
<p>Oxford for example offers a joint Mathematics/Philosophy course, which may last either 3 years (leading to a bachelor’s degree) or 4 years (leading to a master’s degree). It is an excellent choice for students who wish to combine a core pure math curriculum with other non-Math topics such as ethics, metaphysics, theory of knowledge, etc.</p>
<p>But then you would be a math and philosophy double-major, so to say, and take only math and philosophy classes. As a math major in the US I can take a geology class one semester, a sociology class in the next and maybe a philosophy class as well. UK universities don’t have any free electives that can be used for classes unrelated to your degree program.</p>
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<p>Nop. In Scotland you have to take a module or two from outside your department. In the rest of the UK it will depend on where and what you’re doing. Many courses may have an extra 1.0CU to be taken from other departments.</p>
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<p>Most undergraduate degrees offered by the[url=<a href=“http://www2.lse.ac.uk/undergraduateProspectus2010/indexOfCourses.aspx”>http://www2.lse.ac.uk/undergraduateProspectus2010/indexOfCourses.aspx</a>] London School of Economics <a href=“LSE”>/url</a> require that students take at least one, sometimes two “outside options”. An outside option is usually a full-year course, equivalent to two one-semester classes in the US. </p>
<p>In other words, in addition to usually being able to double major in 2 different subjects (e.g. mathematics and economics, government and history, economics and philosophy, etc.), LSE students may also take a number of free electives outside their majors equivalent to two or, sometimes, up to four classes in the U.S. system.</p>
<p>Point taken. Some UK students may take a few (on the order of 1-4) classes outside of their degree field(s). But there is still a lot less flexibility than in the US where students frequently have 20 free electives outside of their major. My point remains that degrees from the UK are forcibly much more focused than degrees from the US (though American students can opt to use their free electives in their major and study a subject more in-depth than their counterparts in the UK).</p>