Chance Me at St Andrews and other colleges

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I’m an international applicant (US) using the UCAS system to apply to the following five colleges for history. What are my chances?

  1. St. Andrews
  2. Durham
  3. KCL
  4. UCL
  5. Edinburgh

Stats
AP scores: 8 total tests + 5 more senior year (6 5s and 2 4s)
Goes to an arts school (don’t know how this factors)
GPA: semester grades with mostly As (majority AP and honors clases) and 2 Bs in H. Chem and H. Spanish
SAT: 1520

I plan on submitting as soon as my reference letter is completed by my teacher. But I am a bit nervous. Let me know what my chances are.

1 Like
2

What course are you applying to read?

3

I am not sure what it means by applying to read but I’m applying for history for these unis

4

Can you specify exactly which APs have taken? it’s relevant

(ps, in the UK you “read” (study) whatever subject you are accepted into, and it is a big part of how you are known)

5

Looks good assuming the AP’s aren’t the softer ones ( like human geography/ psychology etc). And the APs should be directly related to what you plan to read/study. I think it may be an underwritten thing but the kids who got accepted internationally last year at my '22’s school all had solid math skills too ( mostly Calc BC). Most had all 5’s on APs (or kid thought so). 5% of kids went international, 2 to St. Andrews, 1 to LSE and 2 elsewhere (Oxbridge and Edinburgh). The year before there were about 8% going international. I think international BA’s are becoming more popular with high stats kids.

1 Like
6

Why the UK, and what are your backup plans if for whatever reason you decide to stay in the US?

7

I’ve done the following
9th grade: Human Geo
10th grade: Calc AB and World History
11th grade: Calc Bc, Lang, Pysch, Environmental Science, and US History
12th grade: Stats, Art History, Econ, Gov, Lit

These are basically all the APs my school offers

8

I am applying to the colleges in the states but I would love to study internationally as well

9

Super- that all looks great. Were either of your 4s in a History or English?

10

nope it was in environmental and calc bc (i got an ab subscore of 5)

11

I like your odds overall, likely several unconditional offers.

Have you looked at the info on writing your PS? It’s a very different beast than a US application essay.

There is info for your LoR online as well- & I trust that it is a history teacher writing it?!

1 Like
12

Yes my AP US history teacher is writing it and I have finished my personal statement (I tried to make it similar to what examples I could find online)

Thank you so much. I feel so much better now :slight_smile:

13

Just to echo that you appear to be quite a competitive applicant for your chosen schools - AP scores, relevant subjects studied, SAT score, GPA, etc.

If possible, ask someone who is familiar with UK university admission (preferably in the humanities) to read your UCAS personal statement - just to ensure it is in line with what’s expected. If you can’t find anyone, feel free to DM me and I can show your PS to my D22, who is about to start university here in the UK (however, she is a STEM student and so might not have a good sense of what makes a strong history PS).

14

Is this typical? I ask because I recently found out that the children of a couple of my old friends back in the US are heading to Europe for undergraduate studies - one to Switzerland and one to the UK. Is it becoming more popular for Americans to venture abroad for college?

15

I think, if you are a top student, you have a fairer chance of getting in to a top foreign school rather than the top 5 in the USA. Essays and hooks seem to tip the scales in the USA (along with connections), but honestly I do not think a good essay is a fair representation of a person. Consider all the great authors you read, who can be very strange people in reality. Also, I’ve read some examples of “great” accepted student essays, and it really seems to be a matter of taste.
Definitely, if you are full pay, it would be cheaper to go away for your education, but you would have to study something that is transferable (ie not medicine). So, it is no wonder that studying abroad is becoming more popular.
That is all clearly my opinion, but despite that, my D was wanting to go to the States. Et voilà.

1 Like
16

Definitely? No. Possibly? Yes.

17

Yes, and if you are full pay it is likely a cheaper option, esp. with a super strong US dollar.

2 Likes
18

Nobel laureates (outside of literature) as well. :grinning:

1 Like
19

I’m pretty sure that nothing foreign costs more than full pay tuition and room and board at the top 5 schools. Except, maybe Princeton, which doesn’t follow the need only rule. If you know of foreign schools that are more expensive, I would be interested to know them, just for comparison sake.

2 Likes
20

Answering this question and apologies to OP if getting too far off topic…

Anecdotally, our local privates send a few kids every year, primarily to St Andrews since it is more “US education system friendly”. My D’s high school (class size about 115) sends a kid to UK on average every other year.

My D had St Andrews high on her list until she decided on a pre-med track. Thanks to one of my very uninformed and very naïve early posts on CC, we figured out that was not an option. (She kept McGill on her list for a while (realistic international option for pre-med) but that was ruled out due to covid restrictions at that time.)

1 Like