I’m new to the forum, so please remind me if I placed the question in the wrong category.
I’m a 18 y.o girl from Central Europe and have just finished high school, but am taking a year off. I’ve been thinking about studying abroad for awhile and am especially interested in studying in the US or UK.
I’ve been hooked on US for a while. My country’s grades would convert into US GPA of 3.67. (I had an average of 2.69 in my freshman year duo to personal issues, but my average was 4.0 sophomore, junior and senior year).
3.6 sounds pretty mediocre for US + I don’t have much of extracurricular activities, because our school system doesn’t really focus on that (though I am a boxer and have played volleyball and did some charity work). I am giving up on the idea of studying in the US, specially because I would need a very high scholarship, which I am very unlikely to get with my grades.
So lately, I’ve been thinking about studying in the UK. It would be easier for me, because of the distance (1,5 h with an airplane), but I am not really familiar with the system? How would my grades convert to their grades and would I have to pass any of their tests?
My country has 5 grades:
1 - fail
2 - pass
3 - good
4 - very good
5 - excellent
I have an average grade of 4,67 here.
Also do grades from all 4 years of high school count? Would I get a bit of a pass, because my grades were only bad (horrible) my freshmen year? What sort of colleges could I get into? Are my grades good by their standards?
"though I am a boxer " Congratulations, it’s a wrap.
LOL, not really but your choice of ECs gives you a leg up on the unusual dimension, assuming you don’t just work in a factory that produces boxes.
I know that isn’t your question and I can’t comment as an insider to UK schools so I’ll let others do so. But, for the US, the fact that you are a boxer would set you apart. Is that usual in your country-a female boxer?
@lostaccount
No, it is not usual in my country at all. In fact, I am unable to get matches, because girls are simply not interested. I’ve been mostly just doing sparring with boys (5x times a week, for the past 3 years) and have competed a bit outside of my country.
@boundforberkeley I’m from Slovenia. Our population is 2 million, so out of 1 million women in our country, finding women who even contemplated boxing at some point in their lives is hard enough.
A lot of women only do it for recreation in fitness centres (on bags, no-contact) and only a few of us actually decides to go serious with it, since we have no women’s boxing clubs or women’s units within boxing clubs (though we can join).
You also need a certain level of skill and experience till your coach even decides you’re ready for your first amateur fight (typically after 8-24 months of training) and even then, the opponest has to be in your weight class. Even our female national champion gets about 3 fights per year in our country, so sadly, we get the most of our competition outside Slovenia as we have no “leagues” the way men do, because there’s too few of us.
The UK system is mostly based entirely on grades and test scores, though you will write a personal statement. Extra curriculars are generally not taken into account, unless they directly relate to what you plan to study. So, if you volunteer at a hospital and want to become a doctor, you would want them to know about that. There are some fine colleges you should be able to get into in the UK. Your grades are good for your last three years. I don’t know for sure if four year high school grades count. I do know that Canadian colleges do not count grades in your first year. Have you though of Mc Gill, in Montreal? No idea what aid is like for foreigners, but I am sure you can find out.
Re UK universities, I think you can consider Bath, East Anglia, and many others. A potential weak spot is your first year grades, so you need to find out if all four years of grades are considered. If not, than I would say you could apply to almost all of the Russell Group universities. You haven’t mentioned any tests though. Do you have any tests equivalent to A levels, or AP classes, and such? If so, those need to be good for Russell Group unis. Wish I had more info for you, but you can look at the Wikipedia Russell Group entry, no doubt there is lots of info there. Good luck.
@Lindagaf our country does not have AP classes, we only have the IB Dipoma Programme (Junior and Senior year), but only 3 schools in my country had it and I didn’t want to change high schools (I probably wouldn’t even get in considering my bad freshman year grades).
You definitely need some kind of standardised exams results to show for direct admission to UK universities, although a foundation year is a possibility.
American unis and scholarships are not out of the question depending on SAT/ACT score.
Also, even though Slovenia is in the EU, English unis would still cost a pretty penny (£9000 a year + living expenses) because that is what they charge residents.
Scottish unis would be much cheaper if you can get in (still have to pay living expenses, though).
The Scottish system is four years, as opposed to three in the British system. It does have a little more flexibility than the British system. And £9000 for three yeasts is a darn sight cheaper than paying for four years inn the US.
@Lindagaf, Scottish unis are almost tuition-free for Scottish and EU residents.
Meanwhile, there are scholarships to some US colleges but almost none to UK ones.
Each uni will have a page that lists requirements for Slovenia. Sometimes they are difficult to find, but they are there.
For example UCL requires 25 total score with three 5s in relevant subjects.
As jupiter98 says, check the uni web pages for international students or email the unis for admission requirements. Welsh unis are also cheaper than the English ones for Welsh and EU citizens. Cardiff is a member of the Russell group and there are other good unis to consider. You will need to have some idea of the subject area you want to study and whether single, joint or combined honours is preferred. You can check subject availability for each uni on UCAS. There may be relevant information on the student room webpage forum from Slovenian students already there.
Focus on Welsh and Scottish universities, they’ll only look at your national final diploma results AND they have scholarships for European students (+ some small scholarships). Same thing for Canada, they’ll only look at your Year 11 and 12 results in your 6 best subjects (or 6 subjects relevant to your programs of choice).
In the US, if you’re low income (defined as $65,000 a year and under) apply to Berea. Beware, everything must be shipped in October (and check the date early).
Berea mostly seeks to serve Appalachia, though.
With an SAT score (as well as knowing how much you can pay) it would be more possible to tell what opportunities there would be in the US.
