<p>Edinburgh is NOT in England. It's in Scotland. Try not to offend a whole nation. It won't help you get a place at university. The UK is made up of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. If you apply to a Scottish university and tell them it's because you would love to study in England, they will reject you for being stupid.</p>
<p>Gee, thanks for that. I'm well aware of Edinburgh's location, but thanks for the geography lesson. As you may have noticed, I am posting on a message board, not filling out an application. It takes less time to write what I did, rather than adding "and Edinburgh in Scotland, as well." </p>
<p>My eyes, they roll.</p>
<p>morning theft - it may seem like nitpicking to you, but I'm sure you wouldn't be too pleased if people consistently and unrelentingly referred to you as Canadian, and then if you tried to correct them gently they told you "Canada, United States...it's all the same thing really." Just say the UK and cover all bases.
PS. I don't know about cupcake, but i get equally as ****ed off with English people who do this as with USians.</p>
<p>I agree... I'm from Wales, and I can't tell you how fed up I get with ignorant idiots asking me where in England that is. I mean, Jeez, study some geography.</p>
<p>I know that Scotland is not England, I was just not thinking when I wrote that post. Don't worry, I'm not an ignorant idiot and my geography is just fine.</p>
<p>;) Good, good.</p>
<p>morningtheft - you might want to check out the differences between English and Scottish university requirements. I'm not quite clear on them, but I think there could be a five (instead of four) year course requirement in many cases.</p>
<p>Nitric63 - Cupcake is right about the cost of living in London - it's legendary. But also, as you have to find your own housing for the second year, lots of people won't apply there because they don't want to live in an awful place which is all most of them can afford.</p>
<p>usmom- usually scottish universities have a four year program instead of a three year one. it's the closest thing we have to liberal arts - you study two or three subjects in your first year, and you can keep studying another subject in addition to your degree subject (IIRC) so it's kind of like having a major/minor combination.</p>
<p>I have looked at a lot of British colleges but especially Oxbridge. The website never really talked about admission requirements so how hard would it be for an American student to gain admission into Oxford or Cambridge. If my secondary school grades are not that great(at least for oxford standards), does it really matter since British schools only look at A levels. If I have a 1550 on my Sat with 8 SAT IIs all of them above 750 with 12 Aps all of them 4s and 5s(mostly 5s), is that enough to get me in???? And my parents dont really care about the cost since they told me to keep it under 45000 a year. Would my secondary school grades harm me or would I get in or at least have a chance?????</p>
<p>jimmy: no one can tell you whether you'll get accepted to Oxford or Cambridge except the admissions tutors. You haven't told us enough to make even a preliminary judgement. Are you applying to Oxford or Cambridge (you can't apply to both)? What subject are you applying for? </p>
<p>And yes, I think they will care what grades you got in school, since they're the only things the tutors have to go on! The fact that you didn't take A-levels is irrelevant. Oxford and Cambridge get applications from all over the world - they are very used to the American school system. </p>
<p>Oxford has a part of its website dedicated to international students in general and US students in particular:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.admissions.ox.ac.uk/int/usa/%5B/url%5D">http://www.admissions.ox.ac.uk/int/usa/</a></p>
<p>It may provide some of the answers you are looking for. :)</p>
<p>I probably will apply to oxford instead and major in international relations or political science. Even if they look at secondary school reports, wouldnt my near perfect SAT , 8 SAT IIs and 12 APs make up for any loss from my report card. I mean not a lot of people take 8 SAT IIs or 12 Aps.lol</p>
<p>Jimmy - they may know at Oxford about the high priority American universities give test scores, but grades will still count. Also, if money is no object, I would suggest making it clear that you can come over to interview (which is more of an oral exam, be prepared to know everything that got you those high scores and discuss the subject you are applying for in depth!). The elite English unis are under a lot of pressure right now. They are underfunded and desperately need the money from full fare paying internationals, but at the same time they are being pressured to admit more British state school applicants, and their reply is to say they will not lower their standards. If the press exposes any further admissions to lesser qualified foreign students just for the money by Oxbridge, no one will be happy, so unless you are truly qualified, you won't get in, IMO. The other thing I would suggest is to get fabulous recommendations from current teachers who will predict high grades for your present courses. They are used to working with grade predictions here, so if you have begun to shine in class as well as on tests, let them know that way.</p>
<p>jimmy: have you decided which college to apply to, or will you make an open application? That may make a difference to your chances - the poorer colleges take more international students because they pay more, whereas the richer colleges can afford to be pickier. </p>
<p>Also, there is no International Relations degree, and politics cannot be studied on its own as an undergraduate degree. The courses involving politics are:
Modern History and Politics
PPE (Philosophy, Politics and Economics)</p>
<p>Other courses may have elements of politics in them - e.g I study Chinese politics as part of my Chinese degree - but those are the only two that have a substantial political content.</p>
<p>Laylah
Your explanation of grades reminds me of a funny story. S studied at Oxford this past summer (Trinity College).Thought he was doing well and then received a 74 on a paper. He didn't understand where he went wrong as he always considered himself a good writer. He went to the prof. after class and asked her to explain how he could improve his grade and wanted to know why he did so poorly. She looked at him funny and finally began laughing and explained the grading system and that he indeed got the highest mark in the class and tht Oxford that grade is considered excellent. As it turned out he won an award from his department for that paper.</p>
<p>Top British schools all lay a lot of emphasis on an academic interview. It might help people to know that Oxford (but not AFAIK Cambridge or London) allows North American candidates to go for their interviews in NYC or Vancouver. Details on their website: <a href="http://www.admissions.ox.ac.uk/int/usa/apply.shtml%5B/url%5D">http://www.admissions.ox.ac.uk/int/usa/apply.shtml</a></p>
<p>I did my undergrad studies in London, and am now in Oxford. If you are really passionate about your science subject, Imperial is still the best place to go, rather than Cambridge, although I would say Oxford is also excellent for Chemistry-related subjects.</p>
<p>London is a very exciting city, and there's always a lot of buzz going on. Cambridge is a small quiet town, so if you are more of a city dweller, London might be better for you.</p>
<p>As for UCL - personally, I don't think they are really <em>that</em> good, despite the high rankings. Just my 2 cents worth of opinions</p>
<p>Oops sorry my previous post was in reply to Nitric63, the first message of this thread</p>
<p>Wow we have people who have first hand experience about UK colleges here! :)</p>
<p>Ok I have a question. Each year about one or two people in my US school usually gets an offer from either oxford or Cambridge. The problem for me is that, I do not want to go to either of them. I would only apply to LSE . However, the problem is that unliske sciences which have 4 or 5 science related APs, Economics only has 2APs (micro and macro). So should I also take the political APs (comparitive and US govt), because LSE is also a political science school. Any ideas. Should I enroll in some locan university classes for advanced economics. My high school is very strong in sciences so all the admits from high school usually go into sciences at Oxbridge. Need some advice here Thanks.</p>
<p>Okay, maybe I will also apply to Trinity College, Cambridge. But thats it. LSE or Trinity. :)</p>