<p>I'm an American, and I was thinking about going to school in the UK. But how intense is it? I hear that it's very rigorous, but I've also heard that people can get away with only studying 25 hours a week which doesn't sound bad at all.
About how many hours of work a week is there in the 1st year? 2nd year? </p>
<p>I'm pretty smart, but my personality is also a sort of laidback. </p>
<p>I'm considering Imperial, UCL, and King's.</p>
<p>University-level study in the U.K. is quite difficult, especially at the competitive schools like you mentioned. You should check each university’s website, as some don’t allow any extracurricular work, in particular the University of Oxford.</p>
<p>In England & Wales (Scotland is different), degrees are three years long, and start at the academic level of sophomore year in a US college. You often don’t take any modules outside of your subject area, which can make it pretty intense - but it’s good for people who are certain what subject they want to do. Scottish degrees are a bit different in that they are four years long and have a few more optional modules, and are in general slightly more similar to the US degree system. This gives a fairly good interview [Higher</a> Education in Scotland | The University of Aberdeen](<a href=“http://www.abdn.ac.uk/international/higher-education.php]Higher”>http://www.abdn.ac.uk/international/higher-education.php) </p>
<p>As for hearing about people only having to study for 25 hours a week, then that sort of thing depends on the course and the university, alongside the individual - the person that you spoke to may very well have been failing their degree (either that, or they are very bright and somehow miraculously ‘get’ things instantly…), or been at a university with particularly poor standards. People doing arts and social science courses tend only to be in uni for 10-ish hours a week, whereas people doing STEM subjects will often be in 5 days a week. The difference is, however, that the people doing arts and social sciences are expected to do a lot of reading and other work in their own time. UK universities are very much about independent learning - your hand will not be held in any way, shape or form. You’re responsible for your own learning. </p>
<p>PS There are other, excellent, universities outside London. Indeed, there is life outside London too, and it’s cheaper to boot. Have a look at the other big city universities - Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle, York, Sheffield, Liverpool, Exeter, Sussex, Nottingham etc. </p>
<p>PPS Doctor Who fan by any chance?</p>
<p>yes, I’m a big Whovian 
and I have personal reasons for looking particularly at London, and especially thoses universities.</p>
<p>I’m aware about most of the differences between American and UK universities. I know that it’s intense, but I want to know exactly how much.</p>
<p>
I’ve actually heard this from people who are doing very well at good universities. but, as I hear it, it’s very difficult to study 5 hours a day when the work requires so much concentration.</p>
<p>I’m interested in Physics, by the way, course-wise.</p>
<p>Are there internationally recognised standards of ‘intenseness’? Clearly without such a standard it is impossible to say ‘exactly how intense’ any particular course is anywhere in the world. Depends very much on the student too.</p>
<p>In general, US students straight out of high school tend to be way behind Europeans in Maths in particular. I believe UCL runs a year long catch up course for US students. Have a look on their website. I think if you don’t take this course, they prefer you to have already completed a year at a US college.</p>
<p>Also, be sure. In the UK it is usually very difficult to switch courses once you have started.</p>
<p>It really depends on your subject.</p>
<p>For my computing degree I had 25+ timetabled hours a week of lectures/labs/tutorials for the first 2 years, they’d say you’d need an hour of homework per timetabled hour and that probably averaged out about right not consistently but over the semester. Third year was different as our projects took up most of our time. All our courses were single semester and it seemed to be the same across much of the science and engineering faculty.</p>
<p>In the arts it was different my best friend doing Russian only had 6 or 8 timetabled hours a week and their courses were a mix of 1 and 2 semester long. So even with all the reading and essays to write he had a lot more free time and a lot more sleep.</p>
<p>Like the others have said, totally depends on your course. Physics, being a STEM subject, would be quite intensive, and you can expect weekly exams and coursework on top of 20+ hours of lectures and labs a week. Besides, Imperial tends to be more intensive compared to UCL and King’s. My friends doing Physics at UCL have a lot of work to do, but also manage to have a social life.</p>
<p>I think you will find, on average, that UK college is more demanding than US college. But that is just an average, and there will be variations.</p>
<p>In a US college, some folks get away with not doing the reading, and hiding in the huge lecture halls so that the prof never calls them. Most British unis are going to have smaller discussion groups, so the prof WILL notice if you haven’t done the reading.</p>
<p>In the UK, expect a lot of reading and writing. If you can do these things quickly, you may find it easier.</p>
<p>KEVP</p>
<p>I have no idea how they compare for the degree of difficulty, but D did Physics with astrophysics, which had a very full week with classes, labs and workshops plus all the additional private study etc. The uni welfare officer had a special talk for parents on open day warning that students would not have time to do paid work during term time.</p>