<p>What do you guys thinks are the pros and cons in England vs. Liberal Arts education? (ie Cambridge vs. Brown) I am having trouble deciding between these schools.</p>
<p>I’d wait until you actually get into Cambridge first.</p>
<p>i know but i also applied to some other british schools who should be letting me know soon (3 to be exact)</p>
<p>You still will have plenty of time to decide. Can you visit the UK schools? I would do that if at all feasible. Are you very sure of your ‘course’ as the UK schools call it? (You have some flexibility at the Scottish schools, but none at Cambridge really.)</p>
<p>Homer response: USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA USA!</p>
<p>Have you gotten any offer from them yet?</p>
<p>no, and i am probably not going to seeing as it is cambridge. but let me explain my situation. amherst brown and cambridge are duking it out. and i could apply ED to Amherst, but the possibility of getting into Cambridge prevents that. So some feedback about hte advantages and disadvantages of hte schools might help with my decision. although i have gotten an unconditional to the university of edinburgh</p>
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<p>How exactly? If you applied ED to Amherst but ultimately decided to go to Cambridge, nobody would stop you - Amherst certainly couldn’t.</p>
<p>i believe applying ED is a binding legal contract and you can get sued for a year’s tuition if you decide not to go for reasons not financial</p>
<p>That’s as may be, but it doesn’t apply anywhere but the US.</p>
<p>You could break an ED contract. No one will get sued. You may get blacklisted at amherst, but that doens’t matter because if you go to cambridge you have no reason to apply to amherst for anything. </p>
<p>What other unis did you apply to in the UK?</p>
<p>Breaking an ED contract is not a good idea. You won’t get sued, but you may get blacklisted at a lot of schools. ED schools do share information. You will also make it very hard for students from your school to apply to Amherst (and possibly other schools) ED in the future. Schools do remember.
Congrats on Edinburgh (although you should realize that you must send them a no immediately if you get into anywhere ED).
Good luck on Cambridge!
ED is a binding contract. There are limits on what schools can and will do to enforce it, but if more and more kids break ED, the schools will become more assertive.</p>
<p>i got in to edinburgh and st. andrews, and i am waiting on durham and cambridge. thanks for the advice! its good to know that if i apply ED to Amherst, Cambridge isn’t necessarily off the table if i get in. but what do you guys think about a fixed course in relation to the quality of my education?</p>
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<p>No the OP shouldn’t. If he wants to go to Edinburgh he can, they will not care in the slightest if he entered into an ED agreement with a US college, or if he breaks it.</p>
<p>OP,</p>
<p>What course did you apply to? </p>
<p>We’ve got two schools in common; Edinburgh and Durham. What college did you apply to at Durham? </p>
<p>Decisions for me will take a bit longer though since I applied to the law schools.</p>
<p>Dionysus58 - depends if you are arguing from pragmatic or ethical grounds. The ED contract states that “if you are accepted under an Early Decision plan, you must promptly withdraw any applications submitted to other colleges and universities.” That is pretty clear. Edinburgh may not find out , but they may. They may care too. More importantly, the OP will be damaging the reputation of his school and impairing the ability of other students to use ED. </p>
<p>As to US broad versus UK narrow - it’s a question of taste in some ways. Both are fine ways to educate. The Cambridge system works very well if you are really sure about your field, and willing to pass up other areas of learning. For some , that’s a dream come true. The US system allows more freedom of choice once you get to college, and lets you explore things you are just interested in, but won’t major in.</p>
<p>i applied to history and politics at edinburgh and literature and history at durham. i haven’t gotten into durham yet</p>
<p>What college did you apply to at Durham?</p>
<p>i think i applied to the main campus. is there a significant difference between the campi (which should the plural of campus)?</p>
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<p>They really, really won’t. Why should they? If colleges choose to interpret the breaking of ED as a reflection on the school or its students then more fool them. Personally I wouldn’t let an arbitrary system like that dictate where I go, and nor should the OP.</p>