<p>NYT article: <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/01/education/01scotland.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/01/education/01scotland.html</a>
" St. Andrews has 1,230 Americans among its 7,200 students this year, compared with fewer than 200 a decade ago.
The large American enrollment is no accident. St. Andrews has 10 recruiters making the rounds of American high schools, visiting hundreds of private schools and a smattering of public ones.
With higher education fast becoming a global commodity, universities worldwide many of them in Canada and England are competing for the same pool of affluent, well-qualified students, and more American students are heading overseas not just for a semester abroad, but for their full degree program. "
"Edinburgh University looks for good grade-point averages and SAT scores from Americans. As for the rest: The fluff is irrelevant, a recruiter says."</p>