<p>I'm sure that I will get conditional acceptance from universities of UK as well as some universities of US. However, I have to wait until July, which is when I will receive my score of qualifications, to decide whether or not I will attend school of my first choice or insurance school. As you know, American universities set their deadline of accepting entry is on around May, so I can't make my accepted American schools my insurance, can I? This is quite hard choice for me to make. Did anybody face such a dilemma?</p>
<p>You can if you are prepared to lose your deposit. No US school is going to make you attend if you don’t want to. If you choose one and change your mind based on the UK choices open to you, just do not enroll. You can politely advise them you have decided not to attend. This situation is common for students applying to universities in multiple countries. Try not to worry so much! Or just apply to the UK or US.</p>
<p>Oh, I didn’t know that I was allowed to do that! Thanks so much.</p>
<p>You can as long as you don’t do ED to a US school and then switch to another US school.</p>
<p>The US colleges expect a certain amount of ‘summer shrink’. But, as you are applying to competitive schools, notify them ASAP once you know, so some body on the waiting list can have the spot.</p>
<p>Also, based on your stats, you may get some unconditional UK offers.</p>
<p>I will do so as soon as possible. I applied to Biology courses, but I’ve never taken AP Bio. Since I haven’t satisfied entrance requirement of any school of my choice for this reason, I don’t think any university will soon give me unconditional offer. To tell the truth, I can’t guarantee that I can get 5 in AP Biology to satisfy the admission requirement, since it became extremely hard to get 5 (20% of people would get 5, now only 5% can get 5.) </p>
<p>My chance is so slim, unfortunately.</p>
<p>Remember that there are other colleges and universities in the UK besides the top ones that are so hard to get into.</p>
<p>I’m now curious–why do you want to attend university in the UK anyway?</p>
<p>KEVP</p>
<p>Universities in UK rather appreciate AP than SAT&GPA, and I showed higher performance in AP than in SAT&GPA. So, I applied to them to rise my chance to be accepted by competitive schools.</p>
<p>But it looks to most of us that your APs are not high enough to get into the “top ten” of UK schools. Have a look at some of the other UK schools, outside of the top ten.</p>
<p>Why do you want so badly to get into a “competitive” school?</p>
<p>Getting six 5’s and two 4’s and possibly getting two more 5’s and a 4 in the next AP, am I still not eligible for these schools? My chance to get an unconditional offer before getting 5 in AP bio is slim, but I don’t think it’s impossible to get the offer after getting 5 in bio. </p>
<p>The reason why I want to go to a competitive school is that I need a nice environment for learning and want to rise my chance to be accepted by nice graduate program.</p>
<p>Okay, you have six "5"s and expect to get two more, making eight.</p>
<p>That is enough to get into ANY college or uni in the UK.</p>
<p>But to get into the “top 10”, you are almost certainly going to need a “5” in the subject you are planning to study, which you say is Biology. If you are not going to get a “5” in Biology, you will either need to pick a different subject (like one of your “5” subjects) or apply to less competitive colleges or unis.</p>
<p>Looking at environment for learning is a good idea. But have you really researched the environments at these schools, or are you just assuming they must have good environments just because they are competitive? For myself, although I could have gotten in to more competitive schools, I ended up going to less competitive shools that had a better environment FOR ME.</p>
<p>And you don’t need a degree from a “competitive” school to get into a “nice” graduate program. Graduate programs accept all kinds of people. And of course, that raises the question “why do you want to go to a competivie graduate school?”</p>
<p>In some countries, you basically have to make sure you go to the best this school so you can get into the best that school, and so on and so on. I understand South Korea is like that. But that really isn’t true in the United States. The United States is still the land of opportunity, and all kinds of people become successful without having any degrees from “competitive” schools.</p>
<p>I believe my chance for to get 5 in Bio is 50%, so the pass is not completely guaranteed. But I will also apply to about eight universities in U.S. and Canada, so the five British universities which I mentioned before are just one possibility whose result doesn’t affect my future so much. UCLA or ICL, it’s totally up to one’s preference, and nothing can be said about this comparison due to their similarity in strength in my interested area. My intention to apply to British schools simply comes from my desire to diversify my choices, and diversity in choices can never be bad. </p>
<p>Going to a competitive school means that you have and will get much chances than those who can only go to non-competitive schools. That’s why you could go to a school which was less competitive than yours. For example, you can transfer to a community college from Harvard, if you feel you don’t match to Harvard. But the opposite direction is never possible. If I don’t like Harvard, I can go to UCB, and if I don’t like there, I can go to UCLA, and so on. </p>
<p>My choice of universities is also based on their performance in research and publication of papers, which are my main concerns during undergrad period. Although their student/faculty ratio isn’t as ideal as that of other smaller schools such as LACs, I’ve never been discouraged to go to these schools because of either unavailability of research experience or small number of published papers. </p>
<p>Though I don’t have as much knowledge in South Korean universities as you might have, I can say that both American and Korean share their faith in competitiveness of university in somewhat different degrees. Both of them would choose going to Harvard over an unknown college, although they have never taken a class in that college. You can’t prove whether or not there is an university which is less competitive and more suitable for you than your school, since you can’t attend all universities in the U.S… </p>
<p>I don’t think this is the place to argue about a philosophical question like “why do you want to go to a competitive school?” It should be proposed in SAT prep thread as a essay question, since it’s too vague.</p>
<p>Well, when I was your age I thought I wanted to go to a competitive school. I realize now how ridiculous that was. When I was young, there was a lot of pressure on me from adults–parents and teachers–to go to a competitive school. But really the fact of going to college and getting a degree sets you apart from the crowd much more than which college you go to.</p>
<p>People do transfer from community colleges to universities. That’s always been one of the functions of community college. Lots of other people transfer up. (A dean actually suggested I do that when I was in Law School, transfer up to a more competitive school. But I preferred the environment where I was.)</p>
<p>KEVP</p>