Hello,
I am a german exchange student in the United States. I live in Virginia and attend 11th grade of a public high school. When I go back to Germany I have to repeat 11th grade to get my final diploma after two years (11th and 12th grade). After that I want to attend the University of Cambridge / Unversity College / Imperial College / Kings College London. These are the five universities I will apply to, but my absolute favorite is Cambridge. Now I have some questions about this. 1. Do universities like applicants who took an exchange year? Does it increase my chances / makes me more interesting? 2. Cambridge - and I guess the other universities too require onlz my final grades (certificates from 11th and 12th grade in Germany). But does an excellent certificate here in the US and attending an AP course (chemistry) increase my chances or is it irrelevant? 3. I planned to make my IB in Germany because I read it increases my chances in Cambridge. Is this true and how significant is this advantage? 4. Does an absolved undergraduate study at one of the listed universities allow you to attend any grad school in the US that you want (in case your grades are good enough)?
PS: I want to study an natural scientific subject (Natural Sciences at Cambridge) to continue after this with studies at a grad school in the US I havent choosen yet.
Thank you
- Do universities like applicants who took an exchange year? Does it increase my chances / makes me more interesting?
the UK unis will not be even slightly interested
2… does an excellent certificate here in the US and attending an AP course (chemistry) increase my chances or is it irrelevant?
irrelevant
- I planned to make my IB in Germany because I read it increases my chances in Cambridge. Is this true and how significant is this advantage?
that depends on which part you think give you the advantage: doing the IB or doing the IB in Germany in particular. Doing it in Germany in particular confers no special advantage. Your choices are the Arbitur, where they look for “an overall score between 1.0 and 1.3, with 14 or 15 in individual subjects”, and the IB, where “Offers usually require scores between 40 and 41 points out of 45, with 776 in Higher Level subjects. Applicants may be required to achieve 7 in a particular subject(s), depending on individual circumstances.” It is possible that tutors look more favorably on the IB than the Arbitur, but I think the bigger difference is whether you are more likely to get higher scores in one than the other- that will matter much more than any minor favoring of a testing system.
- Does an absolved undergraduate study at one of the listed universities allow you to attend any grad school in the US that you want (in case your grades are good enough)?
if an “absolved undergraduate study” means completing your undergraduate degree, then the answer is ‘sort of’. That is, you could - theoretically- get into any grad program from any of those unis- but that doesn’t mean that you would, or that you could count on getting in. Two things to remember: first, for grad school it isn’t just grades- it can involve testing, the fit between your research interests and theirs, your research experience, etc. Second, in the UK / EU it is more common for the Masters to be done as a further year of study at the undergraduate uni, and then you apply for a PhD program. In the US it is more common to apply directly to graduate school from undergraduate, and either not do a Masters, or get it on the way to a PhD. Not a problem- you just have to plan a little differently.
Thank you! These are great answers!