I am from northern New England in the US, and I want to go to university abroad. I am planning on double majoring in art and marketing. What universities are good for international students from America and what can I expect with fees and campus life?
“Campus life” is pretty much an American concept. You will find it at some Canadian schools too. International fees in the countries you listed are high and there is little or no financial aid. In the UK you cannot double major. You essentially study one subject for 3 years.
And do you have money for full pay? Do you have adequate stats for the UK?
My question really is what are adequate stats? What do I need to study in these places?
Do you have the internet?
Semi-selective Canadian schools will cost $40-$48K USD/year. The minimum SAT scores for McGill are 650 in each section and 600 in each section for U of T and UBC. Marketing falls under a commerce degree program and those are more selective than most majors ie, you’ll require higher SAT scores than those listed.
Some McGill majors are cheaper.
There are some British courses where you study two or more subjects.
Some UK unis have campuses (and some are collegiate).
But if you want to find out entry requirements, that’s easy to find if you’ve heard of Google.
Fine art and marketing don’t go together very easily in the UK system. While you can study two subjects, the choice of combinations is limited. So you may need to choose one or the other - and you won’t have electives either. What kind of art do you do? You might have non-degree opportunities on the side. Really, though, for your combination, you might be best off staying in the US.
Some Advertising degrees would have elements of both, but I advise you to look closely at the breakdown of the course outlines to see if they offer what you want it would probably not be enough fine art for you.
For art schools, the most important aspect of your application is your portfolio. Fine art at a university will need some APs as well.
I’m from NZ, so I can help with some info on NZ unis. I’m an international student in the US from NZ.
Like someone said before, NZ doesn’t really have much of a campus life. All unis party and stuff (especially students at Otago uni - they’re notorious for partying), but things in the US that are common like greek life, school spirit, and all of those kinds of things aren’t that big here.
I’m not sure how many scholarships are out there for international students coming to NZ, but the tuitions fees definitely aren’t as bad in NZ as they are for international students coming to the US. You can usually find the fees for international students really easily by just googling it. Also all fees are in NZD, and usually 1 USD = 1.37 NZD, so you have the exchange rate to your advantage. Of course you’d still have to pay for housing, food, fun, etc.
In NZ a bachelor’s usually takes 3 years, and when people double major they sometimes take an extra half or full year, but that totally depends on how hard you can work, so if you can pass all of the papers and everything, then you can graduate in 3 years. I’m pretty sure every uni in NZ offers art and marketing, or at least the big ones (UoA, Vic, Otago, and Canterbury), but you should consult with them about a double major in those ones.
Also in NZ you don’t really have the liberal arts, you mostly take courses that go directly towards your major.
The biggest ones (as mentioned before) are the University of Auckland, Victoria University of Wellington, University of Otago, and University of Canterbury, but there are other ones. The University of Auckland is in the city that has ~50% of the nation’s population, so if you like bigger cities, then Auckland may be good for you. But the other big universities are in decently sized cities as well, and it’s definitely more convenient to live in a slightly smaller city like Wellington or Dunedin.
If you have any other questions, just tag me.
“Semi-selective Canadian schools will cost $40-$48K USD/year.”
Those are the approximate prices for international students at McGill, Toronto, and UBC, which are the best known and usually the three highest ranked large universities in Canada (there are a few majors where other schools would be ranked higher, such as Alberta and Calgary for petroleum engineering, or Waterloo for computer science). There might be a few other schools that would cost about the same. However, there are a large number of other very good universities in Canada, and many very good universities which are significantly less expensive than this (more below).
“What universities are good for international students from America…”
We are also from New England, and have been looking at academically strong small universities in eastern Canada (ie, Quebec plus the four eastern provinces). We also visited three large universities in eastern Canada, and several universities and LACs in the US.
Some very good schools to consider in Eastern Canada: Large ones that we visited include McGill and Concordia (both in Montreal), and Dalhousie (in Halifax Nova Scotia). Memorial University of Newfoundland is said to be quite good but we didn’t visit since it is harder to get to. Small universities that we visited include Mount Allison (in New Brunswick), Acadia and St Francis Xavier (in Nova Scotia), and Bishop’s (in Quebec).
For an art/marketing combination you will need to check the university web sites and see what you can find.
I haven’t paid a lot of attention to what it takes to get into these, since my kids had high enough grades that getting into any of them was pretty much certain. With straight A’s and >1400 out of 1600 on the SAT it appears that getting into any any university in Canada is pretty much automatic (admissions is based on stats, ECs don’t matter, grade 9 doesn’t matter). If your A’s outnumber your B’s (and you have nothing below a B) then you are probably in at most of them. If you have less than an unweighted 3.5 then you might want to post your stats and see if anyone here can at least give our best guess. Also, while I don’t think there are any more large English language universities in eastern Canada, there are quite a few other smaller schools which are probably a bit easier to get into.
For most of these, the total cost of attendance for international students averages about C$30,000 per year (somewhere around about US$24,000 per year). McGill is an exception. It can charge significantly more due to its very strong international reputation.
There are a lot of good universities in Ontario but for various reasons we didn’t look at any of them. I am thinking that for an art / marketing combination you should at least check the websites for York and for Ryerson in Toronto. There are also several very good schools in Alberta and British Columbia. Ask if you want more information about the schools in Ontario and the west (although I would be going more from reputation rather than experience with the exception of UBC; there are probably others on CC who know these other schools better).
“what can I expect with … campus life”
This is a difficult question to answer, and probably impossible to fully answer. A few observations: To me I haven’t noticed all that much difference compared to US universities. Greek life is less prevalent in Canada. Sports matter less. The drinking age in Canada is lower than in the US (18 or 19 depending upon the province) which I have heard somewhat moves the drinking out of the dorms and into the bars / pubs. We have noticed pubs near most of the universities that we visited, often in the student center on campus. The big universities are mostly in or near big cities, while the smaller universities are mostly in small towns which tend to be university towns. Bishop’s might be almost an exception as a small university in a small town (Lennoxville) which is very close to a medium sized city (Sherbrooke). McGill, Concordia, and Bishop’s are English language universities in a French province, which adds a bit to the experience.
I will also note that there are a few very good French language universities in Canada, but I know very little about them.
Feel free to ask me questions, either publicly on CC or via private messaging.
Hey! Thought I’d give some input for the Aussies. I’m at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, which is within the top 100 globally ranked at 73, but let me tell you, its not what its all hyped up to be. Some areas are elitist but the amount of international students we have is awesome! Honestly, half of the student body is international students id say. You can double major here, or even do a double degree if thats what you’re asking? - Im doing a double degree of arts and a degree of law, and I’m majoring in literature for arts. i could double major but i don’t want to.
As for fees- if you’re coming here as an Australian resident, you will get a HECS debt - you won’t have to pay upfront and will only pay if you get a job upwards of $50,000. Unsure if you’re not a citizen - its not too expensive, and i have loads of international friends - i live near the uni, but i have a friend from NZ and Fiji and i think its roughly $12,000 AUD for the year plus access to loads of the campus services and amenities for free when non residents have to pay $800 for it. Anyways. As for campus life and party life! - There are loads of clubs and societies to join, and at the start of the year there are ‘camps’ where new students can go and get wasted and make friends (lol). I did that in first year and made all my friends. Since i presume you’re older than 18(?) You might be more interested in parties and stuff. Campus we have sausage sizzles and social things every week as well as petting zoos. no shortage on that. Good luck deciding!