<p>First of all, apologies if this is in the wrong place.</p>
<p>I'm British and my uni application went disastrously this year. On paper, I am a perfect candidate for some British universities that rejected me and not a single person at my school can think of a reason my application was unsuccessful. I've always wanted to get my undergraduate degree in England and then come to American to do a postgraduate degree (ideally at Harvard or Yale), but because I've been forced into firming a not-so-great British university, I'm afraid my plans will go down the drain.
So my question is: how much does your alma mater mean in postgraduate applications in the US? I would imagine that if someone at Harvard can chose between a Harvard/Yale/Princeton graduate and someone from a British uni they've never heard of, they'll obviously go for the HYP person. Is this the right way to think about it? And if not, what else factors into the admissions proces?
I'll be infinitely grateful for some info on that :)</p>
<p>What subject? (and if you’re willing to divulge, which UK university?)</p>
<p>@Conformist1688 Politics, Philosophy and Economics (PPE), hopefully with some adittional modules in Chinese or Korean. And it’s at Exeter University. It’s well known in the UK and considered pretty good (usually in the top 10 lately), but I know its international reputation is virtually non-existent.
I’ve considered taking a year out and applying to American colleges but I can’t really afford it right now, so I don’t have much choice but to go there :(</p>
<p>Honestly, Exeter is a perfectly good university. It’s not Oxbridge, but fits happily in the next rank of universities - you’re obviously a good student with potential. I didn’t realise anyone but Oxford offered PPE, though ;)</p>
<p>What do you want to do in grad school? </p>
<p>Concentrate on doing really well in your degree and making sure you get a good recommendation from faculty with a good reputation in your chosen field. My own concern would be that you’re doing a rather broadly focussed degree at undergrad which may not prepare you for postgrad, but that would be a solid reason for applying for a Masters or PhD in the US rather than the UK as US candidates will also have a broader rather than more specialised background. But the faculty at Exeter will be able to guide you. It’s certainly not unknown to go from a UK university for undergrad to grad school in the US.</p>
<p>@Conformist1688 Wow, you actually heard of Exeter? Not a single one of my few American friends had before I told them 
And Exeter has this thing called Flexible Combined Honours which is the closest to an American-style college education you will get in the UK.
I’m not sure exactly what I want to do in grad school, and that can change over the next 3/4 years anyway, but eventually I’d like to end up as a lawyer in the UK. The non-law-related studies are just to do something about my insatiable curiosity And plenty of people after PPE and related masters degrees seem to end up in the legal sector in England. If you think about it, knowing about these three disciplines really makes it easier to understand the actual laws you’d be dealing with in law school.</p>
<p>Well, I’m in the UK, so don’t be too startled ;)</p>
<p>It sounds as though grad school is just going to be “fun”" for you, then, and you’ll come back to do law school here after that? You do need to have a focus for graduate level study, and if you stick to a masters you’ll have to pay for it (PhDs are usually fully funded but in the US would take a <em>long</em> time away from your longterm career plans, plus you really do need to be dedicated to your subject). </p>
<p>You do at least have plenty of time to decide, and it’;s good that you realise now your plans may change.</p>
<p>@Conformist1688 Yup, I know you have to pay. Ideally I’d love to stay in academia, being the total geek that I am, but it’s even more competitive than law so I’m not sure that that’s a possible path for me to consider, given that I can’t even do better than Exeter in terms of my undergrad 
Hence I was thinking of ways to combine the geekiness with finding a job. But you’re right that there’s plenty of time to make up my mind 
(But uuurgh, I seriously don’t even know how people can afford postgrad degrees at places like Oxbridge).</p>
<p>@astaff95
I’m an American (with no UK exposure) and I’ve heard of Exeter:).</p>
<p>@Conformist1688 - Exactly.</p>
<p>If applying to American schools, do not underestimate the importance of your personal essay/statement of purpose. I can’t speak for England, but some international students do not put a lot of time in it because they don’t understand how incredibly important it is to many American universities. </p>
<p>Letters are very important as well. I don’t know how the teacher/student relationship works in England.
However, one professor told me that there’s sort of an unwritten code where even the most positive words could be taken out of context given the different academic culture or the subtle differences between American and British English. Perhaps schools take this into account, or perhaps this is totally irrelevanat. Howver, if you have any contacts in academia, you might want to ask their advice.</p>
<p>Sorry to diverge from your initial topic, but I just want to caution you about doing graduate school in the humanities in America. If what I have heard is true, you come from a country where college tuition does not equal twenty years of debt for those who are self-financing. It is, if you do not have funding, incredibly expensive. Otherwise it is, incredibly time-consuming, and you will basically be doing teaching a large amount of undergrads for a token amount of money (if you do get funding, you’ll be a TA). If you did not have the line about being unable to afford it, I would have guessed that you might have come from a more well-to-do background and would have some help financing it. If you do not get funding, it would mean (I don’t know sticker price for Yale), but I’m going to guess $200,000 (just for tuition) for a four-year education. Someone please correct me if I’m off by 50-70k (in either direction). </p>
<p>I don’t know if we can post links, but if you search (in quotes) “100 reasons not to go to graduate school,” there is a great post on that topic. I would read it before making any decissions.</p>
<p>Masters shouldn’t take more than two years anywhere.</p>
<p>PhDs are much longer, but generally the best advice is not to accept a place if you don’t get funding, both to avoid debt, and also because if the department doesn’t fund you that’s tacit comment that you’re not one of the better applicants.</p>
<p>Where you go for undergrad is less important than what you do there, I promise you. Even grads of genuinely lower ranking universities can end up in good grad schools if they’re good enough. Don’t feel depressed about Exeter, concentrate on doing well there and making the most of the opportunities you have there.</p>
<p>@testadvice Four-year education? You’re talking about college, right? I’ve researched funding for college, which is why I can’t do my undergrad in America and I know it’s tricky, especially for foreign students. </p>
<p>There are lists of people who went to nothing universities- and Exeter is <em>not</em> a nothing university!- for undergrad and top unis for grad. It will be what <em>you</em> do with your undergraduate career that will count. </p>
<p>@astaff95
Sorry about that.
When you wrote
“I’m not sure exactly what I want to do in grad school, and that can change over the next 3/4 years” I somehow thought that was your time frame for completing a masters. There are a lot of people who complete a Masters in three, so that stuck in my head. </p>
<p>As mentioned, I could be way off when I calculated based on a guess of 50,000. I looked it up, and here’s what it is. This is if you’re only doing a masters w/o a doctoral program. Annual tuition (according to Yale’s website)</p>
<p>“For the academic year 2014-2015, the tuition for full-time study in the Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences is $37,600”</p>
<p>Actually there are merit scholarships if you score 1400 SAT or 32 ACT and there’s need-based financial aid so if you <em>really</em> wanted to attend undergrad in the US, however you can’t be enrolled in university. You can also do a year abroad:
<a href=“http://www.exeter.ac.uk/international/abroad/exchange/where/”>http://www.exeter.ac.uk/international/abroad/exchange/where/</a></p>
<p>For UCAS, you could turn down your offer and try again through Extra, right?
But your university may be even less well-known than Exeter (which IS a pretty good school - yes I’ve heard of it. Don’t base yourself off of your American friends, there are many many colleges in the US, and most Americans only know those around them and those with big football teams.</p>