I passed the initial stages at Oxford and failed at the interview. Had I been able to control my nerves better, I would’ve gotten in. The fact that I didn’t get into Oxford does not make me any less of a strong candidate and does not mean I have poor academic capability – my grades were well over their ‘minimum’ requirements. Over the years my school has had a lot of people get rejected by Oxbridge to go on to be accepted by top US schools. The application process is different, and yes, being an international student may make it more difficult for me, but what is the harm in trying?
My ‘original plan’ was to apply to US schools anyway. It was where I spent the majority of my childhood growing up and where I felt most comfortable, but I decided against it and to follow the UK system because of being told by people like on here ‘there’s no point trying, it’s too difficult’.
Regarding the U.S. Schools that you consider worthy of providing you with an education: do any of them offer merit aid? You won’t get need-based aid and you say your dad can’t pay full cost.
What happens if you get accepted to an unaffordable U.S. dream school? Another gap year?
I think the problem you’ll run into is that schools on par with Oxford but above Durham (ie., -arguably- Duke, Northwestern, Brown, Vanderbilt, UVA, Williams, Amherst, Pomona, Bowdoin…) may not give you merit aid or may not give merit aid at all.
So the question remains: will your parents be okay paying above 45,000 pounds for you to attend university in the US?
You may get into some Honors Scholars programs, such as UIUC’s, Shreyer (where the main criteria are secondary curriculum rigor + essays) or Uwisconsin’s (which includes SAT scores), with possible scholarships, but costs will be higher than at a UK school.
American colleges have a combination few European universities offer: choice of classes (…the very fact there’s a choice!), interdisciplinarity (for students who are genuinely curious about many fields) with no restrictions on combinations, opportunity to do research, small seminars in some subjects rather than giant lectures (with a few exception for “tutorial” universities), life outside of class with a specific student-community (which exists at UK schools, but not necessarily in the same way) - not to mention cultural discovery. So, for a very strong student who’s likely to get credit for his A-Levels, I can see the appeal American universities hold.
Your main problem remains costs, which is why you need to talk with your parents ASAP.
Agreed. You have a cost issue. The schools you might consider on par with Oxbridge are all close to $60,000 a year in total costs of attendance. Your family isn’t going to get need based aid, and most of these schools don’t give merit aid. The ones that do give merit aid…it’s very competitive…moreso than admission.
So…you need to have a serious discussion with your family. Will they pay $60,000 USD per year for you to attend a college in the U.S?
What major(s) are you looking at and what are your goals in life? I don’t know about the UK, but for an American, my advice would differ depending on those.
well, I meant that test scores were taken into account for Honors invitation - keep in mind OP is international and OP mentioned the SAT (what Wisconsin students typically do is of little relevance to him). There are some scholarships for students who are invited to the Honors College and are high scorers with “interesting” profiles, there’s a whole compendium of them if you go to the scholarships pages, some are per dept, some per major, some generally for honors students… None of these are automatic and all are small, which is what I was trying to emphasize, ie., even at universities where OP may get some money, his parents will need to pay a significant amount.
Is this L & S Honors? The only L & S Honors scholarships at UW-Madison I see are for research grants and study abroad. The general (not specific to Honors) L & S scholarships - is that what you are referring to?
Unless you’re talking about the First Wave Hip-hop Spoken Word full tuition scholarships (http://omai.wisc.edu/), I’m unaware of merit scholarships that are really open to OOS.
"I passed the initial stages at Oxford and failed at the interview. Had I been able to control my nerves better, I would’ve gotten in. "
Um, dude, you do realize that top US schools have interviews too? And although they perhaps are less important than interviews at Oxford, they do, especially when really good or really bad, get considered. Are you going to put in the time to properly prepare for those interviews? (and many schools do Skype or phone call interviews if you can’t go there in person)
This is almost identical to another thread, and I am not sure what internationals think about the US, but apparently they assume we are all making tons of money. We aren’t.
But we do have our share of parents who make in the OP’s family income range, and who would never pay 60K per year for their child’s college costs. I know a guy who made his daughter go to a state school for 20K per year instead of a much better non-profit private college that was 40K per year total. Made as in said “if you go to the state school, we’ll pay all of it, but we think the other school is a waste of money so you have to pay ALL of the 40K per year”. She was so intimidated by that level of loans, let alone that her parents would not co-sign any loans for her, that she went to the state school, bearing in mind her parents certainly could have paid 100% of the 40K, but wouldn’t. Or at least could have paid 20K of it and let her choose to take out loans.
Now that as an adult 30 years out of college she knows that they had much more than enough money, she is very bitter. They pled “too poor” when they really just wanted to control and manipulate her.
Just the travel cost alone would make any parents who were worried about money and living in the UK avoid schools off the island.
@myos1634 Regarding UW-Madison L&S Scholarships: in 2011, there were approximately 1,500 applications from incoming freshmen for about 50 scholarships, and fewer than 10 of these had eligibility requirements that allowed non-Wisconsin residents to be considered.
@purpletitan: Other than the First Wave scholarships, there are the Chancellor’s and Powers Knapp scholarships for URMs (no need component), and nonURMs who are socially or economically disadvantaged.
My parents aren’t completely against the idea of paying $60,000+. Obviously fees are much lower in the UK (all universities cost exactly the same), so they’d prefer for me to stay in the UK if I get into Oxford, but if I were to get into top schools in the US and not get into Oxford (which happens with quite a lot of UK students) they’re saying paying wouldn’t be an issue. I guess the problem is more or less solved.
Do they mean top 25 Universities and LACs? Check with them to see what they’d be willing to pay for.
And I assume you’ll try for Oxford next year too, right?
Yes. I haven’t really looked at LACs much though. Already talked about what they’d be willing to pay for (they’d pay high fees for top schools but not high fees for non-top schools).
I very much doubt your parents would be interested in LACs.
That said, what will you do if you get denied by Oxford as well as all ‘top’ US schools you apply to, which is a very real possibility, even for the best applicants? Would you go to UCL? Couldn’t you have done that without losing a year?
International95, why would you assume Op’s parents wouldn’t be interested in LACs? While the general public may not have heard of them, the international elite (to which I assume OP’s parents belong) would know of Williams, Amherst, Haverford, etc. (basically the NESCAC/Little Ivies colleges), due to American elites they are friends/acquaintances with sending their sons/children there.
I do agree they’d be unlikely to be interested in Beloit, even though Beloit is a terrific school, since there seems to be a “prestige premium”(or “right sticker for car window” in US terms, I don’t think it’d apply for British parents though).
Op’s plan isn’t so radical. Plenty of young Brits take a gap year after ALevels. Volunteering in India is common, but Op has already stated he has definite plans and will make the best use of his time. Since admission to UCL, etc., is strictly based on ALevel results and OP would meet conditions, it’s a no-risk plan: either OP get into a top US school/Oxford, or goes to a university where he’s sure to get into.