<p>A friend told me that if I go get a degree at the University of York in the UK rather than here. I won't be able to work in the US. is this true?</p>
<p>No. I have no idea what your friend’s reasoning would be for this statement. The only thing that would make sense is if you were to study something that requires taking boards or a licensing exam like law or nursing. In those cases, you could eventually work in the U.S., but you would have to take the U.S./state exams.</p>
<p>I am going to study computer engineering and business</p>
<p>Sometimes friends are wrong. With a business major, often employers recruit at specific schools and some universities have better reputations. Perhaps that was what your friend was thinking. Then again, maybe you will want to stay in Britain.</p>
<p>Hi MD Mom, do you know how to send your SAT & AP scores report and high school transcript to UK universities after you submit your ucas? Thanks</p>
<p>No idea, az2011. I would just call College Board and ask; then I would send the transcript snail mail. Sorry.</p>
<p>I disagree – there might be an element of truth to it. Depending on what sort of jobs you are going for, American employers will not have heard of the university and might not take you as seriously.</p>
<p>To be fair, if I was an employer in the UK I would not rate a degree from a US university that I had not heard of. York is a decent, mid ranking, university, but not particularly well known, so there is probably an element of truth in what you were told.</p>
<p>A good friend of mine studied her UG at St Andrews and post grad at Cambridge. On her return to the US, she has struggled to get employers to understand her resume and educational achivements. She got a ‘2:1’ in Modern History and IR from St As, which is a great result but 2.1 means nothing in the US as that is not how we grade… she also recieved a ‘merit’ for her Masters from Cambridge, but again, employers don’t understand this…</p>
<p>she has a good job but it has been a struggle… however, she wouldn’t trade it for the world seeing the wealth of experiences she had - she also met her husband at St As, which is worth more than anything in my opinion… they now live in NYC…</p>
<p>a 2:1 is ok but not that great – it’s equivalent to about a 3.4 GPA.</p>
<p>It’s just another example of how things may not translate that well back to the US… In the UK a 2.1 degree is considered very good, especially from a top 20 university. To get a 2.1 when we were at St Andrews you needed between 70 - 80% on essays and exams. Very few get a 1st and those that do are usually heading to academia. </p>
<p>I believe Cupcake has spoken at length to those studying abroad for a year/semester about understanding the impact on your GPA of the typical British grading system…</p>
<p>Well depending on the university, a 2:1 is most certainly not considered ‘very good’. Maybe 40 years ago it was true that those who got firsts were heading to academia, but there has been very pronounced grade inflation in the UK too. Broadly, this is how it goes:</p>
<p>1st: very good job
2:1 respectable, did ok. won’t impress anyone though
2:2 major messup. a drinker’s degree
3rd huge problems. unless you edited a school newspaper or something, you are in trouble</p>
<p>For example: on my course at Cambridge, about 1/3 of people got 1sts.</p>
<p>keepittoyourself - a 2.1 is fine, most people who get one from a top university go on to get a good job - what degree did you do at the 'bridge - that sounds to be a high first percentage…</p>
<p>natsci (physics)</p>
<p>York is more than “a decent, mid-ranking university,” especially for certain courses. It’s a top 10 university and has the second best PPE program in the UK after Oxford, as well as other very highly regarded courses.</p>
<p>Please.</p>
<p>^ Agreed. It’s more than decent. I’d call it ‘good but not great’. </p>
<p>UK only has 3 maybe 4 or 5 great unis.</p>
<p>This is irrelavent. It might be a top ten university, but in the UK it is certainly not in the people’s perceived top ten. If it is not thus perceived in the UK how is it to be perceived in the US? I suggest lowly. Employers tend not to like to have to research which university a potential employee went to before they consider the application.</p>