Moving from US to London! Please help!

Student Lounge International Students
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<p>Hi! This is my first post in the forum, but I have definitely done my research. I searched all 7 pages of this particular forum, along with many others on this website and others. I have many questions, with nobody to give me any answers. Thankfully, I stumbled across this website. I am going to try ************** also.</p>

<p>Basically, I am an 18 year old who is trying to seek out what is possible and plausible. I am a resident of the US, but plan on moving to London to finish my education. I am not able to move to London for two more years, but want to obtain my degree there.</p>

<p>Truthfully, I have not been too scholarly in my high school endeavours, and have a lower GPA, hardly any ECs, ~1900 SAT, and only one AP Exam, which I made a 3 on. </p>

<p>I am attending a state university for two years, but then was hoping to transfer to a London university. I was looking at London Met specifically, as I believe I read that there, you can take two years of US college and equate that to one year of studying at LondonMet. I am open for ANY university in London, but that plan just seems practical, if it is possible. I am majoring in financial services, and LondonMet has quite a large one.</p>

<p>Is it even possible for me to attend two years of state college in the states and then transfer? And by transfer, I do mean move to London during the summer between the two years and live in London afterwards. Would I be required to completely start over? I know that there are Study Abroad programs, but I don't know if they would let me spend my last two years in London, rather than the states.</p>

<p>*</p>

<p>I apologize for the continuing questions, but a friend of mine plans on attending LondonMet also, but he is only 16, entering his junior year in high school. I know that he would have to start getting very serious about applying.</p>

<p>What are the requirements for both of us upon entering a London university?
I understand that you must apply through UCAS --- but if we plan on moving to London and attending university there for the rest of our time being, would we still be transfer/international students, or home/eu residents? How does home residency work there?</p>

<p>I'm sure I have more questions, but that will do for now. Thank you to anybody who can help me!</p>

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<p>Home residency is based on your tax status. If you have paid taxes for x number of years in the UK/EU before starting college, you are a domestic student. Otherwise you are an international student.</p>

<p>Transferring from the US to the UK is tricky because UK degrees do not contain any free electives. All the general education classes you would take in your first two years at an American college are useless in the UK. If you intend to transfer, make sure you take enough courses in your major in your first two years in the US. Find out which classes a student at your prospective UK university would take in the first year, and make sure to squeeze every single one of those classes into your schedule in your first two years in the US. At the same time you want to keep the option of finishing your degree in the US if the UK does not work out for some reason (financially visa-related, admission-wise, etc), so try to take enough general education classes to stay on track for graduation in the US.</p>

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<p>LMU does take transfer students. It might be unique in this regard. I shall leave you to ponder what meaning that has in the context of higher education in the UK.</p>

<p>"All undergraduate courses at London Metropolitan Univesity are based on a Credit Accumulation and Transfer Scheme (CATS). Students collect credits by passing modules (courses). These credits accumulate to give an award e.g. 360 points for an undergraduate honours degree.</p>

<p>If you can demonstrate that you already have the skills and knowledge that a London Met module is designed to teach, you may be awarded credit and exempted from taking the module. This means that you will be unlikely to gain credit for modules you have studied which are not related to your chosen programme of study at London Met.</p>

<p>You will need to send in a copy of your transcript when you make an application for credit transfer." </p>

<p>Re a US citizen’s fees’, a student is not considered a ‘home’ student for fees purposes until they have been ‘settled’ in the UK for at least three years prior to the beginning of their course. Usually this means that their parents have been living here, paying taxes etc.</p>

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<p>Please do NOT go to London Met, its one of the worst universities in the UK! The only good London unis are University of London colleges, Imperial, City and the University of the Arts London.</p>

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<p>SamualUK, I was trying to be diplomatic. Below is an article from the THES. The issue was also discussed in the House of Commons on July 16th. Personally, I think it is a disgrace that taxpayers are funding this joke.</p>

<p>"Hefce considered ‘nuclear option’ over London Met</p>

<p>26 June 2009</p>

<p>By Melanie Newman</p>

<p>Dissolution was considered by funding chiefs as a ‘last resort’. Melanie Newman reports</p>

<p>Funding chiefs considered plans to take the “nuclear option” and dissolve London Metropolitan University during the ongoing crisis engulfing the institution.</p>

<p>Times Higher Education has obtained copies of ministerial correspondence that show that the Higher Education Funding Council for England considered closure, albeit as the last resort.</p>

<p>The institution is being forced to repay £36.5 million paid to it on the basis of student completion figures that Hefce says were wildly inaccurate. A further £15 million has also been held back from its recurrent teaching funding.</p>

<p>Documents released to Times Higher Education under the Freedom of Information Act include a memo exchanged between two officials at the now-defunct Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills.</p>

<p>The author of the DIUS memo, whose identity is withheld, reveals that a Hefce-commissioned report provided by consultants BDO that scrutinised data handling at London Met was “extremely critical” of the institution’s processes and its governing body’s lack of oversight.</p>

<p>This report was considered so incendiary by London Met that lawyers acting for Brian Roper, its former vice-chancellor, and a number of the university’s governors threatened to sue Hefce for defamation if it was published, the documentation reveals.</p>

<p>The memo from the DIUS official, dated January this year, says the BDO report “will strengthen the [Hefce] board’s lack of confidence” in London Met’s management.</p>

<p>“What happens next is not entirely clear yet. The scale of the problem… is much greater than any precedent, so the ‘traditional’ solution of lining up some sort of merger isn’t in play.”</p>

<p>It says: “If all else fails, Hefce thinks that its only remaining option may be to ask the Secretary of State [John Denham] to dissolve London Met… Clearly this is a nuclear option… It would also be new ground for all involved.”</p>

<p>Another piece of correspondence details a Hefce board meeting in May 2008, stating that one attendee “was worried that Hefce would lose reputation if [London Met] stayed afloat”.</p>

<p>In the event, the “nuclear option” was not taken, and the university has agreed to pay back the money it over-claimed over the next five years. This will involve a restructuring exercise, including up to 550 job losses.</p>

<p>As late as January 2009 Hefce board papers were still noting that the “Secretary of State has powers to dissolve a higher education corporation”. The DIUS briefing responding to this paper said: “We do not have a HEC [higher education corporation] here. Hefce knows this.”</p>

<p>London Met is incorporated as a company rather than a higher education corporation and as such may be dissolved only under corporate insolvency legislation.</p>

<p>The documents also reveal that Hefce received legal advice saying that it could threaten to withhold funding from London Met unless Mr Roper resigned from his position.</p>

<p>An email exchange between DIUS officials shows that in December 2008, Hefce’s board concluded that it had “no confidence in [London Met’s] leadership”.</p>

<p>By January this year, the funding council was acting on legal advice to the effect that “there is a road that will take Hefce as far as being able to withhold funding until a named individual ceases to be [London Met’s] accounting officer”, a DIUS briefing note says.</p>

<p>The same month, John Denham, the then Universities Secretary, sought legal advice over whether he could direct the university’s governing board to remove Mr Roper, Peter Anwyl, the board’s chairman, or the entire board.</p>

<p>He was advised that this was impossible, but that Hefce’s powers over university funding could be used to “put considerable pressure” on the institution.</p>

<p>In the event, Mr Roper resigned as vice-chancellor in March 2009, although he will remain employed by the university until December.</p>

<p>The board of governors, including its chairman, remain in place. No other senior manager has been asked to leave.</p>

<p>Bob Aylett, deputy vice-chancellor, took up the role of acting vice-chancellor in the wake of Mr Roper’s resignation. In May, Alfred Morris was appointed as interim vice-chancellor."</p>

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<p>you cant transfer any of your credits from US to UK and you would basically have to start all over again without fund or scholarship</p>

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<p>Hah, indeed it doesn’t. I would indeed have to squeeze in many classes to do so. </p>

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<p>Ah! So it’s not that I necessarily have to take the exact courses a first-year student at LMU would take, but just ones that mirror the learning that an LMU student would do, and be able to prove it via transcript?</p>

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<p>:X Is it really that bad of a school? The only requirement I truly have is that a school be in London, be able to accept me as a transfer after two years of US university, and have a program for financial services. Does anybody know if the transfer program is specifically unique to LMU, as hmac said, or if any other schools would do so also?</p>

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<p>So basically, no other schools accept transfers?</p>

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<p>TRANSFER STUDENT FROM A US UNIVERSITY</p>

<p>From the British Council (US version of site)</p>

<p>"Transfer policies vary by university in the UK.</p>

<p>Transfer applicants do not normally receive credit for all coursework done in the US because UK degrees are shorter and more specialised than their US counterparts. In general, students educated for two years at a US university (an Associate’s degree) receive one year of credit at a UK university.</p>

<p>Transfer applicants normally submit a UCAS application on which they list qualifications including their US grade point average.</p>

<p>If you are applying as a transfer student you should contact the UK universities where you are applying to find out the exact requirements you need.</p>

<p>If you cannot fulfill the above requirements, you may consider taking an access and foundation course in the UK and then moving on to a full undergraduate degree."</p>

<p>In short, you will need to contact each university.</p>

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<p>Yes, it really is.</p>

<p>I dont know about transferring, you need to contact each university.</p>

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<p>What about Richmond University?
[Advanced</a> Credit and Transfer Students - Richmond University](<a href=“http://www.richmond.ac.uk/content/admissions/undergraduate-admissions/advanced-credit-and-transfer-students.aspx]Advanced”>http://www.richmond.ac.uk/content/admissions/undergraduate-admissions/advanced-credit-and-transfer-students.aspx)</p>

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<p>[:X Is it really that bad of a school?]
Yes it really is, but its bad reputation only tends to extend within the UK and perhaps western Europe. That matters most if you intend to try to work in the UK. If you plan on taking your degree and returning to the US, most American employers won’t know much about it.</p>

<p>Of course spending vast sums of money on a crappy institution is its own problem.</p>

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<p>Richmond is not a UK university in the same sense as London Met. It is an American international university - basically a US institution abroad. Anecdotally, I’ve heard it’s like being at a large boarding school rather than a university. </p>

<p>OP, if you are desperate to come to the UK then do a year at a US university and apply next year as a first year student. You will have far more options than trying to apply as a transfer. </p>

<p>Also, bear in mind that you will be expected to pay full international student fees. You will get little or nothing in the way of scholarships (we don’t really do scholarships here).</p>

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<p>No. I would continue my career in London and stay there forever, so I suppose going to London Met wouldn’t help much in the future. </p>

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Honestly, I’ve heard nearly the same thing, but I am so desperate for a school the would accept me as a student after two years of US university, I’m almost at a loss.</p>

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<p>Really? A year at a US university will look better? Will two be any different? I have two years of nearly free college at the US, so I’m trying to think of how to do it best.</p>

<p>I am still trying to find all of the universities that accept US transfers mid-way through university, but I am quite hopeless. I don’t even know where to begin.</p>

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<p>Here’s a question – how are you planning on working in London forever? You will not have working status there, and from my understanding its as difficult for a US citizen to get a job in the UK as for a foreign national to get a job in the US. And we are not even touching on the fact that the economy is bad and jobs in financial sector are drying up for graduates of Oxbridge/LSE</p>

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<p>Settlement visas do exist, but the criteria for getting them are quite stringent. You are young, so that is a point in your favour, but if you are interested in emigrating to the UK, you should get the guff from Her Majesty’s Immigration Services and start looking at it now.</p>

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<p>“Really? A year at a US university will look better? Will two be any different?”</p>

<p>I think one will look better because it will bring you up to speed with UK students. The reason our degrees are a year shorter is because we essentially spend our last year of high school (Year 13/Upper Sixth year) doing what you do in your first year of university. </p>

<p>I honestly can’t see how 2 years would help you - unless you go somewhere that will accept transfers, you will have to start from the first year of university again anyway, which will mean you spend 5 years on your degree instead of 4. And as people have said, London Met is not a particularly good university, even if they will accept your transfer credits. </p>

<p>Can I ask, why do you want to come to the UK? Do you have family here? Your chances of getting a job here after graduation will be minimal because the economy is so bad. You will also be limited in how much part-time work you will be allowed to do as a student (if your visa lets you do any at all). </p>

<p>Honestly, if you have two years free college education in the US, you are better off staying there to finish your degree then applying for a Masters here. I was doing an MA at University College London last year, and there were TONS of international students. Way more than I met at undergrad level.</p>

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<p>Hi, im starting my sophmore year at college (2 year-college) and I want to transfer to UK next year. i am majoring in biology as pre-med so, What are some good public/private universities I could transfer to? what about financial aid/grants? how can I get them? I am a british citizen so would it be easier to get them or how does it work there?? PLEASE HELP!</p>

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<p>For medicine you should consider UCL (University College London), but I would recommend that you start your search with the online Guardian education section. As a British subject you may qualify for bursaries and loans (which in the UK have very generous repayment plans). However, you should check for any residency requirements.</p>

<p>Medical education is rather different in the UK. It’s not a four-year postgraduate program following an undergraduate degree program, but rather a six-year degree program leading to a bachelor’s degree (nevertheless equivalent to a North American MD).</p>

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<p>In order to qualify for home status (i.e., cheap fees) you have to prove you are ordinarily resident in the UK. Consult a good lawyer. Loans are not given to international students.</p>

<p>There are loads of medical schools in the UK, UCL is just one of them. Go do some research on the UCAS website which is the centralised university applications system in the UK.</p>

<p>-Fourth year med student in London</p>

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<p>why do you say so? about met</p>