I posted before regarding the same topic, but I recently got new information.
I live in Pennsylvania, US and decided to be ballsy and move to the UK for school (Univ. of St Andrews). It’s a well-respected school and I thought I would love it, but I was dead wrong. The weather, isolation, and boring, elitist social scene has impacted my health as well as my grades. I am currently applying to UW-Seattle, UMD, UT Austin, and Penn State, and have been looking desperately for a 5th school that I could surely get in to. My questions are:
- Are the schools I mentioned reasonable for me to get into?
- Any recommendations for a safe 5th school?
I am 1000x more nervous after receiving my final first semester grades, which equate to about a 2.2 GPA with all grades in the C range. I had A LOT to get used to (foreign grading system, completely different course setup, moved 4000 miles away from home, was absolutely miserable, etc.) Given my high school/misc. credentials I’ll list below, I would love people’s honest opinion of how much this will affect me. Also, keep in mind that St Andrews is a notoriously hard school and ranked 3rd in the UK.
In high school, I got a 3.75 UW and 4.0 W GPA and an SAT score of 2000.
I took 5 APs, but the only scores I can use are:
AP Lang + Comp: 5
AP Lit + Comp: 3
AP Microeconomics: 3
So, you can clearly see that something went very, very wrong for my first semester grades to suffer so badly, since I was always a competitive, high-achieving student.
Advice is very much needed!!
Thanks for your help!
@jupiter98 I can’t go to Pitt for personal reasons, but that’s the only school I’m completely adversed to.
What did you get on St Andrews marking scale?
Grades don’t convert numerically. As collegemom3717 said, what did you really get with StA’s marking scale and in what classes?
Frankly, it’s not totally surprising you struggled, because the level of independence required by British universities can be a shock and to do well at St Andrews you need several AP 5’s in the subject you’re about to read as well as supporting subjects. Join the international club, make it to the cinema every week, travel using the coach (bus) and visit a different place every other weekend, use half term breaks to visit cities in the UK and in Europe. Treat this as a semester abroad 
What about Temple? CNU? SUNY Geneseo?
If you want a school sort of like StA (international, nice campus) but less elitist and remote, look into Dickinson (they would definitely appreciate your international experience!)
It’s too bad you missed the Jan15 deadline since you could have applied to other universities in the UK - Brighton, Cardiff, Bath Spa, Plymouth would have been a totally different experience. There’s still time for “continental” universities - I think the Transatlantic Program at Sciences Po is open and they too appreciate international experience.
http://www.sciencespo.fr/admissions/en/undegraduate-international-interviews
http://www.sciencespo.fr/admissions/en/content/undergraduate-international-apply
http://college.sciences-po.fr/sitereims/en/content/presentation
Would you consider universities outside of PA? of the Midatlantic?
UT-Austin is pretty unlikely. They’re difficult for out-of-state applicants, anyway, and very GPA-focused. UW-Seattle has become pretty selective, but I don’t know how they are for transfer admissions. My son, who graduated from H.S. in '14, had similar stats (higher weighted, lower unweighted GPA; slightly higher SAT; full IB curriculum, plus some APS; strong “leadership” ECs), and he was waitlisted, to our surprise. I would also suggest Temple. Have you missed deadline for UDel? Clemson? Colorado-Boulder?
@collegemom3717 @MYOS1634 my average was a 10.5 overall on the Scottish marking scale for first semester
@MYOS1634 I actually have appointment soon with the head of transfer students bc I’m not sure how my grades & credits will translate. I took IR, Economics, and Business Management, since I’m only allowed to take classes involving my major (one of the reasons I want to leave). I am very much willing to go anywhere/any region in the US. I didn’t look into any other UK schools since I really want to go back to the US.
It’s actually much wider than most UK universities for courses so you’re lucky. Did you take a math class? This too would likely transfer, as well as a foreign language (this is part of the electives you’re allowed to take, I don’t remember what they’re called.)
I strongly recommend you look into Dickinson.