<p>
</p>
<p>What category is that? Just olympiad winners or other exceptional students?</p>
<p>You’ve hit the nail right on the head. The “category” I’m talking about IS olympiad winners and exceptional students. BUT, what exactly does exceptional students mean. It depends on what pool you’re applying from. In India, everyone has high grades, so in the normal sense, it’s difficult to be exceptional academically–whereas this is the sort of exceptionality MIT is looking for! Have you won an International Science Fair? Have you participated in ANYTHING academic on an international level and came off as the winner? For international students, MIT really doesn’t care that the average middle-class student has very limited access to all of these things. The concept of “we look at your context” does not apply to international students, especially because they will have very little knowledge on what your context is. If you send me a list of your accomplishments, that you’re advertising yourself by, I can give you a pretty general idea of whether you can make it or not. Now, I know that MITChris claims that not even he can tell someone 100% whether they’re getting into MIT or not. But that is because MITChris has to speak for the audience as a whole. This is the injustice of affirmative action. If a Zimbabwean and an Indian have equal stats in all respects, it’s going to be the Zimbabwean that gets in. Indians/South Asians are ORM (over-represented minority) in the US, so colleges try to balance it out like this. The positive way to look at this is to think that you are only competing against Indians for the slots–and not that you’re being discriminated against. But, if you’re competing against Indians, then the requirements for admission go up by leaps and bounds, and at the very end, it always goes to 1 of 2 types of people: the olympiad winner with any bit of personality, and the rural kid who really exceeded his environment academically. The formal outweighs the latter by about 4:1 or 3:1.</p>
<p>But think about this: just like you, there will be 100s of south asians applying to MIT in any given year (600-1000, who knows?–I only know the rough figure for Indians). They will take less than 20. Where do you fit in that scheme of things? And is it something that you should really bother about to get an interview, which, I guarantee you, in the whole scheme of things, makes very little difference.</p>
<p>Am I angry at MIT? I’ve already said no, but you refuse to believe. Why would I still be angry at MIT? I’m at Imperial College London right now, doing Aeronautics, in the best Aeronautics department in all of Europe. I have the option of applying for internships to some of the top aeronautics firms; I recently won an international essay contest, and made a small amount of money from that (plus air miles); I’m trying to get the essay published; I’m thinking of applying for a few more scholarships, and think I stand a good chance (and because I study in Europe, without the need to take unnecessary courses, I have time for that); I’m busy, and relatively happy with what’s on offer academically here. So, then, why should I CARE that MIT rejected me 6 months ago? I’m telling you the lessons I learned from my MIT experience. Do not get too emotionally/physically-attached. There may be 1 or 2 of you to whom this does not apply, but for the rest, you’re in the same boat as me; heading for rejection. And you know what the LAST thing I want to see is? The LAST thing I want to see is any of you coming back to CC next year saying, “Hey! It’s me again. I didn’t get in anywhere because I poured all my time into MIT, didn’t concentrate on my other apps (if I had any at all) and MIT rejected me in the end! By the way, I was SOOO counting on getting into MIT that I screwed up my final exams as well. Please help, what should I do?” There ARE several people like this on CC, and it’s just sad what the MIT allure can do to perfectly decent students. Am I clear?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I’ve heard them say that this is why interviews are important, because the interviewer will know of your context and tell them.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>So indians only compete vs other indians, pakistanis vs other pakistanis? Or do south asians compete vs all other south asians regardless of their country (e.g indians vs all indians, pakistanis, and bangladeshis)?</p>
<p>By the way I don’t disagree with you, I think you are right about a lot of things.</p>
<p>I said that context does not apply ESPECIALLY because they have little knowledge; not ONLY because. Other factors come into play as well. Like I said, MIT can only take 100 international students in total in any given year (this is set by funding arrangements with the US government). Out of those 100 students, less than 15 can be South Asian. At that point, if you were an adcom, would you be looking to validate extenuating circumstances that would keep more applications in the running? Or would you just be trying to axe applications from the list because you know that no matter how good they are individually, they’re all competitive in the normal sense, and you’re going to have to raise the bar to fit your quota. Because that is what it is. It is a limiting quota. The people whose extenuating circumstances they DO look into are the people they can use later to claim, “Look at us! We help the underprivileged.” But to claim this, they do not need to take all the underprivileged applicants; they only need to take 1 or 2 every few years. The rest of them, if they apply as international students (because remember, a fair number of Indians/South Asians apply as US citizens–and if they do, they no longer fall into that limiting quota), either have that medal, or are headed straight for the rejection pile. They have NO sympathy for South Asian middle-class applicants whose families have only recently (last 2 decades) started to earn money, and move to the level of international competitions. You’ll see that a lot of the Indian applicants that do get into MIT have professors as their parents. This gives them many more connections and awareness on the international scale than the typical middle-class applicants. If you were American, I would agree with MITChris, and say I had NO idea whether you’re going to get in or not. But you’re not. You’re going to fall into an unbelievably discriminatory quota, and that will be it, pretty much. This quota is not the fault of MIT as an institute. Rather, it is the fault of MIT as an commercial organization. Please remember that it isn’t the professors or students (who make MIT worth going to) looking at your applications. It is a bunch of random adcoms, who are looking to fill quotas (David duKor Jackson particularly annoyed me last year with all his snide and lie-filled posts on the MIT blogs; thankfully, you won’t have to deal with him this year)…</p>
<p>As for your question, “Indians onle compete vs. other Indians, etc.” I don’t know–it will depend on how closely MIT defines their racial brackets. (In fact, you could check on their application whether they specify “South Asian” or “Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, etc.”–that should give you a general idea–although, even if they keep it to South Asian, they can pretty much figure out your nationality via school transcripts, addresses, names, etc.</p>
<p>Sorry if I was a little short on you earlier, but this is really not a joking matter. It’s not just MIT either. ALL of the Ivies–Harvard, PTon, etc. are sending out recruitment letters to all sorts of people (indians included), who don’t have the slightest chance of getting in. They then use the increasing number of people they reject to boost their selectivity (and caliber of rejected applicants), and to make themselves more appealing. It’s a dirty game that they’re playing, and we’re one of the biggest victims of it. I hope that by keeping my advice in mind, you’ll be spared a lot of hassle and (perhaps) pain in the end.</p>
<p>
What did he say?</p>
<p>[Putting</a> Diversity into Context | MIT Admissions](<a href=“http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/which-box-should-i-check]Putting”>Putting Diversity into Context | MIT Admissions)
[To</a> whom much is given… | MIT Admissions](<a href=“http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/to-whom-much-is-given]To”>To whom much is given… | MIT Admissions)</p>
<p>Read those, and if you can’t find anything offensive, I’ll give it to you here:</p>
<p>“While one’s race can certainly come into play in a college admissions decision, the actual impact bears no resemblance to the common perception that checking a single box somehow guarantees a pathway to admission.”</p>
<p>Oh really? Then why is it that Asian students (both American and international), are limited to 20% of any entering body? Whereas, if race is taken completely out of the consideration (as in the UC system), the number of asian students in the entering body doubles to 40% (at Berkeley, even, which has a “holistic” admissions process). Stop lying. </p>
<p>“is what an applicant makes of the opportunities that are available to them.” You have NO clue on what opportunities are available to me. You have never lived in India or Japan (where I lived), and you do NOT know the work culture that students have there. We do NOT study at your average American school where, I’m sorry to say, the rigor, difficulty, and duration of the workload is so low that it allows for all sorts of other BS activities which you classify as “merit”. Furthermore, if I live in Japan, and say that I haven’t had many opportunities in the tech field, you won’t believe me. You automatically associate Japan with robotics and tech. Well the truth is, that NO high school student in Japan has the extra-curricular activities you demand for Indian students, or does internships. High-school in Japan, and most of the rest of the world, is all about studying the basics to a great deal of rigor. Then, when you get to university, you’ll be able to master the more advanced stuff with greater ease, studying alongside the rest of the bright minds. That’s how it works. When you can’t guarantee me admission, don’t expect me to throw away my academic record just to fit into your box. Because then, when you reject me, I’m going to be well and truly screwed. Time is the only resource that all applicants share; and what we do with our time depends on the setting we are in. An A+ at the average American school takes far less effort than an A+ at the school I went to, or a school in India or Europe. Believe me, I’ve seen the whole process.</p>
<p>“scrutinize applications with sufficient rigor to easily differentiate between disingenuous applicants, who are simply looking for an edge in the admissions process, and the authentic applicants”</p>
<p>How pompous can you get? Yeah, you must all be the greatest lie-detectors in the world, picking out from a 200-word essay from an applicant half-way across the world, whether they’re “real” or “fake”. Why don’t you just admit that you don’t have a clue what you’re admitting when you accept an application, like Yale did? <a href=“http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2006/oct/13/********-its-not-just-for-ukrainians/[/url]”>http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2006/oct/13/********-its-not-just-for-ukrainians/</a></p>
<p>Moving on to the other article:</p>
<p>“Let me be frank. Any serious applicant to MIT has been given much.”</p>
<p>Much compared to what? 100 years ago? Dogs? Beggars on the street? And doesn’t your admissions record show that you take a couple people from certain groups (hem hem the 3rd world) just because you declare that they have NOT been given much with respect to everyone else? You’re making a relativistic argument here, and it just does not fit in with your admissions record. And besides, YOU belong to the same group of people (MITChris, Matt) who claim that ANYONE has a serious (but negligible) chance of getting into MIT. So which side is lying? Or are you telling me that since EVERYONE has a good shot of getting into MIT, EVERYONE must have been given much. If that is the case, you, sir, need to have your reality checked.</p>
<p>And here’s the most disgusting part of it all. Down in the comments section of the page, you see Indian applicants going, “Dear David sir (sick opening), I completely agree with you. Please tell me what I need to do to get in.” You just missed the entire point of his article.</p>
<p>^you go to Imperial college, London? Would like to know how it compares to US education (culturally and academically)</p>
<p>Yes, I’m currently attending Imperial College, London. The system here is completely dissimilar to that in the US. I’m in the Aeronautics course, which is one of the tougher ones here, and I can truly say that it is hard. Basically, they just hurl you into your subject head-on and see how well you do. In the US (and in Switzerland and Japan, from what I’m hearing from my friends), there is a period of integration when all you do is review high-school material. Not here. 99% of the course material is completely new to me, so I have to spend a good deal of time trying to conceptualize it.</p>
<p>Probably the toughest course I have is Structural Analysis, which I don’t think you do in US colleges until the 2nd or 3rd year. A tutorial sheet for Struct. can take me as long as 4-5 hours (6 questions; without external help). However, that’s probably because I try not to ask for help from lecturers; whereas many people just wait and get it down quickly with help during weekly study sessions. Coursework is not marked, so it’s up to you to find your own learning style, and judge how much work you want and need to do to pass. There is also an extended practical project each year (you actually have to go down to the workshop and build something), and the occasional lab with accompanying lab report, which is graded (I think this applies to all courses). Most of your grades do come from your final exams though (there isn’t really any such thing as a mid-term–although some courses are only half-year-long, so you have a couple of exams in January). I know that most freshmen in the US have 18-20 hours of classes each week. Here, you should expect a few more (22-30)–but it’s much more flexible, and varies from week to week.</p>
<p>I’m not really the type of person that goes out clubbing or anything, but if you’re into that sort of thing, there are many opportunities. Wednesday evenings are particularly popular for that sort of thing because we only have a half-day on Wednesday. The soccer fans here typically opt to go watch a game instead (Chelsea is right nearby–to the dismay of Arsenal fans like my roommate). But, generally speaking, it’s London. If you can’t find a way to socialize here, then you’re not going to find a way to socialize anywhere you go.</p>
<p>The diversity here also seems to be much broader than what I saw in America (admittedly, I have only visited Stanford for summer school, so I can’t say for sure). Just in Aero, I know of people who are English, French, German, Spanish, Romanian, Indian, Iranian, Malaysian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Bangladeshi, Singaporean, Indonesian, Kenyan, Swiss, South African, Trinidadian, American, Swedish, and so on (I haven’t actually met all of them yet). </p>
<p>Now, for the bad points:
- The weather. It’s never sunny for most of the year, and it gets pretty cold too. I’d advise any Indians coming here to really bundle up for the first day or two. I caught a week-long cold cause I forgot those extra layers.</p>
<p>2) The bureaucracy is stifling. You have to fill out a million different forms to get ANYTHING done, and even after you submit them, everything moves incredibly slowly. I’d say that it is about equal to Indian speed (except here, you have a guarantee that it will EVENTUALLY get done).</p>
<p>3) The money. For most Indians, I’d say that if you can get financial aid from a respected college in America, or get into one of the relatively low-tuition public Ivies, it may not be worth coming here. Tuition’s about 39,000 dollars a year, which is about on par with the full price for Stanford, Cornell, CMU, MIT, etc. It’s also unlikely that you will receive any substantial scholarship. Furthermore, starting salaries in Europe tend to be 25-30% lower than those in the US (although they do equal out with experience).</p>
<p>I think I’ve covered everything in this stream of consciousness. If you have any other questions, I’d be happy to answer.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Which are those?</p>
<p>^ UVa, Georgia Tech, Purdue, UIUC. Those types of universities. I got into Georgia Tech, but didn’t want to live in the American South, so came here instead. Of course, that’s just a matter of personal preference; there’s nothing wrong academically with Georgia Tech.</p>
<p>I’m not sure why the thread hasn’t updated, because I’m certain I posted this before, but here goes again:</p>
<p>relatively low-tuition public Ivies include UVa, Georgia Tech, UIUC, UMAA, Purdue, and other schools that fall into that bracket. Schools like these actually WANT you, the middle-class studious Indian students, to balance out all the riff-raff they are forced to take from within the state. Cheers.</p>
<p>Hi dasadhikarik,</p>
<p>Can you plz tell us What your life was about when you were in 11th and 12th… some really smart effort you have undertaken… in those days… Were the picture clear about what you wanted to study etc…</p>
<p>And which schools you applied (say MIT etc)… How did you plan to succeed in event of failure of your plan (say not getting admitted to X prestigious university) </p>
<p>How did you have made rational and practical decisions about your future course of action related to higher education… Were you stressed…</p>
<p>Did you have all finances clear before hand or you thought of scholarships etc…</p>
<p>How did you land at Imperial? Is it becoz of your Academic performance (say Distinction or like) or something else (say luck or money)</p>
<p>Some things you like to share which is unusual ( may be extra-ordinary say just bout anything you mind sharing) but useful for rest of us…</p>
<p>One last thing… Did you apply to IITs of India… were you interested in them… </p>
<p>Really excited to hear from you.
Thanks.</p>
<p>Hi dasadhikarik,</p>
<p>Can you plz tell us What your life was about when you were in 11th and 12th… some really smart effort you have undertaken… in those days… Were the picture clear about what you wanted to study etc…</p>
<p>And which schools you applied (say MIT etc)… How did you plan to succeed in event of failure of your plan (say not getting admitted to X prestigious university) </p>
<p>How did you have made rational and practical decisions about your future course of action related to higher education… Were you stressed…</p>
<p>Did you have all finances clear before hand or you thought of scholarships etc…</p>
<p>How did you land at Imperial? Is it becoz of your Academic performance (say Distinction or like) or something else (say luck or money)</p>
<p>Some things you like to share which is unusual ( may be extra-ordinary say just bout anything you mind sharing) but useful for rest of us…</p>
<p>One last thing… Did you apply to IITs of India… were you interested in them… </p>
<p>Really excited to hear from you.
Thanks.</p>
<p>Alright… here goes. I hope I don’t bore you all.</p>
<p>Life in 11th and 12th. I’m not going to lie, life was mostly about studying. I knew that if I wanted to get into the top schools (preferably MIT, Stanford, or Princeton), I’d at least have to have the GPA and the scores to show for it. I had a good track record going into it (the highest GPA that ever happened at my school), but things really got tough. Teachers started repressing grades, saying that getting good grades, then getting weighted 12% up for AP courses (so that a total of 112% was possible) didn’t make any sense. But I knew that colleges wouldn’t look at weighting anyway–they’d look at unweighted scores. I had a 3.9-4.0 unweighted GPA (can’t remember), a 2380 SAT I, 8 5s on APs, and 800s on Math II and Physics SAT II at the end, so that went fine.</p>
<p>But it wasn’t all that. I knew I had to have extra-curriculars too, and this is where the trouble started. I’d been in Student Council, helped organize school events, been part of a PTA committee for curriculum revision, done acting, played violin for 12 years, won nation-wide poetry competitions between 3rd and 7th grade, but none of this helped. I was majoring in engineering. Where were my Math/Science extra-curriculars? Again, being perfectly honest, they weren’t there. And they never would be. Why? Because I lived in Japan. And competition in those fields in Japan are few and far between–and pretty much impossible for a foreigner in Japan to enter. Believe me, I looked far and wide for 2 years. It just isn’t part of that culture to compete in the things that the rest of the world thinks that the Japanese are so proficient at (which they ARE).</p>
<p>So, I made do with what I could find. In the summer after 11th grade, I attended Stanford EPGY, and did a 3 week program in Number Theory. It was definitely interesting, and I like to think that I excelled at it, but mostly (and this is why my parents agreed to spend the money to send me there), it was a chance for me to see what college in the US was like. My parents wanted to know if I could “survive”.</p>
<p>Back in Japan for 12th grade, I tried other stuff–became President of the Student Council, attempted the AMC (didn’t quite get the results I wanted–I was informed two weeks beforehand, and mid-terms lay in between), attempted to start a club specializing in computer graphics (I’d been one of the people creating posters for the school for years–the other one was my classmate–so the question had been who’d do it once we graduated)–that fell through due to lack of interest. And at the same time, rejections started coming in: MIT, Princeton, Caltech, Stanford, Cornell–all the top schools I applied to.</p>
<p>Getting back to the earlier question, “was the picture clear about what you wanted to study?” Yes. That picture’s been clear for more than a decade. Aeronautics. Not much more to say about that. </p>
<p>Was it stressful? Yes, it was stressful. Not only because I wasn’t getting into these schools, but the financial side of things were getting to me as well, in spite of my parents telling me not to worry about that. I DID apply for one private scholarship, which I ended up getting, but the exact amount is quite insignificant when we’re talking about college costs of 42k+ per year. Private scholarships, in 99.9% of cases, won’t cover your education abroad–especially as an undergraduate. Still, wouldn’t advise any of you against applying, you might win an all-expenses paid trip to America, and get to meet a lot of people at the top of their field, like I did a month ago (there was also a UCLA freshman from Indore there).</p>
<p>One the plus side, I did get into Purdue, Georgia Tech, Lafayette (applied because a close friend is there), Boston University, and of course, Imperial. I got $20,000 scholarships each from Lafayette and Boston. I declined them, however, simply because I didn’t want to go to a non-engineering school, and financially, it would come to the same thing ($60,000-$20,000=$40,000~the cost of public tech schools like GT and Purdue). I never did get any need-based financial aid; only merit-based, so that set a cap on the amount.</p>
<p>In terms of being happy with the colleges I had applied for, I only chose colleges that I could “live with”. Sure, it would be great if I got into any of the top five on my list. But, if I didn’t, I’d be happy with GT and Purdue. Ultimately, I declined Purdue as well, and hung on to Georgia Tech while I waited for my AP scores to come in, so I could see whether I could take up my conditional offer from Imperial (apart from having perhaps the best aeronautics department in all of Europe, when I did the math, Imperial came out to cost about the same as Georgia Tech). Fortunately, I got 5s on all the APs that Imperial asked for, so I got to come here. Is that luck, money, or academics? I’d say it’s all 3. I’m lucky to have the acceptable grades and the money, I guess.</p>
<p>Unusual things? I guess all I can say to college aspirants is don’t worry too much about where you get in in the end. And I might sound hypocritical saying that, but I’d like to reiterate that my beef with MIT is in the aloof sort of way they handled the process, not with the fact that I didn’t get in. But to get back to not worrying about where you get in, I can say that all the glitter of Imperial is starting to wear off already, and it isn’t even two months in. These days (when I can find time) I sometimes wonder what it would be like if I’d opted for Georgia Tech instead. I’m pretty sure a lot of other freshmen on this forum would say the same thing.</p>
<p>Dasadhikarik</p>
<p>I know that you know that you always have the option to take a transfer. Not that you want to, but life is full of options, remember. Why I am saying this is, with a good gpa, the transfer to your top 5 and I am going to say, expand them to top 10 in US, are really strong. Just saying…</p>
<p>And I can tell from my own experience of travels, I am just a mom, so that you know. British have a very subtle and intelligent sense of humor. For some it comes across as cold and arrogant. But it is the British
history of royalty and colonial rule which sort of comes across as the stiff upper lip. The Americans, on the other hand, are totally uncomplicated. They are really simple and genuine, without a chip on their shoulder. They like to have a good time, do not like to bother others, keep their distance and to top it, are a friendly lot.</p>
<p>All those speculating on pros and con of an Interview, must read the following thread on Parents Forum,</p>
<p>Impact of NOT Interviewing</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1417481-impact-not-interviewing.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1417481-impact-not-interviewing.html</a></p>
<p>One question:"Why the glitter of imperial is starting to wear off even if it is one of the best?"It is as good as MIT,Caltech,Stanford,Princeton,Cornell…Even though their rank differ,they are still considered the best.</p>
<p>BTW,MIT doesn’t penalize students whose interview has been waived.They do penalize those who didn’t gave their interviews.
Which is a better engineering college----Gtech or UIUC(confused)</p>
<p>Also,I knew a senior who had 4 IOA medals and attended training camp for Indian informatics olympiad.His school marks were great.He was a KVPY fellow.
His Sat Score was around 2200 and SAT Subject 2400.He got rejected by all universities he applied to(even UCLA and UC berkeley…dont ask me why cause I dont know)He is attending IIT. My brother last year applied to UC berkeley last year and got accepted and he was not an exception.(His SAT Score was 2040 and had great school marks but is attending IIT due to financial problems)…These admissions are always uncertain</p>
<p>@anialways that is a very vast generalization to make. The British may have been colonial in the past, but I doubt you’ll find another country today that is as repentant about it as they are. And I disagree that Americans are uncomplicated. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever understood the actions of any American I’ve come to know well. A LOT of the things that I’ve seen average Americans do is very irrational. Having a good time is not everything. Sometimes, it’s necessary to have a bad time to come up with something productive and worthwhile.</p>
<p>And you’re absolutely right, I don’t want to transfer (I find it an unlikely, and indeed, traitorous move; there’s no reason why someone who’s been rejected in the past should be let in later, just because they’ve changed schools)–and even if I did, I could not do it without restarting the entire degree. UK colleges don’t have a credit hour system.</p>
<p>@collstu “Why the glitter of imperial is starting to wear off even if it is one of the best?” The glitter wears off everywhere. At the end of the day, it’s just another place that you commute to every single morning to go through hours of classes with 100s of people, and walk home from every evening. It happens everywhere–and more so at engineering colleges, which a lot of students actually come to dislike while they’re studying there (they have their reasons, and they’re perfectly valid).</p>
<p>“Which is a better engineering college?” Depends on what you want to do, but I think that summing everything up, GeorgiaTech is marginally better than UIUC for most engineering disciplines other than computer-oriented ones.</p>
<p>I never denied that admissions are uncertain (although they SHOULDN’T be, and I hope that the U.S. Supreme Court deals with the matter soon–although it won’t impact internationals that much). All I’m saying is, when a school sets you an interviewer, and the interviewer doesn’t reply to your e-mails for two months, and when he finally does, tells you that he’ll be out of the country, so the interview will HAVE to be over Skype (forcing you to get a Skype account), and then when the interview date and time rolls along, YOU have to contact him 10 minutes after the interview was supposed to have started, and he tells you he forgot all about it. And then, when the interview finally starts, his concluding remarks are, “Well, you seem mature enough for MIT. But they haven’t taken any non-Americans from Japan in decades,” I really have to wonder, “This is an admissions process?” Sure doesn’t look like it. Looks as though it’s pretty much set in stone who’s going to be taken and who isn’t.</p>
<p>Final point: We look into your context is complete rubbish. They don’t. They just play by stereotypes that Americans have about other countries.</p>
<p>It is not generalisation. Like I said it it is MY OPINION based on my experience. The US admissions have always been a mystery, just like the ‘formula’ for a bollywood movie to be a hit. You admit you “do not understand the actions of any American I’ve come to know well” which leads to, “I understand the actions of all Britishers I know well”. That in my opinion, I could say, is generalising OR if I am intelligent enough I would say that is your experience.</p>
<p>I love the British humor as much as I do the American minding their own business. I think you need to let go off the ‘rejection’ and that does not mean that you have to dislike one in order to like another. While I respect where you are coming from but I reserve the right to have a different opinion.</p>
<p>Yeah, you can have your own opinion. But it IS a massive generalization to say that Brits have a “stiff upper lip” and Americans are all lax. I know Brits I like, Americans I like, Brits I dislike, and Americans I dislike. No one on here should make college choices based on such vague stereotypes. Just to provide another example, take US Border Control vs. UKBA. You’re 100% more certain of receiving a warmer welcome from UKBA. I’ve been shouted at/taken an incredulous tone with both of the times I’ve visited the US, simply because of an ambiguity on the I-94.</p>