How much have you studied the course content to determine if it will be deemed sufficient to work in the US after graduation? This seems like a very fact and state specific enquiry that will be very hard to determine in advance (eg CA has a very lengthy list of content that must be covered: https://www.rn.ca.gov/pdfs/education/edp-i-35.pdf). Medicine in general is a subject where studying overseas is difficult.
More generally, what you seem to be focused on is that the UK culture is different from the US, not the specifics of a given urban location. That is absolutely true and shouldnât be a surprise.
Firstly remember that the UK is an overwhelmingly white country, and outside of the major cities ethnic minorities (BAME in UK terminology) are rare. Only a small proportion are Black, and there are substantial cultural differences between people from Africa and from the Caribbean (most of whom in both cases moved to the UK since WW2). And without the legacy of slavery that exists in the US, many of the foundations of the BLM movement are absent.
And with regard to LBGTQ issues, the UK is more accepting in many ways than the US (gay marriage was enacted by Parliament, it wasnât enforced by the courts, there are many openly gay MPs from all parts of the country). The UK is a much less religious country than the US, so some of the objections made in the US on religious grounds to controversial topics including abortion are simply absent from the debate.
Where there is no consensus is about trans rights, but many of those issues are still debated in parts of the US, it is simply that the media (and some prominent figures) in the UK are more willing to participate in continued public debate on the subject. Single sex education and single sex activities, clubs, etc are considerably more common in the UK, so this is likely to be hard to resolve.
But if you want to go to a foreign country and expect it to be just like home, then I think youâll be sorely disappointed and it might be better that you donât go. After all, many people decide there are certain states within the US that they are unwilling to study in, because they are also too different from home.
I honestly think you should reconsider studying anywhere in the UK. Your concerns are not based on reality. Youâre giving far too much credibility to people who enjoy sensationalizing or who are complaining because they are fed up with the last 18 months of change and disruption and they need to vent.
I suspect you are looking for reassurance to confirm your misgivings. Good luck with whatever you choose.
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I suppose Alice has as much right to believe those people as to believe your opinion. That is why I suggested to Alice that she read the local news, with more than one source, which is easily done these days. That would give her a clearer picture of what is going on than our opinions.
A visit wouldnât go amiss for her or you, and make sure you step out of any bubbles.
Alice, what evidence could we post would convince you that Birmingham is safe? (Especially as you seem to consider two people amongst 65 million, people who live 120 and 400 miles away from Birmingham, important factors in this)
If the answer is ânothingâ, isnât your question answered?
This really is going off topic - but how much of any countryâs news headlines are good?
Newspapers sell by being sensational. When do they lead with âhealthy baby born todayâ? âThousands of students graduateâ? âA dog from the pound has found a new homeâ?
The best headline we had a week ago was âold lady seen walking with a stickâ. Well it actually said âQueen seen out with stickâ. Really!! This is news?
One cannot judge a country by its headlines. As I said in a previous post - when I read my headlines I donât want to live here, but headlines are NOT my day to day life. My great-niece was born, I work in a school and see all of my students move on and we rescued a dog.
We travel to learn about another countryâs culture. Sometimes we like it - sometimes we are happy to get home but each time we do it we grow more tolerant or if we are there are things we see that we donât like having visited the country we can speak with âsomeâ authority.
All credit to Alice for looking to study abroad - but Alice if we had read the US headlines we would not have wanted our son to study in the US. But we knew America is NOT its headlines. Yes, in fact he has just lost a friend to a shooting - yes, a fraternity was closed down due to a rape - yes, an acquaintance was killed in a knife incident. Is he running home? No he is applying for grad school in New York!
If you want a serious conversation that will affect your student life in Birmingham or any British university ask me about the drinking culture. This will have more of an impact on your years at uni here and it something that isnât actually written about in our newspapers.
You wouldnât go to Malta or Nigeria thinking the culture will be the same even though people speak English. Same thing with the UK. The culture will be very, very different from what youâre used to. And if youâre not ready for the big yet invisible cultural differences in addition to the cultural differences that make âno product X on the shelf todayâ roll-with-the-punches-okay, as has been illustrated above by several posters, then it may be better to spend a year abroad rather than the whole degree.
Differences in appreciation for UBirmingham v. Birmingham isnât âjustâ âclassismâ. Look into it.
Second, youâre going for nursing, so differences may be less important than if you were going for Math or IR, but the flipside is that its curriculum is NHS sponsored and may not admit many non Brits. Have you emailed all the universities youâre considering? No matter what you should read up on the history of the NHS and its place in UK culture. A good start is here
but look up âMedicine through time GCSEâ - this is a 9th-10th grade course many of your classmates will have taken
Finally, do you want to settle in the UK after graduating or do you plan to return to the US?
Your concerns are real (the way rape has been prosecuted in the UK these past few years is a problem - but note that itâs a problem in the US too cf. unprocessed rape kitsâŠ; the way you present v. the way youâre perceived might put you in danger due to âladdishâ culture - and âladdishâ culture is likely more present at Birmingham City than at UBirm, while probably not in nursing per se and UBirmingham would have another issue, perhps closer to what weâd call âlaxbroâ culture in the US).
However, Birmingham as a whole canât be evaluated through this sole prism.
You could ask on Studentroom âwhich unis suffer from Laddish culture most and leastâ?
I agree that âdrinking cultureâ is also something to look into, since itâs got differences from âdrinkingâ on US college campuses.
Are you applying through UCAS or Common App? Where else are you applying in the UK?
I canât really comment on safety in the UK or Birmingham generally or safety for LGBTQ folks in Birmingham more specifically (although I do find the crime category of âknife crimeâ quaint compared to how much gun violence we have here in the US), BUT I do want to ask you, if you want to study nursing where do you want to settle and work after you get your degree/qualifications? If you were thinking about studying nursing in the UK and then coming back to the US to practice have you looked into what you would need to do to make that happen? Are the UK nursing degrees recognized as equivalent in the US? I really donât know the answers to these questions, but itâs worth looking into and seeing what makes sense for the direction you want to take.