Oh dear. Applying to UK Schools, hooray!

Applying to College
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<p>Thanks cupcake (ha! That sounds so silly). Anyways, were you a US applicant? Are my scores competitive?
AP Spanish lang 5
AP Calc (Haven’t taken, presumably a 4/5)
AP eng lang 5
AP eng lit 5
AP French 5
AP US govt/psych self study if I get my act together… I enjoy these topics plus they could help me get in.</p>

<p>ACT 33 (w/out studying. is it worthwhile to study and retake?)</p>

<p>GPA about 4.0 weighted, although it apparently doesn’t matter.</p>

<p>Are these competitive for LSE, UCL, oxbridge, Edinburgh…? How much do they take into account essay and rec letters? Those are relatively good in my opinion, but we will see how they fare at US colleges I suppose.</p>

<p>Thanks again, this means a lot!</p>

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<p>Depends what subject you are applying for (you understand that you apply for a specific “course” or subject of study and cannot usually change your mind without dropping out and re-applying, right?). Subjects considered irrelevant will be ignored. For example, if you intend to apply for engineering, you’ve only got one useful AP (calc). I suggest you look up the A-level entrance requirements for the subjects you are interested in, and try and get at least 5-6 APs in these subjects.</p>

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Not sure anyone in the UK will know what it is.</p>

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Likely to be ignored as cannot be compared to other students so meaningless.</p>

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This immediately tells me you need to do a LOT more research about the UK application process. Do you seriously want to do this? Do not assume anything is the same as the US. Assume it is all different. </p>

<p>There is no essay. You apply through UCAS as [UCAS</a> - Home](<a href=“http://www.ucas.com%5DUCAS”>http://www.ucas.com)</p>

<p>There is a half page “personal statement” for you to fill in. This should be very factual “I wish to study subject X because…” NO personal journeys! Most US-style essays will just come across as self-indulgent, if not crazy. Don’t even consider using one of your US essays for UCAS. Don’t go there!</p>

<p>There is one recommendation necessary for UCAS. This needs to be written by someone who can comment on your academics, and only that. Usually a teacher. You do NOT want to come across as “well-rounded”. That is the worst thing possible. That says unfocussed student who will spend all their time on ECs and drop out (ECs are utterly irrelevant unless specifically related to your course)</p>

<p>You can only apply for Oxford or Cambridge, not both in the same year. You can only apply to a maximum of 5 UK unis in one year. The oxbridge deadline is 15th October. Applications to all other unis are rolling, with the exception of some specific subjects (usually undergraduate medicine).</p>

<p>Go and do some research. Find out if this is really for you.</p>

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<p>Like I said, I am just beginning to gather information in order to possibly apply NEXT fall, so I still have lots of time to learn more. That’s why I am starting early:). That being said, I would apply to Politics, Psychology and sociology - specifically the int’l relations focus. </p>

<p>The main issue here is that I have no idea how to tell whether I’m eligible for this general tier of school ESP because the systems are so different. So, I am trying to find out how they deem a student eligible. I have heard that it is through AP scores because they are the most comparable thing to A-levels.
Is that the case? If so, are my AP scores good enough and in the correct areas to apply to that area of study (which I am 100% set on, by the way. no changes for me)?</p>

<p>Beyond that, do they consider grades or ACT, even though they are so different from the UK system? I feel like they have to judge an applicant in some way other than AP scores, but that could be my familiarity with the American upper education system speaking.</p>

<p>Beyond strictly academics, how do rec letters, personal statements, and interviews factor in the process? Are they all to be academically focused no matter what?</p>

<p>Extracurriculars are another issue entirely. Do they really not make a difference in the application?</p>

<p>I am really trying to understand the system and you are right to point out that I seem very unfamiliar with it. But, it is simply so different from my own that I need to start somewhere and I appreciate you helping me do so. I have browsed numerous other threads, blogs, and school’s websites, but have yet to really glean any answers to these questions, especially in my case specifically. It’s kind of you to take your time to help me in finding these things out. </p>

<p>These universities intrigue me because they are international, have superior academics, amazing professors, innumerable resources, etc. I hope not to be limited to the united states. I’m not simply looking at British unis because oxbridge is (are) so romanticized and what not. Those are simply the names I know and supposedly the equivalent to the types of schools I am applying to in the US. Just so you know that I am thinking about why this really could be for me:)</p>

<p>Again, thanks.</p>

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Use google. For example.</p>

<p>[International</a> Qualifications - University of Oxford](<a href=“http://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate_courses/international_students/international_qualifications/index.html]International”>http://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate_courses/international_students/international_qualifications/index.html)</p>

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<p>I have no specific knowledge about PPS. I have explained in detail above how to work out which APs will be most acceptable. If in doubt, email admissions officers at the specific colleges (you know oxford and cambridge are split into colleges? If not you need to spend a few hours reading their websites) or unis you are interested in.</p>

<p>A-levels in the UK enable all students from all schools to be compared. That is why for US students they like either APs or IB. Things like GPA are meaningless because they only allow within-school comparison. To be a competitive oxbridge applicant realistically you need 5-6 or more APs grade 5.</p>

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Check university websites. I have already linked the Oxford one for you above (and this answers your question in a millisecond, but I am going to make you click on the link and find the answer for yourself).</p>

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<p>Read my post above. Click on link to UCAS form. That form is all you need. Some universities for some subjects may ask for additional work to be sent to them in advance. This is usually Oxbridge for students invited to be interviewed. Details about this will be on the university web-sites. Search for the course you are interested in. It will be something like send an essay on a specific subject in advance. Also there are sometimes extra tests for Oxbridge which you might need to register for.</p>

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See my post above. Click on link to UCAS form. Also see individual university websites. You are extremely unlikely to have to do an interview other than for Oxbridge. There are videos of interviews on the the Oxford and Cambridge websites.</p>

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Basically yes.</p>

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Irrelevant ECs are a NEGATIVE! As I said above, makes you look like an unfocussed student who will drop out. Only mention relevant ECs, if you have any (and if you don’t it doesn’t matter at all, with the exception of some vocational subjects such as medicine). For PPS, and EC like debate would be the kind of thing that would look good in your personal statement (but still, the statement should be 80% about what a good student you are). Once you CLICK ON THE UCAS LINK ABOVE you will see what a small space you have to fill, and realise there is no space for ECs anyway.</p>

<p>Also google UCAS personal statements for some examples to help you.</p>

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<p>I’m trying to figure out what course you want to do. If PPE, you really need different subjects. If Psychology, your subject picks are fine. If Politics and Sociology, you need to redo your subjects as well. American Government on its own will not count as an AP. They only take full year APs. What this means is you need to take comparative government in addition to american government for this to count as a qualification. I’m assuming you are applying for 2011 entry, in which case you missed the Oxbridge deadline. That leaves you with UCL, LSE, and Edinburgh. You’ll get an offer from Edinburgh. Probably not LSE. I say this because if you are applying for government at LSE, you really need to have the other half of AP government and a couple of AP historys. At a minimum AP world and AP euro. From your subject selection (minus calc), it looks like you’d be applying for linguistics. </p>

<p>Do some research on specific courses that you plan on applying for and look at what they recommend to take at a level.</p>

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<p>The OP said “Politics, Psychology and Sociology”, which Cambridge offers (it was formally known as Social and Political Sciences).</p>

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<p>I am applying fall 2011 during my gap year After having graduated high school. Vbecause my course would change depending on the school, I’m not sure of which I would apply to, but in general I hope to study international relations. The school I have looked at the most has been LSE, where there is an ir course and a law course I am interested in. Looking at the website, it seems that my aps may be satisfactory for these courses, as per the descriptions given in this link and the corresponding one for ir:
[Department</a> of Law - Departmental admissions criteria - How to apply - Undergraduate - Study - Home](<a href=“http://www2.lse.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/howToApply/departmentalAdmissionsCriteria/law.aspx]Department”>http://www2.lse.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/howToApply/departmentalAdmissionsCriteria/law.aspx)
So I solidly have ap Spanish and French Lang, ap calc, ap English Lang and lit, and then the option of Econ or govt or both as I’ve taken “honors” courses in both and would need to self study for the aps. With that said, and my research at least specific to LSE, are the aps in the right areas?</p>

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<p>Are you going to go for law or IR? For UK unis its better to pick a course and THEN find a school that matches your interests, rather then the other way around. Law and IR are very different. You can’t really mix and match courses because of the PS. </p>

<p>If you are going for law, then you’ll want to look into unis like (in addition to LSE) UCL, Durham, Warwick, Bristol, and KCL. If you want to stay within the top 10 law unis, its inevitable that you’ll need to take the LNAT. Its not bad at all. Most unis that require it will use it as a tool to weed out. Basically score X or above and you move into the next pile. Score below and your streak ends. LSE is unique in that it does not require the LNAT. But UCL, Durham, KCL, and Bristol (among others) require it. </p>

<p>I can’t really help you with regard to IR. I’m not too familiar with it. I personally think the LLB would make you more employable, but that’s just my opinion. And if you know you want to go into law, then adding an extra degree in IR doesn’t make sense.</p>

<p>As far as your AP course selection—it seems solid as long as you have all 5’s.</p>