<p>Thanks, everyone!</p>
<p>I wasn't even familiar with the terms "summa cum laude, magna cum laude, and cum laude", so thanks for explaining them, too!</p>
<p>So, it seems pretty hard to finance the education as an international student... But there're a number of scholarships available for graduate students in Japan, so I'll look for them, too.</p>
<p>As for the grades, I should probably aim for somewhere around 3.7... but it's always the best to get 4.0 :) I really doubt it's going to be possible though, realistically speaking... I hear that the courseworks at Williams are harder than the students expect before going there. I will try my best though ;) And I will check the individual schools for their entry requirements.</p>
<p>About why I want to go to Oxbridge... I know there're many excellent graduate schools in the U.S., but I used to live in England as a kid, so I hope to live there again.
Also, the admit rate for the top U.S. graduate schools are very very low, and I'm worried that the whole process would be just like my experience when I applied for colleges this year. Although I'm really happy that I got into Williams, I felt that the whole admission process was extremely unpredictable: kids with great stats and personality can be denied admission to most of the schools they applied to. This can be both good and bad, I know, but I was really stressed out the whole time I was going through my admission process.
This may be just my opinion, but I have a feeling that UK universities are more "predictable" in that way, and the admit rates aren't as high as some of the top grad schools in the U.S., like HYP....Or is it just me being optimistic???</p>