<p>I'm a US HS incoming senior. I've been looking at a number of UK schools considering that the admissions process over there seems a little bit more receptive to my profile -- my GPA isn't stellar (3.8 or so), and my ECs are run-of-the-mill, so in the US I'm mostly looking at schools like UCLA as opposed to HPY. My test scores, however, are pretty good:</p>
<p>SAT: 800 CR, 770 M, 710 W (2280)
SAT2: 800 Physics, 790 Math 2, 780 Chem
AP: 5 European History, 5 Computer Science, 4 US History (I was pretty disappointed with that, I had an A+ in the class)
My senior year I'm taking AP Macro, AP Physics C, and AP Calc AB, and I'd be surprised not to receive a 5 in any, but I obviously wouldn't have the scores when I applied.</p>
<p>I've heard that Cambridge is more STEM-reputable, but Oxford is more open to US students.</p>
<p>I appreciate that Oxford and Cambridge don't accept many US students (something like 20 a year?), so even if I'm qualified it's pretty unlikely -- but is it worth applying? I'm thinking of either CS or physics. Would I be immediately thrown out of the pool, or do I have a fighting chance? Should I wait to apply until I've completed a year of college in the US?</p>
<p>I at one point was interested in applying to Cambridge and after research quickly dropped that idea. You have to have five AP courses related to your major and receive a 5 on all of them for acceptance. Also you’d need to have a large number of extracurriculars devoted towards STEM type clubs and organizations. </p>
<p>Also, Oxbridge have a 3-year curriculum, and are designed for students who know what they want to study so that students take little outside their area of interest.</p>
<p>Scottish universities are more similar in structure to American universities (4-year program, etc.)</p>
<p>I suspect you are trying to go to a big name school just for the sake of it. I just don’t see why one should go to Oxbridge over UCLA for computer science, esp when the recruiting from companies is much better at UCLA.</p>
<p>You can only apply to either Oxford or Cambridge, by the way. And you better decide what to major in soon.</p>
<p>With all due respect applying to Oxbridge is a really time consuming and tricky business and you need to be really on top of your game from early on in the process to stand a chance. I helped prep my DS to apply in the fall of 2013. First things first RESEARCH and research the subject you are interested in. Oxford specifically has tons of info on the website, pretty much all you need in order to put in a good application. But you need to get on this NOW!. You cant leave it even to the fall to prep a good application.</p>
<p>For starters a minimum of 700 each on the SAT is required, the higher the better, you need to get a UCAS application started, your AP’s are helpful but that’s not what will get you admitted. Be aware there are very few places at each college for international students and the competition is REALLY tough, like for my sons subject and college there was 1 place available to international students and he didn’t get even an interview!. He took the TSA test which is required for some subjects, if you have to take that or any admissions test you need to prep for it and prep really well, my DS scored high on the TSA over 70 but was still not even offered an interview and he is a dual UK/US student.</p>
<p>For what its worth, apply, BUT get on it now and do your research, if you want to PM please do and I will try to answer any Q’s</p>
<p>With all due respect, looking at your current stats I think Oxbridge might be an extreme reach for you, possible but highly unlikely more so than HYPS. it is REALLY REALLY tough to get admitted and to be honest after my exhaustive help to my DS, it may not be worth the time to try, its an order of magnitude more difficult to be admitted than to an Ivy/top LAC here in the USA.</p>