The same as from the US - research, equivalent of a high gpa, having been published, excellent recommendations etc
In the PhD program they are going to want you to get published. My D says she needs a minimum of 4 to get a good post-doc.
Which is a big problemāhistorically, post-docs were your chance to demonstrate that you can build a research trajectory independent of your advisor. Now youāre being required to do that before getting your PhDābut thatās resulting in PhDs who havenāt had the chance to do basic things like read the literature as deeply.
ETA: Coming out of a PhD with 1 or 2 publications makes sense, but 4 or, as Iāve seen is the norm for some fields, 6? Really?
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Got it. I am also concerned about the trimester pattern there and the internship opportunities. Can he come here on break and do it or should he stay there to do it? Is there any thread here where kids have gone to Oxbridge/Europe for Undergrad?
Maybe itās just me but I think Oxbridge is going to prepare a student for a PhD better than just about any institution in the states.
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Yes! The interview was pretty challenging, they give a problem and the student has to think and solve while the teacher is watching. The Professor tests for teachability. The course rigor seems to be tougher than MIT because they try to pack 4 years of syllabus into 3 years.
As per my understanding: the reason UK, European and Asian universities have 3 year bachelors programs instead of 4, is because students only take major related classes. They donāt have GenEd and distribution requirements the way US universities do.
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I donāt believe this is the case. I canāt speak for all majors, but my kid said that going to the UK for Math or CS is suboptimal for grad school, let alone for undergrad. Those schools are not considered at the top of the pile globally, and perhaps rank below the top 5.
The choice destination for the top US kids for grad school is often US schools.
The oxbridge program is very rigid. The top kids in the US test out of a whole bunch of stuff and often start undergrad with very advanced coursework. The top undergrads also do a lot of research while they are in the undergrad ā I am not sure there is room in the curriculum at oxbridge for that.
As an example, a couple of years ago, the scholarships office at P was pitching to a Math student that he is a good candidate for the Rhodes, and that he should apply, and theyāll help quarterback the process. The head of the math department came to hear about this, pulled the student aside, and told him, that if he wants to do the best work in Topology, this Rhodes business is nonsense, and that heāll personally call XYZ prof at Stanford, and it will happen.
Even as an undergrad, the high-end course work you can take at a top US school is open ended. There are really no guard rails. I have even heard that a small number of the UK IMO team come to the US to study.
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I defer to your practicality but to clarify Iām thinking in the way students are taught to think which is why I said āmaybe itās just meā but I should have been more clear in my original post lest someone thinks Iām speaking with some kind of authority 
I have some strong opinions about teaching/learning/education methods which arenāt always practical. For example I advised my D17 to take proof-based versions of Calc 3 and Linear Algebra which were much harder and time consuming (thus impacting other courses) but that the educational value was much higher but at an immediate cost to GPA (of course I would argue that there would be a positive contribution to GPA later due to the problem solving skills gained). So if my D17 had wanted to go to Med school - probably a bad choice to make but to be a future researcher/PhD I think itās the better choice.
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I agree with you. I have always advocated strength of the foundation over gpa. This education is for a life time. Med school admisison (or in our case some job or grad school) can sort itself out 
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Tomorrow we will hear from 2, possibly 3 schools! Eeek! Two are Reaches. Then will have 4 more trickling in. This is torture.
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I think we still have 12 left? Maybe its 13. I am losing track which probably is a good thing. Good luck!
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You will be done in 2 weeks. My son put in transfer apps just yesterday ā those are 6-8 weeks away from decisions :-). Trick is to move on with life instead of waiting for these. Easier said than done.
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Weāre in that space too. Have yet to hear from any of the 9 RD schools. They will start coming in tomorrow with one reach school and then trickle in over the next two weeks.
In other news, my son was finally named Captain of his Spring varsity sport last night. The Coach was definitely not thinking about helping college apps with his timing, lol.
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We have seven decisions weāre waiting on, three are reaches, three are high target/low reaches, one safety. If weāre done here with the acceptances he has, my son will be happy. If he gets into any of those three high target/low reach schools, making an informed decision gets more complicated. All of these schools accepted student events are on the same few days. Iām trying to figure out if we can visit any over spring break. We should hear from two or three schools tomorrow!
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@AnonMomof2 & @socalmom007 - Whatās schools are you waiting for that are dropping this week? For my S23 itās Holy Cross, Richmond and Lafayette
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Hopefully UCLA, UCSD, and UC Irvine. Maybe all tomorrow? None of them announce ahead the exact dates.
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Weāre trying to view this as opening gifts. The anticipation and wondering about what is inside is most of the fun 
. Sometimes you get that present you really really were hoping for, and sometimes it is a set of socks that donāt fit right, but focusing on the fun of the big day finally arriving and the chance to rip open the paper makes it exciting lol.
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My girl is still waiting on Lehigh, Syracuse, BC, GW, Dartmouth, and Brown. UYE! She really wants Syracuse because of their program!
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BC has been very quiet!
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Itās annoying. Like why is everything such a big secret? 
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