Questions about the University of Edinburgh?

Applying to College
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<p>So I'm an American student and I'm applying to the University of Edinburgh, and I think I really like it, but the thing is, its just really hard to tell. I can't find any information other than whats on the site (which isn't much), and can't visit it. So i was hoping someone on here would know something about it?</p>

<p>Some questions I have:</p>

<p>1) (and this is the main one) I don't know what I want to do. Thats why I like American Universities, they let you try out many different things. But kind of joking around I was looking at some Universities in the UK, because I've always wanted to go there, and saw Edinburgh (along with other scottish universities) have a kind of combination, where its structured, but they let you try out different courses. I was wondering, do you know to what extent they let you do this? I'm interested in Environmental Sciences but also some form of International studies, but at the same time, want to try some other things out. Is that going to be possible? I really, really, like Edinburgh (the student life aspect) but if I wont get enough freedom, I'll just forget it.</p>

<p>2) Do you know how much aid they give American students? What about Scholarships? How many are there/how easy are they to get some money?</p>

<p>Those are the main things I can think of right now...if you go there/know someone who does, can you please tell me something about it? I'd like to know the bad things especially, because the site won't talk about that. How is social life? What sorts of stuff do they do for fun? Is it very expensive staying there?</p>

<p>Anything you can tell me would be great </p>

<p>Thanks :)</p>

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<p>For Edinburgh/really any UK school

  1. You pick a major and at Edinburgh you might be able to take two to three modules in the first year, but they really do expect you to specialize after that in one or two chosen subjects for a degree, and if it’s two rather than one they must be a joint honours degree offered</p>

<p>2)No financial aid as we know it in the USA for international students. You’re on your own. Maybe you could look into US sources, but nothing from the university. Unfortunately that’s why the UK is mostly a college destination for wealthier Americans who would be full-pay at college in the US.</p>

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<p>Well, I will most likely be attending Edinburgh next year, so I may be able to help.</p>

<p>1) It is usually much harder to switch between schools, but you can take classes outside of your course, even outside of your school, although some are more popular than others, like international relations. Talk to your DoS about it when/if you arrive, or send an email. </p>

<p>2) No, there is no financial aid for international students. I think for my course, physics, I can get a 1000GBP bursary, but that’s it. Overall, though, for me to take a 4 year course and get my MSci, it is cheaper than doing my BSci and then MSci in the US. I guess it depends, though.</p>

<p>Hope some of this helped. :)</p>

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<p>1) it is easier to switch subjects in Scotland than England because you can take 3 different subjects in the first year. But it really is NOT like the US system. You would not be able to take a subject radically different to those you had been studying, without dropping out and starting again in the first year. UK classes are always cumulative. You cannot just start in the second year of a subject without completing the first year.</p>

<p>2)In 99% of cases you will get zero financial aid anywhere in the UK. International student fees fund the universities. That is the way it is.</p>

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<p>To Cupcake: For science subjects, you can actually start directly in the first year, if you have high enough results in your A-levels/IBs/whatever. I’ve got offers for second year entry at Edinburgh and St Andrews.</p>

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<p>

</p>

<p>You mean you can start in the second year. Yes, I know. That’s to do with the difference between the schools systems in Scotland and England. English students have one more year at high school, but do 3 year degrees in England. So the first year of a Scottish 4-year degree is considered to be like the final year of high school in England. Hence if you have A-levels (finished High school anywhere in the UK apart from Scotland) you can go straight into the second year of a Scottish uni in theory. In practice nearly everyone seems to start in the first year anyway, because it’s easier to make friends (before you start telling me, Scottish students do something called “highers” at age 17 instead of A-levels. They can enter university at this point)</p>

<p>What I am saying is, the OP cannot do year one or two or whatever of English say, and then switch to year 3 of physics. He would fail, being unable to understand the course as he hadn’t done the previous years of physics. It’s always cumulative. If you do A-levels in Biology, Chemistry and Physics for example, you cannot enter univeristy in the UK to study English. It is already cumulative at that level. you would not have the background study to start the course. It’s not unusual to switch between related subjects such as Medicine to Biology say (but not the other way round. They won’t let you get in to an extremely competitive subject like medicine by an easier route of switching once accepted for another course) or English to History, but if you want to switch from English to astrophysics, it’s back to the first year for you (if they even let you switch. It would depend on your high school phyics/science record too).</p>

<p>Anyway, if you are an American and can pay you will get into every Scottish university no questions asked, because they need to money.</p>

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<p>I’m studying in Ed now! Got an account just so I could tell you allll about the Uni :smiley: I love it, it’s awesome.</p>

<p>(Except that I just typed a really really long post but then CC didn’t let me post it, and it disappeared. I’m going to make this post shorter 'coz I’m slightly annoyed now, but if you have any other questions just ask!! I’d love to tell you more.) </p>

<ol>
<li><p>Most degrees are going to allow some flexibility - we call it the “outside course”. Some majors give you 2, some 1 and some none at all. If you’re thinking of Env. Sci with International Studies etc, you can probably take Env. Sci as your degree and do an intro course to International Studies as your outside course in your first semester, then an intro to another subject in your second. Like cupcake said, you can’t just take ANY courses you want, some have prerequisites, but you can pretty much take any intro that doesn’t clash. You can also switch majors up to the end of your second year? As long as you’ve fulfilled everything necessary. Some courses let you make up for missing 1st/2nd year courses by letting you take them in 2nd/3rd instead. Not many though. I suggest you check the DTPs ([DTP</a> List](<a href=“http://www.drps.ed.ac.uk/08-09/dpts/list_dtps.php]DTP”>http://www.drps.ed.ac.uk/08-09/dpts/list_dtps.php)) for more info. </p></li>
<li><p>No aid to students outside the EU, sorry. Some schools offer scholarships/“prizes” to people who do well in 1st year/2nd year/ on particular courses. Not too sure how that works. I think some are sponsored by companies.</p></li>
</ol>

<hr>

<p>Fun stuff now! </p>

<p>What kind of bad things are you thinking about?? Things that spring to my mind: Cracks in the pavement, occasional really strong wind, some boring lectures/tutorials <em>coughPSYCHOLOGYcough</em>, people drinking wayyyyy too much for their own good. Although it’s funny when your friends get drunk at 12pm after playing drinking games during lecture. Stupid people in tutorial. We’re a good school, but there are still tons, and they’re not even the same people who spend lectures drinking. Oh and if you like the whole school spirit “let’s go watch the big game!” thing… Not really gonna happen. Made me quite sad for a while (before I reached here) but there are loads of other things going on.</p>

<p>Things we do for fun: If you’re rich you’ll take a cab out to the main shopping street (it’s well within walking distance, but if you’re RICH…) and club/drink your liver dry. That expression didn’t even make sense, ignore it. If you have loads of money to spare you’ll probably also take a few trips around Scotland/the UK during your weekends, or join an expensive society. If you’re not that rich you spend a lot of time at clubs with free entry, the student unions (really cheap drinks), flat/corridor parties, watching DVDs. And at cheaper societies, or in Glasgow (it’s cheap to get to Glasgow, but shopping is expensive.) Societies/flatmates/coursemates/floormates take up a good bulk of your time - mostly hanging out in pubs even when you’re not drinking. If you love pub quizzes Edinburgh is an awesome place for them - There are 2 free ones at the unions on Sundays and Mondays, and loads of others in independent pubs. If you live in a flat and you cook with your flatmates sometimes going to huge supermarkets/IKEA can take up an entire afternoon (:</p>

<p>It’s expensive to stay here, but after a while you stop converting and take everything relative to the price of others. If you can afford it but run on a tight budget staying in flats is quite a good idea. Most things in the supermarket have cooking instructions on the packaging, so they’re mostly foolproof. And if you have a small fire it can be fixed easily without anyone outside the flat ever having to know about it (I speak from experience.) </p>

<p>…That was pretty long. I could tell you loads more though. What do you want to know about? The unions? Events? What to eat? What the streets are like? What the halls are like? What the flats are like? What people wear? How rich people are? I promise to reply, but I’ll be off travelling for the next few days. Will get back to you when I’m back in the flat! You really really should apply here. Even if I haven’t made it sound that good it’s great, honest. I loooove it here :D</p>

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<p>I’m a junior, and I’ve been interested in this university for a long time. I have talked to a lot of people about Edinburgh, and the two responses I generally got was that if you’re American, you can get in really easily, and that it was expensive. However, I looked at the tuition, and when compared to an American private school, it’s relatively cheap. It costs anywhere between an out-of-state student going to a UC, or a small private school. At least that’s the impression I got when I looked at the tuition. Also, they have a lot of links on the website to bursaries and scholarships for US students.
But I have a question… a few haha
a lot of Universities in the United States have mascots. Does the University of Edinburgh have one? Also, are there any soccer…or I guess you guys call it football teams in the area?
Finally, if you’re an American and you just slightly exceed the minimum for the qualifications for US students, is that like an immediate acceptance?</p>

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<p>IntheBurgh hit the main points pretty well. I’m only studying abroad, so i don’t know much about admissions. However, I do have a friend here who is studying business, and doing nursing for an ‘outside course,’ so it is possible to explore at least a little bit. Definitely not the same freedom as American unis though.</p>

<p>Its definitely pretty expensive to live here. Its sad to say, but most of my money goes towards pubbing/clubbing. </p>

<p>As far as I know, there are no mascots or anything like that…the whole rah-de-rah school spirit thing doesn’t really exist. There are two football teams, I think they’re both based out of Glasgow, Celtic and the Rangers. A lot of people also get into rugby, especially during the 6-nations tournament. I’m not sure whether that happens every year, but it took place earlier this semester and was a lot of fun to check out Scotland’s team.
Edinburgh is an amazing experience overall though, and I hope to come back for postgrad</p>

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<p>CaseSpartan is so right. This whole “school spirit” thing with weird mascots and stuff is purely an American phenomena. I think you are very unlikely to find this at any UK school, and ANY non-US school. (actually I think if ou asked a British person about “school spirit” they would think this might be something which haunts the attics…). On this note, please accept if you go to a school in a different country, it’s their country not yours. It’s you who will have to adapt to another culture. It won’t be the same and you can’t change that.</p>

<p>6 nations rugby does happen every year. 6 being England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, France and Italy. Scotland are so never going to win this. The only team they ever beat is Italy (and Italy lose all their games).</p>

<p>In terms of football (Soccer), there is a Scottish premier league and the top two teams are the afore-mentioned Rangers and Celtic both in Glasgow. There are smaller teams all over the place. I think Hibernian and Heart of Midlothian (“Hearts”) are the nearest to Edinburgh, looking at the list (but don’t quote me on this one!) Just don’t ever go to a Ranger Vs Celtic game. It’s all a bit cut-throat. I am sure Edinburgh university will have their own student football team or teams as well. It is the national game in most countries apart from the US and Canada after all. You will see kids playing in the street and parks every day.</p>

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<p>Good Evening all.</p>

<p>Im currently a full IB student studying in American Community Schools of Athens.
I ve been looking into the university of Edinburgh for quite a while now and it has really caught my attention because it looks very profesional and the city is inspiring for a good student life. Currently my options as to undergraduate studying are reduced to Accounting and Finance or Chemistry. If you are familiar with the IB i will take IB Economics and IB Chemistry at teh higher level where i expect a 6-7 in econ, or a 5-6 in chemistry.
Overall should i prefer the university of edinburgh over the other prestigious universities of Scotland?
How challening is it going to be for a freshman IB student to study in Edinburgh?
How is life there? Is it about partying etc or just boring?
What are the pros and cons between the US universities :wink: </p>

<p>thanks for your time in answering my LONG question…! :P</p>

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<p>Adriano are you doing the full IB diploma they are unlikely to offer a place without the six subjects…when I was applying for university Edinburgh offered me 37 with 776 at higher level.</p>

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<p>If you did the IB and had good time management, first year at Edinburgh is a joke. Well. It is in the sciences anyway; if you do chemistry most of the first year material be stuff covered in HL. I went directly to second year in maths and physics and still had an extremely easy year.
There is certainly no lack of social life here either; if you’re someone who likes to go out, then you’ll find loads of people who are up for an evening in Teviot/Potterow/Opium/the Hive/other clubs.</p>

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<p>Hey guys I just found this excellent blog about applying to school in the UK. You should check it out! [The</a> Uni Guide](<a href=“http://theuniguide.■■■■■■■■■■/]The”>http://theuniguide.■■■■■■■■■■/)</p>

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<p>I am considering applying to University of Edinburgh next year… </p>

<p>I would like to double major in Psychology and Political Science… Would that be possible at ED?
Also, I am considering going to law school after college and I was wondering if anyone could tell me what my chances are of going to a US law school after attending University of Edinburgh.</p>

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<p>Posting under my bf’s account, but I’m a joint CompSci/Math major at the university of Edinburgh, currently at UChicago for a year:</p>

<p>The site y’all want to be spending time on is [University</a> of Edinburgh - Degree Regulations and Programmes of Study](<a href=“http://www.drps.ed.ac.uk%5DUniversity”>http://www.drps.ed.ac.uk). According to the School of Social and Political Science, they have a double Sociology and Psychology degree. You should poke around here: [DPT</a> List](<a href=“http://www.star.euclid.ed.ac.uk/ipp/drps_sps.htm]DPT”>http://www.star.euclid.ed.ac.uk/ipp/drps_sps.htm) , take a look at the classes for the Soc/Psy joint, see if they match what you’d like to study. (We tend more towards general Soc than specific PoliSci)</p>

<p>Also, even though the particular course you want to study isn’t there, there are two points to consider. 1) Under the umbrella of ‘Soc’, it’s entirely possible you could specialize into PoliSci in third/fourth year. 2) The fact that there’s already a joint degree between the schools means that they talk to each other, so you can probably get pretty far negotiating your own course of studies between the two.</p>

<p>Edit: Oh, and, also, ‘Select exactly 40 credits from the following School Collection: ‘School collection schedule A to Q, T and W level 7 or 8’ (SCH<em>A-Q/T/W</em>7/8) , as available.’ means ‘pick 40 credits worth of classes from anywhere you want’ (generally intro classes, since higher ones will have prereqs, but seriously, the choice here is ridiculous. Also a good space to begin specializing early, if you want!)</p>

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<p>I have a question. What are the classes like at University of Edinbergh? Are they mostly large classes with fourty or more students in lecture-hall style or are the classes fairly intimate as to develope a teacher-student realtionship?</p>

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<p>Is this what happens at the U of Ed?</p>

<p>[Female</a> policy towards… the d.s. (DOOFUS SPERM ALERT! esp. @ the Teviot), Ed Uni, Rose St, Corstorphine](<a href=“http://www.ozadz.com/ad_34144.html]Female”>http://www.ozadz.com/ad_34144.html)</p>

<p>Maybe it’s wilder than you can imagine!</p>

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<p>Quick question:
I’m planning to apply to the University of Edinburgh (UCAS app is in the works now), and am torn between three degree programmes based on my qualifications:
History & Politics
Economics & Politics
Economic History & Business Studies</p>

<p>The (possibly) relevant qualifications I have so far are as follows:
650M/700CR/760W SATs
AP Euro–5
AP Macro–5
AP US Government–5
SAT II US History–730
Italian–720
World History–650 (yeesh, I know… I took it after Honors World without learning<br>
about Asia, and my TEACHER said she got a 700 on the<br>
practice test).
Math I–570 (really awful; I took this early in my freshman year, and because of<br>
APs, I have not had the chance to retake it…)</p>

<p>I know for econ/business they’re looking for applicants with strong maths backgrounds, but as my parents have been pushing me to apply to US schools too, I was only able to fit in AP Calc AB and AP Stats (as well as AP Micro & maybe Comparative Government) this year.
I am, however, an editor and European economic journalist for an independent political review, so maybe that’ll help…? Also, I’ve had a streak of 5s on my APs, so I guess that shows I’ve actually been learning the material–hopefully that will continue.
Given my current qualifications, should I just apply for H/P, or do you think I’ve got a fair shot at at least a conditional offer for the Econ degrees?
(I think my personal statement could help there, as I basically read political/economic philosophy books and research/write about international politics & economics for fun :P)</p>

<p>Thanks!!</p>

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<p>@sacora large classes, big lecture rooms like all UK universities. You get ‘tutorial sessions’ which are like 1 hour long in a small classroom (more like a meeting room) with 6 students to a tutor. The tutor may be the lecturer or some random PHD student - totally depends which group you get. You won’t develop any relationships with professors like you can in the US - not really any such thing as intimate relationships with professors as an undergrad sorry!</p>

<p>@eurowillowxo They’re not really going to look at ECs at all, like they do in US universities. If you’re an international student, you’ll really just get in automatically as long as you meet the minimum requirements. I don’t think many international students get rejected. </p>

<p>Apply for what seems easiest to get into if you’re really worried, then once you get in you can easily switch between those majors.</p>

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