<p>To the guy who created the original post:
The SAT paper is designed for admission to US colleges. At a US college one is required to complete a Bachelors degree and major in a particular chosen subject and this major can be changed, if desired, during the first half of the degree. Furthermore, when applying to a US college it is not necessary for you to declare what you want to major in and stick to that decision, where as at a British University it is! This distinction should be crystal clear when deciding to study in the UK. You have to make up your mind!
I'll be studying Biochemistry at Imperial starting this year and that alone! Not Biology, Biomedical Sciences or Biotechnology with a dabble of Shakespeare, Greek mythology and Economics...only Biochemistry! Of course, Biochemistry is a fundamental part of every Biological science there is (mainly why I chose to study it!) BUT the qualification I get will be a B.Sc in Biochemistry. No majors, minors or any other nonsense! In England they get straight to what you want to learn about!
Try checking out the A Level syllabus and comparing it to the US high school curriculum or any AP course! Trust me, you won't be getting any Advanced Placement with a few AP courses at any respectable UK university, like Imperial, Oxford or Cambridge! Can A Level Physics, consisting of 2 grueling practical exams along with 6 other lengthy non-MCQ papers (the content of which is learnt over the course of 4 years (O, AS and A2 level)), for example, be replaced by a solitary AP Physics exam? Answer me that!
I'm a Canadian living in Sri Lanka by the way...I'm familiar with both sides of the coin!</p>
<p>First of all, the SAT is considered by British universities (although they're not as important there) not just US colleges which shows you have no idea what your talking about, Secondly I'm a sophomore in high school so the fact that I'm not sure between Biology or Bioengineering is not exactly a big deal, Thirdly no one on has even mentioned gaining advanced placement only the fact that British universities consider your score on the AP test, Lastly I'm sure that if you get a 5 on the AP Physics exam you know enough about physics</p>
<p>Sophmore is a good place to start thinking about UK unis... if you are serious about oxford, now is the time you need to really develop an interest in your subject, be it through extra reading, a bit of lab work, going to extra lectures... anything that you can put on your admissions essay (we cal it a personal statement, basically a bit of prose on why you want to study your sebject and a bit of other info about you)
Uk unis like APs, and it would be advisable to take as many as possible, for the sciences I would suggest calc BC, Bio and Chem as a minimum, and physics is always a help.
Do well on your SATs, but if I were you, I would look to get a schedule going that is going to include lots of AP exams. The UK unis like this because of their standardised nature; all our exams in the UK are of this sort (we call them public exams).</p>
<p>LadyLou- AP Bio and Chem aren't offered until senior year at my hs, do you think UK universities would look at SAT IIs the same way as AP scores,</p>
<p>Times league table:</p>
<p>Oxford
Cambridge
Imperial College
London School of Economics<br>
University College London<br>
Loughborough (over ranked)
Bristol
Warwick
Bath<br>
Durham<br>
Edinburgh<br>
Royal Holloway<br>
Aston<br>
Nottingham<br>
York</p>
<p>probably not, APs cover a lot more content, and are much more comparable to A levels. However, taking these in senior year is better than not taking them and they may include your scores in a conditional offer. They will look at SAT scores, but I don't think in england SAT IIs are held in particularly high regard by UK unis. (i am not a specialist in US students admissions though... emailing unis is always a good policy)</p>
<p>Also, it may be worth trying to negotiate with your school if possible. If you can get a few e-mails from top unis advising you to take them before senior year if possible, maybe you could use this as leverage to be able to take them as a junior?
just an idea.</p>
<p>Thanks, but my schedule next year is full I'll be taking AP US History, AP English Language and Comp., AP Statistics, Physics, Trig., and French</p>
<p>I'm taking Biology at community college this summer and I'm thinking of self-studying for the AP exam and taking it next year</p>
<p>I probably won't apply to Oxbridge, and I'm thinking about only applying to Edinburgh and maybe UCL</p>
<p>Well whatever you do that schedule looks pretty good.
You should not rule out applying to oxbridge, it's always a long shot, but the experience itself is worth the £10 application fee. Also, you will have 6 options on the UCAS form, and it is worth using them all (costs no more) because it can be hard to know exactly where you want to go, and over 6 months opinions change.</p>
<p>To b3tt3Rt[-]4nU:
First of all, I never said UK universities do not consider SAT exams, I merely said that the SAT exams are specifically designed ** for use in the US college admissions procedure. Similarly London A Levels are **designed for the UK university admissions procedure. So, I have some idea what I'm talking about.
Secondly, if you were following the British school system you would be doing O-Levels now and heading towards A Levels. You would therefore need to know exactly what 4 subjects to study for your A Levels, which is a difficult choice to make if you still aren't sure if you want to become an engineer or a doctor or whatever.
AP stands for Advanced Placement, so I assumed that that was what you were aiming for by taking AP exams.
Yes, doing well in AP Physics would definitely mean you know enough about Physics but that's about it! Just enough! Certainly below par for an Oxbridge applicant! Remember, theoretically, there is a 20% chance of getting a 5-option MCQ question correct and scoring the maximum number of marks available without knowing anything about Physics at all! A, B, C, D or E! Not comparable to A Levels!
Listen up sophomore; you don't want to be flapping your mouth off across a network as gargantuan as the Internet, especially when you know so little!
You won't always get a positive response! Welcome to reality!</p>
<p>Some obvious points need to be discussed here</p>
<p>1)You can only apply to Oxford OR Cambridge. Applying to both in the same year for undergraduate admissions is not allowed.</p>
<p>2)Cambridge doesn't offer straight biochem, Biology or any other straight sciences bar engineering and maths. You have to apply to take "Natural Sciences" where you take a selection of science courses for the first 2 years and specialise in the final year (or two years. Physics, biochem and chem specialists get an optional 4th year). if you have studied a mox of sciences this is a good choice for you. but if you are sure you only want to do biochem, choose Oxford instead.</p>
<p>3) Entrance requirements for US students are quite clearly spelt out on the Oxford web-site (and no doubt on the Cambridge one too, though I can't be bothered to look)</p>
<p>
[QUOTE]
US qualifications
Successful candidates would typically have an excellent High School record supplemented by SAT 1 scores of at least 1400 in Critical Reading and Mathematics and preferably also 700 or more in the new Writing Paper, giving a combined score of at least 2100, or ACT with a score of at least 32 out of 36. We would also expect Grades 4 or 5 in two or more Advanced Placement tests in appropriate subjects or SAT II in a good spread of three or four subjects at 700 or better.
[/QUOTE]
<p>4)If you are an international applicant who wants to be interviewed outside of Oxford/Cambridge (ie in New York or Vancouver if you are the US) there is an earlier application deadline which was 20th September last year (and probably hadn't changed). otherwise you would have to travel to England for interview.</p>