<p>how does the whole saftey, reach, match thing work over there? is it the same? i know that if one uses UCAS to apply to schools in the UK you can apply to 6 school... can you get offers from all of them? or is it just the top two and then if you dont get the right scores they try to match you with someplace else?
If there is the concept of safties, what would be good for an American IB diploma canidate with scores in the mid-upper 30's (haha hoping and praying... though thats a while off)... im thinking course in philosophy or social antropology
Also, ireland. What are the top schools? Do you have to go through something like UCAS? What would safties be?</p>
<p>how much easier would life be if everyone just had the same education system? none of this ap v. A-level v. ib v. highers v. sat subject tests v. whatever the heck else there is out there, none of the whole is it 3 years or 4 years thing, no worries about when you specialize. eurgh.</p>
<p>Being an international, it is fairly easy to secure a place(provided you have the grades) at an excellent British university. Much easier for statute universities. </p>
<p>You will only receive no offers if you're really that bad. Yes, that bad, as in failing all your subjects or just barely passing the subject. If that happens, you can try UCASextra or go through clearing.</p>
<p>just like what elmy said it is much easier for international students to get into top UK schools (I got into University of York, St. Andrews, Cardiff and Imperial College through UCAS system) and the application process took around 1-1.5 months so they take ur time.</p>
<p>Also since international student's fees are nearly 2-3 times greater then EU/UK these schools are looking for extra revenue, since they are poor compare to some US schools (thats why they have like Russel Group and 1994 Groups)</p>
<p>You can apply to six and then if you get six offers you must choose the two which are to be your first and second choice, and reject all the others. British students don't really have the concept of reach, match and safety because the system is much more based on exams results. Therefore, with the exception of 1 or 2 really competitive subjects (I am thinking mainly of medicine and law here. Both undergraduate courses in the UK) a student who is predicted to get BBB at A-level for example, will apply to 6 schools which accept around those grades for the subject they are interested in. It's pretty unlikely they will be rejected from all their choices. </p>
<p>The universities in the UK which get the most applications are not Oxford and Cambridge as you might expect. Only people who are predicted AAA or better in their A-levels can apply there, so that is not many people. I believe Nottingham gets 15 applications per place because it's a good university in the middle of the country, near to everyone. However, many of the best students will turn their offer down to go elsewhere, and many of the other students will not meet their offer grades. So in reality the competition per place is not that high.</p>
<p>Even if you don't get the grades requested in you "conditional offer" for the UK, you will probably get a place anyway. After A-level results come out in August, there is a system called "clearing" whereby students without a place are matched to univeristies with vacancies. So nearly everyone gets a place in the end (though people who get a place through clearing often, in my experience, drop out because they go somewhere they don't really want to be. The top unis never enter clearing anyway. Neither does St Andrews because they fill all their spare places with rich Americans who want to meet Prince William.)</p>
<p>He graduated last summer. That is what I mean. All of a sudden St Andrews is world famous and has a reputation far above it's worth. William didn't even do very well at his A-levels! But that school is about 50% American now!</p>
<p>As a UK student, I think that our system is much easier to work out than the US one (even though I want to go to college in the US). We have six spaces, but if you are applying to medicine, vetinary science or dentistry you can have just 4 (but then 2 back ups of something related like medicinal chemistry or something). If you are an AAA student, and applying for competative courses it really feels like a lottery sometimes, so most people will apply to one university that gives offers below their predicted grades... Asides from medicine, dentistry and vetinary science, the most competative courses are law, english literature and history, with the less competative ones being sciences and languages (in general). So, it's easier to get into a 'good' university if you apply for a less popular subject, which obviously, doesn't apply to the liberal arts focus of the US system.</p>
<p>I think St Andrews became more popular the year Prince William matriculated, I hadn't really heard of it before he did =p</p>