<p>My son will be a junior at Kent (Connecticut) this year. As he enters his third year at boarding school he is about to start the college process (gulp!). He has an interest in theology / history and wants to pursue a career in foreign service. </p>
<p>I was surprised to hear him say that besides the U.S. schools he was considering he mentioned St Andrews, Scotland, and Oxford University, England. His other schools are Middlebury College and Georgetown's school of foreign service.</p>
<p>Question: has anyone had any experience with schools in Europe?</p>
<p>I spent a year as a grad student at St. Andrews. It's good academically, but unless your son is very disciplined, he might have trouble adjusting to the less-structured approach at the British universities. St. Andrews is in a very nice but isolated town right on the coast. The dorm food was mediocre on its best days. The university is scattered around town in old but undistinguished buildings ranging from castle-like semi-quads to ordinary houses. It's NOWHERE near as visually appealing or inspiring as Oxford or Cambridge. There didn't seem to be as many students from Scotland as you'd expect...lots from England, and quite a few from the US, Canada, and continental Europe.</p>
<p>
[QUOTE]
There didn't seem to be as many students from Scotland as you'd expect...
[/QUOTE]
Population of England =50 million
Population of Scotland=5 million.
Scottish students have always been a minority.</p>
<p>No-one had heard of St Andrews until Prince William went there. Now many Americans seem to think it must be the best college on planet earth for no real reason. It is an average college in the middle of nowhere.</p>
<p>Basically there is one common application form for the UK and you apply online through UCAS <a href="http://www.ucas.com%5B/url%5D">www.ucas.com</a>. You can only apply to 6 schools maximum (so you might as well fill them all in. No extra charge). Oxford or Cambridge, not both. (Oxbridge application deadline for internationals is now 20th September of the preceeding year). You have to apply for a specific subject and you can't change your mind. There are some "minors" possible in 4 year Scottish universities but this is a far cry from the amount of flexibility in the American system.</p>
<p>There is no financial aid for overseas undergrads. Colleges make their money by charging overseas students 20x the amound home/EU students pay so if you can pay no doubt you will admitted everywhere, apart from Oxbridge who require interviews, easily.</p>
<p>College board don't allow links to a UK version of this site but it is
<a href="http://www">www</a>. the student room .co .uk
remove the spaces.</p>
<p>Cupcake, since St. Andrews is IN Scotland, I don't think it's outrageous to think that maybe there would be a lot of Scottish students...no matter the population of Scotland. And it's just not true that St. Andrews wallowed in obscurity before Prince William went there. I went there years before William, and there were plenty of foreign students there from all over the world. I had friends from Canada, Spain, Germany, Italy, Brazil, Korea, Malawi, France, New Zealand, and a lot from the US.</p>