Study Abroad experiences - UK

Parents Forum
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<p>S. is a sophmore, and looking into study abroad programs for next year. His current "wish list" would be Oxford, Kings College Dept of War Studies, University College London, and St. Andrews. He'd like to concentrate on IR and foreign policy. </p>

<p>Oxford programs are very competitive, and even if admitted, usually require a full year abroad. He loves his school, and am wondering if he might regret the whole year (vs. one semester) spent away. OTOH, have never heard of anyone who regretted spending a school year in Europe either. Any thoughts?</p>

<p>His own school has study abroad options, and also recommends quite a few outside programs. The one with the most extensive offerings is Arcadia University. From what we've read so far, it seems like a good, comprehensive program. Anyone here on CC have any experience with them? We also need to look into the financial aid offerings.
Thanks</p>

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<p>No bites re: UK programs, but if anyone has studied abroad (anywhere) through Arcadia would also love any feedback- it looks a good outfit</p>

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<p>I thought the Arcadia program looked good too, but my son said that more students at his school use Butler.</p>

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<p>Thanks, twinmom--
I just looked on S's school's list of approved programs, and Butler IS there. Will look into it.</p>

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<p>Just a comment on spending the whole year abroad. My daughter spent fall semester in Scotland a few years ago, and would have happily stayed for spring if she could have gotten all of the appropriate courses to come back to her school here and graduate on time. She loved it, and loved having the opportunity to travel around Europe to explore. If we had planned ahead we would have liked it if she had stayed, as it was cheaper than her tuition here and would have given us the chance to make another visit to see her! We looked at Arcadia, and it seemed like a good program, but she decided to apply directly to UK schools as it turned out to be substantially cheaper.</p>

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<p>Wow - it didn't even occur to me that they COULD apply directly to UK schools - will definitely have S. ask his school about that. I know he would need course and credit approval.</p>

<p>He is torn between the year vs. semester. Wish we had a crystal ball. Am hoping he might have a better idea as the year goes on-</p>

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<p>Just in case you'd like to hear about summer: D just did a summer at Pembroke/KingsCollege at Cambridge (profs were either from cambridge or upenn); however, your son's major was not offerred. She also applied/ looked at summer courses at London School of Econnomics (this does have your son's major, and you can take 2 courses in one summer). Both of these programs though are organized for international students and have virtually no British students in them. You can apply directly to this programs, no need to go through Arcadia or Butler for these (although you can). Biggest advantage with Arcadia and Butler appears to be the transcripts they issue and the oversight in England. Both programs have housing available in the summer.</p>

<p>I attended University College London for a year many moons ago and would highlight its excellent location in Bloomsbury and high reputation within England. </p>

<p>It is harder to go now for just one semester applying directly to the UK college, according to the research on options my d did. It seemed like it was mostly for a full year that you could apply directly to the English unis she looked at....this is why she went for a summer.</p>

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<p>This year's Sunday Times University Guide has just come out (21st September) and is regarded as one of the main sources for exploring UK universities:<br>
Sunday</a> Times University Guide | Times Online </p>

<p>Just a quick note on the 'semster vs year' issue. D says that at her Oxford college,the students who come for a term seem very isolated and rarely make friends while those who come for a year are fully integrated. And keep in mind that an Oxbridge term is only 8 teaching weeks, hardly enough time to find one's feet...</p>

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<p>Many of the top UK programs require you to spend either the full year or the spring semester (which is actually two of the three trimesters in the British system) there.</p>

<p>There is a potential problem with this in that the British school year ends in July. This pretty much precludes having a summer internship when you return to the United States. Yet the summer in question -- the one between junior and senior year -- is the one during which an internship is usually considered most important.</p>

<p>This is not an issue for everyone, but it is for some students.</p>

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<p>My son is currently doing an abroad at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England. UEA</a> - Welcome to the University of East Anglia He is only doing the fall semester because he needs to do a May term as a grad requirement and the timing would not work out for a full year. We thought of doing a program outside of his college but it turns out that none of his merit aid would transfer that way. The program he is doing is an exchange program where another student from UEA is attending his college here in the states. We just pay the regular amount and everything is covered including a monthly stipend for board.</p>

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<p>I am not a study abroad student as I an properly enrolled at a UK university, nor am I an American, but here goes. </p>

<p>Beware of summer programmes because there are many and most are just money making exercises run by private companies with no connection to any UK school other than they rent out their accommodation in the summer. Those "Oxford professors" teaching on them are usually just grad students. I know, I get the hiring leaflets. Americans think anyone with an English accent must be smart...... If you do choose a summer school, go for one which is organised through your US school and therefore legit. </p>

<p>You won't meet any UK students doing a summer school either. The concept does not really exist. They either get paid jobs or travel in the summer (or go to the summer house in France/Spain if wealthy). If you fail, you are generally just failed. There is no summer re-sit. Summer schools for UK students would probably be some kind of remedial class OR outreach for under-represented groups (which are free but you can't go on these schools are they are only for students at UK schools. Or at least the Oxbridge ones are).</p>

<p>Then again, if you want to be taken to the sights and do the tourist thing, summer schools may be better for you. You won't get anything like that if you're enrolled at a UK university term time. </p>

<p>Beware of accommodation. 99.9% of UK students get single rooms. but Americans are sometimes asked to share and pay the full price! because they don't know this isn't the norm (Most UK students would kill someone if they had to share a room at college LOL! It is very unacceptable if you're paying for it).</p>

<p>If you are not enrolling for a full year, make sure you attend the first term, starting in September. UK universities ALL start in September/October. No-one starts in January. If you do, you will find everyone already knows each other and there are no welcome events or anything. The first week in Sept/Oct is called "freshers week" and essentially if you do not attend, you will have no social life. This is where all the clubs and societies, which students attend in their spare time, advertise for new members at the "fresher's fair". Plus all the orientation events happen. </p>

<p>Look into how your grades are assessed by your home school. In the UK. 70% is outstanding and 80% is genius. Most of the time you will get 50%. Schools have different ways of converting this into US grades. Some are more generous than others. </p>

<p>Note that living expenses are HIGH HIGH HIGH! You think gas is expensive in the US? Ha, ha, ha! The UK was that expensive in the 1970s. Your student will not be travelling each weekend unless they are
a)very rich
b)not doing any studying.
In the UK you are treated as an adult and if you don't turn up, no-one will chase you. There is a lot of self-study. They will allow you to fail if that's your choice. So it is best for more self-motivated students (but those who want to study abroad are likely to be such students I know).</p>

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<p>My D is at Edinburgh for the fall and is loving it so far. Staying the full year wasn't an option for her because of a spring sport.</p>

<p>She applied directly, with lots of logistical help from her school's outstanding foreign study office.</p>

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<p>My daughter went through the Arcadia program and they were organized and helpful before, during and after. As a parent, I was pleased by their responsiveness when she needed emergency medical attention.</p>

<p>My daughter, too, was advised to do first term if she could not do the whole year and her only regret was that due to graduation requirements at her US school, she could not stay on. She made wonderful, life-long friends with the British and other foreign student she met and lived with in her London on-campus housing. She said that she had very little, if any, interaction with American kids.</p>

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<p>Wow - so many helpful responses. Thank you. Will send S. the link so he can read them too-</p>

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<p>Lots of good advice here. I'm sure that your university will stress this, but when my daughter spent the fall semester in Scotland she was very limited re: choice of schools as her US uni (Tufts) required at least a 13 week semester. Most UK fall semesters were only 12 weeks in length, with a longer spring semester. As I mentioned in a previous post, she did everything independently, lived in a university flat (single room in a 6 br flat) with students from Scotland and Denmark, and had a fantastic time. Her emphasis was more on being abroad than "studying" abroad, with lots of pub time and travel time, but that's OK. She worked really hard the other 3 1/2 years! :) Wish I could have done it myself.</p>

<p>Of course, because she made her own arrangements, I was freaking out when she left and finally called the university a couple of days before she left just to clarify a few things. Turned out that the study abroad coordinator at the Scottish university was from Ohio!</p>

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<p>cloverleaf-- small world -– S. is at Tufts. Part of the indecision is that he's always dreamed of studying abroad, but loves Tufts and isn't sure he wants to be away his entire junior year. It doesn’t sound like students regret the year in Europe either, though.</p>

<p>Just curious – did she receive guidance from the foreign studies dept or did she do all the research herself? S. will have to find out about courses and credit approval, and money will also be an issue.</p>

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<p>S1 is currently studying abroad in Bangkok. Rather than go during his junior year, he is there for his last semester (completing undergrad in 4.5 years). He only needs one course to complete his major and the rest of the courses he is taking are in Thai culture/language subjects. Going now, instead of his junior year, meant that his school education was not disrupted, and now it is a bit of a jolly.</p>

<p>He looked at schools in Asia as Europe is so expensive. He is able to travel just about every weekend.</p>

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<p>Wow, it is a small world. D did receive advice from the foreign studies office, but ultimately did her own research of pretty much every UK university to find out which had the longer fall term. She was pretty focused on not being part of a program where she would be with a lot of other American students -- she wanted to immerse herself in a foreign culture (even tho studying in the UK isn't like going to a totally foreign country!). She ended up at the University of Dundee, which isn't really well-known, but it was great experience for her, and she even said that the classes were as challenging as the ones at Tufts. She loved Tufts, but also loved being in Scotland, and has been back 2x (on her own dime) and we have hosted 2 of her Scottish friends here. Seems like I heard that some of the tuition rates have gone up in the UK, but at the time, fall of '05, it was substantially cheaper to have her in Scotland than Medford. :)</p>

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<p>Hadn't thought of senior, year, actually, though most of his friends plan to go junior year as well--</p>

<p>cloverleaf-- the 'self' research is definitely worth a try - thanks. Am guessing a lot of the info can be found online. Something to work on while he gets over mono :(</p>

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<p>Hop- I was looking through posts trying to find info about the Arcadia Study Abroad programs and saw your post. My D is a junior at SUNY New Paltz and has applied to go to Barcelona for the spring semester this year with Arcadia. I am relieved to see from your post that your D had a good experience with them. Could you share anything else with me about your experience? We are going through Arcadia because they were the only program we could find that fit her criteria- classes in Art, Art History and Eng. Lit as well as being taught in English as she is no where near fluent in Spanish. Any info would be appreciated! Thanks</p>