<p>I am planning to study abroad in England the upcoming Fall 2013 semester and I just wanted to know what it's like (especially from an American student's point of view). I know it's kind of a vague question but I guess I'm really wondering how classes are taught/run over there, how exams works, how grading works, social life, etc. I've been researching it for quite some time now and have a basic overview of how things works, but I just wanted to see what others on here think. I'm also curious as to how math classes and psych classes are taught, since I will probably be taking classes in one of those subjects as both are my major. I haven't decided which college I'm applying to yet, but they are among these choices: University College London, University of Sussex, King's College, Queen Mary College of London, and University of Manchester.</p>
<p>I can’t give you an American’s perspective (I’m British) but I can give you an overview. </p>
<ul>
<li>Classes are normally taught through a combination of lectures (big theatres, often several hundred students, lecturer comes and talks at you for one or two hours with the aid of PowerPoint slides whilst you make notes) and seminars / tutorials (small classrooms with 10 - 15 students, a tutor and class discussion). For psychology you will also probably have lab. Some courses will require homework to be done each week and handed in during the seminar / tutorial. </li>
</ul>
<p>You will study for 60 credits worth of modules each semester. Each module is normally worth 10 or 20 credits, so you will take 3 - 6 modules (classes) during your semester. </p>
<ul>
<li><p>First semester exams are sat in January. At Manchester (I can’t comment on the others) it’s not considered reasonable to make people either miss Christmas at home, or fly back just for exams. So, exchange students have to do an ‘alternative assessment’ during the term to compensate for this. One example of an alternative assessment would be an essay. </p></li>
<li><p>Grading is, to American eyes, harsh.
40% = Third (pass)
50% = 2:2
60% = 2:1 (it is common for employers to ask for a minimum of a 2:1)
70% = First
Don’t be fooled into thinking that you can get a first easily. In essay subjects, it’s nigh on impossible to get more than 75%. Anything of 85%+ is of a standard that could be published in an academic journal. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>Make sure you know how your grades will be used by your home uni when calculating your GPA - if they see a British 60% as an US 60%, then it’s going to have a negative impact on your GPA. </p>
<ul>
<li>Social life often tends to be based around alcohol and nights out, because the drinking age here is 18. You will meet a lot of other students by living in halls - around 80% of English students live away from home, so you don’t need to worry about the campus being dead on the weekend. Make sure that you are guaranteed a place in halls - I know Manchester guarantees this, but I don’t know about the others.</li>
</ul>
<p>Many students join clubs and societies. Each is based around a common interest (e.g. a particular sport, or political activism), is student run and provides opportunities for social activities, as well as activities around the shared interest (e.g. training and competing for sports societies). As an example, Manchester has the following
Sports: [SPORT</a> Manchester | Athletic Union](<a href=“http://www.sport.manchester.ac.uk/athletic-union]SPORT”>UoM Sport | Athletic Union Awards 2020)
Non-sports: [University</a> of Manchester Students’ Union](<a href=“http://manchesterstudentsunion.com/groups#club-society#academic]University”>http://manchesterstudentsunion.com/groups#club-society#academic) </p>
<p>With regards to individual universities, I’d recommend having a look on ************** (sorry, I can’t post a direct link as CC censors it). However, you should be aware that
- UCL and KCL are in the middle of London. It is really sodding expensive to live in central London - rents for equivalent properties are two or three times higher than they are in a place like Manchester. As a result, if you don’t get into halls, then you will find that you will be living in a house away from central London, probably where there isn’t any concentration of students (so you lost that ‘student village’ feeling, and you have long commutes on the Tube into uni. They’re both excellent universities, but UCL is regarded as being the better of the two.
- QMUL is in East London (Mile End), which is less expensive to live in but still not cheap, and it’s that bit less glamourous than central London!
- Brighton (Sussex) is by the seaside, and is the UK’s gay capital. Essentially, it’s our answer to San Francisco, and from what I’ve heard is quite a nice place to live. There’s easy access to London by train - it’s only about an hour away, if that is important to you.
- Manchester (my own university) is in the heart of a big northern city with great nightlife and lots to see and do. It’s 2 hours away from London by train. Halls are guaranteed, and most students live in Fallowfield and surrounding areas, which does give that ‘student village’ feeling. Rents are relatively cheap - for halls they start at £86pw inc. bills (Oak House).</p>
<p>You need to find out exactly what the programs you are applying for involve. In some cases you will take an entire year of classes with British students as described above. However, some programs at the extreme opposite of that are classes specially taught for study abroad students, total isolation from the students directly enrolled in the host university. You may not be in halls with the directly enrolled students. You are very unlikely to have to take the exams. You need to check out EXACTLY how you are assessed too. Some programs are as easy as you must attend.</p>
<p>If you are taking classes with directly enrolled students, you should know that there as no minors. You only take classes in effectively you “major” subject (this can be more than one subject in the case of joint honours degrees though).</p>
<p>From the list above I’d probably choose Sussex (fun, by the seaside) or Manchester (friendly, cheap). I would definitely not choose QM, just because Mile End is so grim and you have the choice of UCL and KCL instead.</p>
<p>The modules and credits discussed above are not universal. I have no idea if they are used in the universities you have selected.</p>
<p>The starred out link about is
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Google it</p>
<p>Note today it was dark at 4pm. That is what it is like in the winter. Not particularly cold compared to northern US states, but dark for 16 hours a day (and rainy). Be prepared.</p>
<p>My daughter is at Sussex, she loves it. She has visited London a few times and loves the shops and seashore near her school. It is rainy and gloomy at times, but you adapt. Winter is the hardest, but it was for her at home also.
What took getting used too, for her, was the food…not the type or quality she was used too but she learned to cook and improvise. She jokes the only cheese she could find is cheddar and she misses the variety we have in the states. Amazon UK brought her some staples like Cherrios and favorite peanut butter…it’s the little things you miss sometimes. : )
You have to do a lot more on your own, but she talks to her professors and attends the seminars. She noted some students hardly ever go but she does and one professor took note of it when speaking to her. She has classes with first year and third. She worries a little about the grading, but went in with eyes open about the emphasis on the last exam and not a series of them as at her university at home.
She loves her accommodation, has students from all over Europe and Asia and they get along very well overall. Her college paid for any residence so she did get one that was a bit more pricey and newer.</p>
<p>I don’t know where your D is shopping but I have always found the opposite is true. I the US you can usually get one kind of plastic cheese only. Has she not been to a supermarket? They usually have a cheese counter (unless it is one of the very small Tesco metros or other convenience store).</p>
<p>She goes to Tesco and I think another one that starts with S…she was joking they had a large number of cheeses but when she got up close, it was mature cheddar, cheddar, less mature cheddar, etc. She was looking for mexican at the time. I found a forum for adults that were in England for work and they were looking for certain dairy products also. Some said they just were’t available, other posts said in London or larger stores, they were, some you had to ask, they sometmes had things not put out.</p>
<p>At our supermarket, we have many international cheeses, sections with just cheese from all over the world, she grew up with Itallian, Swiss, Gouda cheese and liked to experiment with a larger variety of types later when she started to cook in her teens.</p>
<p>Mexican food exists in the UK but it is usually not the same as in the US (ie not made by anyone who has ever been to Mexico!). If your D wants US brands she should try and find an ASDA supermarket. They are owned by Walmart so they usually have a selection of such things. But in general I think she will have to suck it up and get on with life. It will be difficult and also expensive to eat only US food abroad, and even if you eat every meal in McDonalds it will taste a bit different. Mostly due to reduced sugar (now I don’t live there anymore, everything in the US tastes very sweet. Even bread and other savories. It is all due to what you are used to).</p>
<p>I am 100% sure you will be able to get Italian cheese. However what passes for Italian cheese in the UK, in the US and in Italy are probably 3 different things.</p>
<p>Thanks, she learned to improvise. I like that having a self-catered type residence she learned to cook more and more over the months. She also had a flat mate that went to one year of culinary school that helped a little. : )</p>
<p>I did have to send her pumpkin from Amazon UK…she wanted to make pumpkin bread and pie and couldn’t find that, her flatmates loved it which made her happy and brought a touch of Thanksgiving from home there. </p>
<p>She took pictures of our oversized popcorn and choices in supermarkets for just detergent for example. Some of her friends were shocked, you really don’t need 15 brands of soap although only having 2 for instance in a smaller store seemed odd at first for her. We do have access in US.</p>
<p>There is a lot of variety of cheese, so long as she goes to a larger supermarket. If she doesn’t know where one is, then she should look on the Tesco, Sainsburys, Morrisons and Asda. </p>
<p>Mexican food is less readily available here, although Taco Bell opened about a year ago in Manchester, and presumably other locations too. That said, I did try it, and it was vile. </p>
<p>All countries tend to acquire cuisine from their migrants. Mexicans don’t come to the UK (why would they bother?) but the UK has a lot of Indians for instance, so curry has been adopted, changed, and those changes exported back to India! Chicken Tikka Masala was invented in Birmingham, but it’s now widely available in India. </p>
<p>Learning to cook with local ingredients is all part of the fun of living abroad. That said, I do appreciate that there are some things you can’t do without - I once took a 6 month supply of teabags and marmite around Australia with me! If there are things she is really craving, then she should look for an expat shop. If there isn’t one in Brighton, there will be one in London, and there are certainly online ones. Unfortunately I don’t know either city that well, so the only one I can point you to is the US sweet shop in The Galleries, Bristol!</p>
<p>Just go to
<a href=“http://www.tesco.com%5B/url%5D”>www.tesco.com</a>
And order 15 different types of soap online. Clearly your D is doing all her shopping in a newsagents or other extremely expensive corner shop. </p>
<p>Brighton is a pretty big and diverse city for the UK. I know whatever I say you will not believe me, but in a big supermarket (or Boots - drugstore found every where) there will be an entire aisle dedicated to soap.</p>
<p>Mexican food in the UK is never very nice in my experience. I would definitely try Indian food instead.</p>
<p>She meant laundry detergent, not bar soap, but she found what she needed…unscented online and later at a larger store. The first one she bought was very strong scented and she is allergic. It didn’t seem unscented items were as abundant.
She told me sometimes they order from Tesco or Sainsbury online and they split any delivery charge when getting to the store and carrying it back is difficult. She likes to get out and shop though when she can.
My doctor’s daughter moved to London 3 years ago and he said also to try the Indian food…forget the Mexican, etc. It is very good and the open markets.
She is having fun trying new things and cooking some “home” items for her friends. They still want the pumpkin. : )</p>
<p>My D is planning to study abroad year after next and her school lists Manchester as already approved - she may also consider trying to get Nottingham added to her home college’s approved list.</p>
<p>She is a CS major - which school would say is better for her to do her junior year abroad?</p>
<p>@MaidenMom - both universities are on par in terms of overall academic reputation, and I suspect that she will be equally happy at either, socially speaking. I can’t really say much about Nott’s CS course though.</p>
<p>CS at Manchester will be far betting than Nottingham. CS department in Manchester is particularly good given age and breath of department, also closely connected with the history of computing. Nottingham has nothing notable in terms of CS.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info!! I will pass along and tell her not to bother trying to get Nottingham added ;)</p>