I just joined the site and I wasn’t sure where to post this, so I hope posting here is okay! I’ve been thinking about studying abroad in the UK for a while now, specifically England. I’ve thought through all the pros and cons, but when I was researching various universities, I realized that the way higher education is done in England is vastly different than here in the US.
Right now I’m in the second semester of my freshman year at a community college, and I had planned on finishing two years here before transferring to a university. Of course, things changed and I began looking into studying abroad rather than transferring to a university in my state. The thing is, I want to know if transferring to a UK university from my college is even possible, because I understand students there usually have programs that last three to four years, depending on what they choose (?) I’m unsure how that would work for me… I don’t want my two years at a community college to be for nothing, and I end up going to a UK university as a “freshman” and staying for three years (which is obviously pointless and wouldn’t happen.) I was hoping to finish out my undergrad there, but then of course I realized how differently things are done.
So my question is basically: is it possible to work something out so my two years count as the first year of, for example, a three year psychology program at a UK university? Or if they count as anything else and I’m able to transfer instead of having to start out as a freshman. It’s all really confusing to me but I would appreciate any input. I want to find out early on if this is even possible for me to do so I don’t get too attached to the idea of studying abroad.
You will not be able to transfer credits to the UK, so will have to start from 0. I don’t think there are any exceptions to this, though it might be possible to start as a second year if you already have a BA (I met 2 Americans in classics at Oxford who were doing this).
The web site to go to is The Student Room, which is specifically about unis in the UK. Also, as you are not a EU resident, fees will almost certainly be much higher.
Most European universities last 3 years because the prior coursework corresponds to an extra year of schooling befoe university, so that a student with 1 year of US community college would “normally” enter the 1st year of university studies.
(High school students who don’t have this year of CC need to have about 5 AP scores to compensate).
Then you do 3 years in just the subject you’re interested in.
You may find more information if you check the Uni sites you are interested in for the entrance requirements for international students. For example, Cardiff Met has the following - ‘students who have successfully completed a 2 year Associate Degree of Professional Diploma at an institution such as a community college can be considered for advanced entry to the 2nd year of a relevant degree programme’ I have not checked whether they do psychology, but you might find some help by perusing the UCAS course list pages and reading the international requirements for each uni.
Good luck.
What 4mummy says. In general there is no concept of transfer in the UK. Very very rarely a student can in theory get “advanced standing” and start a course in the second year. I have never met anyone who has done this. It would be dependent on both the university and course you are applying for, and you would need to contact them in advance of application to check.
The problem is, a US high school education is not considered very strong internationally. So most UK unis will just consider your two years of college as catching up to the level of European high school graduates. Do you have strong APs or SAT? I suspect you would need to be an outstanding student for advanced standing to be allowed, and the UK loves standardised tests.
The other way is to complete a US degree like Alciblade said.
Do you want to reduce study time due to finances? If so, be aware that the UK, and especially the south east of England and London, is really expensive. You cost of living will be like NYC. There is basically no meaningful financial aid for foreign undergraduates from UK sources. It may be more economical to enrol in a US college and then do study abroad in England rather than directly enrolling in a UK school.