Transferring to US Colleges from UK Universities

I am an American high school student who just got into the Univeristy College of London(UCL), a top 3-5 UK university. If I do go to UCL for a year and find myself not liking the education there, how difficult would it be for me to transfer to US universities from there? If I do transfer, i probably are aiming for top 20-25 schools in the states. UK doesn’t do a lot of things like GPA and credits, so I am sure how likely it is for me to transfer. Vanderbilt is my dream school and I was just rejected from it, so I would love to transfer there.

In theory, you won’t have any more trouble transferring to higher end schools than you would from a US school- they all know how to read UK transcripts. The caveat is that you will have to do really well in your winter exams, and you may find the adjustment harder than you expect. Also, you may not be able to transfer many credits, so you may have to overweight in some terms (or do summer school) unless you have enough AP credits to keep you in time.

IF you decide to go to the UK and IF you decide to transfer back b/c you don’t like UCL, be prepared to apply to more than just top names- Vandy does have a rep for being pretty transfer friendly, but transferring in to top schools is typically harder than getting in as a first year, and if you are really unhappy in London you don’t want to be stuck b/c you didn’t get in anywhere you deemed “good enough” for you.

Thank you for your reply! Do you think it would be better for me to transfer from schools like Boston College or NYU then? UK is very major-specific, so would that hinder my ability to transfer to a different major/program in the US?

IMO, the “best” option is the one that - if you end up staying there- will suit you & your long term plans the best. All of these are fine options- really different experiences, all urban, all interesting cities, all places that you can make your way & build any future you want.

Remember that Vandy is your this-year-you dream. You won’t believe it right now, when the sting of rejection has sharpened the desire, but it is not impossible that next-year-you will have discovered new dreams. So, choose as if a year from now you want to stay right where you are.

The only issue you’ll come across in transferring is that your grades in first year, assuming you apply to transfer in around the January-March time frame won’t really exist.

There are ‘formative assignments’ (these don’t count towards your final grade) and ‘summative assignments’ (these do). Exams usually take place in May-June, depending on your course (some, usually science subjects have them in December-January, but humanities and social sciences usually do not). Some courses are 100% exam based, meaning you may not have a final grade for that module until June.

This means that when you submit the ComApp progress reports your tutors can only guess as to what your grades might be based on any formative assignments you’ve done.

TL;DR you might not have real concrete grades with which to apply — US universities usually know this, but it’s up to them how to deal with it.

So you have been accepted to NYU and BC, but you think it will be easier to transfer to Vanderbilt if you go to college in the U.K.? Do you not want to attend NYU or BC?

I agree that right now, though you want to go to Vanderbilt, you might feel much differently after a year at college. For now, you should go to the college you feel will work best for you and where you can be happy. FWIW, I would choose BC over the other two, unless you don’t mind not having a typical college experience. NYU and UCL are both not going to be traditional American college settings, but for the money, UCL is a better bet.