<p>has anyone lived, for a significant amount of time, in both the united kingdom and the united states? </p>
<p>what are the major differences between the culture, lifestyle, etc? </p>
<p>which place did you like better?</p>
<p>any takers? </p>
<p>god im becoming that annoying girl who makes like 9 posts that all say "bump to the bumpity bump"</p>
<p>well ive lived in the US my whole life, but im pretty sure Britain is more expensive and less diverse (well actually im sure it is less diverse.)
As for education, britain has some good schools, but US is the college capital of the world hands down, and you cant ever pose a valid arguement against that.</p>
<p>from what i have heard and researched, UK does not give much financial aid so if you need that then UK is obviously more expensive. If you don't need finanacial aid or if you are a EU citizen then UK is cheaper overall as the undergraduate courses last only 3 years rather than 4. </p>
<p>Also in UK you select which course you want to do and don't have as much flexibility of choosing what you want to do later on. So UK is good for those who have decided on what career path they want to persue. But you study the choosen course in UK much more in depth than a major in that course in the US. </p>
<p>For international students, its generally easier to get into a top well known university in the UK (other than oxbridge & LSE) than in the US (so its easier to get into Kings College than say Cornell when they are very close in terms or reputation and prestige). </p>
<p>Due to the lack of financial aid, there is less socio economic diversity in the UK than in the US, however the percentage of international students tend to be higher in universities in the UK (50% international students in LSE from the top of my head)</p>
<p>As I have mentioned before you get to finish undergraduate in the UK faster. And I have heard from friends (but personally never checked) that you get more holidays in British universities.</p>
<p>i like the uk more, but i guess that's because i'm an "international" (foreignor?) here in the u.s. but back in the uk i was "at home", dunno. well in terms of culture, i can't speak for all of the us but in california the mood is laid back (at college though, everyone still wants to project an image of being laid back so there's a lot of superficial cheerfulness and al that crap..) while in england it was more, um, formal-ish you know.. it's really easy to talk to people in the us, you can just say hiii and start a conversation about anything while in england people tend to keep to themselves more (i miss that though, like sometimes i JUST DONT WANNA TALK you know, e.g if you're in the dorm kitchen and it's 3am and you have a final early morn and you just want to stuff your face and leave, but someone's like heyyy you know my life is like falling apart blah blah you have to listen and counsel and stuff - ofcourse, in return you know someone will always be there for you - i'm guessing if i were in the uk i wouldn't have to make all this small talk all the time..
i think there are fewer international students in uk universities than in the us. i have friends from all over the world; i'm not sure but i don't think my friends at uk schools have colleagues from ethopia, somalia etc.</p>
<p>where about in the bay area are you from?</p>
<p>thanks for all the responses. my friend is a junior who is considering applying to colleges in the uk. so im trying to info for him</p>
<p>chaat,
i live in castro valley. its a small city near hayward/oakland.</p>
<p>really? I live in Cupertino, CA like next to San Jose and I attend an uni in UK hehe</p>
<p>
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Due to the lack of financial aid, there is less socio economic diversity in the UK than in the US, however the percentage of international students tend to be higher in universities in the UK (50% international students in LSE from the top of my head)
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ey? UK universities only cost £3000 ($5000) per year for anyone in the EU, and anyone in UK (and i think EU...?)(regardless of family income) can get an interet free loan to cover this.
I know it is different for internationals, but considering most students are EU i feel it is erroneous to claim that UK universities are the preserve of the rich.</p>
<p>oh... and my advice for those considering the UK is to apply, even if you are not 100% sure. UCAS is not at all costly, and doesn't take a huge amount of time/effort. Then you can see how you do and come over and visit places to help make your mind up.
UCAS is quite different from the US in that your application is not going to be a huge dent on your time, and although needs to be done carefully and with some research, if you do it, and then choose not to come to the UK, you are not going to look at and think that you have wasted hundreds of hours.</p>
<p>i live few hours from the bay area. I love in roseville (25 minutes outside of Sacramento)</p>
<p>anyway, i didnt mean that UK schools are more expensive, i meant that the cost of living is, esp London.</p>
<p>But educations is fairly priced and great because they usually take less time to complete.</p>
<p>but for internationals uk universities cost way more, about 15000pounds - i believe most people applying from the us would be considered internationals. </p>
<p>it's interesting to see so many bay area people on a uk-university thread! we had this guest speaker come into class the other day and he said that the largest tourists to california were from england!!! (just some food for thought :p)</p>
<p>ive lived in the bay area all my life, but spend at least 1-2 months every year in london. lifestyle there is certainly much more "fun" ...</p>
<p>Well i dont know too much about britain, cause i havent ever had personal experience there yet ( i want to go to LSE for grad school one day though), and i will say there are quite a large handful of weirdos here in the Bay area.</p>
<p>
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Well i dont know too much about britain, cause i havent ever had personal experience there yet ( i want to go to LSE for grad school one day though), and i will say there are quite a large handful of weirdos here in the Bay area.
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</p>
<p>I doubt there are more weirdos in the Bay area than in Britain. Actually, no country in the world can compete with Britain in the weirdness category.</p>
<p>The Netherlands is definitely up there, Amsterdam in particular. This place attracts weirdos from all over the world, since the legal system is tough on entrepreneurs, but easy on drug users and slackers in general. Plus, the socialist-leaning government subsidizes people's weird and sometimes disturbing hobbies, defending them as "art" or "culture".</p>
<p>It's kind of hard to talk about the U.K. as the people and the culture varies from region to region; it's like talking about the U.S. as a whole--Texas is very different from New York for example and even parts of Texas are incredibly different from one another. </p>
<p>I'm from Texas and I lived in Scotland for about a year-- not a truly considerable amount of time, but at least enough to make a general impression on Scotland. I attended University for the majority of that year, but unlike most international students I made friends with Scots instead of other Americans/British students.</p>
<p>I found the pace of life in Scotland to be much slower than the pace of life in my hometown--this had it's ups and downs. Harder to do things late and night, but much less stress and people seemed more relaxed in general. There was much more of a drinking culture (good...) and at least an equivalent drug culture (bad...). The cost of basic living (room, food [as long as you stick to unprepared food], and travel) is not that much higher than the U.S--especially if you consider that minimum wage for over 21s is essentially the same as the U.S. but in pounds. A lot of other differences between the two, but I'm not going to go into every single one here. Overall, I like both places a lot; I wouldn't mind living in either one. Feel free to ask specific questions; I'll respond.</p>