<p>I would be very grateful to receive any advice on the following. My son lives in London and is British. If you could go to UCL in London on their 4 year Natural Science MSc would you give it up to go to Duke or Johns Hopkins? </p>
<p>He is likely to major in cognitive science and UCL seems to be well placed for this.</p>
<p>Any views?</p>
<p>Pick one of the US universities,he will not regret it</p>
<p>Quick response. What are your top 3 reasons for advocating the US colleges?</p>
<p>It’s a very good thing to get away from one’s home turf for college, and Duke and Hopkins offer a fundamentally different experience – the opportunity to double major/minor, a campus-based social experience that includes things like D1 athletics, a liberal arts curriculum, etc. </p>
<p>That said, Duke or Hopkins would cost more than double UCL for a UK student, and for many it would be difficult to justify the extra cost without a lot of merit/financial aid. UCL is a great university with a great location, and he would be able to jump into a top-notch graduate program in the US if he does well there. It’s difficult to say without knowing what financial aid he’ll receive.</p>
<p>(This is coming from a Duke grad.)</p>
<p>UCL will cost a home student 9k sterling or about 16k US, pretty much all of it as a government loan payable upon securing a job after graduation. Duke/Hopkins will cost around 50k. On the other hand Duke/Hopkins reputations are inversely proportional to the fee structure.</p>
<p>If money is a problem then UCL, but if you have the money I’d go with JHop/Duke. These schools open a ton of doors globally.</p>
<p>Thanks very much for all the responses. It’s one thing to know one’s own mind but it’s more helpful to understand others’ perspectives.</p>
<p>Very helpful.</p>