@Funniestgirl Congrats! That is great news for her (and you). Enjoy the holidays!
@Funniestgirl congrats! Great Christmas gift for her!
My daughter got unconditional offer from King’s two days ago. There are still 3 she is waiting for .Her #1 is UCL. fingers crossed.
@2018momnj That is great news. Enjoy the holidays!
@CuriousInCincy , Thanks！Happy New Year!
Joining this thread as my DS has applied to three UK unis. Edinburgh, UCL, Abertay. He has offers from UCL & Abertay and waiting for Edinburgh. Also has several acceptances at US colleges and waiting for some as well. It helps to have others that are doing the UK thing, appreciate the posts here!
@BostonMomof3 agree ! I learned lot from the post and discussions here. When did your Ds submit application and how long it took to get UCL offer? My daughter applied on Dec 3rd,we have not heard anything from UCL yet.
Oddly enough, he heard from UCL in less than 2 days! It was his first acceptance. Hasn’t heard from Edinburgh yet. He applied at the end of Nov (Nov 28 I think). I don’t know what their process is for reviewing applications, the more I read the more random it seems! We expected to hear from Edinburgh sooner since we visited and spoke to admissions and they made it seem like it would be quick. Did not visit UCL. So who knows.
OxBridge offers are out today I hear - Good Luck to everyone who is waiting!
Still waiting on Durham…and interview with York tomorrow.
Hi all, my DD is applying to Edinburgh as a transfer, it happened suddenly and due date is monday so it’s been a blur! Can anyone share with me why they chose Edinburgh over KCL or St A? She is a French/History major. Thank you!
Well S18 didn’t get an offer from Oxford for PPE, though he’s happy with himself for getting an interview and enjoying that process. He’s had an unconditional offer from KCL since October (which we’ve viewed as a helpful safety, though he hasn’t visited yet), with nothing yet from UCL (but we were told their PPE course is new and quite small so they said they were likely to wait until Jan before making any offers). Now we need to think about whether to add PPE courses at a couple more UK schools before Monday since he only filled in those three slots, or focus on his US applications instead. In particular should we look at options like Warwick, Durham, Bristol or Exeter as an alternative to the London schools. We are from the UK originally so familiarity with the country, climate, etc is not a concern and we have family there which is handy.
The UK is a lot cheaper but the major concern is about whether it would allow him to slot easily into a career here. He has dual nationality so there would be no problem with employment in the UK, but his passion is US politics. Because of his focus on politics we are not so concerned about the content and style of UK courses, and we assume he would come back here for a masters. But getting an internship say in DC might be tough from a less well known UK school (though on the other hand he has a paid internship with a local politician here that he could continue with in the summer and perhaps leverage into something more). On the US side we’d be full pay at most schools, and that has led us to rule out applying for the $70K per year no merit aid options like Georgetown and Ivies, especially when we compare them against instate options like UCB/UCLA. He has applied to some of the East Coast schools that offer merit like GW, American, etc.
For reference he has 1540 SAT 1 (790M/750W) single sitting, 800/770/710 in SAT 2s (Math 2/USH/Spanish), five 5s in APs (plus one 3 from sophomore year), predicted four more 5s this year, 4.0 UW GPA, NM commended (and he’s senior class president, cross country captain, >1000 hours volunteering).
I’d welcome any thoughts on additional UK schools and the issue of recognition noted above. We’re not particularly interested in Scotland’s 4 year courses, because they would be no cheaper than UCB/UCLA (assuming he gets in there) and he didn’t put LSE down for that reason. So we’d be focused on alternative 3 year course options where he could save money to come back here for a masters.
Considering his interest in politics, I would stay in London. KCL is an excellent choice. Why is he not happy with it?
@jupiter98 Its not that he isn’t happy with it, he simply hasn’t visited yet. At this point we could add two more schools to create more choices (if we are taking it seriously then we will visit during spring break). And he fell in love with Oxford in three days there, so we are wondering if he should consider other more campus style universities.
Its interesting that the reaction of family in the UK to KCL/UCL is “why would you want to go to London?”. They view it as expensive and without the same collegiate feel you get elsewhere in the UK (his cousin is at Exeter, also liked York, but didn’t even consider London). Though of course they have different considerations (not least that they aren’t far from London, and the expectation is you will go far enough away to not come home during term time).
I think @milee30 raised some of the same concerns about recognition in her post (and I see her son decided to go to UChicago).
You would get similar reaction from US parents 
My DD really wanted to study in London. It took serious guns to divert her to Edinburgh 
She had summer internship in London for three months, and could not wait to get out from the city.
Kings is a great choice, but it is hard enough for a young professional making 35k p/a to keep their head above water in London let alone a student, think very very hard before committing to London. If politics/international relations is the choice of study you really do have to consider St A’s, its reputation in the field I think exceeds the cost savings of going to an Exeter or Bristol, which although excellent universities, are probably not well known in the field while Durham and Warwick probably have better overall reps as well.
Unconditional to Edinburgh today for my son! Very exciting. Decisions…
Congratulations, @BostonMomof3! What course was he accepted to?
@Twoin18: He might well like Durham or York, then, as those both have a collegiate system.
@jupiter98 Archaeology. Not sure he’s going yet but he’s excited it’s a top choice!