@Twoin18 At the risk of being a “Debbie Downer”, my daughter thought for sure she wanted to go to school in London and accepted an offer to study at UCL. She found the school institutional and lacking in student camaraderie. And yes she joined clubs, sought out social interaction, etc. etc. She is not the most social person in the world (not a wall flower either). Professors were great. She transferred to a U.S. university and has found her “home”. Just thought I would throw out an anecdote re UCL for consideration. UCLA/Cal both have “can’t miss” social scenes for every stripe of student.
@CollegeDad2020 Very interesting, thank you!
@BostonMomof3 My son got accepted to Edi for History & Archaeology. Perhaps they’ll end up there together digging up artifacts!
‘catered’ means meals available / often a specific number included; ‘uncatered’ means you are on your own.
re: “campus”- it might help picture it if you think of the way that NYU is ‘in’ the city: there is no formal ‘campus’. There are parts of the city where there is such a density of university buildings that it is almost a de facto campus (a sense that NYU tries to amplify with the purple banners out front), but there is no ‘campus’. That’s why @KaffeineKitty & her D walked from the various accommodation buildings to the areas that they saw as most relevant to her D (for your D, the walk between her two departments is conveniently just 5-10 min). Pollack, which I’m guessing is the buildings you are thinking of, is a very manageable 15-25 minute walk from the Lang & Hist schools.
In Oxford and Cambridge universities, it is usually possible to live in for your whole course if you want to. This is not true of Durham. The majority of students will be living in for their first year only. In addition, the college system at Durham is different from the college system at Oxford and Cambridge. Teaching is not organized through colleges at Durham, only accommodation (typically for the first year) and some socializing. Some colleges, eg University in the castle etc, may be a bit more popular than others, but really what college you choose will not make much difference to your educational experience. Note that with the exception of Oxford and Cambridge, it is unusual to be offered accommodation in UK universities for more than one year. There may be occasional exceptions for international students, but as far as I am aware, this is rare, although a few colleges at Oxford will say at international students can live in their whole course but otherwise you are usually expected to live out one year.
…although ‘live out’ at Oxford can mean in College housing that is not inside the main College grounds. Many of the Colleges (esp in-town / older ones) also have housing a little farther out (which in some cases is as close/closer than some of the less-central Colleges).
Most of the University College/Durham students that I know live out in year 2 and come back to live in the castle in year 3. Also, there is at least one CC poster who didn’t like Durham precisely b/c the people in their College were too bonded- but s/he didn’t feel that s/he fit in.
Thanks @CollegeDad2020. Definitely something we will have to think about. Was it the specific institution (UCL), London, or the UK as a whole that was most offputting? Do you have family connections to the UK (our kids have spent lots of time there, an average of one trip every 12-18 months since they were born, and S18 is quite proud of his British heritage)?
More broadly I think one consideration is also going to be his desire for a more “unique” experience. His high school (in NorCal) has a good relationship with Berkeley, which is clearly reciprocated (unlike the Ivies, which almost always reject kids from his school): UCB admit 10-15 a year from his school and probably get 70%+ of those students enrolling. So he’d end up being one of many from his school to go there (and its pretty close too). In contrast, he’s the only kid ever to apply to Oxford, and one of very few to consider UK schools, and he’d like to be different (he’s remarked on the completely different reaction he got from both fellow students and adults when saying he’d applied to Oxford vs Princeton). So that may well weigh into a decision, even though its not really about the school/course itself.
@CuriousInCincy that’s great! Yes we shall see what the decision is!
Hi @Twoin18. To briefly respond to your questions; the problem was definitely not London (she loves London) and not the UK (she loves the UK). The problem was either her or UCL (or combination of the two). I honestly don’t know which. She has always been highly independent and academically, she did great but she found her relationship with the school and other students unsatisfying. As an anecdote, she was placed in the wrong Latin class, dropped without notice, and not told what replacement class she could take for weeks. After a few weeks of having a gap in her schedule, she started to stalk her non-responsive department head until she was told she was a pushy American (and got her replacement class).
She got to the point where she stated a preference to start her sophomore year at College of San Mateo (we live near you in Hillsborough) over returning to UCL. Obviously, this is not a conversation any parent wants to have with a high-achieving student. Like you, I know I thought UCL (and other UK options) looked great on paper - academically rigorous, off the beaten path, etc.
I really wish I had known about this forum when she was going through the application process because, while we were very aware of the fact that there are differences between the USA and UK college experience (because she has UK friends and had been attending summer Latin camps in the UK), a discussion of those differences from an American perspective (such as can be found on this forum) would have been appreciated. When I found this forum, I resolved to make posts regarding our experiences just to add a voice to the conversation for people considering the UK route.
To be clear, I am not warning anyone away from a UCL or UK schools generally - I only know it didn’t work out for our daughter. If you would like more “color”, I am happy to chat off-line next week (when I am back in the Bay Area) or put your son in touch with my daughter.
@CollegeDad2020 your UCL comments are really interesting. Could you provide some insight of KCL? Thanks！
Unconditional for University of York so 4/5 offers…still waiting on Durham!
@Funniestgirl so funny! Durham was first for my kid.
Sorry, no personal knowledge of KCL.
@Funniestgirl And we are still waiting on York. Go figure. Now making spring break plans for offer-holder days at Edinburgh and Durham.
may see you there! Though our spring break is late this year - last 2 weeks of April - so may have to go for a long weekend before that. What course is your son/daughter applying for?
@Funniestgirl Son accepted unconditionally for History & Archaeology at Edinburgh, Durham, and Exeter. Edi is his top choice. Heading for March 28 offer-holder visit day. Let us know if you’ll be there. It would be fun to meet.
Finally heard from York. Unconditional. Very happy with 4 out of 5. Spring break trip, and then official decision to be made.
That’s great! @CuriousInCincy same as my daughter for York. We are STILL waiting for Durham to respond, but I think we will hear within the next 10 days according to the N.America rep. Anyone else still waiting for offers?
We still haven’t heard anything at all from UCL (applied back in October for PPE). Nothing yet from LSE either, but that was only added just before the Jan 15 deadline. In contrast S18 got a KCL unconditional offer back very quickly (early November), which is a great option, though he is still undecided between the US and UK - it will depend what offers he gets in the end.
Hi anybody got into KCL or Warwick here. I would love to talk to you guys. I’m undecided between US and UK and would love somebody’s opinion about the same. I’m still waiting to hear from LSE and UCL.