UCAS open May 21 for 2020 entry…
Thread for general discussion.
I have D20 appling for NatSci and/or math and physics or maybe chemistry joint degree. We will finalize list after APs come out in July.
A few general reminders:
UCAS allows you to apply to up to 5 universities or programs. You can apply to either Oxford or Cambridge but not both. The same essay/personal statement goes to all 5 programs.
You must list all AP, IB, SAT2, SAT and AP scores received and planned.
Your essay and the counselor/teacher recommendation should focus on the subject and why you want to study it and the preparation that is going to allow you to succeed in that subject. Extracurriculars and classes unrelated to the subject are irrelevant. A little bit about why the UK is also relevant for foreign students.
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Here we go again, @VickiSoCal! My last one is this cycle also - I’m keeping hoping that it will get easier, but each one seems to do it completely differently…Good luck 
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Son #2 on this cycle as well. No UCAS to worry about though - staying here.
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DC is considering grad school application, PhD, staying at Edi most likely. Does anybody have any words of wisdom? I am undecided.
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Is she doing a 5th year first, @jupiter98?
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@collegemom3717 no fifth year, single honours straight to PhD. Thank you for any advice in advance
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Subject? also, has she already done research in the department?
There are a lot of good things about the PhD process in the UK/Ireland, including the pressure on the advisor to get students through in 3 / 4 years (depends on the subject (it is actually an metric in performance reviews), so the profs tend to be goal oriented, which beats some (not all!) US settings, where there can be a slower start.
I will say that I know a student currently doing a PhD at Edi, as well as another Edi grad who is doing a PhD at Durham, and they both felt swamped and lost at first, and had some crises of confidence, especially spring of first and autumn of second year (they are in different subjects, and there were big hoops to jump through at those junctures). The transition from under- to grad was harder than they expected. But- they have come out the other side and are swimming along quite happily now.
What are your concerns about her staying on?
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Thank you. She will be applying for a PhD in Philosophy. My concerns are that she is going to be away from the US for too long, and there is no help at the uni in securing employment after graduation either in the UK or the US.
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Oh golly. I see your concern. PhD in phil is really a path for academia, a tough tough path these days. My PhD process collegekid gulped when I outlined your concern, and said ‘well that’s probably 2 post-docs anyway’. I hear that Philosophy as field is pretty sniffy about which programs rank- I just am not up to speed on which those are. I think some of the regular CCers are, though- you might pose it as a question and see if any of them pop up.
Golly indeed. To make matters even more complicated her independent dissertation will be on the crossroads of phil and cogsci. She fulfilled the credits for cogsci, but is more interested in the phil aspect of artificial intelligence. Edi is one of the best places for this kind of work.
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Actually, that brightens the picture- if she stays on the AI/cog sci end of the spectrum. Funnily enough, Scotland is getting quite the rep for some kinds of emerging tech. Still seems like a deep investment - if she was going applied I would have thought a masters > phd. Has she articulated a reasonable vision of a path?
@VickiSoCal , this is really helpful. My kid is applying in English Lit, top schools so far are Edinburgh and King’s College London . She has the test scores and now we’re trying to figure out what other three schools to apply to!
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Despite now having six 5’s on AP’s and two 4’s, D20 has decided not to apply to any UK universities. I have the sads, but I will recover. Good luck to all others!
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Wow! well done to your D20, @VickiSoCal.
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@collegemom3717 , I’d like her to look at Durham for sure.
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Durham was my favorite of all the UK universities we visited.
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Question about “relevant” tests. My son is planning to apply to a few Scottish (and Irish & Canadian) schools to study Russian and probably linguistics (where they have it). What SAT subject tests & APs are the relevant ones? He has good SAT scores in world & US history & Latin. In my mind only Latin is relevant, so not sure what else they’d like to see. Maybe English lit? He’s taking intensive first year Russian this summer at U of Washington, but there’s no standardized test for Russian. Thanks for thoughts.
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General Humanities is fine for ab initio languages, just be sure they are diverse, so yes a lit or lang, a history, and for linguistics something quantitative.
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Read the admissions requirements carefully, as the suggested courses will vary quite a bit. Most modern languages programs that I am aware of in that part of the world want a modern language as a pre-req for admissions.
Also read the course descriptions very carefully as the programs are highly structured and there will be very little class choice, esp in the first two years. What is part of the “Russian” course can vary quite a lot between universities.
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