Are my UK college options better than my US ones if I want to study Earth Sciences ?
UK :
UCL
Southampton
Bristol
Leeds
Edinburgh
US:
Princeton
Caltech
Brown
Rice
Washington university in st Louis
Yale
Grinnell
Colby
Careton
I am looking for more ‘‘mathy’’ earth science programs (like geophysics) and research is very important to me .
Carleton , sorry for the typo .
Are you deciding which of these to drop off your application list?
Which of these can be considered a true safety for you (guaranteed admission for your grades and test scores, and absolutely affordable)?
I am trying to drop some of the US colleges . And there is no safety for me in US , I need full financial aid . The unis from UK are pretty much my safeties . Why ? Because I am from EU and because my stats are higher than many of my friends who got into these universities . ( six of them got into southampton , one of them into bristol , two of them into UCL and one of them into edinburgh .
Do you need all of your costs (tuition, fees, housing, meals, books, transportation, health insurance, personal expenses, etc.) covered, or can your family pay something? Can you afford the testing fees and application fees?
Why would you want to study in the US? Can you get a job in the UK with a US degree in earth science?
Why earth science?
For international students with significant financial need, all of the places you have on your list are reaches. So read through the courses offered on their websites, and see if you have any oreferences for some of them. Then go ahead and apply there. But do remember that your chance of admission with the aid you need is very slim.
At the LACs on the OP’s list (and at some other selective LACs), a fairly high percentage of enrolled international students get aid and the average award packages are quite large. According to Colby’s 2015-16 CDS, 83 of 196 international students get aid (n-b or merit); the average package was $54,781. What I don’t know is how many international students applied or what their admission rate is compared to the overall rate. I suspect that for many top LACs interested in maintaining/increasing student body diversity, the international acceptance rate isn’t much lower (may even be higher) than the overall rate … and that, if you’re admitted, they’ll try to meet your demonstrated financial need. It wouldn’t be in their interest to accept international students only to have their visas denied because the student can’t show ability to cover costs. I’d still consider these schools need-aware reaches, but not necessarily very long shots compared to some alternatives (such as state schools that don’t grant aid to internationals at all, or Ivies that attract huge numbers of foreign applications).
The OP may want to check out the Keck Geology Consortium (https://keckgeology.org/member-schools/). Most of the top LACs for alumni-earned doctorates in earth sciences seem to be members.
Colorado College seems to have a solid program as well as a wonderful location for geology. Its unusual one-course-at-a-time Block Plan facilitates off-campus field work in the nearby mountains.
Well , I can pay about 5000$ a year .
Why US ? Because US colleges are more research oriented than their UK counterparts, and the overall system seems to fit me better than the british one . Even more , In UK I will have to renounce to some sciences because the programs are very specialized , while US colleges have a core curriculum that helps me to ‘‘keep in touch’’ with other sciences .