<p>Anyone know anything about getting an undergrad degree from Oxford or Cambridge? My son is really interested in international relations, and has been talking about how he might want to go to a school in the U.K. </p>
<p>I am sure there are all sorts of considerations--has anyone done this, or seriously thought about it?</p>
<p>If you run a search on the topic you should come up with quite a few threads. UK unis are far more numbers based than US universities and colleges. It would help to know how your son performed on AP tests and the SAT's as well as his GPA. With that said, the top UK unis such as Oxford and Cambridge take very few American students straight out of high school since American students are less prepared than their British counterparts (part of this has to do with an extra year of school prior to uni in the UK). Pembroke College, Cambridge states on its website that 6 Americans were accepted in a past year. Also, they require AP scores of at least 5,5,4 in subjects relating to the intended field of study. I can keep going, but I'll let you ask the questions before I answer them...also, feel free to PM me.</p>
<p>British Unis are making a big push to attract foreign students. As a general rule, they look at SAT and SAT II scores (and AP scores). They don't seem to care about grades much.</p>
<p>Since it's a 3-year program, they usually want you to have some credits or at least three APs that show college level ability. Scotland is 4 years.</p>
<p>"Oxbridge" is fantastically hard to get into, and the required 3 "5s" on APs is only a start. BTW, you can only apply to one of the two, not both, and only 6 schools overall.</p>
<p>Each university I've looked at (and I've looked at dozens) has the particular requirements listed on the website in easy-to-understand form. The federal gov't also has a good website on this.</p>
<p>MSUDad, it's five schools maximum now - change in UCAS policy. And CWalker, 6 students doesn't sound like a lot but that's out of a total of about 360 undergrads at Pembroke, so maybe 120 in each year. My D will be going into her final year at Oxford when term starts next month - she came up through the UK school system but there are at least two Americans in her college year who came straight from US highschools and who are doing fine.</p>
<p>6 students for the entire university...not just Pembroke. I've also heard that Oxford admits a few more Americans than Cambridge (but this may just have to do with Oxford having the bigger name in the US and thus receives more applications).</p>
<p>Got to
<a href="http://www">www</a>. the student room .co .uk</p>
<p>remove the spaces for a UK board similar to this.</p>
<p>the main points are</p>
<p>1)You apply though UCAS</a> Home Page
There is one common app for all UK schools</p>
<p>2)Oxbridge deadline for overseas interviews is 20th September and for interviews in the UK 15th October.</p>
<p>3) You can only apply to Oxford or Cambridge for undergraduate, not both (exception for organ scholars). On some occassions phone interviews are allowed, but rarely. </p>
<p>4)The interview is a very important part of the application process and it's more like an academic grilling. It's NOT a friendly chat.</p>
<p>5)You have to choose a subject when you apply (the temr 'major'does not really exsist, sicne there are no minors) and it's close to impossible to switch. The UK system is for those who are focussed and sure of what they want to do.</p>
<p>6)Most US applicants have already completed a year at a US college. It's difficult (but not impossible) to go straight froma US high school into the UK system</p>
<p>7)No financial aid for internationals. many overseas students, especially from Asia, get scholarships from their own countries. but you won't get anything from a UK school or government (other than token things like book grants).</p>
<p>8)No transfers accepted. If you want to change subject even, usually you have to drop out and re-apply to start again in the first year. It's the same with switching universities.</p>
<p>A couple of refinements: non-Oxbridge unis will take students right out of HS, but they want 3 APs (or three good SAT II scores, usually over 600).</p>
<p>US-based financial aid is available to US students studying in the UK.</p>
<p>As noted above, bear in mind that you'll only be studying one subject to the exclusion of all others.</p>
<p>Single year of tuition averages about $18,000 at today's exchange rate (but only for three years, and almost everyone finishes in that time)</p>
<p>I'll throw something out there that usually results in flames...</p>
<p>Not all Oxbridge colleges are created equal. The differences are much greater than those between houses at Harvard or colleges at Yale. While in some ways it matters much less to Americans which college they are in, you should be aware that the resources differ. The difference includes the quality of the tutors. So, assuming your son is a junior, I'd recommend doing some investigation of specific colleges before applying. </p>
<p>Second point...while an Oxbridge degree is certainly prestigious, your S or D will not get the kind of career services help available at US institutions. There won't be on-campus interviews, opportunities for internships, advice re applying to law, med school, etc. Oxbridge, particularly Cambridge, seems to be working on this, but it's an important difference.</p>
<p>I have to agree that not all Oxbridge colleges are created equal, but in terms of name recognition/prestige it's almost a moot point for an American going to study there...very very few Americans know ANY Oxbridge colleges so it's the name of the university that matters. I also think that you can get a fine education at any of the colleges and just because a college is older and wealthier doesn't automatically make it better.</p>
<p>Obviously Oxbridge isn't going to offer much in the way of advice for applying to law/med school, because they are undergrad degrees in the UK! There are on-campus interviews though...it just depends on your field. I'd say that career services at Cambridge are comparable to those offered at the American university I went to for undergrad.</p>
<p>Perhaps Jonri meant to say that help for US careers is lacking. There are certainly on-campus interviews and opportunities for internships and fellowships at Oxford. As to Jonri's first point, resources do differ by college - eg. a richer college might have travel grants to award - but I would argue that quality of tutors is not something one has to worry about.</p>
<p>Yes, samuck, I did mean that a US student won't get much help with US jobs/careers/graduate programs.</p>
<p>I did an internship at Proctor and Gamble and was interviewed in Cambridge (there is no "campus" in the US sense though. Some younger UK schools do have a single campus, but most don't. Oxofrd and Cambridge are a selection of buildings scattered thoughout the town. In fact, Cambridge is more like a large university with a little town growing around it really). But there is no reason for US firms to spend money coming to the UK to recruit for US internships when they can easily fill these by recruting more cheaply in the US. Even if you could get an internship in the US, there could be a big problem because the vacations don't match up. Oxbridge summer holiday is end of June till 1st October. Much later than US schools. So just intern in London like everyone else. It would be easier.</p>
<p>Jonri's point about all colleges not being equal is true - but I would suggest that the differences ARE minor. It's certainly the case that richer colleges tend to have larger libraries and more student funding, but this doesn't mean that students at other colleges are automatically disadvantaged. The central Bodleian Library and faculty libraries are perfectly adequate for most students. </p>
<p>Richer colleges do tend to do better on the Norrington Table (which ranks colleges depending on their students' degree results), but this is certainly not to say that if you don't go to a top college you won't get a top degree. My experience has been that students from the top colleges are pushed more by their tutors - but if you're willing to push yourself, there's no reason you shouldn't keep up. </p>
<p>Samuck is correct about the quality of tutors. They vary across all colleges - and the worst one I ever had was from Merton, which is regarded as one of the top Oxford colleges. Conversely, the best one was from Christ Church, another top college, so it's just down to luck I think!</p>
<p>(In the interests of full disclosure, I was at Pembroke, Oxford.)</p>
<p>I agreed that in the US, very, very (add many more very's) few people care which college you were in at Oxbridge. My point is really that any American who is interested in Oxbridge should put in some time to learn the differences. </p>
<p>Trying to find something that would point out some of the differences, I hit this article while googling. It's not about resources, but I thought it was interesting. It suggests that life styles do differ among the colleges, and I think that's something that might be of interest to an American considering studying at Oxbridge. </p>
<p>Students</a> with more sexual partners get worst results, reveals Cambridge study | Mail Online</p>
<p>Um, I have to say you've lost me once you start quoting the Daily Mail. Are you familiar with the source - a red top/a tabloid?! Not sure you should be paying that much attention to the Daily Wail. And it all sounds very familiar to someone who is used to the Harvard stereotypes: Kirkland House full of horny jocks, Adams House the cool intellectuals, Dunster the music types. Or at least that's what it was like in my time. Not really that relevant to any discussion of the quality of education. But yes, certainly if a student wants to go to university to get a leg up for US law school/medical school, Oxbridge isn't the best bet. But for going to graduate school in an academic subject, Oxbridge is probably even better than the the US, given the close relationship between students and the tutors who will be doing the recommendations.</p>
<p>I thought the Daily Mail *was just quoting from an article in *The Varsity. I assumed that The Varsity really took such a survey. For example, if Clare really had twice the percentage of drug users as Cambridge as a whole, that might be relevant to some people choosing colleges to apply to. </p>
<p>There was a bit of truth to those stereotypes at Harvard back then--Harvard changed its housing system. It wanted to diminish the tendency of certain "types" to self-segregate. When it announced the change, a lot of alums weren't happy about it. My understanding--which you are free to disagree with--is that the differences among colleges at Oxbridge are at least as great, if not greater, than the differences among Harvard houses "in the old days" and far greater than they are today. </p>
<p>I'm just suggesting that an American who is seriously interested in applying to Oxbridge make some effort to find out what the differences are before applying.</p>
<p>Do bear in mind that many international applicants cannot visit before they apply, so they apply open (a college is choose form them) and it doesn't seem to do them any harm. I don't know anyone who hates their college and thinks life really would have been different if they had been at a different one. They all have their good and bad points. In fact, the commonest reason for college choice seems to be it was right next to my faculty/department so I wouldn't have to get up early in the mornings to get there! </p>
<p>Really, so much stress goes into selecting the 'perfect' college and then you find out it doesn't really matter when you get here. Some people have all college friends, some people have all subject friends (from different colleges studying the same subject I mean). Most have a mixture of both. Definitely some colleges are political, some sporty etc etc. But no one college is reserved for some particular stereotype. Lectures are central anyway, so you will meet everyone studying your subject, from all colleges, pretty quickly.</p>