<p>Our HS has 3 students attending college in Scotland (U Edinburgh) this year. Not for a semester, for college, period.</p>
<p>One has an EU connection that makes it remarkably inexpensive (Oh to have those prices at our state school...), the other two are probably full pay which is still less there than most schools here.</p>
<p>This is a small midwest public HS, maybe 150 kids in the class, and this strikes me as a little bit unusual. We hear so much about international students studying in the US but not so much the other way around.</p>
<p>Are kids many kids from your high schools heading overseas for college?</p>
<p>I remember reading about this trend a few years ago – St Andrews was getting quite a few Americans applying. At our public HS, I think we have had 1 kid per year for the past year attending St Andrews or U of Edinburgh. Wm & Mary now has a “joint programme” with St Andrews – 2 years at one school, 2 years at the other.</p>
<p>There were a few that I know that went to study in England. For the life of me, I can’t remember the name of the colleges. One was a general college and one was specifically for the performing arts (she did theater). Quite a few went to Canada. One went back to his birth country (somewhere in Asia, but I don’t remember where). Out of a class of 1500+, I really couldn’t say how many went abroad but it was a fair number.</p>
<p>This isn’t necessarily a new thing depending on geographical region, individual family/student, and school concerned.</p>
<p>In my HS graduating class in the mid '90s, at least one classmate went off to McGill in Canada and two later went to Oxford. </p>
<p>Granted, being from a STEM-centered high school, the vast majority of classmates stayed in the US…especially considering the strong perception that US colleges/universities had much stronger STEM(mostly pre-med sciences & engineering/CS) programs due to faculty research, funding, and lab facilities. </p>
<p>There was also an awareness that while one can go for a medical degree abroad straight from high school…there were also many more hassles involved if one wanted to return to the US for internships/residency so one can ultimately practice as an MD.</p>
<p>Re St. Andrews and other UK schools: you have to go in knowing what you want to study, and there is no changing majors as you are accepted specifically as, say, a PPE student. I know a young American woman who went to St. Andrews and was somewhat shocked to find that she could not change her course of study without withdrawing and reapplying to a different faculty. So that’s something to consider.</p>
<p>We always have a few applicants to Canadian schools. Apparently the price was right compared to other private UNIS. Also had a few in the uk-richmond in London and university of Bath. Both students were keen on international business and are now living and working abroad.</p>
<p>I’m an American student who went to Edinburgh. I’m also about to start my PhD at the University of Glasgow.</p>
<p>Like others have said, UK unis can be a fantastic idea if you know exactly what you want to study; no gen ed requirements, and you study exactly what you love. On the other hand, if you’re unsure, it can be a total nightmare.</p>
<p>I went to an international school, so we had loads of students going off to unis abroad, but I know that at my brother’s high school, there were at least several students who went to the UK.</p>
<p>D2 is entertaining this idea. She only found 3 out of 8 ivy schools interesting, while she found there are some colleges in UK and Canada that she likes. Who knows whether this is a good idea or not. No tuition discount here. But I think paying for 3 years is still a bit cheaper than 4 years in USA.</p>
<p>D was accepted at St Andrews . Several students go there every year from her prep school .St Andrews has most American students who choose to study abroad . Her close friend is at Cambridge .</p>
<p>We live in Canada, so doesn’t really answer your question but in case you are curious. At the private school our kids attend, they split across four different regions- US, Canada, HK and UK. All apply to Canadian schools and my guess is that about half or more will also choose to apply to one of the other regions. Really complicated if you do 3 (not sure anyone does), as even with two different countries are different criteria, tests, and app timing. But it’s also a really international student body to begin with. </p>
<p>On the flip side of this, I teach in a Canadian business school where I would say about half or more of our incoming students are from high schools outside of Canada (including an increasing number of Americans). A lot who speak multiple languages, and who have complicated international ties (e.g. so in our Canadian school, the student with the Chinese last name who speaks Mandarin, who went to highschool in Singapore, asks me to sign something to verify a copy of his US passport!). </p>
<p>Indeed it is. I think furthering an education outside one’s home country is a positive for everyone. Not affordable for all, though in the case of full pay families, perhaps more affordable than most think.</p>
<p>This has been typical at the top tier prep schools for many years. They’re easier to get into than top US schools, less expensive and a new experience.</p>
<p>I remember kids from my prep school going abroad (indeed we had an active exchange program for our HS junior year, i went, and at least two kids went to college in Europe), but my kids’ school is a midwest public in a mostly middle class area. I just don’t remember this happening here prior to this year. Maybe I’m just paying attention no since my S is a senior.</p>
<p>DS is attending school overseas (Oxbridge.) I would never have considered it, but DS was really excited about a particular program of study and started talking about it in his junior year. There are definitely pros and cons.
Pros - for a kid who knows what they want to study, it gives them an opportunity to do so, without lots of distractions into other courses that don’t interest them. (this can be a con too.) In DS’ case, he took several college courses during high school in various subjects, so he and I weren’t as concerned about this.
you get to study and experience a different culture, much more so than in a “study abroad” program.
In DS’ case, he is in an extraordinary university, with incredible resources. He is in a program with both lectures and tutorials - he has “one-on-one” tutorials with his professors 3x a week. For him, it keeps him motivated and accountable.</p>
<p>Cons: - you don’t have the flexibility to explore other areas of study. This is a definite downside, but when I look at my neice’s engineering program, I realize that she really has no flexibility either.
-far from home in a foreign country. As a parent, I hate being so far away and not being able to visit/ be there if something happens.
-you don’t have the same support for finding employment (summers, internships, post-university.)<br>
-It can be more difficult transferring back to the US for grad school - the programs are so different and in some areas it may mean additional coursework.</p>
<p>Cost - for us, I’m calling it a neutral. The overall cost per year thus far is about 15K less than a top US school. You can take out student/parent US loans, but there’s no other financial aid for US students. If you expect more than that in grants/scholarships, than it will cost more.
The big savings come if your child does a 3-year program. At oxbridge, most undergrad degrees are 3 years, but many of them encourage (and some require) a 4th year for a masters. Because students don’t take courses outside their area of study, you really get a very in-depth education in that area, in less time. Of course, if you have a student with enough AP credits, you can shorten the 4-year degree in the US too. The cost of Oxbrdige for 3 years is that same as the cost of attending our state university for 4.</p>
<p>The application process is very different, and to me it makes much more sense than the US process. Applicants can only apply to 5 UK schools, and must choose either Oxford or Cambridge, but not both. This requires students to self-select, and cuts down on the numbers substantially so that more in-depth reviews can be made. In addition to the application and high school record, students for most subjects take a separate subject-specific entrance exam or submit a piece of work in their subject. Students who make the cut are then interviewed by their professors on their subject area, to measure both their academic competence and to see if the tutorial style is a “fit” for the student.</p>
<p>It isn’t right for every student. For DD, she’ll be going to school in the US and doing a semester abroad.</p>