Hi, I was accepted to UCSB, University of Wisconsin Madison, and the University of St. Andrews. I was wondering which would be the best choice or if anyone has any advice? I plan to major in history and international relations.
Where do you live?
I’m from CT @rosered55
Wisconsin has good history and international relations programs. It’s cold here in the winter. Spring, summer, and fall tend to be very nice. Madison has a thriving economy but Wisconsin overall isn’t doing great. There is an airport in Madison but flights to and from the Dane County Airport often are much more expensive than they are to and from Milwaukee, O’Hare, or Midway.
@rosered55 thank you for your reply!! I think I’m leaning towards Wisconsin. Do you have any advice on whether to apply to the L and S honors program or wait to apply for the Honors Major program? I wasn’t sure which I should try for, but I really want most of my focus on my majors and the humanities.
Unfortunately, I don’t know anything about the honors programs.
What subject did you get in to at St. A’s?
You’ll spend more time solely on your subject there. 3/4th of classes, vs. half or less on a major at an American college.
I got in for modern history and IR. I wasn’t sure if going to school abroad would make it harder to get a job after college (less of a network in US and all) or how good the programs were relative to Wisconsin or UCSB? @PurpleTitan
St A’s is renown for IR.
Would you go to grad school?
On UW Honors, if there is any reasonable chance you might attend UW, I would go ahead and apply for Honors as that gives you more flexibility later on. The deadline for the application is linked to your acceptance date from UW, so check on that.
Honors at UW is not a separate, stand alone college experience the way some public schools run Honors. Rather, Honors is based on the idea that all admitted students are capable of doing Honors work, but not all are interested in diving deeper in Honors. A student admitted to Honors program can take Honors classes, typically smaller, where everyone in the class shares that focus and interest, and they can also take Honors sections of large lecture classes, where the discussion section is led by the Professor rather than a TA as is done in the “regular” sections. Honors at UW is “a la carte” – once admitted, you can decide how much, or how little, you want to do. Non-Honors kids can request to take Honors classes, but have to be approved for each class. Honors in the major typically involves a capstone project as well as completing a certain number of Honors level classes.
History and Poli Sci at UW are both highly ranked departments. St Andrews would also be a phenomenal experience. I can’t add anything about UCSB, though the weather would be lovely!
@PurpleTitan Yes I think so, do you think it would be harder to get into a good grad school back in the US from St. Andrews?
@Midwestmomofboys thank you so much for your response! That’s so helpful!
IMO, no. The top American grad schools would definitely know about St A’s quality in various subjects (much more so than American employers, IMO).
UW-Madison isn’t a bad choice for your subjects either.
But they are very different.
Gigantic American public flagship vs. smaller ancient Scottish uni.
Beautiful but freezing (in the winter) prototypical college town vs. small (and some say lovely) Scottish village/city (but stays dark in the winter for a very long time; Scotland is as far north as northern Labrador).
Big Ten sports and Greek life vs. ancient Scottish traditions.
American-style continual assessment (akin to what you are use to in HS) vs. virtually all marks coming down to big tests/essays at the end of the year.
GPA system vs. whatever system St. A’s uses (I know that at some UK unis, your final exams in your last year determine a disproportionate amount or even all of the marks you graduate with).
Cheeseheads vs. Scots.
What fits you better?
And of course, UCSB is very different as well.
@PurpleTitan Thank you so much for your advice. I’m really struggling to choose. I think both would be great in different ways, so I am just trying to figure out which has better academics to make the choice. Is there one you think is better in IR/History? Or overall? Thanks again for your advice!
OK, if the non-academic stuff isn’t a deciding factor for you, really concentrate on the style of learning and assessment:
American-style continual assessment (akin to what you are use to in HS) vs. virtually all marks coming down to big tests/essays at the end of the year.
Do you do well on AP-test-style tests? The UK unis expect students to be adults and engage in a lot of independent study.
Between UW-Madison and St. A’s in these subjects, there’s no such thing as “better academics”. How well you do academically will come down mostly to you, and that may depend on what style of learning fits you better.
I think of the top UK unis as being grad-school-lite. The 3 years in a top English uni and 3 of 4 years in a top Scottish uni will be akin to 2 years in a major here + 1 year of grad school. That said, the top undergrads at American research U’s often take a lot of grad-school level classes.
For STEM, undergrads at American research U’s will have more research opportunities than at British unis, but that doesn’t apply to you.
You can much more easily switch majors at an American college than a British uni (there would be some leeway at a Scottish uni, but still much less than at an American college). Do not discount that factor as many college students switch majors.
Just to add, about the style of learning and evaluation at US universities – a school like Wisconsin will require a student to take classes across a range of disciplines. Typically, those classes will be Intro/Intermediate level classes where there will likely be large (as in 100+ students) lectures 2-3 times a week, plus a 20 person discussion section weekly, led by a TA (Ph.D. candidate in the discipline). Those types of classes will typically involve several in-class exams during the semester plus smaller assignments throughout the term.
However, in the major, students will move past the lecture format, certainly by the end of sophomore year, and be taking primarily seminar style classes where the work product is several papers and often, in class presentations, during the term.
My kid was a double History and Poli Sci major at UW, and had a wonderful experience – his interests were primarily foreign affairs/international relations, and he used the History major to enhance his understanding of foreign affairs. By his third year, classes in his majors were mostly 20-30 students and his research seminars were under 20. At UW, the International Relations major is an interdisciplinary major requiring foreign language competency and several Econ classes, in addition to a substantive focus.
Again, all wonderful choices – really comes down to the kind of academic, social and physical environment you prefer!
We are from Ct and my son is a first year currently at St. Andrews. He could not love it more. If you want to speak him or some of his friends they love spreading the word about St. Andrews to people back home. It is an AMAZING university and town. Let me know if you would like to connect.