Applying to UK universities without APs

[Anonymous]

Look, there are several schools in the top 10-15 UK rankings that your kid can apply to without APs outside of St Andrews. It also depends on the program at these schools.

Like it was already said earlier, for Oxford/LSE/Cambrigde you have no choice. You need as many 5’s as you can get. Plus some of them have additional tests/interviews.

If your kid doesnt want to self study for APs, then kiss goodbye to some of these schools.

My 3 kids studied in the UK. Oldest at Oxford, second one at Bristol and one at St Andrews.

Second kid went to a different school with no APs (not an IB school either). But they offered a ton of Dual Credit courses with a local university. He had 36 dual credits at A. He applied without APs thought UCAS and got into Exeter, Bristol, Edinburgh and St Andrews.

1st and 3rd one went to the same AP school. 1st one had 7 APs at 5. 3rd kid had 4 APs at 5 and 3 at 4.

They all scored between 1480 and 1570 in the SAT.

[Anonymous]

Regarding admission criteria. i consulted A UK admissions counselor. they said the AP minimum threshold to apply, personal statement, predicted senior year exam results and subject specific admissions test (if aiming for Oxbridge, LSE, Imperial etc) are the first
cut for interview offers. After that, at least for now Oxbridge, interview is weighted about 40%. But these are academic interviews with professors in the course you’re applying, not “getting to know you” and “personality” driven interviews with Alumni or admissions officers that we have in the US. They want to see if you have the academic chops and evaluate your thought process in depth.

[Anonymous]

This is 100% correct. My 1st son thought he had a terrible interview and yet he got in. He basically aced the TSA test, so I’m sure that was helpful despite a perceived bad interview.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just spitballing here but it might be easier to self study for the math and science APs rather than the social studies ones. As a PP mentioned, there's a fair amount of 'teaching to the test' in AP classes, including teacher feedback on essay structure. The math/science open ended questions may have less nuance to what is expected, structure-wise.

Question for folks who know-- I assumed than when they want 2, 3, or 4 APs with score of 5, then a) they wanted the 'core' APs (calc, bio, us history, foreign language etc) rather than the many other APs (psych, human geography, environmental science, etc.). Is that not the case?

And a follow-on. Is this a kind of threshold thing where once you hit the minimum requirement, they look at other aspects of your application? Or is that the stated minumum number but in reality no one is admitted without some larger number of APs with 5s?

OP here. I obviously am looking for information about APs myself but, from what I know about the British system, imagine most are not looking for a full breadth of APs. The British education system is very specialised. Most British students only do 3 A level subjects for their last 2 years of school (eg my DH did maths, econ, physics).

Some of the courses specify which APs, especially the maths, science and economics programmes. Others don’t but I imagine they will want to see APs that are relevant. Eg if you apply to study history, you probably can’t apply with 3 APs in maths/science. Quite a few universities specify you cannot include AP research or seminar.

Edinburgh Uni is very specific about the combinations of APs it will accept for psychology. Durham says no specific subjects are required and a combination of arts and science is encouraged. Bath says 3 APs including no more than one in Calculus and that you must get a 3 in AP Calculus AB, BC, stats or precalc OR 720 in SSAT maths or 30 in SAT maths. Bath does not specify subjects but does require British students to have a maths/science as one of their 3 A level subjects so imagine that might be taken into account

Regarding the entrance requirements, it is hard to gauge. Durham states ‘typical offer’ whereas others say ‘minimum’. I can tell you from experience that international $$$ probably makes a difference. My other DC was accepted at his first choice with an overall IB score 36 when the minimum stated on the website is 39. However, importantly, he did meet the grades required for the 3 higher levesubjects relevant to the course he applied for. I have also heard that Durham has accepted applicants with a lower overall score provided they meet requirements in the relevant subjects (eg if you apply to study French and literature but your chemistry mark pulls the overall grade down).

[Anonymous]

Also just to know, they don’t care about GPA/transcript, academic qualifications are assessed on basis of the standardized tests. General extracurriculars, like community service, nonprofits, youtubers/social media entrpreneurs, athletics, are not important, unless it is of an academic nature, like Olympiads, competitions, which you can relate to how you’ve explored/deepened your academic interests in your proposed field of study. Basically the UK looks for completely things in students.

[Anonymous]

UK sounds like a great, cheaper and faster alternative to bachelors degree for the really smart kids Harvard and other Ivies are turning away in favor of athletes, activists, legacies, social entrepreneurs, etc. I would encourage them to go where they are wanted and their traits are valued.

[Anonymous]

For any parents who have had kids attend and graduate from UK schools, can you comment on their experience getting summer internships, getting jobs upon graduation or applying to law/medschool back in the US? That is our concern about whether a UK degree is a good option, esp if looking a notch below oxbridge, LSE etc which likely have interntational and US recognition

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look, there are several schools in the top 10-15 UK rankings that your kid can apply to without APs outside of St Andrews. It also depends on the program at these schools.

Like it was already said earlier, for Oxford/LSE/Cambrigde you have no choice. You need as many 5’s as you can get. Plus some of them have additional tests/interviews.

If your kid doesnt want to self study for APs, then kiss goodbye to some of these schools.

My 3 kids studied in the UK. Oldest at Oxford, second one at Bristol and one at St Andrews.

Second kid went to a different school with no APs (not an IB school either). But they offered a ton of Dual Credit courses with a local university. He had 36 dual credits at A. He applied without APs thought UCAS and got into Exeter, Bristol, Edinburgh and St Andrews.

1st and 3rd one went to the same AP school. 1st one had 7 APs at 5. 3rd kid had 4 APs at 5 and 3 at 4.

They all scored between 1480 and 1570 in the SAT.

OP here. Was this a DC private that offers dual credit courses with a university? I understand about not needing to do APs for the majority of universities, but the difficulty I’m finding is that most state the equivalent of a 5 in an AP course is a grades of A or A+ in an honours class and those grades are really tough to get in her school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also just to know, they don’t care about GPA/transcript, academic qualifications are assessed on basis of the standardized tests. General extracurriculars, like community service, nonprofits, youtubers/social media entrpreneurs, athletics, are not important, unless it is of an academic nature, like Olympiads, competitions, which you can relate to how you’ve explored/deepened your academic interests in your proposed field of study. Basically the UK looks for completely things in students.

Who is “they”? I just posted that my kid had ZERO APs or IB and got into Bristol, Exeter and Edinburgh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For any parents who have had kids attend and graduate from UK schools, can you comment on their experience getting summer internships, getting jobs upon graduation or applying to law/medschool back in the US? That is our concern about whether a UK degree is a good option, esp if looking a notch below oxbridge, LSE etc which likely have international and US recognition

I’m the PP with 3 kids that went to the UK. Not going to comment on my 1st one since graduated from Oxford. But my second graduated from Bristol. He worked in Germany on a start-up for 3 years and is now in his 2nd year at a US Ivy (LAW).
My St Andrews kid just graduated and is now at LSE for a masters degree.

Every top 50 school in the US knows the top 15 UK universities well. It is NOT just Oxbridge/LSE. My son who went to Bristol didnt have any problems getting accepted to US Law Schools. He applied to 6 and got in 5.

Summer internships depends on what you are studying and the program. Quite frankly, my St Andrews kid had the easiest time of the 3 getting 2 summer internships in the US. Maybe because of the sheer number of Americans graduating from StA, it made it easier for internships here. My Bristol kid had a great internship in the Bay Area, but he worked his butt off to get it. It was on him. My Oxford kid didnt have any internships.

My nephew studied biological sciences at UCL. Worked on a lab for 2 years in England before applying to US medical schools. He is currently a 4th year at a Top 10 Medical School.

If your kid attends ANY of the top 10-15 UK schools, every major US university knows and recognize their degrees for Law/MBA/Medschool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look, there are several schools in the top 10-15 UK rankings that your kid can apply to without APs outside of St Andrews. It also depends on the program at these schools.

Like it was already said earlier, for Oxford/LSE/Cambrigde you have no choice. You need as many 5’s as you can get. Plus some of them have additional tests/interviews.

If your kid doesnt want to self study for APs, then kiss goodbye to some of these schools.

My 3 kids studied in the UK. Oldest at Oxford, second one at Bristol and one at St Andrews.

Second kid went to a different school with no APs (not an IB school either). But they offered a ton of Dual Credit courses with a local university. He had 36 dual credits at A. He applied without APs thought UCAS and got into Exeter, Bristol, Edinburgh and St Andrews.

1st and 3rd one went to the same AP school. 1st one had 7 APs at 5. 3rd kid had 4 APs at 5 and 3 at 4.

They all scored between 1480 and 1570 in the SAT.

OP here. Was this a DC private that offers dual credit courses with a university? I understand about not needing to do APs for the majority of universities, but the difficulty I’m finding is that most state the equivalent of a 5 in an AP course is a grades of A or A+ in an honours class and those grades are really tough to get in her school.

We are not in DC. But yes, a private that had a dual credit program with a university. For Oxbridge/LSE/Imperial and some UCL courses, Durham and a few others it is APs or bust. As I mentioned, my 2nd kid got in those 4 schools I mentioned without APs. His Dual Credit Grades were enough in combination with his SAT, despite those schools saying he needed some APs….

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look, there are several schools in the top 10-15 UK rankings that your kid can apply to without APs outside of St Andrews. It also depends on the program at these schools.

Like it was already said earlier, for Oxford/LSE/Cambrigde you have no choice. You need as many 5’s as you can get. Plus some of them have additional tests/interviews.

If your kid doesnt want to self study for APs, then kiss goodbye to some of these schools.

My 3 kids studied in the UK. Oldest at Oxford, second one at Bristol and one at St Andrews.

Second kid went to a different school with no APs (not an IB school either). But they offered a ton of Dual Credit courses with a local university. He had 36 dual credits at A. He applied without APs thought UCAS and got into Exeter, Bristol, Edinburgh and St Andrews.

1st and 3rd one went to the same AP school. 1st one had 7 APs at 5. 3rd kid had 4 APs at 5 and 3 at 4.

They all scored between 1480 and 1570 in the SAT.

OP here. Was this a DC private that offers dual credit courses with a university? I understand about not needing to do APs for the majority of universities, but the difficulty I’m finding is that most state the equivalent of a 5 in an AP course is a grades of A or A+ in an honours class and those grades are really tough to get in her school.

We are not in DC. But yes, a private that had a dual credit program with a university. For Oxbridge/LSE/Imperial and some UCL courses, Durham and a few others it is APs or bust. As I mentioned, my 2nd kid got in those 4 schools I mentioned without APs. His Dual Credit Grades were enough in combination with his SAT, despite those schools saying he needed some APs….

There are a lot of UK universities that say they will accept dual credits. But I don’t think there are any DC privates that offer these.