I'm telling my kids to go to the UK for undergrad

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was told that yr 1 was Kindergarden here and that's why in the UK the grade went to yr 13. So, when my kids were in the British system we were told to think that yr 2 meant first grade, yr 3 second grade and so on. I was told it did not mean that they spent an extra year in high school. Those grades would be Yr 10 (9th) Yr 11 ( 10) yr 12 (11) and finally yr 13 ( 12th)

My DH is British. Just told me that "K" in the UK is at 4 yrs old. They start schooling, not K, at year 5, and they go until they are 18. So, that's 13 yrs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Considering that private or out of state tuition runs up to $60K per year, I'm thinking the UK is a deal, even if you tack on room and board.

As international students, they don't require you to go through an extra year. I think they just make you take specific exams.

Where does tuition, without room and board, run you $60k per year?

OP. Sorry, yes, 60K for tuition, room&board.

[Anonymous]

Don't forget to factor in the annual costs of flying your child back and forth to college, and presumably yourselves as well if you plan to ever visit your child at school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you guys only thinking of London? Other places outside of London aren't as expensive. I have relatives in the UK, not in London, and the real estate prices aren't *that* bad.

As for the prospects of a job in the US, I think it would depend on the field. Maybe times have changed a lot, but I know several people with just UK undergrads that have gotten jobs here in the past 15 yrs.

Most of the south is pretty expensive. And the rest of the country is cheap for a reason.
The weather in the south is fine, and it many ways better than here - at least it is less extreme. But once you go up north the weather is significantly worse. even a 4 degrees centigrade average temp diff makes the difference between pleasant summers and miserable ones. And London offers cultural life - and airports for easy minibreaks in europe - that the rest of the country can't match. Too bad it is being turned into a playground for Russian oligarchs and other assorted kleptocrats.

My relatives live in the South of England, and it's on par with some of the less expensive DC areas, I would say. So, it's expensive by average US standards, but still cheaper than expensive places like NYC, Bay Area of CA and close-in DC. While it is not London as far as cultural life, for a college student, as long as the town has a good college life, I think that's enough. What you are saying is that people shouldn't go to Yale, for example, because it's in the middle of a horrible area. There are good colleges in the UK that are not in the London area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you guys only thinking of London? Other places outside of London aren't as expensive. I have relatives in the UK, not in London, and the real estate prices aren't *that* bad.

As for the prospects of a job in the US, I think it would depend on the field. Maybe times have changed a lot, but I know several people with just UK undergrads that have gotten jobs here in the past 15 yrs.

Most of the south is pretty expensive. And the rest of the country is cheap for a reason.
The weather in the south is fine, and it many ways better than here - at least it is less extreme. But once you go up north the weather is significantly worse. even a 4 degrees centigrade average temp diff makes the difference between pleasant summers and miserable ones. And London offers cultural life - and airports for easy minibreaks in europe - that the rest of the country can't match. Too bad it is being turned into a playground for Russian oligarchs and other assorted kleptocrats.

My relatives live in the South of England, and it's on par with some of the less expensive DC areas, I would say. So, it's expensive by average US standards, but still cheaper than expensive places like NYC, Bay Area of CA and close-in DC. While it is not London as far as cultural life, for a college student, as long as the town has a good college life, I think that's enough. What you are saying is that people shouldn't go to Yale, for example, because it's in the middle of a horrible area. There are good colleges in the UK that are not in the London area.

+1. Only place in the US with good universities and good European-like weather is California.

[Anonymous]

SHHHH!

-- American parent of two students who will have gotten their undergrad degrees in the UK.

[Anonymous]

besides oxbridge and lse, is it worth it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:SHHHH!

-- American parent of two students who will have gotten their undergrad degrees in the UK.

OP here. Please, tell me more!

Was the application process pretty easy? I read the UK univ. have a common international application process.
Did they have to have a gap year?
What are they majoring in?
Do they like it?
Are they almost done?
What are their plans after graduating? Coming back to the US or staying over there?

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't want my kid going through the British system. They specialize kids say too early there. They start narrowing kids to a specialty at 16, when they choose a few A levels. Most British kids drop languages then, which is why it:s an area of weakness for the UK. If you are going into the sciences, you'll never take another history course after age 16, and a prospective history major won't take another science course. At university, you take few courses outside your field. You can also loaf until final exams (unless you are at Oxbridge under the tutorial system).


That doesn't really make for a well educated population. I'm consistently floored when I speak.to Europeans,especially scientists. They are often very ignorant of the world outside their own field. My American scientist friends all understand my field of economics and have taken courses in it. The European scientists couldn't define economicd. Say what you like about the multicultural studies requirementd, but at least they have made white kids from the burbs think about tbeir place in society.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't want my kid going through the British system. They specialize kids say too early there. They start narrowing kids to a specialty at 16, when they choose a few A levels. Most British kids drop languages then, which is why it:s an area of weakness for the UK. If you are going into the sciences, you'll never take another history course after age 16, and a prospective history major won't take another science course. At university, you take few courses outside your field. You can also loaf until final exams (unless you are at Oxbridge under the tutorial system).


That doesn't really make for a well educated population. I'm consistently floored when I speak.to Europeans,especially scientists. They are often very ignorant of the world outside their own field. My American scientist friends all understand my field of economics and have taken courses in it. The European scientists couldn't define economicd. Say what you like about the multicultural studies requirementd, but at least they have made white kids from the burbs think about tbeir place in society.

Were you drinking as you wrote this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't want my kid going through the British system. They specialize kids say too early there. They start narrowing kids to a specialty at 16, when they choose a few A levels. Most British kids drop languages then, which is why it:s an area of weakness for the UK. If you are going into the sciences, you'll never take another history course after age 16, and a prospective history major won't take another science course. At university, you take few courses outside your field. You can also loaf until final exams (unless you are at Oxbridge under the tutorial system).

That doesn't really make for a well educated population. I'm consistently floored when I speak.to Europeans,especially scientists. They are often very ignorant of the world outside their own field. My American scientist friends all understand my field of economics and have taken courses in it. The European scientists couldn't define economicd. Say what you like about the multicultural studies requirementd, but at least they have made white kids from the burbs think about tbeir place in society.

Absolute gibberish. I learnt more history by the time I was 16 than Americans have by age 21. Prancing around from bullshit course to bullshit course like undergrads do here does not make you well educated. In the good British Universities you learn how to think. The subject is irrelevant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you guys only thinking of London? Other places outside of London aren't as expensive. I have relatives in the UK, not in London, and the real estate prices aren't *that* bad.

As for the prospects of a job in the US, I think it would depend on the field. Maybe times have changed a lot, but I know several people with just UK undergrads that have gotten jobs here in the past 15 yrs.

It's still 1.5 USD to 1 GBP. Way more expensive even outside London.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you guys only thinking of London? Other places outside of London aren't as expensive. I have relatives in the UK, not in London, and the real estate prices aren't *that* bad.

As for the prospects of a job in the US, I think it would depend on the field. Maybe times have changed a lot, but I know several people with just UK undergrads that have gotten jobs here in the past 15 yrs.

It's still 1.5 USD to 1 GBP. Way more expensive even outside London.

No, there are some places outside of London that aren't as expensive as DC area, even with the fx rate. I've looked and have relatives there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't want my kid going through the British system. They specialize kids say too early there. They start narrowing kids to a specialty at 16, when they choose a few A levels. Most British kids drop languages then, which is why it:s an area of weakness for the UK. If you are going into the sciences, you'll never take another history course after age 16, and a prospective history major won't take another science course. At university, you take few courses outside your field. You can also loaf until final exams (unless you are at Oxbridge under the tutorial system).


That doesn't really make for a well educated population. I'm consistently floored when I speak.to Europeans,especially scientists. They are often very ignorant of the world outside their own field. My American scientist friends all understand my field of economics and have taken courses in it. The European scientists couldn't define economicd. Say what you like about the multicultural studies requirementd, but at least they have made white kids from the burbs think about tbeir place in society.

Were you drinking as you wrote this?

LOL! I've known British people that say the same thing about Americans... that in their respective fields, Americans don't seem as knowledgeable about that subject matter as their British counterparts.

And we're not talking about HS. We're talking about an American HSer getting an undergrad in the UK. That's the thing I like about the British univ. system... a science major doesn't need to take another history class. I see pros/cons to both systems. But, when talking to my DS, he likes the idea of not having to take another history or language/arts type classes as a STEM major. The UK system has students studying the subject matter much longer than we do here. Again, there are pros/cons to this, though.

[Anonymous]

St. Andrews has been a popular choice