I'm a nervous wreck! Daughter only wants to attend college in London
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Anonymous
The f- are you talking about? The plane trip to LA is just about 6 hours, not much different than the 7 from DC to London. |
Anonymous
We are not currently in DC but ok. |
Anonymous
Don't schools in London also have a range of majors, just as in US schools? |
Anonymous
| ^ NP. With pushing the kid to apply at UVA and W&M, I think that being in DC was probably a safe assumption. |
Anonymous
+100 Plus, posting on DCUM |
Anonymous
Understandable. Her dad lives in VA; we don't live in the DC metro area anymore. |
Anonymous
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What I like about UK education is students can jump in and study the subjects they enjoy and do well. I think that is the one downside of US. Sure they are 'well rounded" but, if you love history and hate and do poorly in math (maths..lol) it seems like pure torture to make students continue to slog their way through Algebra or whatever to get the degree.
Plus, it is only three years instead of four! |
Anonymous
| If it were me, i would allow her to study abroad during college for a semester or year , but not attend college there. if she goes to college there,she might fall in love with a Brit and never move back home. |
Anonymous
what's wrong with that? the amount that dcum broads fawn over the royals, wouldn't you want your daughter to go to london to try to reel one in? |
Anonymous
| The only thing that would give me pause about her plan is that with a UK degree (from anywhere else but Oxbridge) she may find it harder to get a job in the US. Many people have heard of and know the prestige of UCL, but many don't. That's not a reason to completely strike the idea, but she and you should really look at where grads from those schools wind up in the US. How will it work when she graduates? Perhaps talk to some recent US grads from those schools and get a sense of what the landscape looks like. |
Anonymous
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OP you are being irrational. I'm a scaredy mommy too. But you have to let her go.
The only thing you can do is not pay for it if you are really opposed. If it's her dream, she can fund it. |
Anonymous
Yes I know. Her daddy is paying. |
Anonymous
| Is she eligible to work full time there after graduation? (I don't know laws) I ask because 99% of my friends work within the same region as where they graduated from college--even those of us who went far away. I am all about experiencing something new for school (I moved across the US!) but the vast majority of schools don't have name power outside of their vicinity. It will be hard to get a job back home afterwards, and if she's not eligible for work there, that might put her in a rough spot. |
Anonymous
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Studying and living in London will be a fabulous experience. It will feel much more cosmopolitan and international than even NYC, partly because the London universities are very diverse with a large quotient of international / EU students. I would not hesitate to send a child to the UK for university, either London or outside London.
However, a few things to consider. 1. The three schools you mentioned (University College, King's College, and Imperial College) are all top ranked British universities and admissions is stiff. Don't be fooled by their relatively higher admissions rates than top American schools because in Britain schools will generally only allow the qualified to apply to the top schools, it's not a case of weaker applicants tossing in an application just for the sake of it and hoping for the best, so the application pool will be stellar to start with. There are many universities in London so if she's dedicated on London she should have several safeties and back ups as well, although if you're paying full tuition charged to international students that will give her a leg up in the admissions. 2. The British university experience is quite different. Three years rather than four (Scotland goes four years but she's not considering Scottish schools). The London universities are urban based campuses, you won't get the beautiful quads and colleges of Oxford/Cambridge, or the traditional American university. Students will study their course and their course alone. So if she wants to study history, she will apply for a history course, and if admitted, study nothing but history (to clarify, you don't just apply to Kings or Imperial, you apply to study a particular course at King's or Imperial). This does give you a certain advantage because there are less popular courses at the top schools and if your daughter is flexible with her interest she can find a less popular course and apply to to it, upping her chances of admissions if she only cares about being at a certain school in London. But it's also more than that. There is far less hands holding in British universities, students literally hit the ground running with less administrative or faculty support, especially at the top universities. Once fresher's week is over, you are expected to take full responsibility of your education and what you get out of it will be what you put into it. UK grading standards are also fairly high and final grades for the class based almost entirely on the final exam and a paper, so it's not uncommon for people to flunk out of universities if they didn't take their studies seriously and partied all the time. They're less forgiving of students who didn't take their studies seriously and flunked their exams. 3. The good news is that the education costs will likely be cheaper, even with overseas tuition. Three years versus four! 4. As you know, Britain is shortly to begin the process of withdrawing from the EU. Immigration laws will drastically change in the next several years and they have already tightened up in the last five years. Immigration is a huge issue in the UK right now. This won't affect your daughter's status as an overseas student but in the not too distant past it was quite easy for an international graduate of a UK university to work in the country afterwards through policies that allowed this for a certain number of years, and people managed to hold on long enough to get permanent leave (five years' residency, I think) and with that the passport. This is no longer the case. Only PhD level students now have this option available. I bring this up to show that it won't be as easy for your daughter to stay in London after graduation as it may have been in the past. If she's a stellar student recruited by a major firm (consulting, finance etc) they will probably make it happen but she would have to be dedicated on that track. Of course she could always marry a nice English boy 
5. While I understand the London or bust mentality, there's a lot more to the UK than London. Edinburgh is a fabulous place to study and Edinburgh U is excellent. St. Andrews in Scotland is another popular option for American students. Both are four years, which gives her another year in the UK. And there are many more universities across England that will give her a more "English" experience than London. Just a thought. |
Anonymous
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PP here.
I forgot about 6. 6. Be careful about the value of British university degrees in the US. I cannot tell you what kind of impact it may have. It may hurt, it may not hurt, it may even help with the right employer. But if she already plans to go straight to graduate school, then this is a moot concern. |