Record Number of U.S. Students Apply for U.K. Undergraduate Degrees For 2025-26

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Never even heard of U of Westminster….what is this about?

It is the equivalent of U of Alabama or worse….makes no sense to go to the UK to go a school like that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Bingo….take a uni like Exeter. Russel group. Decent on some subjects being top 10 in their League tables….for a kid who is independent and the best US school you got in is a t75-t120 OOS or Private, I would go to Exeter in a minute. Amazing campus, small town, just 2 hrs from London and you will spend ~66k Pounds in Tuition for your education…ALL of it. There is nothing this cheap in the US for the same quality unless it is an In-state option…

Exeter is excellent as is Durham, LSE, UCL, Kings London, York, Bristol, Edinburgh, the key universities where ox-bridge rejects tend to land.

But it will cost you more than $66k all in. International fees have gone up again this year so instead of 22k per year its looking more like 28-35k pounds per year tuition, depending on course, plus living costs (accommodation / food / books / expenses). In some of these cities accommodation is scarce because the university has expanded way beyond it's original capacity and the housing has not caught up with it. York was for a long time only housing 3000 undergrads. This number is now closer to 30k undergrads and while some new building / housing has been developed, not enough of it across the board which pushes up prices. Same deal in Bristol and London.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Never even heard of U of Westminster….what is this about?

It is the equivalent of U of Alabama or worse….makes no sense to go to the UK to go a school like that.

No, the University of Westminster is not traditionally sought after by US students, but it is uniquely placed to offer some strong business / language and business courses for a lot lower fees than the most established universities in London.

You can study Chinese and International Business for 17k per year pounds sterling tuition. Studying Chinese at Oxford will cost you nearly 40K (pounds sterling) per year fees

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Bingo….take a uni like Exeter. Russel group. Decent on some subjects being top 10 in their League tables….for a kid who is independent and the best US school you got in is a t75-t120 OOS or Private, I would go to Exeter in a minute. Amazing campus, small town, just 2 hrs from London and you will spend ~66k Pounds in Tuition for your education…ALL of it. There is nothing this cheap in the US for the same quality unless it is an In-state option…

Exeter is excellent as is Durham, LSE, UCL, Kings London, York, Bristol, Edinburgh, the key universities where ox-bridge rejects tend to land.

But it will cost you more than $66k all in. International fees have gone up again this year so instead of 22k per year its looking more like 28-35k pounds per year tuition, depending on course, plus living costs (accommodation / food / books / expenses). In some of these cities accommodation is scarce because the university has expanded way beyond it's original capacity and the housing has not caught up with it. York was for a long time only housing 3000 undergrads. This number is now closer to 30k undergrads and while some new building / housing has been developed, not enough of it across the board which pushes up prices. Same deal in Bristol and London.

My kid was accepted to Exeter. He was not an Oxbridge reject as he didnt even apply. He applied to 5 of the schools you mentioned. Anyhow, the Tuition for internationals for Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences (including Law) and every Business course is £24,700. For double honors it is like 25.5.

We would pay $33k in today’s dollars. That is $99k in Tuition to graduate vs any of the t100 OOS publics and privates with barely any merit he got in at double that amount just for tuition for 4 years.

it is still much cheaper than the US.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This number cant be right or maybe missing a digit….Just St Andrews enrolls about 400 americans per year per the other thread. If enrollment rate there is more like 10% that is 4000 applications to St Andrews alone..

I was speaking to a current student at St. Andrew’s and according to her it is 20 percent Americans now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This number cant be right or maybe missing a digit….Just St Andrews enrolls about 400 americans per year per the other thread. If enrollment rate there is more like 10% that is 4000 applications to St Andrews alone..

I was speaking to a current student at St. Andrew’s and according to her it is 20 percent Americans now.

Clearly you have not read the thread…
It is ok. Yes, we all know that already. It has been mentioned a dozen times.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This are the unis with the most number of Americans in their Undergraduate programs. Data is of 2022/23:

1. University of St Andrews – ≈ 1,810
2. University of Edinburgh – ≈ 960
3. University of Oxford – ≈ 720
4. University of Glasgow – ≈ 560
5. University College London (UCL) – ≈ 520
6. University of Westminster – ≈ 400
7. University of Cambridge – ≈ 385
8. King’s College London – ≈ 250
9. University of the Arts London (UAL) – ≈ 250
10. London School of Economics (LSE) – ≈ 245

I didnt realize Scotland was so popular with Americans (St A, Edinburgh and Glasgow)

[Anonymous]

It is because the Scottish system is 4 years instead of 3 in England and it allows for more flexibility in changing majors vs zero flexibility in the English unis. It is more aligned with the US system. Not to the extent of being able to take gen ed classes, but you are allowed to explore outside your major the first 2 years and as long as your grades are good on those 2 other subjects you are typically allowed to change your major to one of the other two majors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is because the Scottish system is 4 years instead of 3 in England and it allows for more flexibility in changing majors vs zero flexibility in the English unis. It is more aligned with the US system. Not to the extent of being able to take gen ed classes, but you are allowed to explore outside your major the first 2 years and as long as your grades are good on those 2 other subjects you are typically allowed to change your major to one of the other two majors.

Put another way, the US educational system was largely modeled on the Scottish system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is because the Scottish system is 4 years instead of 3 in England and it allows for more flexibility in changing majors vs zero flexibility in the English unis. It is more aligned with the US system. Not to the extent of being able to take gen ed classes, but you are allowed to explore outside your major the first 2 years and as long as your grades are good on those 2 other subjects you are typically allowed to change your major to one of the other two majors.

Put another way, the US educational system was largely modeled on the Scottish system.

Yes, most people here have no idea. Several U of Edinburgh scholars either helped start, were presidents of or started some of the earlier programs in the US (W&M, Princeton, Penn's Medical School, etc). Witherspoon changed the early Princeton Curriculum to follow the model in Scotland.
Most early US Doctors and the founding faculty at Penn, Columbia and Harvard medical schools were all U of Edinburgh alumni. Benjamin Rush (Edinburgh Alum) founded Penn's medical school.

[Anonymous]

Recent article on the subject: https://www.npr.org/2025/06/05/nx-s1-5415740/trump-international-student-visas-uk-universities It looks like 2026/2027 are shaping up to be some of the most difficult admissions years ever for students looking to be accepted at the top UK universities……Add more applications from foreign students scared to going to the US with more US students than even applying to UK schools and you have a recipe for very low admissions rate on the top 10 UK unis.

[Anonymous]

I agree. 2025-26 admissions cycle in the UK will be one of the most competitive ever. Internationals and UK students that would have gone to US will look at UK instead. More americans than even applying to UK unis. It will be interesting….

[Anonymous]

The impact on US universities that rely on self pay internationals will be huge. We will know more by Sep.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree. 2025-26 admissions cycle in the UK will be one of the most competitive ever. Internationals and UK students that would have gone to US will look at UK instead. More americans than even applying to UK unis. It will be interesting….

The top US students will still get offers of places in the UK at the top universities.

If you have 5 AP's in relevant subjects, taken over a maximum of 2 yrs, with 5's in all of them plus an SAT over 1400 and a strong recommendation from a subject relevant teacher, you're basically half way there for Oxford and Cambridge.

You just have to ace their subject tests (where applicable) and the interview
and write a stinking good personal statement that is not just cluttered with activity, but shows genuine reflection on the relevance of such activity. Some of the colleges do not even read the PS unless they use it as a tie breaker (LSE for example).

[Anonymous]

OH I forgot, you also have to be in most rigorous classes and get straight A grades.