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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Any one accepted to serious programs at Oxford 
 or Cambridge would be silly not to go. The pedagogical difference is real. Oxbridge manages to balance top-notch academics with access to their very best professors in a way that would be simply impossible in most top US Universities.  [/quote]

but you can't change majors; you are in a different country, and you do not have a US college experience (you are basically a full-fledged adult); grades are about a test or two per term, there is very little support; you have to be ready in 3 years (good or bad); you don't get the same networks.[/quote]

My DC just graduated from Cambridge this past June. Here is a bit about their experiences vis a vis the comments above.

1. Students can and do change majors in a more limited fashion. I would say that the number of people who switch courses would be akin to the number of people who transfer colleges in the US. It's not common, but everyone knows somebody who did it.

Here is an article from Varsity (Cambridge's student newspaper) that describes the process: https://www.varsity.co.uk/news/14723.

Here is a bit from Wikipedia on the tripos system that provides a level of flexibility:

In most traditional English universities, a student registers to study one field exclusively, rather than having "majors" or "minors" as in American, Australian, Canadian, or Scottish universities. In practice, however, most degrees may be fairly interdisciplinary in nature, depending on the subject. The multi-part tripos system at Cambridge also allows substantial changes in field between parts; the Natural Sciences Tripos is especially designed to allow a highly flexible curriculum across the sciences.

2. You definitely do not have a US college experience. My DC initially experienced FOMO, especially when they saw friends from high school doing things like going to football games and rushing fraternities and sororities. However, over time, the FOMO dissipated as they embraced the university's own traditions (which are several given that the school is 800 years old).

3. On a continuum between let's say a hand-holding US SLAC and a hardcore urban school like UCL, the college system places Cambridge somewhere in the middle. DC received a lot of support from their college, both in terms of academics and welfare.

4. Grades are indeed rare and in my DC's case where exams were unmarked the first year and marked but unofficial the second year (due to COVID), everything came down to final year exams in terms of classing their degree. That is stressful and not ideal for all types of students.

5. The network is excellent but obviously geared towards the UK. If you're someone who's not open to the possibility of staying on, it's probably better to stay in the US. My DC decided to take a job in the UK for now. Who knows what the future holds in terms of when, or if, they will return to the US.[/quote]

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