Anonymous wrote:For a student who is not likely to get admitted to Oxbridge/Durham/Imperial, what are some UK universities that are a good option for a family with about $40k to spend per year?
Bristol, Manchester, York, Nottingham are all well-regarded in the UK with international tuition running around 18,000-25,000 pounds (about $22,000-$28,000 with the current exchange rate) depending on whether or not DC wants a humanities or lab-based course.
Scottish unis are often worth a look at - they offer more flexibility in course of study than UK unis and are often more accustomed to dealing with US students. Edinburgh and St Andrews are the most highly regarded, but even they do not have incredibly high entry requirements (if I remember from when DD went to an Edi info session, it was a 27 on the ACT and two 4s on any two relevant APs as minimum qualifications). Glasgow and Aberdeen are also beautiful - they are ancient and the architecture can be very Harry Potter-esque! My DD was accepted into Edinburgh and St Andrews unconditionally and the reps from the unis were all very informative and helpful.
If DC wants to be in London, it might be worth looking at some of the member institutions of the University of London (sort of analogous to the UC system, except all the unis are in the same city), including SOAS, Royal Holloway, QMUL, and City. Be wary though - the cost of living in London is astronomically higher than in other parts of the UK and from our experience with a UoL uni, housing was uncomfortably unguaranteed (it was possible that she could be living miles away from her school). With that being said, London is a
fabulous place to live and go to school and was highly attractive to DD.
Generally, we found that UK unis are very transparent with their entry requirements - a quick search of "x university international student qualifications" should do it! If not, be on the lookout for information sessions at locales such as the British School - we went to a few of these and found them to be incredibly helpful!