my OFFICIAL (not) University thread

[BassRevelation]

So, some of us are going to university in the upcoming future, and some of us already attend. I, for one, live in the US but am planning to go to college in London. Well, I just thought this would be an alright idea for people to ask questions and share info (scholarships, fees, you know)

I guess I'll start by asking about the UCAS and what its all about. Apparently I need to fill that out to apply to the schools ive looked at.

[Reaganista]

Why would you want to do something like that

[semi]

ucas are the only way to apply to unis. its a service that sends all the requests from students to all the unis. you need to pay them a fee of £5 per course or £15 for more than one course. you apply to the unis through them so you write a personal statement your grades etc and 6 unis you want to apply to. have a look on teh website and stuff. if you were in teh uk your school would take you through it all step by step with deadlines on each and check your personal statement.

[Chrizzle fo' Shizzle]

I would suggest this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richmond_american_international_university

[Egggo]

yeah don't go to a university in england lmao

[semi]

yeah come to Scotland.

[Egggo]

or stay in america and get a better education for less

[Chrizzle fo' Shizzle]

Do they even do kegstands in England?

[BassRevelation]

I would suggest this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richmond_american_international_university
I looked at it once or so, but Im not looking to travel overseas to be in an American environment. Im just looking at a few Uni's here and there though. Good suggestion.

[Egggo]

why england for the love of god

unless you have a good shot of getting into cambridge or oxford

why

[BassRevelation]

why england for the love of god

unless you have a good shot of getting into cambridge or oxford

why
lol cause my authorities say so.

my pap wants me to apply to cambridge/oxford (which i dont take realistically). My cousin got in cambridge though:confused:

where else would you suggest?

[Big Dildo]

Which uni in London? If it's UCL or Imperial then they're a pretty good bet. They're both top 10 in the UK. What course are you doing?

[(*The Noonward Race*)]

you should go in mexico

[bleep_bloop]

Yeah go to the university in mexico city.

[dustindow]

I say stay in the states. Alot cheaper and alot of highly credited schools. If your aiming for a high class school then try Harvard or Ivy league schools. No offense but England seems very uninteresting.




I don't know much about colleges. I'm going to the Kansas City Art Institute, where the whole curriculim (Grr i can't spell!) is totally different from Universities. But I do know Art colleges offer alot of oppurtunities to make connections and kind teach a different way of looking at things,obviously, but I plan on studying art and being a musician on the side.

[Egggo]

lol cause my authorities say so.

my pap wants me to apply to cambridge/oxford (which i dont take realistically). My cousin got in cambridge though:confused:

where else would you suggest?

umm wtf do you want to do in terms of majors and actual future career

[bleep_bloop]

Yeah college like determines what you get for a job or whatever. you dad shouldnt be dictating where you will go to college.

[Egggo]

I say stay in the states. Alot cheaper and alot of highly credited schools. If your aiming for a high class school then try Harvard or Ivy league schools.

or johns hopkins :cool:

No offense but England seems very uninteresting.

it's so true

[PerpetualBurn]

I think you can approach the Universities directly rather than through the UCAS system if there's only a couple of specific Unis you want to apply to.

Personally, I do recommend the UCAS system if it's available to foreign applicants, which I'm almost certain it is. You'll have to pay though, while mine was funded by my school. It's not much, and I assure you it's very efficient. I knew the results of my University application at 8.13am on the morning that results were out.

www.ucas.com has allows you to do everything online. You still get paper confirmation through the post on things, but all the correspondence you need to offer can be done via the website. It's also got plenty of info. about how to apply.

I wouldn't underestimate your chances of getting into Cambridge or Oxford. You'll need whatever the US equivalent of 3 A-levels all grade A is. If you've got that, then you need a good personal statement. I know they interview everyone as standard, but again, I don't know how that would work for foreign applicants. Usually, if you've got the grades, it's the interview that is decisive.

That's all the basics I can think of right now, but any specifics then I'm happy to answer them.

[Smokey D]

All this hating on England is unwarranted. Depending on which course you are looking to do, England easily has some of the best institutions in the world, and that's not including Oxford or Cambridge.

[PerpetualBurn]

There are plenty of good Universities in England that I would recommend for a very good student life and a good education. The only question would be if they held any real prestige in a foreign country like Oxford and Cambridge do.

The fact is that quite a few people prefer to head off to the other red-brick Universities rather than have to tolerate how arsey Oxford and Cambrige are.

[Smokey D]

Any employer worth their salt would recognise the value of a degree from LSE, UCL, Imperial College or King's College, not to mention Durham, Bristol and Edinburgh.

If they don't, they aren't qualified to employ people with higher education.

[666Ozzfan]

There are many good quality universities throughout the world. I just think it is better to go for one in the country you live in, purely because it is cheaper. Unless you get a scholarship, of course.

[Egggo]

All this hating on England is unwarranted. Depending on which course you are looking to do, England easily has some of the best institutions in the world, and that's not including Oxford or Cambridge.

having some of the best institutions in the world doesn't really matter much for undergrad

[Dave de Sylvia]

having some of the best institutions in the world doesn't really matter much for undergrad
Johns Hopkins huh

[nowhesingsnowhesobs]

The fact is that quite a few people prefer to head off to the other red-brick Universities rather than have to tolerate how arsey Oxford and Cambrige are.
wtf. There's no good reason not to apply to Oxford or Cambridge if you're good enough.

[PerpetualBurn]

Well the fact that it has an extra year on the course puts a lot of people off applying. The general poncy nature of having to wear formal gowns for exams.

University is somewhere you have to live for 3/4 years of your life. If you wouldn't like living there, then you wouldn't apply even if your grades met the standard.

[nowhesingsnowhesobs]

Well the fact that it has an extra year on the course puts a lot of people off applying.
um, almost all courses are the standard length.

University is somewhere you have to live for 3/4 years of your life. If you wouldn't like living there, then you wouldn't apply even if your grades met the standard.
Yeah, but I couldn't think of nicer universities to go to than oxford and cambridge.

[PerpetualBurn]

There are plenty of courses of 4 year length, which can be a decisive factor if you want to do a particular course. And I personally wouldn't want to live down south or near London.

I'm not saying that anyone should not consider Oxford and Cambridge as they are undoubtedly brilliant places to get an education. I'm saying that there are some people that would go to other places instead given the choice.

[Auberge le Mouton Noir]

There are plenty of good Universities in England that I would recommend for a very good student life and a good education. The only question would be if they held any real prestige in a foreign country like Oxford and Cambridge do.

The fact is that quite a few people prefer to head off to the other red-brick Universities rather than have to tolerate how arsey Oxford and Cambrige are.

Dude it depends a lot on the college

I'm intending on applying to churchill, one of the modern ones

minimal snotty public school kids/arts students, more scientists, less academic gowns...

It's trinity, jesus etc. that you don't want to be in if you can't stand upper-middle class naivety.

EDIT: All the science courses it's 3 years for BSci 4 for MPhys just like anywhere else

I'm applying for 4 years

why be a Bachelor of science when you could be Married to science

[nowhesingsnowhesobs]

the old ones have more money though

I think I'll apply for Classics at Oxford. 60% of applicants get in

[PerpetualBurn]

There's a lot of factors involved in choosing a University. Hence why some people might not take Oxford or Cambridge given the choice.

[Egggo]

Yeah, but I couldn't think of nicer universities to go to than oxford and cambridge.

harvard and princeton (and johns hopkins)

damn they are nice as anything

[Auberge le Mouton Noir]

harvard and princeton (and johns hopkins)

damn they are nice as anything

yeah but they aren't gonna lend me no moneys now are they

the nice people whutfrom my government pay for the interest on my loan

Plus i don't have to pay to fly there

and back


but I don't think many americans would be wise to come here

the weather is the very definition of mediocre

and the majority of americans we meet are bloody shorts-socks-sandals overweight tourists, who are nice but certaintly not a good ambassador to your country

[Egggo]

lol

harvard and princeton have amazing fin aid

but probably not for internat students

[PerpetualBurn]

How much does Uni cost in America?

[Reaganista]

it varies wildly
anywhere between free and $120,000+

[Auberge le Mouton Noir]

christ, with or without living expenses?


Uk for a 4 year physics course you're looking at

Fees 4 x £3000
And maybe £2000 living costs a year?
plus probably £250 a year of books

So whut, £21 000? I'm guessing on the living costs.

This is for british people, international fees are like £13000 a year which would take it to £61 000

which is a shade over $120k

so i dunno

[RockAndRoll]

Spitfire if you happen to visit this thread I wanted to talk to you about McGill.(you do go there right?)

[Reaganista]

christ, with or without living expenses?
with out
you have to pay to live regardless of whether you go to school or not

And maybe £2000 living costs a year?
I don't see how you could possibly live anywhere for that little
is england like a depressed economy or something?

[Egggo]

gwu is like $200,000+

:-O

[Smokey D]

with out
you have to pay to live regardless of whether you go to school or not


I don't see how you could possibly live anywhere for that little
is england like a depressed economy or something?

Socialised tertiary costs. Plus England isn't really that expensive outside of the immediate environs of London.

[sketchyjoe]

Do they even do kegstands in England?We do, we just call them lunch. Or sometimes breakfast.

[Big Dildo]

University costs in England are not that bad. Tuition fees are a little over £1100 per annum, and if your family earns less than £15000 a year, the fees are paid by the Government. Every student get a loan of atleast £3000 per year with the poorest getting over £5000. Plus the loan does not have to be repaid until you in employment and earning over £15000.

[postcount plus plus]

LSE, ICL, UCL and KCL are the only universities of note in London. Perhaps not KCL, but that could be the ol' UCLer in me downgrading the local rivals.

LSE only really offers Economics, Law and related subjects. ICL is a science + medicine college. UCL is the main multi-discipline one and is far better than KCL, but it's in central london where accommodation prices average in at around $10,000 a year (I pay £130 a week on 52 week contract, and that's on the lower end where I have to get a bus to bloomsbury).

No doubt you could get in as London unis just think "haha there's a dumb foreigner lol lets milk him for loads of money", but why on earth would you want to spend so much on accommodation and tuition fees when you could just, err, stay in America? It's cheap for us brits because we get most of it paid for and get interest free loans to pay for accommodation, but you will get neither...

[postcount plus plus]

University costs in England are not that bad. Tuition fees are a little over £1100 per annum, and if your family earns less than £15000 a year, the fees are paid by the Government. Every student get a loan of atleast £3000 per year with the poorest getting over £5000. Plus the loan does not have to be repaid until you in employment and earning over £15000.Err, international students in my med school are paying around £17,000 a year in tuition fees. Oddly enough the govt. doesn't subsidise americans...
plus probably £250 a year of booksAttn:

If you need to buy books then you picked a real crap university with a piss poor library.

[EinzingerIsGod]

I've gone to two different state funded schools so far here in Massachusetts (Salem State College-this year and University of Massachusetts Lowell-last year). Both are great schools for the education, as many of the schools in the northeast are. But what stuns me is that Massachusetts is 47th in the US in government funding for state schools. The state schools would be a steal here if we up-ed our funding.

[semi]

If you need to buy books then you picked a real crap university with a piss poor library.
wtf? they give you out a book list.

[postcount plus plus]

Socialised tertiary costs. Plus England isn't really that expensive outside of the immediate environs of London.Rofl, my living costs are near £8000 a year. I know London is more expensive but there's no way you could live for £2000 unless you only ate tescos value beans and lived in a burnt out hovel...

[postcount plus plus]

wtf? they give you out a book list.yeah and you ignore it. You can get the books out from the library whenever you bloody want. Every one of them. For free.

[semi]

Uk for a 4 year physics course you're looking at

Fees 4 x £3000
not all uk we dont pay anything for tuiton fees in scotland.

[postcount plus plus]

yeah you just spend an extra year in university : /

[Reaganista]

Socialised tertiary costs
So it's a depressed economy huh

[PerpetualBurn]

I don't think £2000 would cover my beer money.

[Auberge le Mouton Noir]

Err, international students in my med school are paying around £17,000 a year in tuition fees. Oddly enough the govt. doesn't subsidise americans...
Attn:

If you need to buy books then you picked a real crap university with a piss poor library.

dude what?

You think the library carries 200 copies of every textbook? One for every student?

you don't think that alll the class will need the book at the same time?

[Auberge le Mouton Noir]

I don't think £2000 would cover my beer money.

that's true, i hadn't figured in beer.

I just thought about rent food and not much else :(

[Dave de Sylvia]

You can get the books out from the library whenever you bloody want.
This indicates a massive misunderstanding of the library experience. I tried not buying books for my first year of college and it didn't work. And yeah, we have a great library.

[spitfirejunky]

Spitfire if you happen to visit this thread I wanted to talk to you about McGill.(you do go there right?)

Well I'm here now. >_>

[Futue te Ipsum]

dude what?

You think the library carries 200 copies of every textbook? One for every student?

you don't think that alll the class will need the book at the same time?I've always had text books available when I needed them.

You forget that most other students buy them. 10 of each course text book is more than enough, and there's always non-course text books to use. They're not as sparkling new as the ones sold in waterstones, but the words are still the same.

[Futue te Ipsum]

This indicates a massive misunderstanding of the library experience. I tried not buying books for my first year of college and it didn't work. And yeah, we have a great library.go to UCL tbh

[PerpetualBurn]

Out of interest, what Uni are you at, Futue?

[Futue te Ipsum]

err, university college london

[PerpetualBurn]

That is all.

[Futue te Ipsum]

Ok I'm Confuzmabobbled Here

[PerpetualBurn]

I couldn't remember what Uni you were at when I'm sure you've said before. If it's in this thread then I missed it.

And then having asked I realised that I had absolutely no follow up questions.

[peeted]

i cant wait till uni, im a middle class cunt who's grandparents are paying all (well about 32 grand) of my uni costs....i wonder how much of that ill get through in freshers week :s i should be looking at courses at the moment but its really hard to find a course to combine with philosophy which makes it actually any use and which i can do...any ideas?

[Auberge le Mouton Noir]

i cant wait till uni, im a middle class squirrel who's grandparents are paying all (well about 32 grand) of my uni costs....i wonder how much of that ill get through in freshers week :s i should be looking at courses at the moment but its really hard to find a course to combine with philosophy which makes it actually any use and which i can do...any ideas?

philosophy and physics at bristol

[Futue te Ipsum]

philosophy is very useful on its own. Politics, Philosophy and Economics (PPE) courses are probably the most useful, but I dont know of any outside oxbridge : /

[PerpetualBurn]

I'm starting Philosophy and Politics on the 23rd at Keele. I considered doing a PPE but there's no way I could stomach economics.

[nowhesingsnowhesobs]

PPE is

"currently offered by universities in the United Kingdom (such as Oxford, York, Durham, Warwick, UEA, Manchester, Lancaster, and Essex)"

[Auberge le Mouton Noir]

PPE is

"currently offered by universities in the United Kingdom (such as Oxford, York, Durham, Warwick, UEA, Manchester, Lancaster, and Essex)"

United Arab Emirates? ;)

Durham and York are nice, I'm applying to those.

[semi]

United Arab Emirates is UAE not UEA.
University of East Anglia is UEA not UAE.

[RockAndRoll]

Well I'm here now. >_>
heh, good. What do you think about McGill? I'm considering applying there, I'm not quite sure what I want to study but I was looking at their programs and was considering doing a Ba&Sc in physics and philosophy or something and so I was just wondering what you could tell me about it, good or bad things about the school and city etc... I would much appreciate it.

[Amit]

mcgill has an amazing neuroscience department

[RockAndRoll]

That's good to know, I do imagine neuroscience would be an extremely interesting field, though I'm not *quite* ready for graduate studies, or even certain of my undergrad studies at the moment. And I'd probably have to catch up on my biology if I wanted to do that.

[Amit]

neuroscience is the most damned interesting field out there because different parts of it are directly related to biology, behavioural biology, chemistry, biochemistry, psychology, and cognition

\:D/

[RockAndRoll]

neuroscience is the most damned interesting field out there because different parts of it are directly related to biology, behavioural biology, chemistry, biochemistry, psychology, and cognition

\:D/
heh I don't doubt it.

[Reaganista]

neuroscience is the most damned interesting field out there because different parts of it are directly related to biology, behavioural biology, chemistry, biochemistry, psychology, and cognition

5 boring things = 1 interesting thing

:confused:

[Amit]

lol it's called emergent properties

aren't you a history major or something easy

[Reaganista]

lol bio was easy

[Nightfreak]

I'll be starting university in just over a week (moving in a week). I'll be studying music technology at Huddersfield. Should be good!

[Amit]

lol bio was easy

lol of course

[Reaganista]

one required class a week and one textbook
I'm used to 3 or 4 times that in my 'easy' classes

[HipHopDontStop]

I'm starting at Goldsmiths in London on the 23rd...does anyone go there at all?

[Amit]

one required class a week and one textbook
I'm used to 3 or 4 times that in my 'easy' classes

lol but that's gen bio

that's nothing compared to orgo or systems neuro

[Futue te Ipsum]

History students do far fewer hours a week than med students do : /

[Reaganista]

um I don't care about england
med students are graduates in the US
and all undergrads do as many hours as they feel like, up to an institutional maximum

[spitfirejunky]

heh, good. What do you think about McGill? I'm considering applying there, I'm not quite sure what I want to study but I was looking at their programs and was considering doing a Ba&Sc in physics and philosophy or something and so I was just wondering what you could tell me about it, good or bad things about the school and city etc... I would much appreciate it.

It's a very well-rounded school. A few of the science departments are elitist (****ing chemistry), but I can't say there is a major you can take and get away with doing little work (maybe Education but that doesn't count :p).

If you plan to take departmental physics and philosophy, prepare for the end-all workload. Whether you choose to double-major or not, it's gonna be particularly hard since none of the prereqs for each department overlap, meaning you'll have a heavier courseload along with the fact that they're difficult majors. What you'll probably end up doing is declaring a physics major and taking a few philosophy courses on the side rather than declaring another major/minor (unless you want to challenge yourself).

Academics aside, Montreal is a pretty awesome city. The people are pretty laidback, and everything sort of happens slow-paced. Every time I return to NYC it's as if every object around me speeds up... it's a weird effect. I would reccomended you learn French since no one takes the bilingual laws seriously, but even the francophones I know can't understand a word these Quebecers say. If you're short on cash it would be much cheaper to find an apartment in the city than to stay in rez, and I personally find it more comfortable. I don't have to put up with college pranks and ****.

I'll expand more when I come back.

[RockAndRoll]

It's a very well-rounded school. A few of the science departments are elitist (****ing chemistry), but I can't say there is a major you can take and get away with doing little work (maybe Education but that doesn't count :p).

If you plan to take departmental physics and philosophy, prepare for the end-all workload. Whether you choose to double-major or not, it's gonna be particularly hard since none of the prereqs for each department overlap, meaning you'll have a heavier courseload along with the fact that they're difficult majors. What you'll probably end up doing is declaring a physics major and taking a few philosophy courses on the side rather than declaring another major/minor (unless you want to challenge yourself).
Hmm well I'm still considering my options.

Academics aside, Montreal is a pretty awesome city. The people are pretty laidback, and everything sort of happens slow-paced. Every time I return to NYC it's as if every object around me speeds up... it's a weird effect. I would reccomended you learn French since no one takes the bilingual laws seriously, but even the francophones I know can't understand a word these Quebecers say. If you're short on cash it would be much cheaper to find an apartment in the city than to stay in rez, and I personally find it more comfortable. I don't have to put up with college pranks and ****.
Well I already know french as I've taken french immersion school my whole life, and I have heard that montreal is a great city, I do like sort of laid back places but I wonder if I'd feel the same about it as you seeing as you're from a city of millions of people and I'm from a city of about 350,000.

I'll expand more when I come back.
Thanks alot man. :thumb: