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llamawrangler
New Member
United States
29 posts
Joined: Aug, 2011
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 Posted - 2011/12/14 : 03:14:04
It is only my junior year in high school so I probably shouldn't worry too much, but I was thinking about colleges and it recently came to my attention that it would be awesome if I went to college in a different country. Of course these are just schools I might apply to senior year, so they aren't for certain.
What do you guys think about Trinity College in Dublin, as well as Edinburgh University or St. Andrews in Scotland. According to a college application website my school runs, I should probably be able to get into any of those three, although it isn't for certain (I'll ask my college counseler when I actually get one) Don't say go to Oxford or Cambridge, because there is no way in hell I can get in to those.
How much are those schools respected/how well known are they? Will people make fun of me for being an American? (I don't act like a stereotypical american) Are there fun things to do in the area for a college kid? Discuss
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latininxtc
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United States
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Posted - 2011/12/14 : 05:18:52
I imagine that you will have some issues with the education there, since usually there are many other countries who have a better education system than that of the US.
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SpiritWolf
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United States
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Posted - 2011/12/14 : 05:21:50
quote:
Originally posted by latininxtc:
I imagine that you will have some issues with the education there, since usually there are many other countries who have a better education system than that of the US.
That was a kick below the belt. :P
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latininxtc
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Posted - 2011/12/14 : 05:42:30
quote:
Originally posted by SpiritWolf:
quote:
Originally posted by latininxtc:
I imagine that you will have some issues with the education there, since usually there are many other countries who have a better education system than that of the US.
That was a kick below the belt. :P
lol it's tru tho. Especially when it comes to math. Even countries like Mexico have a much harder math program for grade school than we do.
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Brian K
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United States
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Posted - 2011/12/14 : 05:46:53
universities are usually harder to get into than colleges are (you need better grades). colleges there are similar to something like Ivy Tech here.
the first thing you'd have to do is decide on what you wanted to study, they don't have majors/minors there. it's usually a single subject your going to study.
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deathproof627
Junior Member
United States
122 posts
Joined: May, 2011
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Posted - 2011/12/14 : 06:23:47
most people i know refer to university as college myself included. If you mean community college or trade school then you should just stay in the US. However if you want to go to a proper college or whatever you want to call it there is no reason you shouldn't apply.
Most of the top colleges in the world are located in america, the uk, parts of asia, and australia so I honestly have no clue what latin is on about. The US education system is not the greatest but there are bound to be good highschools in most cities. Many highschools are very rigorous and are hard to get into which looks good when applying to college. Many people kill to attend these schools and I go to a school just like this. For example last year we had 200 openings but over 2000 students applied to get in.
You do not need to go into a college with your major decided yet therefore when you apply you would write undecided in the major section. If your GPA is crap, you have a poor SAT and SAT 2 score(s), and you didn't take a rigorous course load such numerous APs then by no means should you waste your money applying to a school that you know you won't get into.
Back to your question, many colleges(universities) throughout the western world have a huge number of immigrants attending their colleges. By this age most people are mature and couldn't care less about your nationality or ethnicity, however there are a minority of people who have not grown up and ridicule based on these differences.
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DJ John Jarvis
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United Kingdom
71 posts
Joined: Nov, 2011
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Posted - 2011/12/14 : 09:02:20
There is a difference between a college and a university here. I finished school at 16 then went to college which is where you get A levels or BTECS which are needed for us to get into uni and now I'm at uni. University is where you get a degree. Some unis are harder to get into depending on your grades and how popular it is. As for being made fun of that only happens at school. I'm doing music tech and one of the teachers is american, one is australian and one has a foreign accent but I don't know where he is from and there are american students about as well. As for deciding where to go I just went for the nearest so I could stay at home and not one of the best so I have no idea but the fact that I've heard of those three probably means they are fairly good. I go to uni in Cambridge but not THE Cambridge university because no one gets in there. I have no idea about american education but a university is the next step up from college but if your doing a trade then there is no point going to uni.
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Triquatra
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Posted - 2011/12/14 : 09:52:05
well, Student Visa's is what you'll need to start looking into when the time comes, its probably going to be quite expensive to pull off, but the experience of living in another country for a while can be invaluable!
No, I don't think anyone will make fun of you for being American, so I wouldn't worry about that, at least no more than people would made fun of me for being a brit in the states when i lived there (its all just fun!)
plenty of things to do inside and outside of college! :)
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NekoShuffle
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United Kingdom
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Posted - 2011/12/14 : 13:33:19
Yeah don't come here for college, college is just the bridge between high school and uni for us. My college was awful, people stole computers off the shelves just to get their money's worth from the course. As for uni, yeah you should be able to sort out a 'foreign student' type program with any University really.
I've heard Edinborough is a VERY good Uni but personally I'd never want to live in Scotland for varying reasons, I doubt people at uni will make fun of you for being American as they're more multicultural, but actually being on the street might be a different matter.
As for fun things to do - Nightlife for Uni students = local club/pub and boozing it up on cheap vodka shots listening to dubstep or whatever flavour-of-the-month genre of music is popular. Uni's idea of accommodating student social life is fairly poor if you don't fit inside the standard student boxes, it's basically societies and club activities for the more work oriented students and drinking and pubs/clubs for the partygoers. You can't really blame that on the Universities I suppose, just how so many students just fit stereotypes very well.
I went to Sussex university which is a very good Uni actually as far as standards go (Even Darwin went there!) but I found the social side of it an isolating experience; no ravers, people only seemed to talk about University, University work or where they were getting drunk that night and on what drinks. "Thesis thesis thesis thesis vodka thesis thesis lecture lecture cheap shots clubbing thesis" <-- standard conversation with a fellow student. The campus was huge and green which seems like a nice thing but during 2 hour waits for the next lecture with no dorm to go back to, it was just a very bleak, isolating experience for me. Oh and everyone seemed to wear the exact same clothing too.
I think honestly though it can be harder for Brits in Uni than it can be for foreign students, foreign students will be accepted as they are because they're from another country, so you can be as different as you want and they'd just accept that. For Brits we get judged on social class etc. Even in the bad universities you will get the more posh kids who will look down their nose at you, refuse to speak to you etc. just basically because you're not upper class or whatever, but Brits will get this everywhere at any age.
Although, I've heard some stories about a lot of bullying and stuff happening in American Colleges by typical Jock types - we don't have that at all. I didn't like University but I never felt unsafe or picked on, I think also our dorm parties are slightly more low-key than the American ones I've heard of.
Our education system at school-level is awful, depending once again on your social class and what your family can afford. I have American and Canadian friends who are still at school and their Maths homework is just puzzling to me, it's shocking how high-level it is compared to how mine was, but then I can never tell if that's the norm for this country or if I was just in a particularly bad school, a lot of our lessons were interrupted by fights breaking out etc. so the teacher would just give up and walk out leaving a class full of kids sitting there doing nothing having to literally take books off the bookshelves and teach themselves while the other kids would pick on them for trying to educate themselves - which would then get violent because there was no teacher to supervise. When I met people from other schools later on I found out that similar things happened to them, so it's not all that uncommon.
All University education is around the same standard though so I imagine unless you go to a particularly high-level university you should be fine.
Anway, yeah I would imagine you'll get into pretty much any University as foreign students tend to get a lot of doors opened for them, I had one 'friend' at University who was a Chinese student who had no grasp of the english language and would sit in lectures with a puzzled look on his face not understanding anything, I felt bad for him as there didn't seem to be any supervisor monitoring his progress or anything. So yeah, if he can get in then I'm sure you can. Nobody will pick on you inside university, I highly doubt that, but bare in mind UK nightlife is incredibly boring unless you like sitting in a pub doing nothing or just getting blind drunk in a club. The UK isn't a fun place IMO, coming back from Canada showed me how boring the UK is, everything shutting so early and the streets becoming empty and unsafe past 11pm....no thanks.
It all depends what kind of student you are really.
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Edited by - NekoShuffle on 2011/12/14 13:40:01 |
Triquatra
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Posted - 2011/12/14 : 13:51:21
^ now that is a useful post! :)
personally I couldn't afford to go to Uni so I can't comment on those aspects - the only thing I would disagree with is that I would say the UK can be a fun place to be! it all depends on what you're looking at doing: ie: i've become a massive "outdoorsy" person..kayaking, fellwalking, highropes, rockclimbing, mountain biking and the lakes is an awesome place to be for that sort of thing, so like you said - gonna come down to what type of student you are!
nightlife though, 100% agree, I felt a hell of alot safer walking through American streets at night as opposed to some of our english streets!
whilst I lived in the states i was impressed with the school systems over there, but I expect that comes down largely to which ones you look at..gonna get bad and good schools eh?
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Edited by - Triquatra on 2011/12/14 13:52:48 |
NekoShuffle
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Posted - 2011/12/14 : 16:31:05
quote:
Originally posted by Triquatra:
^ now that is a useful post! :)
personally I couldn't afford to go to Uni so I can't comment on those aspects - the only thing I would disagree with is that I would say the UK can be a fun place to be! it all depends on what you're looking at doing: ie: i've become a massive "outdoorsy" person..kayaking, fellwalking, highropes, rockclimbing, mountain biking and the lakes is an awesome place to be for that sort of thing, so like you said - gonna come down to what type of student you are!
nightlife though, 100% agree, I felt a hell of alot safer walking through American streets at night as opposed to some of our english streets!
whilst I lived in the states i was impressed with the school systems over there, but I expect that comes down largely to which ones you look at..gonna get bad and good schools eh?
Probably changed since you were my age but what we have now (not sure if it's still in place) is that Local Universities basically have an obligation to accept students from nearby colleges if they meet the grading criteria and want to go there. I never thought I'd get to Sussex Uni, I actually applied as a bit of a laugh but they accepted me anyway. Definitely glad the system is in place as it really gives a chance to people from backgrounds where University is a dream, but personally when I went there I just couldn't get on with it really. Another thing that was my own fault was that I was spending my EMA college money on base (speed) and was caining it every single day in the classroom and on weekends, at university the whole lecture-system didn't really cater for that and I was already seeing health problems from it so it was just like one big comedown really.
Another thing to think about is this year the university costs have tripled in some universities and I would assume Edinborough is probably charging about 9000 a year as it has a good reputation.
Are the US streets safer too? Canada was shocking for me, you can just basically go out at any time and there are people around, nobody seems scared or in a hurry or anything and there are no teenagers roaming about targetting people, I felt so safe I just couldn't believe it.
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Hard2Get
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Posted - 2011/12/14 : 19:23:28
quote:
Will people make fun of me for being an American?
Of course they wouldn't. Why on earth would anyone do that? Who would even have the audacity?
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llamawrangler
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United States
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Posted - 2011/12/14 : 22:38:29
I go to the best public school in my state, and one of the best public schools in the nation, so notoriety alone shouldn't be a problem. I'm taking what will probably end up being 5 AP's, so that also shouldn't be a problem. I checked on their websites and it looks like I fulfill their requirements for American students, so that isn't as much as I'm worrying about.
Also, I'm not talking about community college or trade school, most americans just say college as an all encompasing term. (And yes, community college in a foreign country sounds stupid as hell) Sorry for the confusion. Im not 100% sure yet, but I believe I would probably do either neurology or psychology.
Sucks that you had random kids fighting in class. It is nothing like that here. I mean, some people get made fun of obviously, but it is usually more for being stupid than for being educated. (Then again, it depends on what kind of kids you hang out with. Druggies obviously get in more fights)
Only part that really worries me is the violence you mention at night. Is it only in certain neighboorhoods, or is it more universal? I live in a chicago suburb, and because I live in a middle class area I could walk around all night if I wanted to. However, I know that if I did that in inner city chicago I'd get my ass mugged and maybe killed. I would know to avoid certain neighboorhoods if that is how it worked in UK/ireland, but if it is universal that might be a deal breaker. I kind of don't want to be raped.
Also, no one seemed to mention Trinity college in Dublin. Anything on that? Same rules apply?
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Hard2Get
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Posted - 2011/12/14 : 22:48:45
quote:
Only part that really worries me is the violence you mention at night. Is it only in certain neighboorhoods, or is it more universal? I live in a chicago suburb, and because I live in a middle class area I could walk around all night if I wanted to. However, I know that if I did that in inner city chicago I'd get my ass mugged and maybe killed. I would know to avoid certain neighboorhoods if that is how it worked in UK/ireland, but if it is universal that might be a deal breaker. I kind of don't want to be raped.
It isn't like that. You get that kind of thing everywhere though. It just depends where you go. It will be the same as it is there. In a country where a massive percentage of the population aren't British, being American is the last thing to worry about.
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Edited by - Hard2Get on 2011/12/14 22:55:32 |
Lorenzo.Tweakn
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Posted - 2011/12/14 : 23:14:04
quote:
Originally posted by llamawrangler:
I go to the best public school in my state, and one of the best public schools in the nation, so notoriety alone shouldn't be a problem. I'm taking what will probably end up being 5 AP's, so that also shouldn't be a problem. I checked on their websites and it looks like I fulfill their requirements for American students, so that isn't as much as I'm worrying about.
Also, I'm not talking about community college or trade school, most americans just say college as an all encompasing term. (And yes, community college in a foreign country sounds stupid as hell) Sorry for the confusion. Im not 100% sure yet, but I believe I would probably do either neurology or psychology.
Sucks that you had random kids fighting in class. It is nothing like that here. I mean, some people get made fun of obviously, but it is usually more for being stupid than for being educated. (Then again, it depends on what kind of kids you hang out with. Druggies obviously get in more fights)
Only part that really worries me is the violence you mention at night. Is it only in certain neighboorhoods, or is it more universal? I live in a chicago suburb, and because I live in a middle class area I could walk around all night if I wanted to. However, I know that if I did that in inner city chicago I'd get my ass mugged and maybe killed.
i live in bradley,illinois(it shouldnt be that far from you). we had tons of randoms kids fighting all the time. i was in a classroom where a kid had a 9MM strapped to his back etc etc. good ole BBCHS i miss that place.
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NekoShuffle
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Posted - 2011/12/14 : 23:55:44
quote:
Originally posted by llamawrangler:
I go to the best public school in my state, and one of the best public schools in the nation, so notoriety alone shouldn't be a problem. I'm taking what will probably end up being 5 AP's, so that also shouldn't be a problem. I checked on their websites and it looks like I fulfill their requirements for American students, so that isn't as much as I'm worrying about.
Also, I'm not talking about community college or trade school, most americans just say college as an all encompasing term. (And yes, community college in a foreign country sounds stupid as hell) Sorry for the confusion. Im not 100% sure yet, but I believe I would probably do either neurology or psychology.
Sucks that you had random kids fighting in class. It is nothing like that here. I mean, some people get made fun of obviously, but it is usually more for being stupid than for being educated. (Then again, it depends on what kind of kids you hang out with. Druggies obviously get in more fights)
Only part that really worries me is the violence you mention at night. Is it only in certain neighboorhoods, or is it more universal? I live in a chicago suburb, and because I live in a middle class area I could walk around all night if I wanted to. However, I know that if I did that in inner city chicago I'd get my ass mugged and maybe killed. I would know to avoid certain neighboorhoods if that is how it worked in UK/ireland, but if it is universal that might be a deal breaker. I kind of don't want to be raped.
Also, no one seemed to mention Trinity college in Dublin. Anything on that? Same rules apply?
Violence here isn't really a nighttime exclusive activity, it depends on so many factors really. There's bad neighbourhoods and stuff but there's no real reason for you to be going in them unless you live there, generally the people that will target you will be teenagers and they will be doing so just because they'll target anyone who looks vulnerable, your nationality won't come into question. Just try and avoid anyone who looks trouble and stick around with people. You'll be safe on campus grounds, most campuses are really ubersafe so you should be good in that respect.
There's not really much to say I guess, yeah our streets are fairly unsafe compared to a lot of countries out there, also being different doesn't help. You just have to use common sense really, normally you can get a pretty good feel if it's a bad idea to take a certain street or whatever, people who aren't used to trouble and walk past a gang of youths unassumingly are the ones that will get targetted. The only reason I brought it up really was just because when I went to Canada it was a shockingly safe place in comparison to the UK. You can just walk the streets at any time and not have to look over your shoulder or anything, weird sensation. Also I was surprised to see police walking the street in Canada too, rarely do I see any police out of their cars here - our police are a bit scared of the streets too.
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