UK Universities vs US Universities

I have only started studying over here and I already notice some differences not sure if its better or worse yet....we dont have as many tests as in the US where We used to have a test every four or five weeks....spoke to my professor here and he said that the emphasis is more on reading and then you have an essay exam at the end of the year or semester that counts for 100% of your grade...yikes... :-/..well we will see how it goes....

Ouch! At Kingston, we generally have two exams, or an exam and an essay. So the final exam only counts for about 60-70% of your grade.

I've also found that classes here are much more compressed than at home. At my university in America, a three hour class would generally be for one hour three days a week (Monday/Wednesday/Friday) or an hour and a half twice a week (Tuesday/Thursday). Here, a three hour class is three hours once a week (two hours of lecture and one of seminar).

It is nice to be able to do all your thinking for one class on one day, but on the other hand, if you miss one day of class you've missed about 10% of the entire total class time for the term.

Heya!

I'm in a bit of a dilemma so i was hoping someone would be able to help me out! I've been accepted at UCL, Warwick, Nottngham and Durham to study Economics. I've also been accepted to grinnell college in Iowa with a scholarship. Will going to a US Uni give me an advantage when applying to graduate schools? I want to study at UPenn later on. Should i sitck to the UK or take my chances wiht the US? Are the UK unis well known to addmissions officers in the US? Can Anyone HELP?!!!!! :-/

Neha,

What I can tell you is based on somewhat limited knowledge, but may be of some use.  

If your goal is to study at a graduate school here in the US you would probably be better off taking your undergraduate work in the US.  It's not that you can't get in with a UK degree, and either way you go you will have some paperwork to complete regarding courses and the like.  

I used to work as a Graduate Assistant at an American University and I can tell you that it is much easier to get into grad school and have all your paperwork in on time if you go to a US school for undergrad.  

You also have to consider the differences in degree programs between the two.  If you are going into a specialized field like medical or teaching there are some differences in how they are taught.  (Though you mentioned Economics, which I don't think you will find to be to radically different!)

Basically you have to make the choice as to when you want to deal with the paperwork and tests and the like.  It seems that you have already completed enough to get into the US University, so for ease that would be the route to go.  

Penn is a fairly well known and large school and system, so them being aware of a UK University is pretty likely.  Admissions departments and grad schools know a bad UK university from a good one.  

One avenue to explore is whether one of the UK uni's already has an exchange program of some sort set up with UPenn.  Or for example go on the UPenn website and research if some of the professors in the department have studied or are linked to the UK in any way.  

One final thought is simply this....what matters to a grad department are your grades, your standardized GRE/GMAT and any academic and/or life experiences that will enhance their academic status.  If you are looking to get into academe, then try to get involved early on with research your profs. are doing as you near the end of undergrad work.  Every bit helps in the publish or perish mentality of universities!

Hope some of my babbling helps!

As for class  length..most of my graduate classes here in the US were similar to the UK's three hours once a week, with only one to two projects/papers due at the end or midterm.  Makes it a pain when the prof. is dull! Need paperclips to hold those eyes open at times!




 

They are VERY different! I attended a UK uni for a year (I'll keep the name of it confidential), and I think that it's very difficult if you aren't certain what your major is yet. Going to a UK university is basically putting yourself on a very narrow track, which is not necessarily a good thing. You must KNOW what you want to do with your life when you go in, so I would highly discourage American high school students to attend a UK university their freshman year, because high school simply does not prepare kids for knowing which subject they want to major in.

Or if they do know, they might discover they don't like the particular way the subject is being taught. I knew what I wanted to be doing (psychology), but realised a few months into it that they were focusing mainly on statistics and the practical side, which was not the area of psychology I was interested in focusing on. I would have continued three years learning an area of the subject I didn't like, without being able to learn other areas. In other words, the courses are less specifically tailored to what you want. I also took sociology as part of my joint-degree program, but I really wanted to fit in visual arts as well, a huge interest of mine as an artist --- but unfortunately, I couldn't.

Furthermore, people at the uni, like the tutors, were generally UNHELPFUL and unsympathetic to my needs as an international student, the same sort of general unhelpfulness I found to be prevalent in most of the UK. It was very difficult.  

And trust me, trying to change majors if the class isn't working out for you is much more hassle than it's worth! It's not just changing classes, it's actually changing majors! If you've been in the American system, be prepared for a shock at the inflexibility of it. The positive side is you only take one or two classes and get less class time, but the negative is that you don't get as well-rounded an education at all. Plus, there are lots of essays and fewer exams, which means that cumulative exams count for a huge percentage of your grade.

The system is FAR stricter. If you are sick on the day of an exam without giving a notice the day before, for example, you could automatically fail the course! And what happens if you fail? You will have to start over as a fresher again the next year.  No questions asked. :'(

UK universities might be okay for graduate students or upper classmen who know EXACTLY what they'll be doing, or for study abroad students, but they're definitely not for someone who wants to discover themselves a bit and try different areas of study before they really know what they'll be doing for good.

It's been a while since this thread has come up.  As a incoming student (not sure exactly where yet) would love to revive the conversation on differences between UK and US institutions.   

One issue I'm facing is the fact that TAing is rare if non-existent in most UK postgraduate programs - and since I want to also enter the Field of teaching eventually, I realize this might be a disadvantage (currently thinking of seeking outside teaching opportunities).   

Another issue that I've heard about (but have yet to experience) the the higher degree of formality in UK schools.  I hear professor to student interaction is uncommon and or ultra formal - as opposed to certain US academics who have transgressed those borders with lunch meetings/informal office hours etc. 

Can anyone add insight?

I have had NO teacher-student interaction at all over here thus far, but I think that's largely down to my teachers. The one I think will ultimately supervise my dissertation is one of the most informal on the staff and I get the feeling that she'd be very open to having office hour meetings. But I actually had one teacher say "please don't come see me" - though he's an exceptional a$$ in every respect.... It's been difficult for me applying for jobs as I'm used to using profs who I've been close to for references....

As for the formal evaluation, it's taken some getting used to, but I now prefer it. I suppose it depends what you're studying, but I haven't had a single test in two years. The most work I've had for a class has been two essays at the end of the term - most have had one long essay at the end. This is then graded by the teacher and then the grade is agreed upon by an external examiner and that is your grade in the class. I don't mind it because it allowed me to zero in on one particular thing that caught my ear in lectures and really delve into it, rather than trying to learn the basics about a whole term's worth of subjects.... I find that they also cut a bit of slack in grading if the paper is well-written - I had a couple of papers this year that earned a "B" even though they, IMHO, weren't particularly thoroughly well-researched, but were well-written....

I completely agree that studying here as an international student is probably more appropriate for graduate work and probably not a great plan for undergrad - especially if you're planning on returning to the US to do graduate work....

Oh, and one last thought - Grant, you may be able to find a position as a tutor if you can find an over-worked prof. who doesn't want to run seminars themself. I had student tutors in a couple of my classes where individual help was needed (e.g. statistics) and where there were seminars on top of lectures....

AnneR - do you think then the workload is lighter? Just curious - like are there group projects or little assignments about the reading? Or are you just expected to come to class, read the material, participate (??) and write a big paper at the end?

thanks!

Awesome Anne!  thanks for the tips!

AnneR - do you think then the workload is lighter? Just curious - like are there group projects or little assignments about the reading? Or are you just expected to come to class, read the material, participate (??) and write a big paper at the end?

Hmmmm. Good question. I guess I think the workload is what you make of it. I had a couple of classes that had a lecture and then a seminar and for those the seminar groups were quite small and we were expected to participate quite a bit (and actually lead a seminar at least once per term) and they would recommend reading (mostly journal articles) each week in preparation for that. But lately my classes have just been lectures - very little participation - and to be honest the ones I was bored by, I did NO outside reading. Maybe that's the blessing/curse of the one paper system - I was quite happy to ignore stuff that didn't interest me and focus just on what I thought I might want to write about.... I will say that if you choose to really put your heart and soul into it, it's far more challenging because the suggested reading list for each lecture was quite long.... It's been my experience that they sort of treat you more like grown-ups (though that could be not so much a US/UK difference but rather an undergrad/grad difference) and let you do as much or as little as you think you want or need to do....