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HIGHER EDUCATION C


ompetition for places at world-leading universities in the UK and the US is fiercer than ever and students can no longer solely rely on good grades. With


students becoming increasingly willing to study overseas applicants at top universities are competing against students from across the world.


THE GLOBAL APPEAL OF A US COLLEGE EDUCATION


Speaking at the 2017 Independent Schools Show in London, Dr Jon Tabbert, managing director of Dukes US Applications, explained the explosion in applications from UK students to study at US universities in recent years. “There are currently 11,000 British students studying in the US. Tuition fees have had a large role to play but also the academic breadth that is possible at American universities which just isn’t possible in the UK system,” he said. While students


in the UK are required to have


developed a subject specialism, often at A Level, higher- education institutions in the US understand that someone aged 17 or 18 has not necessarily decided what they want to do. Explains Daniel de Witt, US education consultant at Bonas MacFarlane Tuition & Consulting, “In US higher education, they focus their core curriculum around the liberal-arts approach. Even if a student has decided that they would like to study engineering, they will still be required to study a broad curriculum which will involve, for example, a little bit of maths, philosophy, French and science. It is through the discovery of those classes that they start to find out for themselves their major area of interest. “So being undecided as a teenager in the US – applying


undeclared – does not pose the same problems as it can in the UK. It’s a different mind-set in the US.” With more than 4,000 universities and colleges in the US, compared with just over 150 in the UK, there are an enormous variety of institutions and courses to choose from. Offering the ability to study a broad curriculum for the first two years and to defer the choice of a major area of study until much later than in the UK, studying Stateside can be an enticing prospect for aspiring undergraduates.


DIFFERENCES BETWEEN UK AND US COLLEGE APPLICATION According to Mr Tabbert, the application process to American universities is ‘holistic’. “Yes, they’re looking at school grades, but they are also going to weigh up SAT/ ACT results, letters of reference, your personal statement and extra-curricular activities,” he said.


And it is evidence of sporting and musical achievements, alongside community or charity work that is increasingly important for applications today. This is one of the key differences between US and UK university applications. “American Universities look at the interface between A grades and extra-curriculars,” he said. “In the UK, it’s solely about grades.”


Students need to make a very clear distinction between


the different elements of applying to a UK and a US university says Mr de Witt.


“In the UK, it is very black and white: students receive


a conditional offer based on a set of predicted grades accompanied by brief biographical information and a short personal statement not exceeding 4,000 characters. There’s not much to it, and it can be relatively formulaic. If the student gets the grades, they go to that university. “Because the ethos behind a US undergraduate degree is still based on the liberal arts, and due to its multifaceted, multidisciplinary education, there is a lot more data that students can include in their applications.”


Academic performance will always be at the core of any decision, but there is space to reveal a large amount of a student’s character in a US university application. In the UK, students apply for up to five different university courses through the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS), an online system with a database of courses and entry requirements that processes UK university applications. In comparison, applying to US colleges can be a lengthy process with much more direct communication and collaboration with the colleges themselves.


As US colleges are private institutions, the rules and requirements for each are different, so it is essential that the priorities of each individual institution are understood and carefully considered in order to align a student’s application successfully.


THE IMPORTANCE OF THE PERSONAL STATEMENT


Although entry requirements differ wildly from college to college, there are no interviews for US universities; instead the ‘Personal Statement’ – an academic essay – is a vital part of the admissions process. William Wheelan, president and founder of Sentia


Education, a test preparation and tutoring company in New York, cautions that the 500–600 word personal statement is not an academic argument but a reflective piece of writing. “It’s important to show your journey, to share a secret, to build a narrative,” he said.


Keep Informed | relocateglobal.com | 207


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