11 Plus Exams Forum

Anyone appearing for SATs for USA Uni admissions

Hmm. 11+, 13+ is over now SAT

OMG, life is so complex

we had a look at them - there seems to be one large book that you get and work through, also the online site has quite a lot of examples and daily questions.

I think the general ones are OK but some of the subject specific ones can be difficult eg World History as this is very much fact based rather than the way history is taught here.

We have started looking at them, my daughter is more suited towards ACT so she will be going for these and the SATs subject tests. I have found some SATs books in my local library, I had to book them as they were coming from another county library worth checking yours.

Subjective subjects like world history are best left to natives. It would be slightly mad to do it as an international. I am sure you already know about College Confidential, some of the kids there are a little bonkers but you can get some snippets of the various exam boards. There is a very active US homeschooling college group where most are doing SATS and ACT the diy route, so it can be handy if you are doing it from UK - fire me a pm if you want the link.

The US admissions leaves my head hurting, unlike here where you just need to pass and that's about it. You need a hook there whatever that means and colleges there are free to take whoever they like. When I look at the acceptances on CC for the more competitive colleges it kind of leaves me deflated, a president of this n that with super score still not getting in. Its more a lottery getting admitted esp to the colleges that are needs blind to internationals. Oxbridge looks so much easier in comparison.

If you haven't already looked at this we found the Fulbright commission website really good for this:

http://www.fulbright.org.uk/about/what- ... ry-service" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

In particular their introductory course and college open day and various talks that they give really useful my dd decided against it in the end basically due to cost the key points we found were :

Funding: for the top Ivy League collages most claim that they asses your application without knowing your families income and if they choose you and means test your family income then you can receive an almost free education if your income is <30k USD to no financial help if your income is >90K USD, unfortunately We fell into the no financial help category and if dd had got a place at Columbia ( she basically wanted to live in New York for 4 years ) then it was gonna cost £25k+per year with no possibility for a student loan from UK or US we/ her had no chance of affording this much as we love her

The non Ivy League schools the public state schools which can be very good have different financial packages and can be more flexible I think, but dd only wanted to go to Columbia

Courses: you do a much more generalised degree Liberal Arts rather than English or Geography etc and medicine and law are postgrad courses only so you need to research this a bit.

The next Fulbright college open day is soon maybe worth booking a day and finding out more before learning too much American history!

The six needs blind universities to international are way more generous in their financial aid and in most cases cheaper than a UK education unless household income is very high. For the needs blind colleges you almost pay nothing up to $60k earnings. I vaguely know someone at Harvard whose mother is a teacher and he got everything paid including a $1 000 allowance for flights back to UK. The only downside is its almost like a lottery getting a place there. These colleges have HUGE endowments so they can afford to pay these substantial scholarships.

There are currently only six U.S. higher learning institutions that are need-blind and meet full demonstrated need for all applicants, including international students. These are:

Amherst College
Dartmouth College
Harvard University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Princeton University
Yale University

You need earnings of about $250K for you to pay the full tuition for most of the above but it goes on a sliding scale from $60K. There is a calculator here that gives you ball park figures of how much you will need pay https://college.harvard.edu/financial-a ... calculator" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Totally agree for those who know the specific field they want to specialise in then a UK education is perhaps better. Its near impossible to do medicine in America as an international anyway, American medical schools admit almost no international students. I love liberal arts degrees though, some colleges actually allow you to shop around for courses for the first two or so weeks before determining the subjects you want to study. You could be studying math in one class and gender issues in the next.

thanks for all replies

I just chanced across this old thread. And I thought I would throw this in, for anyone considering Uni in the USA.

I appreciate why everyone is focussed on the Ivy League. We've all heard of them, in the same way people in the US have heard of Oxford and Cambridge, and we know a degree from these schools will have "brand recognition."

If you are willing to look further afield there are some amazing schools for undergraduates that offer very good value. For instance, New College in Florida is a feeder to school to the top Medical Schools, Law Schools and Phd programs, but costs a fraction of a northeastern Ivy League. It also has less than a 1000 students and all classes are taught by full professors with terminal degrees. (At Harvard, for instance, your undergraduate will be taught in rooms with hundreds of other students and in small groups by graduate students.) It's a place that university professors send their own children. Also, the small size and lack of fraternities/drinking clubs would make me feel better about sending a tender 18 year old across an ocean. It's cozy and no one gets lost in the crowd.

Here is a link: https://www.ncf.edu/fast-facts" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I am sure there are many other schools like this if you know where to look. I just happen to be familiar with this one.

agree HCB - reckon some of the Ivy league really come into their own at graduate level and there are other places better focused on the first degree - I like some of the liberal arts colleges.

Think it is great to see so many kids going to different countries for degrees.

I think you have it sussed Herman. If I were to send my DDs to the USA for Uni, I would be looking at smallish liberal arts colleges.

And I agree, studying abroad is really exciting and can change the direction of your life.

However, there is no financial assistance available to international students anywhere other than the six listed.

How does being taught with hundreds of other students differ from the UK university experience? That's certainly very much what it was for me forty-some years ago.