Top Ten Differences between American and UK Colleges

Stefanie and I spent last week touring colleges in and around London. We visited:

Below are the top ten differences

Highly focused majors from day one with no ability to transfer. Professors teach subject matter that is all relevant to your course of study. For example, if you are studying chemical engineering, the maths corresponds with how you would apply it to your discipline.

Supercurriculars not Extracurriculars. UK admissions officers want to know what you are intellectually curious about: What podcasts do you listen to? What articles do you read? What documentaries do you watch? What summer programs did you participate in? What research did you do that corresponds to your area of interest?

Testing matters—a lot! For the most competitive UK schools, it’s all about the tests, tests, tests. They want students to demonstrate mastery in their subject matters before accepting them. The most selective unis and programs, e.g. business and STEM, require a 5 in AP Calculus BC and corresponding sciences. Less than a 5 in APs need not apply to the most selective schools like Imperial College or King’s College.

International is the norm in London schools. We saw students represented from 150+ countries. Each country has a separate society with the Indian societies often the largest. Students have opportunities to interact and make friends with a truly global community.

Independence required; collaboration expected. While students seem to have a lot of free time, they have to be comfortable managing their work load over time. Students also collaborate across the board for various projects and assignments.

Expect to cook in a community kitchen and find accommodations (housing) off campus by year 2. Most schools guarantee housing for the first year and only a few offer “catering” or dining options. The majority of students cook in a shared kitchen among 5-10 students.

Pub culture, societies, and sports drive social life. Students seemed very social and engaged. Every day is pub day, but it really comes alive on the weekend. On a Friday night at Imperial College, we saw students gathering outside with pints of beer, dancing inside the pub, playing quiz games, or attending a student run performance of The Importance of Being Ernest.

Sports participation is big! Almost all the students we met participated in some sport from rock climbing to paddle to badminton to field hockey. The built in Wednesday afternoons for matches makes it easy for students to compete against other schools because there are no classes during that time.

Research is encouraged and taught. Students learn how to research and have many opportunities to participate. Many courses have research methods as one of the modules. For example, Imperial College offers a 20-week module on how to perform cell culture for its Bioengineering students.

Faculty make learning engaging and relevant. All the faculty we met were passionate about their subject matter and found engaging ways to convey their information. They teach processes and how to turn theory into practice. We met a professor of chemical engineering at Imperial College who showed us how students learn to read a blueprint and work in a carbon chemical processing plant. A computer science professor walked us through how programming appears like magic while a creative writing professor described the step-by-step way they turn students into writers. Since the courses are so specialized, everyone wants to be there and learn the material.