UK Universities

[pinkpen]

Heyy everyone,

I'm applying to the UK, but I'm very confused: I've been following the UCAS registration, but I don't understand the system.

I'm an international student, taking IB (of course) and I graduate in 2010.

So in the UK system, do i have to choose specific courses from different universities?

I've researched a few universities that I would like to study at, so are you not supposed to apply only to one university? (As they do it in America etc..)

And if you can, how do you do it? Because UCAS only guides you through choosing 5 courses from various colleges?

I basically want to know how the system works.

If anyone who understands how to apply to the UK, i would really appreciate some help!

Thanks a lot

[philipb]

I'll break this down question by question:

So in the UK system, do i have to choose specific courses from different universities?

Yes, in the UK system you have to choose what you want to study, no liberal arts type schools are available. This is good if you know what you want to study, no switching allowed.

I've researched a few universities that I would like to study at, so are you not supposed to apply only to one university? (As they do it in America etc..)

You apply to a maximum of five courses, they could all be from the same university but this isn't recommended. Plus, all the courses you choose should be studying the same thing, i.e. medicine, civil engineering.

This set up is slightly different for medicine.

(BTW: In this US people apply to more than one university too)

And if you can, how do you do it? Because UCAS only guides you through choosing 5 courses from various colleges?

You can apply to several courses at the same school but its recommended as I dais before. FOllow UCAS and apply to similar courses in different universities. BUT if you really wanted to... when you submit your final application you could just put in the UCAS course codes for the courses you want and those requests will go to said university.

[pinkpen]

Oh okay, thanks a lot!

But one more question: If you are applying for courses in different universities, how can you stay in one university? Like sleeping in dorms or something?

I mean can't i apply to one university that has all the courses i want to take, and stay at that university?

Because I don't understand how you're supposed to jump from university to university to get to all your different courses (especially if you're an international student)

And also why isn't it recommended to apply to 5 courses at the same university?

Sorry for so many questions

[philipb]

In the UK you do only ONE course. For example: No maths and french. Either maths OR french. Therefore you will only be staying at one university for three to 4 years.

Applying to different courses in the same university shows that you aren't decided on what you want to study and makes writing a personal statement much more difficult.

[pinkpen]

Wait, so that means if i want to do graphic design for example... I apply through UCAS to 5 graphic design courses in different universities. And then once i get an unconditional offer, then i choose from the offers and then attend one of the universities (for one of the courses that i applied to). ??

Does that mean i'm taking ONE course the whole 3 or 4 years while i'm at the university? Even for foundation years?

I mean don't i need to take for example: the study of graphic design, and history of it, and computer design classes, and writing courses.. etc??

[Abu]

Honestly woman, how clueless can you be! I'd understand if you were in grade 8 or something, but you're senior a student and you have no idea how to apply to university?!

A course in the UK= A degree. They're used interchangeably. So one course in graphic management whatever, will give you everything you need to know to get that degree. A degree is usually 3 years long. Why would you need to do a foundation year if you're doing the IB?

What phillipb meant is that you can apply for 5 degree courses in 5 different universities so that you can maximise your chances in getting to some university. Good luck, you really are going to need it.

[~Lc~]

Be understanding Abooboo, some of us didn't have good University counselors to help us out, and others of us paid a special office to do it for us!

Alright there's a terminology misunderstanding, a course is a majour/degree/program what ever you want to call it in the UK. So studying medicine in UCL is a course in UCL. Get it? what you misunderstood course to mean is module, which is the class/credit hour/ lecture what ever you want to call it. no one, in their right state of mind, would jump from University to University to do various courses, as an internaitonal student or local. Was funny reading that though. I think that answers your question, unless you misunderstand something else, for which I will explain once again..

the reason we advise you apply for the same degree to all 5 institutes is because the personal statement you submit on UCAS will be sent to all 5 Universities, so if you flaunt about being an amazing artist, and are applying for marketing at a backup university, you're most probably going to be rejected for that course.

Aboo: the reason why an IB student would do a foundation year for somehting like graphic design because in the UK you need a very strong portofolio to get into anything arts related, and the acceptance rate is something similar to getting into princeton and columbia, even at the less prestigeous schools. Most students doing art related degrees go through foundation year despite their highschool qualifications.

[Vvi]

Each course has different modules/parts to it, like what you described (the history, practical parts of the course, etc. Like the IB syllabus for each subject has different parts to it). When you complete the IB, you don't move form school to school to study first organic chemistry and then stoichiometry and then atosm, do you? The same principle applies in university. You have different professors and lecturers for each part of the course, but you complete all 3 or 4 years at the same university.

In the UK you do only ONE course. For example: No maths and french. Either maths OR french. Therefore you will only be staying at one university for three to 4 years.

You can study two courses at once. They are called Joint Honours. Maths and French would be possible in the UK. And you can complete 3 courses simultaneously in St Andrews (2 of them being languages and one another subject, e.g. French-Russian and Politics). I don't think it's possible anywhere else in the UK.

[~Lc~]

You can study two courses at once. They are called Joint Honours. Maths and French would be possible in the UK. And you can complete 3 courses simultaneously in St Andrews (2 of them being languages and one another subject, e.g. French-Russian and Politics). I don't think it's possible anywhere else in the UK.

Not True, various Universities offer PPE (Politics, Philosophy, and Economics) including Oxbridge =D it's a 3 course degree!

[moneyfaery]

You can study two courses at once. They are called Joint Honours. Maths and French would be possible in the UK. And you can complete 3 courses simultaneously in St Andrews (2 of them being languages and one another subject, e.g. French-Russian and Politics). I don't think it's possible anywhere else in the UK.

Not True, various Universities offer PPE (Politics, Philosophy, and Economics) including Oxbridge =D it's a 3 course degree!

What would something like Maths with Economics or Maths with _______ count as? Two courses??

[~Lc~]

You can study two courses at once. They are called Joint Honours. Maths and French would be possible in the UK. And you can complete 3 courses simultaneously in St Andrews (2 of them being languages and one another subject, e.g. French-Russian and Politics). I don't think it's possible anywhere else in the UK.

Not True, various Universities offer PPE (Politics, Philosophy, and Economics) including Oxbridge =D it's a 3 course degree!

What would something like Maths with Economics or Maths with _______ count as? Two courses??

Joint honours

[Vvi]

You can study two courses at once. They are called Joint Honours. Maths and French would be possible in the UK. And you can complete 3 courses simultaneously in St Andrews (2 of them being languages and one another subject, e.g. French-Russian and Politics). I don't think it's possible anywhere else in the UK.

Not True, various Universities offer PPE (Politics, Philosophy, and Economics) including Oxbridge =D it's a 3 course degree!

Forgot about that. I think the one course you can't do Joint Honours in is Medicine/Veterinary Medicine. Everything else is possible. Although some subject combos might not be offered e.g. Astrophsyics and Gemology or other unrelated course that aren't offered at many universities.