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Studying Abroad (From US to UK)
I'm currently a junior in high school, and I've recently started looking into colleges out of the US and there's a few that look amazing. I just want to know other peoples' opinions and experience, whether it's a good idea, how hard it is, what I should do in preparation, basic information about the UK education system, scholarships/finances, and really just anything you think is important.
I really want to study animal behaviour/ethology and horse training. There are a few colleges in the US (Findlay, Centenary, Lake Erie, Emory & Henry, MSU, ...) but not only are they much more expensive, they also only have equine degrees. I've only recently thought about animal behaviour/ethology, so I haven't been looking into colleges for that in the US. But, in the UK, the first college I looked at (Hartpury) has so many majors that I would love to take (Animal Behaviour and Welfare, Equine Science, Equestrian Sports Coaching, Equine Behaviour and Welfare, ...). It also seems so much cheaper, and I'm kind of interested in living out of the US.
2 answers
Ezzedeena Baryoh
Ezzedeena’s Answer
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Thank you so much for your answer! I'll definitely look into it more!
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Joseph Neilson
Joseph’s Answer
My first comment is that the particular university you mention in the UK (Hartpury) is a very specialist institution focusing only on a few narrow agricultural and animal science fields, whereas it looks like you're comparing to much more normal broad-interest colleges stateside. It's a tiny campus out in the countryside and you won't have the typical full mix of other students studying different fields alongside you. I'm sure you can easily travel into the nearby towns, but student life at such a small place is bound to be different from the regular university experience, and I'd guess that difference is a bigger impact on what your overall experience is like rather than the fact it happens to be in a different country.
I will say you're probably right about seeming cheaper - US education is notoriously expensive compared to much of the rest of the world, so although your international fees will be expensive by UK standards or standards in many other countries, compared to the US it's probably quite reasonable. I'd try not to place too much weight on costs, though - the important thing is to find an environment and course you'll be happy with and can stick with to get your qualifications that lead on to a fulfilling career.
Another thing is as you mentioned, the UK education system runs differently to the system in the US. The terms used for things are often quite different - many US terms won't be understood very well (things like junior/senior/sophomore, GPA, major/minor, associates degree) and you'll instead be learning UK terms like A-levels, UCAS, 1st/2:1/2:2 etc. Even terms like school/high school/college/university have slightly different meanings to be aware of.
For a very basic overview, UK primary and secondary education follows a broadly similar pattern to the US system, but the school year names are all offset by one compared to the US because we don't use the term kindergarten - UK goes from years 1-13 as the US goes from K-12. There are also different overlaps in different schools regarding which years you change schools. Junior high and senior high are not necessarily separate, and where they are, they get called different things like high school and upper school. There's a transition for post-16 education, which can often mean changing school either for an academic route (years 12 and 13 or "Sixth Form"); or a more vocational education which is often called "college". Higher education (university undergraduate) follows, around age 17-18, and is typically a 3-year undergraduate bachelors degree; which can be followed by 1-2 year postgraduate Master's or 3-4 year PhD programmes. The important thing to note there is that if you're looking at "college" education in the US, you want to be looking at Universities in the UK, rather than colleges.
One thing I can signpost you towards is that I've seen a few American expats on YouTube talking about their experiences of living (and in some cases studying) in the UK, and that can be a good place to pick up on some of the cultural differences and things you might not have thought about. A few I've seen bits of and might be worth a skim through include channels like Evan Edinger, Girl Gone London, and Lost in the Pond.
Thank you so much for all this information! It's greatly appreciated! I haven't looked way too deeply into different universities, but Hartpury was the first one I saw, and I personally wouldn't mind a very small campus/class. I'll have to check out those YouTube channels soon too, but thank you so much!!
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