That special relationship - why do so many Americans come to study in the UK?

With all things transatlantic - and very exciting - in the news, it seems a good time to ask the question so many students ask themselves: just why do so many Americans come here to study? Ellen Przepasniak explains.....

"For Americans, coming to the UK to study has become a bit of a joke. You don't need to learn a new language, the classes are easier and, most importantly, the drinking age is 18. When American students come here to study, they often run rampant. You will see them at your liquor stores loading up with bottles of alcohol, hear them conversing too loudly on the Tube and watch them boarding cheap Ryanair flights for the weekends.

Taking those – let us face it, mostly true – stereotypes into consideration, I can thankfully say I have escaped most of them. It is because I have come here to study as a 25-year-old graduate student. I am a little bit older and a little bit wiser. Drinking is not a big deal anymore, I know to keep my mouth shut on the Tube and I work hard at my classes because if I do not, I will not graduate. It is all a question of maturity; 19-year-old students are just more prone to going crazy the moment they step off the plane. That ocean separating them from mommy and daddy is a vast one. I wanted to study abroad in my undergraduate years, but never got to fit it into my rigorous schedule. I'm now making up for it.

If Americans are looking to study abroad, the UK is an obvious choice for those not wanting to go too far from home, culturally and geographically. Junior year abroad (JYA) programs are popular with UK universities and most academic advisors will allow you to substitute courses taken abroad for those at home. According to a 2005 Open Doors report on American students studying abroad, the UK is the leading destination for Americans. In the 2003-2004 season, 32,000 Americans studied in the UK and over 8,000 students from 300 universities came to do for-credit work experience.

I am not “studying abroad” in the traditional sense. I am in the last semester of a three-semester Master’s program in Journalism with Boston University in Boston, Massachusetts. BU has a campus here in London, so I am technically not studying at a UK university; rather I am “studying abroad” with my same university. Slightly convoluted, I know. The professors and campus’ administrators are mostly British, but all the students are American. Our dormitory is all American students, so it is incredibly easy to live in a bubble. It would be incredibly easy to go an entire day without speaking to one Brit.

There are other American universities with London centres, such as Ithaca College. It is an interesting concept for American schools to open campuses here. Professors and administrators on both continents can work together and students are saved the paperwork of transferring to another university – and hoping their credits transfer too. I have the security of making sure the courses I am taking in London are consistent with my program back home.

I think so many American students study in the UK because it is not that different from back home. It is a cynical prospect, I know. Plain and simple, I came here because UK newspapers fascinate me and I want to study UK media as part of my degree. I study just as hard here as I would back in Boston because I know the grades carry just as much weight. (Since my British professors will eventually read this, I will not admit to the grading being more lenient or not!)

I know I am not the only American student in the UK who puts my studies first, so perhaps together we can present a united front and change the current perception. In the meantime, I will continue to take advantage of everything my professors – and the UK – have to offer. That is why I came here, after all."

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Comments

[Deb]

I studied abroad in the UK for my junior year because my university had a tuition exchange program, making it affordable. The classes were much harder, and much more intensely focused. I learned more that year than any of my undergrad years, and managed to pull out some 1sts as well.

It was also a wonderful cultural experience. We may speak the same language, but we also have many misconceptions about each other.

[Beth]

It is not always just about the fees, the lack of a language barrier or the perceived ease of a UK as opposed to a US degree (although at first I was surprised at the differences in the duration of courses). I came to the UK for my postgraduate study because I am a historian, with a particular interest in medieval England. For me, doing my research in a setting enabling convenient access to archives and other source material was the best option.
As for equating A-levels with a US degree, I really have no idea where that idea came from. When I was in my final two years of high school I took Advanced Placement exams, which enabled me to skip some introductory level courses in the first year of college. As many colleges and universities (at least at the time I was applying) were more likely to accept applicants with high AP exam results, it occurs to me that these might be a better equivalent to A-levels than an actual 4-year US degree!

[Stephen]

I agree with one of the correspondents. Oftentimes, when American students come to the U.K.,
they are older and pampered and often think their “good life” will extend into the U.K. only to be
“shocked and awed” at the superiority of the British educational system. In Third Year At MaloryTowers, Enid Blyton captured this sentiment when Zerelda Brass who is already older than the fourth formers is demoted to third form due to her par below-standard academic performance.
Most Amercan who come to Britain to study are Zerelda Brasses.

[Kat]

Also, there are good schools and bad schools in both the US and the UK. It is amusing that some of the same people criticising this article for lack of objective evidence choose to make their point by saying how "hilariously easy" their experience in one American university was. Or that "they heard" that A-levels are equivalent to a university degree. What a silly comment. It does nothing to advance the British cause.

[Kat]

As an American working in the UK, with undergraduate and graduate degrees from a US university, I do not agree with the statement that there is a widespread perception among American students that UK schools are any easier.

I will say that there are systematic differences which may make UK programmes more appealing to certain types of students. These are:

1) The focused curriculum of UK programmes, which does not require what is called "general education". In the US, regardless of your chosen major, you must fulfill two years of coursework in all subject areas. Students who might be talented in the sciences, for example, can find themselves struggling to maintain their grade point averages because of weaknesses in other completely unrelated subjects (such as art history, sociology, or Spanish). This can affect their ability to get into good medical schools or postgraduate programmes in the future.

2) Following on point #1 about general education, US students spend at least four years on their degrees (and in many cases these days, even five), as opposed to three in the UK. There may be financial considerations which make the reduced time more feasible for students who need to graduate and start earning sooner.

3) In the UK, masters degrees are earned in one year and Ph.Ds are earned in three years. In the US it takes two years for a full-time MA and about six or more years for a Ph.D. While you can argue that it takes longer in the US due to inefficiencies in the system, there is also something to be said about US graduate programmes being more rigorous. As I have friends with both American and British Ph.Ds, it seems that American Ph.Ds are more competitive for academic positions than their English counterparts. But that is just based on anecdotal evidence.

Hope this helps.

[Nicholas]

Perhaps if you went to a 'real' UK university you wouldn't have opinions such as "the classes are easier". Then again, I wouldn't expect a self respecting top tier UK university to offer such a narrow minded journalist a place into their programme. Try writing about something more substantial than what I hashed out piss drunk at the pub last night with my mates while 'studying' abroad and spending my parents' money.

[Claire]

I'm rather surprised to see it suggested that UK degree programmes are 'easier' than US degree programmes. I remember being informed during the 6th form at my grammar school, in the context of a school exchange programme, that an A-Level was equivalent to a US degree. I suspect that this is somewhat of an exaggeration, however, I should be interested to know the criteria upon which Ellen Przepasniak is able to support that a US degree programme is easier than a British one.

Unless Ms Przepasniak has objective evidence to support this assertion, her article should be amended. Of course, I doubt that any such objective evidence will exist...

[Roy]

I studied economics abroad at Boston college for my third year. I had a great time, not only because I was experiencing a new culture but because the grading was hilariously lenient compared to my university at home in Scotland. It is extremely hard to achieve a first while getting an 'a' is no big deal.

[Mac]

I came to study in the UK because 1. I got more for my money -- yes, it was cheaper to come to the UK and do an MA then it would have been to do the same thing in the States and live for free with my parents! 2. It was an opportunity (not my first) to live abroad in a country I've always admired (it's fun to be surrounded by various British accents), and 3. Prestige! Yes, it is prestigious to walk around America with a UK university on your CV, and don't let anybody tell you different!

The only trouble I ever had was the occasional numbskulls who thought they needed to tell me everything I thought and felt because I was American and "that's what Americans do."

[Dave]

Nameless complainant, I appreciate your response insofar as you feel the article did not actually say very much. However the number of spelling mistakes I find on TimesOnline in general leads me to believe that you're just splitting hairs by picking up on the author's grammar. Are you simply trying to assert your own 'superiority' as a grad student..?

[ADAM]

I can agree to some extent with your point about how it is not too different, language being the main barrier. That was the same reason i took a semester in canada at uni, but when i arrived i found much more than that, and now i live here in Toronto. Exchanges are a brilliant experience, full stop.

[Lucy]

If UK classes are so much easier, why do third year American students end up coming over here and going into first year? It's pretty well-accepted that US uni courses are actually a lot easier and less academic than UK ones - I remember using US university materials (second year, if I recall correctly) for my history A-Level (so before I left secondary school).

[bogy]

I think that a lot of students come to study here because the British system is one of the best, in fact the best. here is the centre of the world, I'm not British but I love this country probably more than a British :))

Frankly I can't understand the motivation behind your article either and I must say, it let me down. Basically you're saying "this is the stereotype, I'm not it because I'm older, the end". I would have loved for you to actually delve deeper into the motivation for Americans to study abroad and what the experience is like. Also, I think it's a bit of an insult to Britain to say that it's "not that different" from America. Even though there are many similarities, both countries are great and unique. There's more worth pointing out than that it's "not that different".

What was the point of you writing this article other than trying to impress upon the audience your self-pronounced superiority over undergrads? I don't think it's any different for us in the way that if we don't work hard, we won't graduate, either. In fact, some of us are more likely to work hard considering our transcripts will be looked at for further schooling such as grad level or law school etc.

Also, as a grad student I would vary my sentence structure:

"Slightly convoluted, I know."

"It is a cynical prospect, I know."

[Ashlee]

correction, the American system discourages degree-seekers to stay at home. Confused two of my thoughts into one!

[Ashlee]

I came to the UK for my undergrad degree because (despite a horrific exchange rate at the time) my fees would not be much more than having stayed in America. Granted, I work part-time here to pay my rent and bills.

The American system discourages degree seekers to head abroad. Why stay in the same country when you can go away for the same price?

I'm about to finish my 3rd and final year in the UK system, where I will stay and work afterwards. Most single-semester Americans I meet are the same as any other American 'studying' abroad in Spain, France, Italy...excited to be away from Mommy and Daddy, excited over the liberal attitude to alcohol, excited to be free of America, and slagging it off to look cool in front of the locals. Time to break the stereotype guys! Get your s*** together and stop giving people a reason to take the piss out of you.

[BlueCalifornia]

I came here for the loud, drunk locals.

[Hol]

If US uni tuition wasn't so cripplingly expensive, I think you'd have just as many Brits doing the same thing for the same reasons: no need for a second language, an ocean away from the parentals...

Well, every American I met at uni worked hard as well as played hard :o)

[Peter G]

I met my wife while she was doing her junior year abroad at Oxford. She is lovely!
Actually now would be a great time to come from the US to study - just think how much admiration you will receive from Obama loving Britons!

[Ed]

South Kensington and other areas where BU and other American universities have campuses are barely part of the United Kingdom-- culturally they are a bland Disneyland for the rich and the parentally supported.
Even worse, even within the UK universities in London- LSE, UCL, KCL, etc, there is so much nationality-based social balkanisation that one will most likely end up spending most of your timewith people from the same country (and sometimes even region) of origin.

Personally, I came here to be blamed - in person--in every pub, university hallway, and other social gathering- for the Iraq war, and just about every other sin of my president and country.