Hi

[samantainitalia]

Hi I'm an American in my last year of university, and i'm really hoping to go to a British grad school next year. I'm an international studies major, concentrating on the European Union, and I hope to study European policy or some type of political area studies focusing on Europe. I've always wanted to live in England, and I think going to grad

Comments

[h_hrlova]

I think the nor_am_uk_ac community might help you out in that direction.

[gwnhyvaer]

If you want to attend grad school for 2008/2009 in England, you probably should've started your application process already. It depends on where you're looking to go, but a lot of schools need your application almost a year in advance.

[heavymetalkarma]

Actually, it's not too late to apply to a British postgrad programme, depending on the university. I sent my application in December, and got accepted in January.

Of course, you should talk to your letter of recommendation writers like, now.

[gwnhyvaer]

Yeah, it took me a few months to get my letters of recommendation, and for all but one of my universities, the initial application deadlines were in October and December. As I said, it certainly does depend on the universities to which you're applying. I could be completely mistaken, but from the OP, it sounds like Samantha hasn't narrowed down her list of schools to anything beyond that of "in England somewhere," and I know for me it took me about a year to work through all the universities, their locations, their academic standings, and the degrees they offer to find the best fit for me

[margotdarko]

It definitely depends on the university. I applied to University of Winchester for a MA course in March of 05 and was accepted for September 05. I don't remember it being a close shave either.

[gwnhyvaer]

PS: I say this as an American doing a Master's this year at a British uni. I started doing my applications in the summer of 2006, and got fully accepted into school a full 13 months later.

[eastertheatre]

I looked into this a while back, and just a few thoughts:

1) It's going to be more expensive than going to grad school in the US, plus your living expenses will be 2x what they are here.

2) Your British MA will not count as an MA here in the US should you want to continue on to do a PhD. They aren't the same thing and you will just have to do another MA all over again.

However, if you can hack the cost and aren't really looking to be in academia, I am envious of you and hope you go for it!

[fatenoir]

i agree that living expenses are higher, but actual tuition might not be depending on the programme. the uk programmes are only a year long, while in the states they are two. so while it is much costlier for that one year in the uk it all kinda evens out in the end since it is just the one year.

[narcissus]

That's not necessarily true - my british friend is doing her masters in the UK but will be hopefully coming to the states to do her PhD. Northwestern and USC have already said they would accept her UK MA. I imagine it depends on the subject, program, and university. (This is also true for costs and duration of program)

[samantainitalia]

Thanks for all of your insight. I had started the application process, and right now I'm pretty clear on what schools I'm applying to, and I'm on track with deadlines and letters of recommendation. I am concerned about costs, but am applying to international fellowships through my school (vassar) which will hopefully give me enough money so that I don't have to take out too much in loans. Thanks again, Samantha