[neil]

Originally Posted by Dant3 I've been told the same thing. It took a long of wrangling, but my British BA is now considered an American MA. My USC wife finished her final (4th year) of college at some crappy ex-poly in London, but because she got honours she's a rarity in the US and everyone's falling over themselves to hire her. Apparently, honors are very rare in US college.

So how do you get it converted (or whatever you have to do). So, does this mean my 2:2 from Bristol would be equivalent to an MA here?

[whitesnake]

Myth #4: American roads are congested due to a lack of mass transit. Fact: The U.S. ranks 42nd in the number of vehicles per kilometer of road. Germany, a country with a lot of mass transit, ranks third.

"Look, I came to America because I heard the streets were paved with gold. But when I got here, I found out three things: first, the streets weren't paved with gold; second, some of the streets weren't paved at all; and third, I was expected to pave them."

(Old Italian story, inscribed at Ellis Island)

[Dant3]

Originally Posted by neil So how do you get it converted (or whatever you have to do). So, does this mean my 2:2 from Bristol would be equivalent to an MA here?

Basically, when I first got here I thought maybe I would go to college. The admissions officer demanded that I have all my British qualifications 'converted' to a US equivalent. She gave me the names of several 'authorized' companies that I could go to for this service. (Look at the website for your local teacher credentialing agency and they often have links to these places.)It cost about $100 and I had to send copies of all my certificates to some random PO Box. When I called to inquire about the proceedings, I always spoke to some Korean woman who's kids were screaming in the background. The whole thing seemed very dodgy and barely legitimate, but after a couple of weeks I got a certificate saying that I had graduated High School and college and achieved the equivalent of a BA in subject x and an MA in subject z. I have no idea how they came to their conclusions and considering I scraped through university with a bare pass, I didn't ask.

Some colleges demand this kind of 'authorized' qualification equivalency certificate. Some professions, like teahing, require a much more detailed breakdown of subjects and grades from the UK, but the University of Lincoln has lost all my records so I couldn't get it!

[Bob]

Originally Posted by Dant3 ...Apparently, honors are very rare in US college.

It depends, you have to get a certain gpa and finish a certain amount in the class, like the top 5 get honours...can't really understand it, but the missus explained it, as she got honours, her mate which was doing a few of the same courses, different major, anyway, she didn't get honours...all very weird really...maybe I should get my degree converted, but the place holds nae kudos over here, and throwing honours around means diddly.

Originally Posted by emmals whats cursive writing?

Actually its more than just joined up its this:



Very handy for the average modern career and so much more worth learning than, say, computer science or physics, eh?

[snowbunny]

Originally Posted by jjmb Our daughter is currently at uni in San Marcos and because its a state school, the fees aren't too bad. Still even at that $17,000 plus a year (that is for everything)its is a squeeze and next year our son follows, then a year later our youngest.

How much of the $17k is tuition?! Are you having to pay international student rates? It didn't cost me near $17k to go through UT -- granted, that was 15 years ago, but even bearing that in mind, I know the tuition and costs of living here. Costs of living in San Marcos are lower; my SIL went there.

And it's Southwest Texas State forever, none of that Texas State shit.

[snowbunny]

Originally Posted by emmals whats cursive writing?

script vs printing.

print:



cursive/manuscript:

[snowbunny]

Originally Posted by Guelder Rose However, even for the current generation, I still think that the UK has more to offer to those who have not been able to go into further education. I say this mainly because in the UK, if you have ability, you can start your own business relatively easily as you don't have to concern yourself with health care, or the fact that the big companies seem to monopolize everything.

With this I concur. Even if you end up in a trade in the US which doesn't require a degree, you'd better have one as a backup. I don't care if it's in animal husbandry -- get a bachelor's degree. I feel for those coming over from the UK in trade jobs who are going to get a very rude awakening at the snobbery Americans show for non-degree holders.

What the original statistics fail to mention is the incredibly high percentage of foreign students who are the 'innovators' at US universities and companies. What incentive is there for an American student to work incredibly hard and borrow huge sums of money to finish an engineering PhD if his/her job ends up outsourced to India? There are plenty of bright Americans who are out of work. It *is* a myth that there aren't enough scientific septics; the companies have moved the jobs because labour is cheaper in India, full stop.

I honestly don't know what to advise my kids to pursue as a career. Which is part of why I want out of here.

[Elvira]

Originally Posted by snowbunny I honestly don't know what to advise my kids to pursue as a career. Which is part of why I want out of here.

You and me both! I have 3, only one of whom has even the remotest idea of what he wants to do [He wants to become a psychiatrist; I expect he'll never run out of work..]

There seems to be zero career guidance here. I wonder is it as bad now in the UK? Where do people get their careers information from, particularly now when there are so many jobs and professions that didn't even exist when I was starting out?

Elvira

[snowbunny]

Originally Posted by DonnaElvira You and me both! I have 3, only one of whom has even the remotest idea of what he wants to do [He wants to become a psychiatrist; I expect he'll never run out of work..]

Unless people can't afford mental health care.

[Elvira]

Originally Posted by snowbunny Unless people can't afford mental health care.

OMG let's not open this can of worms!

Anyway, he is planning to go back home

[snowbunny]

Originally Posted by DonnaElvira OMG let's not open this can of worms! Anyway, he is planning to go back home

It's wormy alright.

I figure that there will be jobs taking care of the elderly, and many things will be dirt cheap because the elderly will have had to sell them at discount in a glutted market (glutted because they will all have to liquidate their assets for retirement money). Other than that, though, it's going to be a bumpy ride. I don't know that I want to be on the plane.

[neil]

Originally Posted by DonnaElvira You and me both! I have 3, only one of whom has even the remotest idea of what he wants to do [He wants to become a psychiatrist; I expect he'll never run out of work..] There seems to be zero career guidance here. I wonder is it as bad now in the UK? Where do people get their careers information from, particularly now when there are so many jobs and professions that didn't even exist when I was starting out? Elvira

I don't think careers guidance is too bad in the UK. I used to be a teacher in the UK and recall that I used the local education authority facilities when I decided I wanted a change of career. It gave me some great ideas. Still not sure how I ended up as a consultant for a publishing software company though. There was certainly nothing quite like that when I was at school.

[Bob]

Originally Posted by DonnaElvira There seems to be zero career guidance here. I wonder is it as bad now in the UK? Where do people get their careers information from, particularly now when there are so many jobs and professions that didn't even exist when I was starting out?

I think it depends on the schools, though in Oxford, at the beginning of the year, the county council sent a careers person to the high schools to help the careers person, bring in new info, ucas stuff, and it was pretty good at my school, there were two sets of test/questionnaires that you did and you'd get a couple of reports saying which career area's you would be most suited towards based on academic records, and another report saying where you would best fit in by lifestyle choices...so you'd end up with a good collection of input, and the reports would have suggestions for where to go study as well...

[Elvira]

Originally Posted by Bob I think it depends on the schools, though in Oxford, at the beginning of the year, the county council sent a careers person to the high schools to help the careers person, bring in new info, ucas stuff, and it was pretty good at my school, there were two sets of test/questionnaires that you did and you'd get a couple of reports saying which career area's you would be most suited towards based on academic records, and another report saying where you would best fit in by lifestyle choices...so you'd end up with a good collection of input, and the reports would have suggestions for where to go study as well...

My oldest, who did high school here (CA) never got any career guidance whatsoever.

School counsellors are useless, the ones at his college ditto. The college catalogue (2" thick, very small print) is completely overwhelming. So, for the time being, he is 'undeclared', taking odd courses here and there, without any coherent strategy or purpose.

I've got 2 more to get through college - I hope we'll find our way through this maze some time soon!

Which reminds me, SATs tomorrow! :scared:

Elvira