Originally Posted by FortyTwo25

Ok, so I done some research and have found that this Btec will not get me anywhere. Even the university that is in partnership with the college will not accept it!

I quote 'Vocational qualifications (i.e AVCE and BTEC National Diplomas) and non-XX Foundation Degrees are not accepted.'

Despite that, I have to do this course as I practically begged them for the place. If I was to get maximum points there would be a limit on the amount of universities I'd be able to apply for as the higher you go on the University Rankings League Table the more the requirements.

1 Btec ND(highest being 360 Ucas points/DDD) is equal to 3 A-Levels.

For example, for Psychology, Oxford want 3 A-Levels at grade A whereas a lesser known university wants 280 UCAS points from a BTEC ND in a related area, minimum DMM with at least 6 merits in the final year, excluding common skills. Although they are 'equivalent' if I were to apply for Oxford with 360 points from a Btec I wouldn't get a look in.

If I was to do the standard qualifications (A-Levels) after the two years it would be even more time wasted. I guess I should just try to get into somewhere half decent with the Btec and go from there.

I will definitely look into the transfer scheme as I know many universities don't participate in it, now to find one that does.

Originally Posted by caleyjag

Edinburgh has a fantastic array of programs to go to the US, I can tell you that. I can also tell you that St Andrews does too, and it has a very, very good psychology department. Additionally both are great places to live. I'm not sure what the entry requirements are these days. Probably not far off 3 A's for St Andrews for psychology, unfortunately.

You don't need to go to Oxford. There are other good universities. But you don't want to settle for mediocrity either. That won't help you in trying to get to the US. There are a lot of UK universities that just aren't up to par.
It may very well be that you need to ditch this course and do your A-levels. That's worth considering.

Originally Posted by FortyTwo25

I will definitely look into the transfer scheme as I know many universities don't participate in it, now to find one that does.

Originally Posted by Bob

You can still arrange your own though...

Originally Posted by FortyTwo25

Originally Posted by Bob

Just ask the uni you want a sandwich uni, get in contact with a uni that does a program your interested in and chances are they might have someone interested in exchanging for a year.

A mate of mine did just that to spend a year at Sydney Tech for a year.

Originally Posted by FortyTwo25

Oh right, I never knew that. Thank you.


Re: St Andrews.

They require AAB grades for A Levels in no set subjects which is a little easier. After I complete this course I will apply to study there as they say this:-

'The School of Psychology is eager to encourage applications from as wide a range of people as possible, and if you have non-standard qualifications we will be happy to advise on their acceptability.'

which is great if they don't accept me then I'll take A-levels in 2011.

Originally Posted by augigi

There are other ways too - I know a lot of clinical research professionals who work internationally, including the US. They have varied backgrounds, from nursing to plain science degrees, and then go work at a medical device or pharmaceutical company. The big companies in these field all have offices in Australasia, Europe, US and are prepared to transfer their staff around on L visas.

Originally Posted by caleyjag

Anyway, I would NEVER ever recommend organizing your own year abroad when you are in a position to go to a UK university that has it all set up already.

Firstly, cost. If you set it up yourself, you'll have to pay fees. This is what the majority of yanks do through Boston University and such and they get shafted. It's a joke.

If you went to, for example, Edinburgh, they have an entire International Office set up which coordinates all the exchange programs, and it is done in a manner in which you will not have to pay through the nose - the US fees are waived. Moreover, they take care of all the paperwork, sort you out with dorm housing.... it's the way to go.

This will all be detailed in my article. I'll make sure to broaden the scope from just Edinburgh and St Andrews..... it's just that those are the ones I experienced first hand and they are top notch launch pads for someone keen to check out the US.

Originally Posted by Bob

People can arrange things themselves and get fee's waived, it not really, they just pay their uni and who they swap does the same, it's usually how it's done, or get ERAMUS to sort out the fees so it's not really a problem.

The problem with relying on a uni having a program themselves, whilst very easy and convenient, they might just not be partnered up with a very good uni...my old one had great links to Delft, Milan and one in Brussels but also not a great one that was popular being in San Fran.

Originally Posted by caleyjag

I'm presuming you don't mean Berkeley or Stanford. San Francisco State? Spent a summer working there. It's a bit humdrum. A commuter school. Kinda boring campus. BUT it's in San Francisco, and you just can't argue with that.

Originally Posted by The Horticulturalist

You've been given good advice so far which is great.

I'm now intrigued to see where you end up, you'll have to come back here with regular updates!

Here's a linky to the North American exchange programme at St A's for 09/10:

http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/media/No...0Sept%2008.pdf

I'll leave it to others to comment on the universities offered there, but they have places at some good schools such as Purdue and W&M and Penn.

and here for Edinburgh Uni, again some great schools listed:

http://www.international.ed.ac.uk/exchanges/search.html