A8NNC

Can anyone help, we are possibly moving to Florida this year and my daughter will have finished her GCSE at school and would if we were still living in the UK then go on to College for 2 years complete her A Levels then go on to Uni, but I do not know what the US school system is?? Can anyone help? Would she go to High School or College or ????
Thanks

fathermike

The usual system would be to attend high school until age 18. No equivalent to GCSEs or A-Levels. I don't have kids myself but do work with a lot of High School students, some of the exceptional ones are able to take college (university) classes while still attending High School so that they start at college with some credit hours already amassed.

Hope this helps,

Mike

A8NNC

Hi
Thanks for that, she is 17 and will be 18 in Feb, so if she did not go to High School but straight to college is that possible? She is quite bright, goes to a Private School here so has had a 'better' education! so to speak. Do you have any recommendations for colleges closer to Orlando/Kissimee area - we are back out on 27/3 so would like to visit/contact.
Thanks

Bluegrass Lass

I copied this here, from the other thread your posted your question on:

Ok, from my limited knowledge of Brit terminology from my OH, I know that Brits consider 'college' different from 'uni'. FYI, here in the US, they are one and the same. There are literally tens of thousands of colleges/uni's in the US. Just to give you a crash course, in case you don't already know:

You get local community colleges that typically offer certificates and associates degrees (2yr degrees), and some will even offer bachelor degrees. They usually only offer limited fields of study. Oftentimes, kids go to community college to get a lot of general education requirements out of the way because CC's are much cheaper than the 4yr universities. Then you have the higher level uni's/colleges that offer bachelor's and masters and PhD's. Some are going to be more specialized for certain fields (such as liberal arts, science, medicine, etc) or at the very least they will have a reputation for certain degrees (med, business, engineering).

To find a uni, you can use Google to find ones local to area, and then start eliminating them based on tuition, degrees offered, locale, admission standards, etc. What you define as good will be completely diff from what I consider good esp since we dont know what she wants to study. You probably need to get started looking into admission standards now. Given that she will have no education history in the US, you may need quite a bit of documentation. It's almost absolutely certain that they will have to evaluate her scores into a US equivalent in order to deem it sufficient for admisstion. This procedure differs by school, so it's best to narrow down the schools first, so that you are not going through too many of these evaluations (sometimes you may have to pay for yourself - I know we had to).

anotherlimey

I think the University of Central Florida is there: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Univers...entral_florida

A8NNC

Hi
Thanks for that info, god know what we will do...she will only be 17years not 18 until Feb and no point in going to high school for a few months is there? It looks like she will have to go straight to what we would call University will hv to check it out end of month when we are over in Florida...cheers

anotherlimey

Email the admissions dept. with your questions... they will respond.

christmasoompa

Do you have a time limit for being there/what visa will you be on?

Just wondered if you could postpone moving for a bit if it would make the education transition easier for her?

Ozzidoc

Is the OP aware that education isn't one of Florida's strong points?

elliep

Now you mention it!!

I'm currently at a Community College in Orlando; no matter where your daughter ends up (a CC or a 4-year university), she will have to do some extremely basic courses... One example being Comp I...Literally teaching people where to use a full stop or a comma.

If you're going to be paying out of state tuition, I would strongly recommend looking into Community Colleges instead of a 4 year institution such as UCF or USF etc... 10 times cheaper for the same courses and you are normally guaranteed a place to transfer to a 4 year university within the state for the final 2 years to complete a Bachelors.

ChelleyP

Hi.

I am a USC living in the UK. I went to high school in USA, some "uni" in USA, then finished uni in the UK and now teach at a UK college... (Just to give you some background on why I think I know a little something about both education systems).

I can't say for certain but I do not think that your daughter can go right on to University or community college. I am pretty sure she would need a high school diploma or equivalent to do so. I believe that A-levels are equivalent to a US high school diploma and not just GCSE's. (Please don't quote me on this though! )

Comparing the US system and the UK system is like apples and oranges. But please do not dismiss the US system- it is much broader in terms of subjects than in the UK, so GCSE's may not be considered enough.

In the UK, there is a body called NARIC which "translates" foreign qualifications into UK ones. When I applied to university in the UK I had to go through them and have them determine if my US high school transcript was enough for me to be eligible for UK university.

Maybe there is some equivalent to NARIC in the USA...?

I agree with one of the previous posters who suggested you contact the admissions office of some colleges in Florida. (In USA you apply directly to university and not through a UCAS system like the UK).

Whatever happens- best of luck! I am hoping to move over to Florida soon too!

elliep

I had my GCSE and A levels sent to Josef Silny in Miami who specialize in evaluating foreign credentials. From what I could work out from the report, my GCSE's were the equivalent of an HS diploma and my A levels gave me 24 credit hours towards college.

There are a couple of companies that do the evaluations, Silny's being the one I can remember off the top of my head, there is also one in New York but can't remember the name at the moment. You do need the original exam certificates when you send off to apply.

fatbrit

It might be sensible for her to start with a GED course at the community college.

ChelleyP

Might be- or like elliep said- she might have the equivalent already- it just needs to be verified.

One thing for the OP to note: whether it is high school or university/community college... just be aware that the teaching style, structure of lessons, assessments, etc... are completely different from the UK.

fatbrit

Don't know whether the young person is going to live here or not and whether she is going to have work permission. But if she is, a GED absent high school graduation is a useful tool in her arsenal for part-time jobs, etc.