Any Americans who have studied in Britain, why did you choose to study there?

10 comments

1. I was there as part of my my larger study abroad program. The programs I wanted were fairly niche and the UK was one of the few places offering them.

2. I had the option to go to either England or Australia, and Australia was just too far from home for me to feel comfortable. It was only a 6-hour flight from England for me to get home, so if there was some sort of emergency it wouldn’t be too difficult for me to get back.

3. Yay finally a question for me. Did my undergrad in Scotland. Initially did my freshman year at Kentucky but knew I wanted bigger and better things and as I value prestige and history, no better place than Glasgow uni out of my options.

4. I spent a semester at Oxford studying Ancient English Literature. I went there because they had the best overall program out of all the places I looked at. It was a cool experience too and I really enjoyed the classes. Saying you studied at Oxford has continued to be something I like to pull out occasionally for the wow factor as well.

5. I wanted to live in London for a couple months

6. I did a Masters in Britain. I basically did it because it was a. a well regarded program, b. a year program, and c. I didn’t have to take the GRE.

   The biggest issue is you don’t qualify for student loans if you go overseas so you do have to pay out of pocket. I believe my entire tuition was about $20,000 (it was 15 years ago) + housing, etc.

7. I was an English major and it seemed appropriate lol. Wanted to see the sites. It was ok (this was 2 months ago)I really enjoyed seeing the historic sites and going to museums bc I’m a history nerd no matter where I am tbh, but I did have some bad interactions with Brits where I just felt super isolated and downcast afterwards. Just a lot of assumptions about me as an American despite their ignorance of America, holier than thou-isms and some xenophobic comments (not about me). I did however meet some awesome British people! Just like everywhere people can be shitty, it was just a bit of a culture shock and kind of stuck with me

8. I qualified for a Study Abroad program, and of the English speaking universities that had a program in my major, going to London appealed to me most. I just wanted to go see it, for the most part. I enjoyed it a lot, even though it was (technically) one of the most depressing parts of my life outside of that.

9. I did my master’s in London and still live here 6 years later. I’d always wanted to live abroad so after studying abroad in undergrad (in France), I knew I wanted to do it again but for longer. It was also cheaper and quicker to do a master’s in Europe than my in home state, even with the international student fee. Also didn’t have to take the GRE.

   I chose London as there were a number of universities with my desired field of study and I wanted to be in a major city. After I finished I ended up staying, marrying my partner who’s European and pursuing my career in London. I’ll be applying for British citizenship next year and will likely stay for at least a few more years.

10. My friend studied in the UK for a one year semester transfer abroad program and did so because he wanted to see something outside the USA. It makes sense. If i had the means, i would also love to live abroad for a year.