Transfer from UK to US for Undergraduate Physics Degree

[hasan_researc]

Hi,

I have just completed the first year of my undergraduate Physics degree at Imperial College. (To be accurate, I have not sat for three of my exams in June. I am an international student and I had a problem with my visa, so I had to leave the UK. I will sit those exams in September.)

As I am an international student, I will have to pay 20k every year on top of my living costs. This is a huge investment for someone like me who's from an underdeveloped country.

For this reason, I am wanting to transfer to an university in the US since US universities offer scholarships to students.

I am wondering whether I should continue at my present university. Is an Imperial education worth its tuition fees? Can I be sure that I will get a net return from this investment?

Or shall I think of transferring to a US university instead? If so, which institutions would you recommend? My academic performance lies in the top 5-8% of the 230 students in my year group, but I don't perform in any extracurricular activities. I would be grateful if anyone could suggest the universities at the top of the league tables which might accpet my application.

Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[Ryker]

Are you doing a B.Sc. or MPhys? You're probably too late to transfer next year, so that would mean you'd be doing 2 years of study in the UK, and then possibly another 2 years in US, right? I can't really offer any specific advice, but all I know (from what I hear) is Imperial is a great university for Physics and is also world-renowned. And as far as transferring to the US, I think there's not that many universities there that are "better" than Imperial, not in terms of education or reputation. That's just my take and I could be mistaken, of course. And are you sure you get scholarships at US universities right from the get-go? A classmate of mine from high school went to study in the US and, although he said there is ample financial support available even for international students, that was only after first year. And if that'd apply for your case, as well, then you'd basically be financed for a year, which I guess wouldn't make that big of a difference considering the tuition fees are probably much higher even compared to the 20k at Imperial. And I think another thing to consider is that if you want to go to graduate school it'd probably be conducive to that goal if you make a name for yourself amongst the professors, do research with them etc., and spending two years at one institution and then another two at another kind of impairs, though not completely prevents, that. Just another point to consider, I guess, but in the end if you feel you couldn't financially be able to pull off studying in the UK, but would in the US, then perhaps you should try to transfer.

 

[hunt_mat]

Imperial College is a very good university. If you like the UK but can't afford the costs, have you thought of studying somewhere else in the uk? For example Swansea has a very good physics departments and it would be relatively cheap there compared to London (or Aberystwyth or example).

Mat