Francisco Said:

Good school in England to major in English/Creative Writing?

We Answered:

I just looked at the Times Good University Guide, 2009 for rankings by subject - English, and its currently lists Durham as the #1 institution in the country for English.

http://extras.timesonline.co.uk/tol_gug/…

Apart from Oxbridge, other good schools are Leeds, Leicester, York, Warwick, Exeter, Southampton, Nottingham, Liverpool and Cardiff. St. Andrews is good too, but it is in Scotland, not England. The same would apply to Edinburgh, another good school in Scotland.

UCL also makes the Top 10, but I'm guessing you wouldn't look at that too, for the same reasons you weren't willing to look at Oxbridge.

Realistically speaking, its not that hard to get into if you have the right grades and can come up with an essay that demonstrates your writing skills and outlines why you re determined to excel in this field. There may be thousands of applicants from all over the world, but if you can convince the Admissions with your writing skills that you re talented enough, you got a fighting chance. And if you happen to come from an English-speaking country, that strengthens your chances, doesn't it?

Anyway, it doesn't hurt to apply, right? You never know till you apply.

Guardian University Guide 2009 Rankings for Subject-English

http://browse.guardian.co.uk/education?S…

Somewhat similar with Dundee, Queen Mary and Bristol slightly higher up in the rankings.

Jo Said:

What is the best one-volume dictionary?

We Answered:

I always recommend the American Heritage Dictionary. My professors (I majored in English) thought it was the best.

Jimmie Said:

HELP UNI & UCAS FORM HELP!!! Oxford/Cambridge/LSE ppl?

We Answered:

Have you checked the UCAS website at http://www.ucas.com/ under the Information section? It's all there. Good luck with your application!

Javier Said:

I was wondering if at Oxford/Cambridge is there a difference in getting in between American and English people?

We Answered:

No, there is certainly no bias against international students of any country at Oxbridge. All the top universities in the UK are very proud of having a large proportion of international students as it demonstrates the international reputation of that university: at my uni (not Oxbridge but still very good) the fact that 10% of students are international is prominently displayed on their website! In fact here in the UK there are a lot of rumours that international students are chosen over equally qualified British students, partly because of the reason I already mentioned and partly because they can charge international students much higher fees. I'm not sure that there is any truth in that, but I can assure you that there is absolutely no bias against US students. If you are an exceptional student (i.e. if you are good enough to get into an Ivy League college), and you can afford the fees, you have just as much chance as anyone else. Bear in mind though that Oxbridge is massively oversubscribed - there are usually around 30 students applying for each place, and all of them have the right qualifications etc. It's definitely worth applying, but don't pin all your hopes on them as many very good students don't get in every year - apply to some good US colleges as well or even some other good UK universities. Good luck!

Dale Said:

How hard is it to get into the University of Oxford?

We Answered:

why dont you just walk up to the door and knock ha ha

Tyler Said:

What kind of GPA and stuff do you have to do to get into Ivy League or Oxford University?

We Answered:

Try to have a 4.0 GPA or better. If not, atleast have a 3.9

You want a minimum of a 28 on your ACT but a 32 would set you in the safe zone. I'm not quite as sure on the SAT but I think you want at least a 2000.

You want to take as many advanced courses as you can handle, but don't take the ones you know that would give you a C or below. (note that colleges usually weight AP classes to that a B looks more like an A)

You want to show dedication to something in high school. This means you want to do one activity for a course of four years. If you hate what you're doing and it's been two years, you always can switch out but you might want to start something that is similar in order to show your dedication.

Community service is important, as well. Make sure you volunteer as much as possible. You can also join your school's Honor Society, which requires that you do community service.

TAKE A LANGUAGE. That's very important. Make sure that it's not sign language because that can be risky. Take Spanish, French, German, Chinese, etc... You want a minimum of three years in a language, but it would be great if you could make it four years.

Diversity helps. If you're in a public school in a city-ish area and caucasian, it's going to be harder for you to make it in. They want to see what sets you apart from the majority of the population of America.

There have been people that are culturely diverse and made it into an ivy league with an ACT score of 23. If you aren't sure what a 23 means, it means that a score such as that is pretty close to average. So, it's not always performance on standardized tests, grades, etc...

Good luck! If you aspire to go to an ivy league one day, you must have the drive to get there. If you try your best, you'll get there.

Hope this helps :)