Ever wondered what's different about higher education across the pond? (hint: it costs a lot more)
Cost
US- Average of $60,000 a year.
UK- Average of £9,000 a year. I guess it could always be worse.
Accomodation
US- Almost exclusively shared bedrooms (hah!)
UK- Almost exclusively private rooms (in ugly 60s tower blocks)
Alcohol
US- Nothing until you’re 21 (legally, that is).
UK- You're already proficient in getting wrecked by 18 and university just lets you do it every day.
Sports
US- College sport is played in giant stadiums and is not a joke.
UK- A series of one-sided varsity matches, most of them held in an overblown school sports hall
In Films
US- Raucous bro comedies about fraternity antics (and that one really good episode of the Simpsons)
UK- Foppish romantic comedies, probably set in Cambridge
BEER PONG
US- Red solo cups are standard.
Uk- Red solo cups are an exotic novelty. People mostly play beer pong with spare mugs they have lying around the kitchen.
Grading
US- Grading on an A-F to scale where you can actually get top marks on a test. WTF is this.
UK- All of your work exitsts in the 57-73 mark range, no matter how much or little work you do.
Course Structure
US- Try a few things before you pick your major. Get some experience, live a little!
UK- Pick what you want to study at 17 with no experience of the wider world, setting out the blueprint for your career and the rest of your life.
Assessment
US- Frequent midterms, quizzes, exams and coursework to test every inch of your knowledge.
UK- 5 exams at the end of the year, all of them terrifying, none of them important in the grand scheme of things.
Fraternities
US- A hotbed of machismo and controversy that has become a hallmark of the uni experience
UK- A hotbed of machismo and controversy that have been rightly battered into non-existence by British scepticism
Alumni
US- Every university has a homecoming week, where alumni come back to campus and do stuff.
UK- ALl you get for once you leave a UK university is nostalgia for how much you used to drink and phone calls from your uni asking for money.
Cars
US- You learned to drive at 15 and inexplicably own a pickup trick (image below probably not representative of the reality, sorry America)
UK- You passed your test 18 months ago and haven’t driven since because car insurance is stupidly expensive.
Graduation
US- Wear a silly hat, shake some hands and get a piece of paper.
UK- Wear a silly hat, shake some hands and get a piece of paper. Maybe we’re not so different after all!
