Category: UK

Back from a quick visit to the UK. I visited multiple schools (9?) in one week and will profiles those I saw in additional posts. The most important take-away for those considering graduate study in the UK is to do your research about the university and the program. There are many excellent opportunities available for students at UK universities, and some are considerably less expensive than their US analogs. There are scholarship opportunities through Rhodes, Marshall, Churchill, Gates Cambridge and Fulbright for those who qualify. But there are also scholarships at the institution too–and I encourage interested students to research those as well. On the plane ride home, for example, I sat next to an American grad student who had just completed the first year of a DPhil (that’s PhD in the US system) in anthropology at LSE and received a full-tuition grant from LSE to support her program. Given the expense of graduate education these days, it’s worth exploring all the funding options open to you. A good place to start is looking carefully at the Russell Group of UK universities–this is an excellent collection of top research universities throughout the UK. See http://www.russellgroup.ac.uk . You want to research the program and faculty to determine whether this is a good fit for you. In addition to reading the websites, that will likely mean communicating with faculty and program advisors (and for a research degree or a fellowship application–that is a must!). You want to know that this is an excellent program for you, but also that you are a competitive applicant for the program in terms of your academic record, course and/or research background.