Admissions Blog

In Search of New Mexico’s Most Beautiful College Campus

Posted on February 16, 2023 by Craig Meister 2 Comments

Flag of New Mexico.

Today’s reader question comes from Jay in Flagstaff, Arizona:

Question: After living in Arizona with my mom most of my life, I’ve decided I want to go to New Mexico to college to live in the same state as my dad and my dad’s family. I am interested in history, philosophy, English, and maybe political science. But unlike a lot of guys, what’s really most important to me is beauty – I want to live on a beautiful college campus. I am very creative, and I am inspired when I am surrounded by beautiful things. So, what’s your pick for the most beautiful campus in New Mexico?

Answer: Well, this is an interesting question that I’ve never been asked, but I’ll give it a go by focusing on what I deem to be New Mexico’s best three colleges: New Mexico State University Las Cruces, University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, and St. John’s College in Santa Fe.

New Mexico State University (NMSU) is a land grant university located in Las Cruces, New Mexico. I would describe its campus as beautiful and sprawling. The university has a rich history and offers a wide range of academic programs to its students, so when you are not admiring your surroundings, you have a lot of academic options to choose from.

Las Cruces, New Mexico is home to NMSU.

The campus spans over 700 acres and is filled with lush green lawns, trees, and scenic views of the surrounding mountains. The university has a mix of old and new buildings, with some of the buildings dating back to the early 1900s and others being recently constructed.

One of the most prominent buildings on campus is Corbett Center Student Union, which serves as a hub for student life and activities. The building houses a food court, a student lounge, meeting rooms, and a ballroom, among other facilities.

Another notable building is Milton Hall, which is the oldest building on campus and home to the university’s main administrative offices. The building features beautiful brick architecture and a clock tower that has become an iconic symbol of NMSU.

New Mexico State University’s campus looks good to me.

The university has several residence halls that provide on-campus housing to students, including Garcia Hall, Mohr Hall, and Zuhl Library. The residence halls are equipped with modern amenities and offer a safe and comfortable living environment for students.

The university also has a number of academic buildings, including O’Donnell Hall, which houses the College of Education, and the College of Business, which is located in Paul L. Kirkpatrick Hall. These buildings are equipped with state-of-the-art classrooms, labs, and facilities for students.

The campus also features several athletic facilities, including Aggie Memorial Stadium, the Pan American Center, and the Intramural Field Complex. These facilities are used by the university’s athletic teams and are available for student recreation and fitness.

Overall, the campus of New Mexico State University is a beautiful and well-maintained environment that provides students with all the resources and amenities they need for a successful college experience. A lot of films are also shot in and around Las Cruces because of the region’s natural beauty; therefore, you can experience a pretty environment on and off campus. Learn more about undergraduate admissions to NMSU here.

The University of New Mexico is located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and encompasses over 600 acres of land in the heart of the city. The campus is known for its distinctive southwestern architecture, including its iconic Hodgin Hall and Zimmerman Library, as well as its lush landscaping, which features lush greenery, colorful flowers, and plenty of open spaces for students to relax and enjoy the beautiful New Mexico weather.

At the center of the campus is the main quad, which is surrounded by many of the university’s key buildings, including the Student Union Building, the Fine Arts Center, and the Mitchell Hall administration building. The quad is a popular gathering place for students, and is often used for outdoor events, such as concerts and festivals.

The Duck Pond on UNM campus.

In addition to its beautiful outdoor spaces, the University of New Mexico is also home to a variety of academic buildings, which house a range of disciplines, including arts and humanities, sciences, engineering, and business. Some of the most notable academic buildings on campus include the Centennial Engineering Center, the Biology Building, and the George Pearl Hall.

The university also has a number of state-of-the-art athletic facilities, including the Dreamstyle Arena, the WisePies Arena, and the Isotopes Park baseball stadium. These facilities are used by both students and members of the community, and are a hub of activity for sports fans and fitness enthusiasts alike.

The view above University of New Mexico.

Overall, the University of New Mexico is a vibrant and dynamic campus, offering a wealth of resources and opportunities for its students, faculty, and staff. Whether you are exploring the beautiful outdoor spaces, participating in one of the many student organizations, or taking advantage of the cutting-edge academic and research facilities, there is something for everyone at UNM. Learn more about undergraduate admissions to UNM here.

Finally, St. John’s College in Santa Fe, New Mexico is a small liberal arts college that is known for its unique curriculum and focus on the Great Books of Western Civilization. Do note that the college has a sister campus in the capital city of Maryland: Annapolis. The Santa Fe campus is actually located on the outskirts of Santa Fe and is surrounded by the stunning natural beauty of the southwestern United States.

St. John’s College Santa Fe Campus

The campus itself is comprised of a number of historic buildings, including the main administration building, which dates back to the early 20th century, and several smaller residential buildings that were built in the Spanish Colonial Revival style. The buildings are set among lush gardens and open spaces, creating a serene and peaceful atmosphere for students and visitors alike.

One of the most distinctive features of St. John’s College is its commitment to a “tutorial” mode of instruction, in which students engage in one-on-one discussions with their professors and participate in small, seminar-style classes. This approach to learning is designed to foster critical thinking and close engagement with the texts, and is a hallmark of the St. John’s College experience. Based on your potential interest in majors, I think this college may really speak to you since its curriculum dives into “The Great Books.”

In addition to its academic facilities, the campus of St. John’s College in Santa Fe also features several student life amenities, including a dining hall, a student lounge, and a library. The library is an important resource for students, and is home to a collection of over 50,000 volumes, including many of the Great Books that form the basis of the college’s curriculum.

Another view of St. John’s College Campus in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

The campus of St. John’s College is also surrounded by the rich cultural heritage of Santa Fe, with its many museums, art galleries, and historic landmarks. The city is known for its vibrant arts scene, and students at St. John’s College have access to a wide range of cultural events and activities, from classical music concerts to contemporary art exhibitions.

Santa Fe, New Mexico is known for some of America’s most distinctive architecture.

Overall, the campus of St. John’s College is a unique and inspiring place, offering a rich educational experience in a setting that is both intellectually stimulating and aesthetically pleasing. Whether you are a student, faculty member, or simply a visitor, you are sure to be impressed by the beauty and charm of this one-of-a-kind college. Learn more about undergraduate admissions to St. John’s College here.

Both of the state universities mentioned above are not only pretty – they are also relatively easy to get into. NMSU accepts roughly 57% of applicants while UNM accepts roughly 65% of applicants. St. John’s accepts a similar percentage of students but attracts a very small sub-set of applicants to begin with; let’s just say it has a far smaller appeal in today’s pre-professionally focused world of higher education. With that said, I love all of these colleges for the right student. While I know you are prioritizing beauty, at some point you may also want to consider cost of attendance and student life outside of the classroom as well. But, drumroll please…Here is my answer to your question: In my opinion, I think St. John’s College has the best campus for you because both the campus itself and its surroundings in Santa Fe are gorgeous. I’d probably rank NMSU second most beautiful campus and UNM third for beauty. Yet, really, they all are pretty easy on the eyes.

And, remember, beauty is in the eye of the beholder! Now that I’ve given my perspective, I strongly encourage you to take a road trip and see these three colleges for yourself, as I always say there is no such thing as a wasted college visit and you would always test drive a car before buying it so you should do the same with college you plan to invest your time and money into for the next four years of your life. Good luck.

What’s the difference between students at UCLA and UC Santa Barbara?

Posted on February 11, 2023 by Craig Meister Leave a Comment

Today’s reader question is from Lulu in Reno, Nevada:

Question: I’m a junior interested in going to college in California. So far my two top choices are University of California Los Angeles and University of California Santa Barbara. In your opinion, what’s the most notable differences between students at UCLA and UC Santa Barbara?

Answer: UCLA and UC Santa Barbara are both part of the University of California system, but they have distinct differences in terms of their academic programs, campus culture, and student body.

UCLA, being one of the largest universities in the country and located in a major metropolitan area, tends to attract a diverse and cosmopolitan student body from all over the world, though the majority are still from California. It is known for its strong programs in a variety of fields, including the arts, sciences, humanities, and social sciences. UCLA also has a strong tradition of research and is home to many world-renowned researchers and scholars. LA is a world unto itself and many UCLA students like to take advantage of all that the second largest city in the US has to offer.

UC Santa Barbara, while smaller than UCLA, is also located in a more scenic coastal setting and is known for its strong programs in the natural sciences, engineering, and environmental studies. The campus culture tends to be more laid-back and centered around student life, and the university is known for its strong sense of community and student involvement in extracurricular activities. I’d argue that it’s also quite a bit safer than UCLA, though UCLA is still in a relatively safe part of LA (everything is relative).

I find UC Santa Barbara students more “chill” than UCLA students and also more into the outdoors and slightly less pre-professionally competitive. Yet, these are both still large enough universities to be home to students representing the full spectrum of identities, backgrounds, and interests; therefore, it’s important not to stereotype too much. Ultimately, the choice between UCLA and UC Santa Barbara may come down to personal preferences, academic interests, and the intangible feeling you get while being on one campus or the other. Both universities offer a high-quality education and a supportive community for students, but each has its own unique strengths and culture that appeal to different types of students. I strongly suggest visiting both colleges before applying to get a sense for yourself of the vibe on each campus.

A Primer for College Admissions Decisions

Posted on March 2, 2022 by Patrick O'Connor 2 Comments

We’re about three weeks away from the height of the release of college admissions decisions, the time of year when students pull their hair out either waiting to hear or musing over what they’ve heard. Along with trying to ease student angst, college admissions veterans know they can expect an inbox full of articles featuring the following content:

Record High Applications at Highly Selective Schools
Highly Selective Schools Report New Lows in Admit Rates (yes, these two are related, but most Americans don’t understand this, thanks to the way we teach math in this country, so…)
Calls for Equity in Admissions Follow Record Application Year

We can expect these articles because they are written every year, partly to make an official record of what actually has happened, partly to supply some kind of solace to students who didn’t get the admissions news they had hoped (“See Son? It was harder than ever to get in”) or to fatten the praise of those who did (“Wow! I beat the odds in the Most. Competitive. Year. Ever!”)

To balance these “the sky is falling” articles, I write one that tries to keep everyone on an even keel, so they can provide some stability to the students and parents who are new at this, or who are doing it again, and forgot what it felt like the first time. Hardly anyone notices the piece I write—it’s apparently more fun to be out there on rocky seas than to be safe in the harbor—but in the interest of trying to offer some support, here we go:

Not all applications are created equal. A college that reports a 5 percent admission rate doesn’t mean a particular student’s odds of getting in are 5 percent; it means the college admits 5 out of every 100 applications it receives. Put another way, a student with a C average applying to Swarthmore doesn’t have the same “chance” of being admitted as a student with a 3.9. Juniors should keep this in mind.
Much of the college experience depends far more on what the student puts into the experience than where they experience it. A former student was admitted to a Seven Sisters college, which then proceeded to gap her in financial aid. She ended up at a public university, where she basically ran the Global Studies program where she earned a degree. This included fulfilling her desire to do a semester abroad in South Africa, even though her college didn’t offer study abroad there. She simply registered as a guest student at another college that did. Tell me she would have had any of those opportunities at the Seven Sisters school. Go ahead.
Notions of the need for change in the college admission process are overblown. It takes about 20 minutes to apply to most colleges, since they require neither essays nor teacher letters. Since that’s about the same amount of time it takes to get to another level in Mario Brothers 812, it’s pretty safe to say most students can complete this task without life-altering stress.
Notions of change in the college admission process are simplistic, Part I. Admissions observers had a field day when COVID drove many competitive colleges to go test optional, a change that was gaining steam even before 2019. Two years later, we now find a rise in “test optional strategies” from test prep advisors who will advise students on which tests to take, and which scores to send—all for a fee. Similarly, we see some competitive colleges admitting fewer—far fewer—test optional students than those who submit scores, but deciding not to report that to the major public, since the “test optional” moniker is so highly valued. The result? A change that was supposed to make applying to college easier has made it harder in many cases, except at colleges where the admit rates were generous to begin with—and those are the schools where applying takes 20 minutes, and application reform wasn’t necessary.
Notions of change in the college admissions process are simplistic, Part II. Undeterred by the lack of real parity brought by many test optional policies, many reform advocates are now turning to essays and teacher letters of recommendation as the next parts to go in the current process. This leads to two questions:
- If you take out all parts of the current application process (some are even saying grades shouldn’t have to be reported), what do you replace them with?
- Do you honestly think whatever you answered in the last question can’t also be gamed to favor the rich? Interviews? Community Service? Cake Baking? Put any life experience or skill in the mix of college applications, and in a year, a horde of tutors will crop up that will give an edge to students who can afford their services. That will be very hard to beat.
My annual plea for more counselor training in college counseling. If it’s safe to conclude that any admissions process will favor students who understand it, it’s reasonable to conclude it will favor any student who works with a counselor who understands it. So, instead of changing the admissions process, how about leveling the playing field by making sure all counselors receive deep training in college counseling? Less than 5 percent of all school counselor training programs devote any time to instruction in college counseling, and that sometimes only consists of how to register for the SAT. Private school college counselors have greater access to professional development that keeps their already keen college counseling skills sharp. Most public school counselors got their counselor training in a program that gave them no college counseling skills at all. Which group needs to be better trained in the first place?

That should be all you need to make it through the media madness of the next month. Release the hounds.

The Ideal Size & Composition of Your College List

Posted on August 28, 2021 by Craig Meister

How many colleges should be on your college list, and how many of these colleges should be safety schools, target schools, or reach schools? Use the guidelines to keep yourself organized and focused.

Two Great Reasons to Get Your Degree in England

Posted on August 12, 2021 by Craig Meister

If you know what you want to study in college and want to earn a high quality undergraduate degree without having to take courses you aren’t interested in, it makes a lot of sense head over to merry old England ASAP! Find out the two reasons I am so keen on Americans (and any other students for that matter) earning their degree in England!

What Needs to Change in College Admissions

Posted on June 3, 2021 by Patrick O'Connor 1 Comment

The ups and downs of the quarantine gave college admissions officers and school counselors a taste of application life to come, as the birth rate for high school graduates continues to slide, and the need to develop new approaches to recruit students increases. As the profession continues to try and improve college access, and knowing that small differences can make a big difference, here are some considerations for both sides of the desk to ponder this summer over a well-deserved glass of lemonade:

Colleges—move your deadline dates. November 1 (early applications), January 1 (regular applications), and May 1 (many deposits) are all big dates in the college application world—and they all fell on a Sunday or a holiday this year. I don’t understand this, since the admissions offices weren’t open, and the vast majority of high school seniors had no access to counselors or other application helpers the day of and before the deadlines.

This needs to change. Yes, students need to be responsible, and should learn to plan ahead—but perhaps that lesson is better applied to deadlines for things they’ve done before (like papers), not with things they are doing for the first time (like applying to college). The first Tuesday in November, the second Tuesday in January, and the first Tuesday in May would solve this problem nicely, increasing the quality and quantity of applications to boot. Georgia Tech made the move, and they get kaboodles of applications. It’s an easy, but important, change.

High Schools—stop working holidays. Moving the January 1 deadline to a date when high schools are in session is also overdue for school counselors, who have taken a serious shellacking this year with all the student mental health issues arising from COVID. School counselors have always been overworked, but never able to use the December holidays to recover, since they were expected to help their students make January 1 college deadlines.

It’s time to take a stand. Assuming the colleges move their deadlines, counselors need to learn to let go. Send a note to all senior families early in November, letting them know your vacation is—well, a vacation. If you really can’t let go of your students for that long—or if the colleges unwisely cling to January 1– set two days of vacation for online office hours, and take a breath all the other days. You have mastered online office hours this year. Let them be your friend.

Colleges—keep innovating. One (and perhaps the only) upside of the quarantine was the ability of college admissions offices to adapt major chunks of their traditional approach to recruitment. Test optional, drive-thru tours, and online high school visits suggested it might be OK for everyone to get their hopes up, that some real college admissions reform was in the air.

Yes. Well.

In a post-vaccine world, we see more signs of returning to “normal” than creating new normal. Reinventing the entire admissions process is no easy feat, to be sure, but how hard might it be for admissions offices to spend half a day this summer doing “What ifs” to one part of the application process? Do that for five years, and you have a new admissions paradigm, and a more accessible one—the thing you say you keep wanting.

High schools— mental health and college access aren’t either/or. I will legitimately blow my top if I read one more post from a high school counselor insisting that the increase in COVID-related mental health needs makes it impossible to do any effective college counseling.

School counseling as a profession has long been showing a mental health bias at the expense of quality college counseling, and this year just seems to have widened the gap. Counselor training programs plant the seeds of this bias— training programs devote about 7 classes to mental health training, and none to college counseling—and all of this must stop, if only because the dichotomy is a false one.

Discouraged, depressed high school students light up like a hilltop church on Christmas Eve when I tell them college gives them a fresh start to life and learning, proof enough that college counseling affects mental health. That, plus the American School Counselor Association says college counseling is part of the job. Counselors truly are overworked, so they can’t do everything they want in any part of counseling. That said, college can still be part of a key to a better self. More counselors need to see that, and act on it.

Everyone—stop beating up on the Ivies. The Ivies and their equally tough-to-get-into institutions largely decided to go test optional this year. For some reason, this gave a lot of students with B averages the hope that they too could pahk the cah in the yahd, now that they didn’t have to reveal their test scores.

So—more students applied to the Ivies this year than last year. The Ivies didn’t admit more students this year than last year. That means their admit rate had to go down, and more students were denied.

That isn’t news—it’s math. And if you want to blame the Ivies for encouraging students to apply who didn’t really stand a chance of getting in, you’re going to need to make a thousand more jackets for that club. If you think the Ivies take too few Pell-eligible students, say that. If you think they admit too many legacies, stay that. But don’t beat them up for proving the laws of basic ratios. Any other college in their shoes would have to do the same thing. (Besides, it’s the national media who has left our society with the impression that there are only 25 colleges in America.)

Everyone—about Kiddos. It’s no secret that college is largely a time of youth, especially with the expansion of adolescence into the early twenties and beyond. But college is also a time to help young people embrace the opportunities of adulthood, skills and attitudes that sometimes require setting the desires of self to one side.

This goal would be more easily achieved if we saw students—and if they saw themselves– as capable of embracing a larger sense of self by referring to them as students, not Kiddos. They don’t need to grow up in a hurry or, with the right kind of help, succumb to the media images of college choice as a high stakes pressure cooker. But they also need something more than just a pat on the head and a verbal affirmation that’s the equivalent of a lollipop. Let’s try calling them students.

College Admissions and the Eyes of a Child

Posted on April 14, 2021 by Patrick O'Connor Leave a Comment

There were only eight in the box, but Billy didn’t see it that way. To him there wasn’t anything he couldn’t draw. Especially anything red. Shoes. Birds. Strawberries. Even dogs. Look at it the right way, and anything could be red.

Mrs. Struthers understood that, and loved to see Billy in class every day. Together, they discovered all kinds of things that turned out to be red. As the year went on, Mrs. Struthers showed Billy how many other things were a mix of red and one of the other colors in his box of crayons. By May, Billy was working with just green, and just yellow, and just about every other color. But once kindergarten was over, it was the red crayon that had been worn down to a stub.

Coloring somehow became both less important and more important as school went on. By second grade, the box had grown from eight to twenty-four, but there was less time to color in school. Billy had rearranged the box to keep his favorite eight colors together, in the front row.

During one of those rare times drawing was allowed, Billy was relishing the chance to draw another cardinal, when Mr. Tyler walked by his desk.

“Cardinals aren’t really red, you know” he said.

Billy kept drawing, and looked up. “What do you mean?”

“They’re actually their own color. Cardinal red. You have that in your box. It’s in the top row of colors.”

Mr. Tyler walked away. Billy kept drawing with red.

The last time Billy saw a box of crayons in school was fourth grade, when the box had grown to 64. Billy had no idea what to do with a crayon named Salmon—wasn’t that a fish?—and the two named Yellow Orange and Orange Yellow looked exactly the same. Why take up space with two crayons of the same color? Billy brought his box of eight crayons from home. The red was getting very small.

There wasn’t time for coloring again until eighth grade, when Billy took an art class in middle school. The crayons had been replaced with pastels that were thicker, and moved across the paper differently than crayons. Suddenly, Billy’s crisply drawn cardinals were fuzzy, and smeared, and looked a little more like smushed raspberries. Billy waited until the end of class to ask his teacher about this, and how could he draw crisp cardinals with pastels.

The teacher frowned. “We didn’t draw cardinals today” she said, “we were drawing mosaics. Did you draw mosaics?”

Billy put his head down. After school, he took his crayons home, and put them in the back of a desk drawer.

The counselor opened up the file on his lap and smiled. “The career tests suggest you have an exceptional talent for art. Have you considered a career in graphic arts?”

The student across from him stared at his blank phone screen.

“Billy, did you hear me?”

“Yeah” Billy said, not looking up.

“Your records say you haven’t taken an art course since eighth grade. There’s room for one in your schedule next year as a senior. What do you say?”

Billy’s eyes were frozen on the ground.

“Mrs. Jefferson is a great art teacher. She taught me how to cross hatch. Have you ever tried that?”

The counselor pulled out a blank piece of paper, and opened the top drawer of his desk. It was filled with crayons.

The squeak of the drawer made Billy look up. “They’re all green” he said.

“Yeah” the counselor chuckled, “I had this thing for green crayons when I was a kid, and it’s stuck with me all these years. I had a couple of teachers try and talk me out of it, but when you love something, you just stick with it, you know?”

Billy looked away for a minute, then pulled out what looked like a pack of cigarettes from his pocket.

“Uh, Billy—” the counselor said.

Billy flipped open the top of the box, revealing a dozen crayons of different heights. All red.

“Do they teach art in college?”

COVID Changed Admissions a Little. Let’s Change it More.

Posted on March 5, 2021 by Patrick O'Connor Leave a Comment

This isn’t the week to be a high school student. Statewide assessment is going on across the country, and thanks to social distancing policies, at least some students are taking the ACT on gym bleachers, six feet apart, straddling a wooden plank across their legs and using it as a desk. Among other things, the results of this ACT will be used in some states to decide which students get merit scholarship money.

Students in Michigan are about a month away from likely doing the same thing. State officials reached out to the US Department of Education and asked for a waiver from the required testing in this year of COVID mayhem. Apparently the request got there when Betsy Devos was still in charge, because it was denied.

School counselors really thought we had won the day when over 1350 colleges decided to continue their test-optional admission policies for this year’s juniors—in fact, many colleges have extended this policy for an additional two years. This kind of extension takes a little bit of courage, since it was made before colleges finished the current admissions cycle. Either they’re hoping for the best, or they’re seeing what so many colleges have long known—testing doesn’t mean all that much, and once you no longer have it,

In our delirium, it seems we forgot to talk to government officials, who are asking for test results that are sure to disappoint. Early test results in the last year show student achievement is down. That may be for all kinds of reasons, but when you make a student take the ACT on their lap, it’s pretty likely that’s not going to show their best effort—so we can expect to see more of the same.

School counselors aren’t a greedy bunch by nature, but there are more than a few that look at the adoption of test optional policies and sigh. It was just a year ago when more than a few college admissions wonks—deans and directors included—were truly excited at the prospect of creating a brand new admissions system that was cleaner, fairer, and easier. Ample articles are out there showing how wealth skews every single tool used in the current system, from grades to test scores to essays to letters of recommendation to extra curriculars. When the COVID quarantine came along, veteran admission watchers thought “At last! Here’s the big thing that’s going to require us to rethink the whole process.”

That didn’t exactly happen. Since many of the changes affecting admissions also affected campus life and methods of instruction, college administrators were too concerned with keeping beds full and classrooms open to consider changing most admissions policies. Figuring out how to build a class without test scores proved to be challenging enough; changing anything else was perceived to be a dice roll no one could take right now, unless they were willing to risk the college’s entire future on it.

There’s still a lot to do to bring in this fall’s class, but it isn’t too early for colleges to hunker down now and think about The Big Move they didn’t have time for this year. Understanding that most admission changes are glacial, admission offices can use the lessons they learned from the quick change to test optional and build on them with a more strategic approach for other changes. This could lead to a new model of admission for this year’s high school sophomores. It’s already clear most colleges that went test-optional aren’t going to go back. Top that decision off with some strategic planning, and careful study of some schools who did make huge strides this year (I’m looking at you, UCLA), and there’s still a chance to either even the playing field of admission, or openly admit it isn’t even, and develop the protocols needed to create the exceptions that will make it more fair.

Meanwhile, if someone could just tell government policy makers why they went test optional, and why it makes sense for states to do so as well? They might as well make the students complete the tests with quill pens.

Learn all about being an undergrad in the UK

Posted on January 14, 2021 by Craig Meister Leave a Comment

Sometimes you just need a change of scenery. If this describes how you are feeling right about now and you are an American or Canadian high school student, NOW is the time to seriously consider and start researching options for completing your undergraduate degree in the United Kingdom.

“But how do I go about do that?” you ask? “I wouldn’t know where to begin!” you declare.

Start by signing up for the invaluable TH!NKUK event running from January 18 through 22, 2021.

TH!NKUK is like a massive multi-day virtual college information session, and it will be the largest scale event organized specifically by UK universities for a North American audience this year. TH!NKUK highlights diverse higher education opportunities in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland and will cover everything from how to submit UCAS applications to what it’s like to arrive in the UK as an international student. Best of all, participants will have the chance to engage with International Admissions Officers, academics, current UK university students from North America, and UK university alumni.

This flier highlights all of the participating UK universities, the huge range of sessions available and schedule, and – most importantly – the link to register.

Students, parents, and high school counselors are encouraged to attend to learn more about studying in the UK.

Before or after attending, here are five ways applying to attend college in the UK is different from applying to attend college in the US.

Long time readers of admissions.blog know that I’ve often said that there are at least two great reasons for Americans to get their degree in the UK.

What’s that you say? The UK is not exotic enough for you? Here are four reasons to consider going to college in Europe and an introduction to going to college in France.

Though so much has changed in the last year, high school students need to remember that the world is your oyster! Don’t settle for an American college degree if it’s not a good fit for you. Research until you find your ideal post-secondary path. Good luck!