The USA vs UK: Which system is better?
I am going to be 100% honest here and state that I'm on an emotion filled rage.
The American educational system isn't perfect, and I am not the worlds most amazing candidate, but why is it that another country will have me when my own will not?
I applied to 6 universities in the United Kingdom during the 2013-2014 application season and received offers from all of them. In the same application season I applied to 4 American universities and was rejected from all of them. Well... I was rejected from 3 and never herd from another (but that is a WHOLE other story).
Take three: I applied to 7 American universities for my PhD. All were hand selected because they had professors working in my very specific niche interests. The applications were so well thought out, I spent months perfecting my Personal Statement and developing a document that expressed all of me, only to receive a form rejection letter a few months later.
(On another note, I recently learned that rejection letters in the UK actually provide feedback regarding the application and suggestions for improvement. HMMMMMM Maybe SOMEWHERE else should look into that)
About a month ago, I reached out to 2 UK universities regarding Masters of Research programs, get one reply, and receive an acceptance to the course 3 weeks later. This was after several emails back and forth with the director of the course, PERSONAL emails. Emails about how he knows one of my referees well and how he is interested to hear his POV and how he enjoyed my personal statement. I communicated with a real life person who had a soul, not an automated application system.
Now, I have to sit here and figure out if and how I am going to make this happen: How much debt will this put me in? Will my parents be supportive? Is this the right move for me, academically and career wise? Am I going to find myself in the same boat in a year and a half, working retail while begging for a lab position? Am I going to fall in love with the country and the city only to have to vacate because I'm not specialized enough to justify sponsorship for a work visa?
There has to be an easier way to go about this, but I can't seem to figure it out.
I am also not sitting here telling you (whoever you mysterious readers are) that the British educational system is perfect. because it is far from it, but there are aspects of their system that are clearly beneficial.
In the US, a masters degree often consists of several courses (or modules, for my Brits) followed by time in a research lab. Each university varies with the amount of courses and the amount of time in a lab, but it is probably safe to say that there is a year worth of courses (so 8-12) and a year full time in the lab. AGAIN, this may vary from University to University. You may split your time over those two years differently, I am only geralizing here.
In the UK, a masters degree varies depending on the type. They can be split into two categories: a Masters of Science/Arts and a Masters of Research (or MRes). There are also MPhil's... but for the sake of all of our sanity, we'll pretend it doesn't exist. A MRes usually consists of a full 12 months in a lab doing RESEARCH. There are no formal courses, maybe a training program here and there, but for the most part all of your skills will be learned in the lab. Now, here is where the MRes may vary: You could spend all 12 months with one person, 3 in one lab and 9 in another, or have 3 rotations over the year. This is all dependent on the specific program.
A Masters of Science/Art (MSc, MA) consists of two terms worth of classes with one term of research. At my University, this meant I had 8 modules from late September through the end of March, followed by a month to study (revise) for my exams, and 6 weeks to take said exams.
(Another side note here: I would NEVER wish my exam schedule on my greatest enemy. It was pure hell. I had 7 exams spread over 5 weeks and for 6/7 of those courses this exam was my ONLY grade. This was the month that I learned I was a stress cryer.)
At each university, the time spent in the lab varies. I know students who started on their research during the second term, working a few hours a week in the beginning and then full time during the third summer term. I started my literature review once the project lists came out, in mid to late March, and started full time in the lab on June 9th.
A PhD in the UK works very similarly to a MRes. You apply directly to your project and come in on Day 1 to start working. You can start at any time and even pay for your own PhD. Sure, there are some courses involved, but they are more like tutorials: specific to YOUR project and things that will help YOU succeed. (Two of the PhD students in my lab were actually taking a Stress Management mini course. This sounds totally irrelevant, but we had some SERIOUS micro-managers in the lab with us... How everyone kept their cool without this course will forever baffle me.)
The BIGGEST problem I have with the British Educational System: It is biased towards UK Citizens.
I know, how can that be bad? Well, the system doesnt seem to level the playing field for all applicants like the US seems to do. If a position is funded in the US, then everyone has a shot to apply and recieve said position. In the UK, many funding sources are relegated to UK or EU citizens forcing everyone else to figure out how to pay for it even if they are the best candidate for the job. Sure, there are ways around it, but they are few and far between. Even if you can figure out how to get the studentship (funding source) it will only cover the "Home Student" portion of your fees, leaving you to figure out how to self fund the difference between that and the "Overseas" fees (which are oftem 3-4x more.)
The problem with the US is that by having this even playing field, the entire world is applying and programs are innundated with applications. This causes them to have to make hard and steadfast rules, leaving some applications left entirely unread. Maybe the applicants undergraduate GPA was too low, maybe their GRE scores are border line or their GRE Reading score was amazing but this is a math program and the Quantitative was slightly too low, perhaps one of the references was late, or their transcript was misplaced so all of the available spots were filled before even getting around to the applicants folder.
Like I said before, I'm not perfect but the system is clearly flawed and I'm not sure if there is a perfect fix or one system is better than the rest.
What do you think?
