Learning in the US and England

This past spring semester I spent at Royal Holloway, University of London. It’s a beautiful school, with 7500 students, located 40 minutes west of London (www.rhul.ac.uk). I took courses in psychology and geography (a hybrid discipline that involves biology, astronomy, political science, and economics). One of my courses on psychology was entitled ‘Brain and Behaviour.’ It discussed the mechanisms of neurological functioning, as well as topics like the impact of neurological impairment for diseases like schizophrenia and depression. The lead lecturer was Narendar Ramnani, who performs fMRI research at the University. I approached Dr. Ramnani and asked if I could help in his lab. He was extremely welcoming and I was able to work with one of his graduate students Josh Balsters on his work.

For Josh I recruited participants, and was able to sit in on the brain scans during the experiment. While we were working we started talking about the differences between college in the US and England, so I thought I would share some of those differences.

In the US, undergraduate degrees usually take 4 years to complete. While in the England they take only 3. The primary reason for the difference between the two is the amount of attention paid to your main focus of study. In the US for many of us, the first year is the year we test the waters and begin to decide our majors and minors. We all know that we can dabble and take a random course every now and then. In England my friend astutely described their system as sink or swim.

In England, your course of study is basically decided before you even enter university, during high school. Until the age of about 16 (equivalent of finishing sophomore year), English high schools are much like those in the US. Students take a number of courses in a variety of topics: Math, English, History, Science, and Foreign Languages for instance. At this point the student has achieved their GCSE, or General Certificate of Secondary Education. They can continue for two more years on a more focused plan of study (only three or four topics), and begin to prepare for college entrance examinations, or a student may decide to stop education and enter the workforce. These last two years are preparation for what are called A-levels, the college preparatory examinations. Here the student takes the A-level exam for the three courses they have studied in depth for the past two years.

A-levels essentially determine your future. Students apply to about two universities, and their entrance to the university depends upon their marks on the A-level examinations for those courses. If you achieve the marks set by the university you will likely gain admission, if you do not, it is highly likely you will not gain admission. The A-levels are given on one day and one day only across all of England. You better not be sick, nervous or tired, because if you mess up you must wait an entire year to take the test again. SATs don’t look so bad anymore do they? It’s only one test and you can take it as much as you want. Seems better than three tests you can only take once.

If a student is still swimming and survives the horror of A-levels they usually take only one subject at university, psychology for instance. So, for the entire 3 years at university students take all or nearly all courses in psychology. While this does allow for a great depth of knowledge, it does not allow for much flexibility. You make the choice and live with it.

After the three years of undergrad, it is common for students to do a masters degree for their fourth year. To obtain a PhD; however is much different than in the US. In the US, it often takes 5 years to complete a PhD, whereas in England it typically takes 3 years. The difference is that for the first 2 years in the US, many PhD students take higher level courses, and the last three years are for more intensive research. In the UK, the three years are of intensive research. Both US and English PhDs are obtained after a final year dissertation, the culmination of all the research.

I must admit that I believe the US system to be more beneficial. Next semester I am going to take a statistics course, prepare my senior thesis in psychology, take a modern art history course, and perhaps a computer science or political science course. In England, I would not have that flexibility and I feel that the malleability in course selection allows for the ability to see more complex relationships across different fields of study, which makes for a richer learning experience. For those that have experience with the English system as well as the system here in the US, I would appreciate your opinions of the two methods of study.

A-levels are so important in England, the results are consistently broadcast on many news channels. Here is a clip: