UCL location is exceptional (right into Central London, near British museum, Covent Garden, Piccadilly a few minutes away). Though that’s for the academic buidlings- a few residence halls are near there but guaranteed for first-years only, then it becomes more complicated. Most UK students rent for the last 2 years, often to quite a commute given sky-high rents.
The experience will be very different- there’s no chool spirit or campus per se, most students will mingle with other Unis too (LSE, King’s are all nearby), and UCL itself is huge. It will be similar to attending NYU, but with probably even less of a community feeling. London is exceptional for students though, easy to find relatively cheap places to eat/drink, easy to get around and have fun- more as just a young person than a US college student though. Very little to no organised activities, bar a few parties, no sports. And UK students DRINK a lot! UCL is a great school, but you have to go in with eyes open, and will be expected to be a proper adult straight away (no hand-holding, for sure). GL with your choice.
Haven’t made it to the end of the thread but my experience is that US students in the UK form very strong networks with other US students there, and to a lesser extent with other international and UK students.
That is my impression too, definetely.
Which is to say that it isn’t so important to think about the experience after (everyone disperses, his network will more international than US centric, sure, but definitely not restricted to UK residents, and wherever he ends up as a young graduate he will build more, job specific networks, edited to add that with a tech degree he will find a job and isn’t as dependent on recruiting and connections as a humanities major might be) but about the experience during.
How independent is he? Can he handle drinking legally from day one? Can he handle building up his own network of friends in a very different setting from what he’s used to in his high school? He will most likely live in a hall of residence as a first year, and there will be fresher activities to get to know people, quizzes, pub crawl, an activities/societies fair to sign up for stuff, but it peters out…you’re a grown up. There may be somewhat more programming specifically for international students, but again it will be much different from what he’s used to.
There will halls to eat in, but definitely more eating out (as in kebab vans and the like, not expensive restaurants) and cooking for yourself.
Academically, he’ll be required to be independent from day one, and there’s no easing in as with the social aspect, because that’s how they expect their students to have been trained.
Assessment will not be continuous, nobody cares about your homework, grades will be based on high stakes final exams, and the period being assessed in one go varies from a term to three years. Is your kid one that thrived on the challenge of revising for and taking APs? Was the SAT or ACT maybe annoying or boring, but otherwise no big deal? Did he love doing independent projects? Or did he hate AP exams and only did them so he could apply, did he fret about the SAT? If the former, get on a plane, if the latter, stay on your side of the pond.
Transferring into CS at UIUC is not just difficult, it is impossible. CS is a closed major for on campus transfers. A CS + X transfer is possible, but still very competitive.
S24 would prefer CS, but he thinks DS at Purdue is close enough since he likes to work in the ML field.
Thank you for describing the social aspects of students at UK schools. It looks like it will force S24 to mature very quickly. On the academic side, he is performing better on standardized tests than in regular coursework, but the UK style of focusing on the final exam is scary.