Master's Student, Georgetown University, Washington DC

Written in: March 2000
The writer wishes to remain anonymous.

First, allow yourself plenty of time to get through the application process. If you are already late in the day, it might be worth deferring your plans by a year in order to do everything properly. There are essential differences between most US and UK universities and knowing a bit about this will explain what can seem inexplicable. Most US universities are private; most UK universities are state funded. Most US universities are extremely expensive and there is no government "grant" system. This means that the university is run in a totally different way.

Administration
There is a huge administration at most US universities, with an office and administrative workers for every facet of life there. This results in a huge amount of form-filling, the need for a student ID number, etc etc. You will be completely anonymous in the system, which can seem strange, particularly if you are used to the small collegiate-run university system of Oxford, Cambridge, Durham etc.

Customer Service
In return for the expense, the universities offer a level of service which seems amazing to people used to underfunded state run education. For example in the Georgetown library there are plenty of librarians on hand to help you. You can book a whole hour with one to help you plan your research. You are the consumer, which has both good and bad sides. As the customer you have the right to demand what you think you should have. On the other hand there is no sense here of subsidising things so that students can afford them. The bookstore is much more expensive than "normal shops", the canteen here at Georgetown comprises only fast-food franchises. Certainly no "Union" or subsidised bar!

Teaching vs Research
The professors in some universities are also much more research-driven than they are at home. While this sounds good and is often a criterion for judging a place, the bad side is that teaching is then a low priority, or courses become an extension of that professor's interests in a way which is not necessarily beneficial to the students. Think about going to a small college, not just the Ivy League etc. You will find teachers there much more committed to their students than to their own publications, and this can be very rewarding.

Registration
The registration process is also worth thinking about. You can't just go to lectures which you feel like attending. You have to register in advance for classes, and because it is these which are paid for by you or your sponsor, it is only these which you can attend. Check very carefully, particularly if you are going to be doing a normal "MA" rather than being a special student or working with a particular professor, that the courses the catalog describes really will be offered when you get there. What has happened to me is that I thought it would be possible to choose from all the courses in the catalog. When I got here, only 8 of them were offered, and 1 of these was what I wanted to do. Also, students already at a university can pre-register, so check that the courses you want to do are not full. You can be prevented from doing a course for no other reason than that it is full, that the computer processed other names before yours, and this can be frustrating.

On the plus side after all those caveats, if you are someone who genuinely loves your subject, I think you will find America an exciting place to study. People seem more openly intellectually committed, more honest about their desire to work hard. While the extent to which people are driven can be a little overwhelming ( I am the only student I know on my course who doesn't work at weekends so I can get out to the museums etc), it is also exhilarating to be with other motivated people.

Lastly, try to end up in a university in a place that interests you. I really recommend Georgetown and Washington DC. DC is uniquely situated between the North and the South and provides a fascinating perspective on both. If you are an American culture junkie, as I am, you might want to be in somewhere that doesn't just exist for its university. Washington is amazing because there are so many different kinds of things happening here at once. Remember that you (probably) want to study in the US to study, but also to learn about the US. Build that in to your planning. Good luck and fight on!