68 Tatler Schools Guide 2020 tatler.comUK applications to North
American universities are
booming. Tori Cadogan
studies the trendAme r icandreamIT’S NOT JUST FELICITY
Huffman and the tiger parents
of the US who are going to
extreme lengths to secure places
for their children at top American
universities – the fever has well
and truly caught on in the UK.
Sparkling campuses, top-notch
pastoral care and wide-ranging
liberal arts degrees, combined with
pupils’ desire to be global citizens,
are luring leavers across the Atlantic.
Thankfully, public schools are doing
such a good job of preparing stu-
dents that no one is having to cheat
to secure a highly sought-after place.
Where once the ultimate
accolade for a sixth former was an
Oxbridge offer, ambitious students
are now looking beyond the UK,
with a number of schools reporting
pupils turning down offers from
Oxford or Cambridge in favour of
a US university place. This year’s
Independent Schools’ Council (ISC)
census found that around 1,700
leavers have chosen to study abroad,
with nearly half opting for the US,making it the most popular destina-
tion, with Canada coming second.
Asking the public schools of
the Tatler Schools Guide about the
surge in applications to American
universities reaped a fascinating
response. Almost all of the main
public schools report a significant
increase in both applications to
US universities and pupils accept-
ing places at them. The majority
contacted now have at least a quar-
ter of pupils applying to the US
and/or Canada, with Brighton
College seeing a 10- to 15-fold
increase over the past four years.
Schools have been quick to
rise to this growing trend and most
now offer guidance and preparation
for interested students navigating
what can be a fiendishly complex
process. Sevenoaks, Shrewsbury
and Marlborough College have
become accredited SAT/ACT testing
centres, enabling pupils to complete
their entire application ‘in-house’,
with Marlborough also offering
students 20 hours of tuition and
becoming one of the only centres in
the UK to accommodate applicants
with learning difficulties.
St Paul’s School for boys now has
a team of eight catering for the ever
increasing interest in US universi-
ties. Carol Graham, who leads their
department, explains: ‘It’s almostcontagious – boys see their friends
applying to these exciting places
and then think “I want to try that”,
or they’re discerning, looking at
the courses and thinking “I like
liberal arts”, or it may be the sports
facilities – they know the campuses
are incredible.’ Her team’s job is to
counsel boys through every aspect
of the complex and laborious US
university application process at a
time when they will also very likely
be sitting A-levels and applying
through UCAS (which is blissfully
straightforward by comparison).
The good news is that US uni-
versities hold the holistic education
of British public schools in high
esteem, seeking out well-rounded,
high-achieving pupils. US universi-
ties are now actively marketing in
the UK, with most schools hosting
teams of visiting admissions tutors.
As one former Westminster pupil
and graduate of Yale explains: ‘With
the US application process, grades
and exams may not be the deciding
factor; non-academic achievements- such as sports, music, art, com-
munity work – are very important.
This gives you an opportunity to
demonstrate how you excel in areas
that aren’t strictly book learning.’
Such all-rounders love the
freedom that US courses offer,
especially the liberal arts degrees,
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