British Students Find Advantages at U.S. Schools

英國學生競相去美國留學

D. D. GUTTENPLAN 報道 2013年01月11日

Binda Bhudia

英國薩頓信託主辦的暑期項目，讓學生們得以去康涅狄格州紐黑文的耶魯大學參觀。

倫敦——對於埃利奧特·米勒(Elliot Miller)來說，在英國取得學術成功的傳統道路並不合適。
米勒是一名優等生，在西米德蘭的考文垂藍衣學校(Coventry Blue Coat School)讀高三，他對只能選報一個專業的做法相當抵觸，而這在英國大學是一種慣例。“我想學經濟，”他說：“但我也想學法語和漢語。”

作為公立學校的學生，米勒也知道，牛津或劍橋大學的新生錄取工作——在93%的學生就讀於公立學校的英國，牛津和劍橋大學卻有將近一半的新生來自於私立學校——在朝着對他不利的方向傾斜。
因此，米勒決定申請幾所美國學校，其中包括米德爾伯里學院(Middlebury College)，這是一所位於佛蒙特州、以語言課程聞名的文理學院。“我完全不打算讀英國大學，”他說。
斯蒂芬妮·艾登布魯克(Stephanie Addenbroke)在利物浦附近的天主教女子學校厄普頓霍爾(Upton Hall)讀高三，她原本打算申請牛津和劍橋大學，但現在，她決定申請耶魯大學的優先錄取項目。
埃莉諾·切恩(Eleanor Cheyne)想學航空工程， 她目前在以工程和語言課程見長的紐斯特德伍德(Newstead Wood)公立女子學校讀高三。就像很多英國學生一樣，切恩一直以為美國院校在經濟上和學術上都遙不可及，但她現在已經申請了喬治亞理工學院(Georgia Institute of Technology)，並且打算申請其他一些美國大學。
是什麼讓這些學生改變了想法呢？2012年夏天，他們三個人都參加了一所英國慈善機構和富布賴特委員會(Fulbright Commission)聯合舉辦的一個新項目。他們前往倫敦，參加了為期兩天的新人培訓，然後前往康涅狄格州紐黑文的耶魯大學上了一周課，並參加了一個介 紹美國校園生活的活動。在美國期間，他們還參觀了其他精英大學，比如康涅狄格州的衛斯理安大學 (Wesleyan)、麻省理工學院、紐約的哥倫比亞大學，以及馬薩諸塞州的哈佛大學。哈佛還為他們舉辦了一個教育展。
這個項目的設計者彼得·蘭普爾(Peter Lampl)是一位英國商人，也是薩頓信託(Sutton Trust)的創辦人。薩頓信託是一所慈善機構，致力於為家庭條件並不優裕的學生帶來更多教育機會。
薩頓信託長期開辦暑期學校，讓來自弱勢群體的學生接觸到英國的精英大學。
“其實已經有很多英國孩子去美國念大學了，”蘭普爾說，“但是，這些學生幾乎全都是從少數幾所私立學校畢業的。”
“我一直都很欣賞美國的文理學院，”蘭普爾說。他娶了一位美國太太，做生意的時候也常常待在美國。“世界正在變得更加國際化，即使有些孩子最後決定不申請美國學校，這次經歷也對他們的人生有重大影響。”
蘭普爾在星期一宣布，薩頓信託-富布賴特美國暑期學校項目擴大了規模，可以帶着150名英國公立學校學生前去美國一個星期，參觀耶魯大學或者麻省理工學院，歡迎學生們申請。
就像2012年項目試點時錄取的64名學生一樣，2013年的學生也將全部從年收入低於4萬英鎊——約合6萬美元——的家庭中選取，因此他們有資格 在很多美國大學申請全額獎學金。2012年，大約半數學生符合學校的免費午餐，這說明他們來自年收入1.6萬英鎊的家庭；該項目今年仍將優先考慮這樣的學 生。
蘭普爾的目標是讓學業優異但經濟上有困難的英國學生，獲得跟他們處境相同的美國學生同等的教育機會。
“我們想像燈塔一樣，激勵優秀的公立學校學生。”薩頓信託在一份聲明中說。
這些學生返回英國後，薩頓信託將出資為他們提供為期一周的諮詢服務，並協助他們申請大學，幫助他們為ACT標準化入學考試做準備。
巧合的是，英國學生對美國大學興趣也在大幅攀升，部分原因在於英國大學提高了學費，現在學費最高達每年9000英鎊。2012年9月，富布賴特委員會在倫敦舉辦的美國教育展吸引了成群結隊的學生，教育展也比原計劃延長了一天。
“我們的規模比前兩年擴大了一倍，”富布賴特委員會的學生顧問主管勞倫·韋爾奇(Lauren Welch)說。這個委員會是由美國和英國政府共同出資贊助的。“在過去兩年，委員會清除了阻擋學生前去美國讀書的所有障礙，甚至在那些現在沒有申請美國 院校的學生中，也有很多人表示，他們會申請那些可以安排去美國學習一年的英國院校，或者去美國讀研究生。”
國際教育協會(Institute of International Education)的“開放之門”(Open Doors)調查顯 示，2011年有將近9200名英國學生入讀美國院校，英國也成為了僅次於德國、留美學生排在第二位的歐洲國家。（跟亞洲相比，德英兩國的留美學生人數相 形見絀。）德國留美學生人數比前一年有所下降，而英國的份額出現了增長。同時，德國赴美攻讀碩士學位的學生比讀本科的多。
對於家境困難的學生來說，赴美讀書在經濟上和學術上都具有強烈的吸引力。六所美國大學和學院——馬薩諸塞州的阿默斯特大學(Amherst)、新罕 布殊爾州的達特茅斯學院(Dartmouth)、哈佛大學、麻省理工學院、普林斯頓大學以及耶魯大學——在評估國際學生時採取了“不考慮學生資金需求”政 策，韋爾奇說，這表示他們在錄取學生時，不會考慮學生是否有能力支付學費，完全根據學生的需要來提供助學金。參加薩頓信託項目的所有學生都有資格獲得全額 獎學金，有些學校還會報銷學生每年暑假回國的機票費。
“我們發現，美國院校有大筆資金可以提供給外國學生——250多所高校加起來有5億美元左右，”蘭普爾說，“而且高校不知道該怎樣找到這些有需要的孩子。”
雖然英國大學為學生提供政府貸款，幫助他們支付增加的學費，但“我們送到美國讀書的孩子在畢業時不會欠下任何債務，”蘭普爾說，“常春藤盟校告訴我說，他們不希望學生們覺得畢業後得被迫去做高收入的工作，而不是進入教學或公共服務領域。他們也不想阻礙學生讀研。”
對於想讀航空工程的埃莉諾·切恩來說，美國之行帶來了一連串驚喜。“我沒料想到會這麼喜歡這個活動，”她說。不過，讓她更容易下決心的還是經濟因 素。“如果留在英國學習工程，四年的學業就會讓我背上5萬英鎊的債務。這個活動向我展示了我做夢也想不到，但其實可以進的學校——而且從經濟上說也是明智 之舉。”

本文最初發表於2012年12月10日的《國際先驅導報》。
翻譯：Charlie

British Students Find Advantages at U.S. Schools

By D. D. GUTTENPLAN January 11, 2013 

 

LONDON — For Elliot Miller, the conventional path to academic success in Britain just was not a good fit.
Although an excellent student, Mr. Miller, a senior at Coventry Blue Coat School in the West Midlands, resisted the imperative of choosing a single subject to study, as is customary at British universities. “I want to do economics,” he said. “But I also really want to study French and Chinese.”


Coming from a state school, he also knew that the admissions process at Oxford or Cambridge — which take nearly half their new students from private schools, in a country where 93 percent of students attend state schools — was not skewed in his favor.
Instead, Mr. Miller decided to apply to Middlebury College, a liberal arts school in Vermont renowned for its language programs, and to a handful of other U.S. schools. “I don’t really have any intention of going to a British university,” he said.

Stephanie Addenbroke, a senior at Upton Hall, a Catholic girls’ school near Liverpool, originally had her sights set on Oxbridge. Instead, she has decided to apply for early decision to Yale University.

Eleanor Cheyne, who wants to study aeronautical engineering, is in her last year at Newstead Wood, a state-funded girls’ school specializing in engineering and languages. She, like many British students, had long assumed that colleges in the United States were out of reach both financially and academically; but she has now applied to the Georgia Institute of Technology and plans to apply to other U.S. universities.

What made these students change their minds? Last summer, all three of them attended a new program run by a British charity and the Fulbright Commission. They traveled to London for two days of orientation and then to Yale in New Haven, Connecticut, for a week of classes and an introduction to American campus life. While in the United States, they visited other elite universities, like Wesleyan in Connecticut, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Columbia University in New York and Harvard in Massachusetts. Harvard also hosted a college fair for them.

Peter Lampl, a British businessman and the founder of the Sutton Trust, a charity dedicated to increasing educational opportunities for students from less privileged backgrounds, conceived of the program.

The trust has long run summer schools introducing students from disadvantaged backgrounds to elite British universities.

“There are actually quite a few British kids already going to American universities,” he said. “But nearly all of them come from a handful of private schools.”

“I’ve always been a great admirer of the American liberal arts colleges,” said Mr. Lampl, who is married to an American and spent much of his career in business working in the United States. “The world is becoming more international, and even the kids who decide not to apply have had a life-changing experience.”

Mr. Lampl was expected to announce Monday that the Sutton Trust-Fulbright summer school program in the United States was inviting applications for an expanded version of the project, which will take 150 British students from state schools to the United States for a week to visit either Yale or M.I.T.

Like the 64 students in the pilot program last year, all of the students will be chosen from families with annual incomes below £40,000, or about $60,000, making them eligible for full tuition scholarships at many U.S. universities. Last year, about half the students were eligible for free school meals, indicating a family income of £16,000; such students will also be given preference this year.
Mr. Lampl’s goal is to give academically gifted but financially disadvantaged students from Britain access to the same kind of educational opportunities available to their counterparts in the United States.

“We want to act as a beacon to inspire other talented state school students,” the trust said in a statement.

After the students return to Britain, the Sutton Trust will pay for a week of counseling service and assistance with college applications, as well as help in preparing for the ACT standardized admissions test.

The program coincides with a sharp spike in interest in U.S. universities among British students, prompted in part by a rise in British university tuition fees, which are now capped at £9,000 a year. In September, students lined up around the block to attend a U.S. college fair held in London by the Fulbright Commission. The fair was extended for an extra day.
“We’ve doubled in size over the last two years,” said Lauren Welch, director of student advising at the commission, which is funded by the U.S. and British governments. “It removes all of the obstacles or barriers that might prevent these students from coming to the U.S.,” she said. “Even for those who don’t apply now, many have said they’d apply to British schools with a year in the U.S., or apply to graduate school in the U.S.”

According to the Institute of International Education’s “Open Doors” survey, nearly 9,200 British students attended schools in the United States last year, making the United Kingdom the third largest country in Europe, after Turkey and Germany, to send students there. (Both countries’ contributions were dwarfed by the number of students from Asia.) Germany’s numbers had declined from the previous year, while the British share had grown. Also, more German students came for graduate degrees than undergraduate degrees.

For students from less affluent backgrounds, the economic arguments can be as compelling as the academic ones. Six American colleges and universities — Amherst in Massachusetts, Dartmouth in New Hampshire, Harvard, M.I.T, Princeton and Yale — assess international students on a need-blind basis, meaning that applicants are considered irrespective of their ability to pay tuition, with financial aid awarded purely on need, Ms. Welch said. All of the students in the Sutton Trust program would qualify for full tuition and living expenses, with some schools also paying for a flight home every summer.

“What we discovered is that there is actually a huge amount of money available for foreign students — about half a billion dollars spread out over 250 colleges,” Mr. Lampl said. “And the colleges don’t know how to find these kids.”

Whereas British universities offer students government loans to pay the new higher tuition fees, “our kids will come out with zero debt,” he said. “The Ivy League schools tell me they don’t want students to feel forced into high-paying jobs instead of teaching or public service. They don’t want to put them off going to graduate school,” he said.

For Eleanor Cheyne, the senior who wants to study aeronautical engineering, the trip to the United States was a series of surprises. “I didn’t expect to love it as much as I did,” she said. But the finances made her decision a lot easier. “If I stay here and study engineering, that’s four years — so I’d be looking at £50,000 of debt. This showed me that places I wouldn’t have dreamed of before were actually in my reach — and that they made financial sense.”