How competitive is the applicant pool from the US?
I too just finished the UK application process and was accepted to all my choices – Oxford, St Andrews, Edinburgh, and UCL. For St Andrews – American students need around 1950-2000 SAT I minimum, a couple good SAT IIs and APs, and write a decent essay. Same or around there for Edinburgh. For English schools – they rely mostly on SAT/AP because they don’t trust American grading, Oxbridge the interview/testing process is very tough. For most English schools appplying is VERY competitive – BUT you are at an advantage if you have top scores and not a lot of extracurriculars because the english schools dont care about ECs. You must pick a degree course when you apply and you are accepted to not only a school but a major – that is all you study for your 3 years there.
