U.S. Students: UK Universities with most Americans

As a U.S. student wanting to study in the United Kingdom, you won’t be alone: More than 20,000 fellow Americans go to college or university there!

There are lots of advantages to choosing the UK: Not only do you a get top-quality education - with many of the best universities in the world in this country - you’ll also experience an exciting culture with lots of advantages to student life, and often at lower cost and tuition fees than you would pay in the U.S.!

🏆 Universities in the UK with most American students:

The following table shows the universities in the United Kingdom with the highest number of U.S. students:

Source: HESA for the 2022/23 academic year

You’ll immediately notice that the top 10 with most Americans are almost all located in Scotland or London - and some of these are among the top schools in the UK. If you’re more interested in Northern Ireland, the university with the most Americans is Queen’s University Belfast; and in Wales, it’s nearly a tie between Aberystwyth University and Cardiff University.

👩‍🎓 Where do most Americans study in the UK?

Out of 22,540 American students studying in the United Kingdom, most have chosen universities in England. But in relative terms, Scotland is more popular:

• England: 15,465  
• Scotland: 6,080
• Wales: 640
• Northern Ireland: 355

👍 Reasons to study where other Americans are studying

There are good reasons to pick a British college or university that already has a lot of students from the United States:

• Easier to make friends: Getting a degree abroad is a big step! As a foreign student, it’s easy to meet people, but you may find it even easier with new friends from “back home”. Even though you would still live and study in an English-speaking country, culture shock is a real thing, and then it can help to be around other American students who share the experience in a similar way.
• Network: Building a network for your professional life is an important consideration when choosing a university. Especially if you’re planning to go back to the States after graduation, it can pay off to have made connections with fellow Americans. This is especially true when considering enrolling in grad school or business school.
• Better career visibility: Beyond your personal professional network, if a British university already has had a lot of American students in the past, that can mean it’s more known among potential employers. Recruiters tend to have a soft spot for alumni of their schools!

🤔 How to apply to a UK university as a US student

Applying to British universities is usually quite straightforward, but there are two main ways to do it, depending on whether you’re planning to apply for a Bachelor’s degree or a Master’s degree:

• Bachelor’s degree (undergraduate): For almost all degree programmes, you apply via the UCAS platform. For most Bachelors, there is one general deadline in late January to start in the fall of the same year. For Oxford, Cambridge, and most Medicine-related majors, the deadline is earlier, in mid-October the preceding year. For late undergrad applications, there is a process called Clearing: That’s when between July and October, you get the chance to enrol in Bachelors that still have available places. Our Clearing guide for international students explains when and how you can study in the UK this way.
• Master’s degree (called postgraduate in the UK, not graduate): To apply for Masters in the UK, you usually apply to each university directly. Check their application instructions on how to do it, and speak to their recruiters: They will be happy to help!

👉 Find Bachelors & Masters in the UK

Author: Gerrit Bruno Blöss

Gerrit is the founder and CEO of Study.eu. He holds a BSc in Informatics from Technische Universität München (Germany) and an MSc in Finance & Investment Management from the University of Aberdeen (UK). Gerrit started the company after many years working for a global corporate finance company, on three continents and advising clients in multiple industries. Over the past years, he has also volunteered as a career mentor to students who partake in his alma mater Aberdeen’s alumni mentoring programme.