From the U.S. to the UK: Our Daughter's Journey to Finding Her University Path

How a traditional college search led our family across the Atlantic

When we first started talking about college with our daughter, I assumed our journey would look much like the one so many American families experience. We would make a list of U.S. colleges. We would look at majors, tuition, housing, campus life and admissions requirements. We would visit a few campuses. We would compare acceptance letters. And eventually, we would help our daughter choose where she wanted to spend the next four years of her life. It seemed pretty straightforward. Until it wasn't.

Our family already had a connection to the United Kingdom. We had spent time visiting family in Liverpool, been tourists in London and those experiences had given us something that most families don't necessarily have when they begin looking at colleges: a glimpse into what life in the UK could actually feel like. We had walked its streets. We had experienced its culture. We had met people. We had seen the universities. 

Still, when it came time to think about our daughter's future, the natural starting point was the United States. After all, that's what we knew. We understood the American college process. We understood the terminology. We knew what a major was, what an application looked like and what families were generally expected to do. When my daughter started getting college flyers and folders in the mail including one from the UK and a few schools trying to recruit her for lacrosse including a University in Rome, Italy our eyes were opened to more…we started look more closely. And we discovered something that completely changed the conversation.

Why weren't we considering other countries?

At first, it was simply a question.

Then it became a possibility.

And eventually, it became something we couldn't ignore.

The More We Looked, the More Questions We Had

Once we started researching UK universities seriously, we quickly realized that the British system wasn't simply the American college experience with an ocean in between. It was different, very different.

Students generally apply to a specific course, rather than entering university with years to explore different majors.

Many undergraduate degrees in England, Wales and Northern Ireland can be completed in three years. The application process goes through UCAS. The way universities evaluate students is different, the way students learn is different. Even the way families think about the cost of a university education can be different and suddenly, our college search wasn't just about finding a school. We were learning an entirely new education system. That was both exciting and overwhelming.

I found myself asking questions I had never thought about before.

What exactly is UCAS?

What does an American high school student need to apply to a UK university?

How will running start or duel enrollment factor into admissions?

What happens with tuition for international students?

How does housing work?

What about a student visa?

What happens after graduation?

And perhaps the biggest question of all:

Could our daughter really do this?

We Started Comparing More Than Universities

As we researched, something interesting happened…we stopped comparing just university names, we started comparing opportunities, we looked at courses, degree lengths and cities. We looked at tuition, living expenses, we looked at what our daughter actually wanted to study and what kind of environment would allow her to thrive. 

We began realizing that there isn't one "right" path to college. For years, the four-year American university experience had been presented as the obvious next step. But maybe "obvious" and "right" aren't always the same thing. The UK gave us another option and the more we learned, the more compelling that option became.

Once my daughter had decided on the 5 schools she was allotted to apply to through UCAS we decided it would be a good time to take a trip to do some University visits. While we were a little late to make these visits as our daughter was entering her senior year we made it happen and were on a flight to England for Thanksgiving break. Our daughtered toured the University of Liverpool, University of Manchester, University of York, and Durham University. We also toured Trinity University in Dublin, Ireland while we were over there. 

Then Came the Financial Conversation

Let's be honest.

As parents, you can't talk about university without talking about money.

The cost of higher education is a huge consideration for American families. 

So we started doing something that I think every family should do before falling in love with a university:

We did the math.

We looked beyond the advertised tuition.

We considered housing.

Food.

Transportation.

Flights home.

Living expenses.

The length of the degree.

International student costs.

And everything else that comes with sending your child away to university.

We weren't looking for a bargain.

We were looking for value.

And we discovered that, depending on the university, course and circumstances, the UK could offer some very interesting possibilities. Not only would our daughter enter her major from the get go but she would finish the undergraduate law degree in 3 years and the master program would be another year.  She would save not only money but time. Remaining in the US for University my daughter would have to complete a 4 year undergraduate degree BEFORE applying to the law school. That was when I realized this wasn't just an interesting alternative. This was something American families deserved to know about.

The More I Learned, the More I Wanted to Share

I started researching and researching and researching some more. I read university websites. I compared courses. I learned about admissions. I learned about UCAS. I talked with university representatives. I looked at requirements for American students. I compared costs. The deeper I went, the more I realized how easy it would be for an American family to become overwhelmed…because we were. There was information everywhere. But finding the right information was another story. 

And that's when the idea for Cuppa Knowledge began to take shape.

This Started With One Daughter

Cuppa Knowledge wasn't created because I decided one day that I wanted to write a book about UK universities.

It started much more simply. It started because I was a mom trying to help her daughter make one of the biggest decisions of her life. I wanted to understand the options. I wanted to know what questions we should be asking. And I was so well prepared one of the administrators we met with was impressed with how much knowledge I had and how prepared I was with all my questions.  I wanted to know what we were getting ourselves into and the only way I could do that was to have all the information. I also did not want to waste anyone’s time with information I could google vs. more in depth information we needed to make the best decision. 

And the more I learned, the more I thought:

Other American families need to know this, too.

There are students who may be perfectly suited for a UK university but have never considered it because nobody told them it was an option. There are parents who may assume studying abroad is financially impossible without actually running the numbers. There are students who may know exactly what they want to study but don't realize that the UK university system is designed around that kind of focused academic path. And there are families who simply don't know where to begin.

Our Journey Isn't Just About a University

The most unexpected part of this journey has been realizing that choosing a university isn't really just about choosing a university. It's about choosing an experience. It's about deciding what kind of person you want your child to become. Studying in another country means learning to navigate unfamiliar places. It means meeting people from different backgrounds. It means figuring things out on your own. It means becoming more independent. And yes, it means occasionally getting lost, making mistakes and figuring things out the hard way. But those experiences are part of education, too. It opened our eyes to a world that was bigger than what we knew. And now, watching our daughter consider creating her own experience in the UK has made me appreciate that lesson all over again.

My daughter also consulted a law professor she had in running start, did her own research and went to every university visit with an open mind and her own set of values and ideas of what she wanted to get out of her university experience 

Why I Wrote Cuppa Knowledge

I created Cuppa Knowledge: A Guide to UK Universities for Americans because I wanted to take everything I was learning and put it somewhere another family could actually use it.

Not as an admissions brochure, not as a sales pitch and not as a promise that every student should study in the UK.

Instead, I wanted to say:

Here's what we learned.

Here's what you should know.

Here are the questions you should ask.

Here are the things we wish we had known sooner and all in one place. 

And most importantly:

Here's another possibility.

Because that's what our daughter's journey gave our family. A possibility we hadn't originally considered, a different way of thinking about higher education and an opportunity to look beyond the traditional path and ask:

"What if?"

And Now We're Sharing the Journey

Our daughter's university journey is still a journey. There are decisions to make, questions to answer and plenty more to learn. But perhaps that's exactly why I wanted to tell this story because families don't need to have everything figured out before they start exploring.

You don't need to know which university your child will attend. You don't even need to know whether the UK is ultimately going to be the right choice. You just need to be willing to look. That's what we did, we looked and what started as a traditional American college search opened the door to an entirely different possibility.

So if you're a parent sitting at the kitchen table with your teenager, looking at college websites and wondering where to begin, I hope you'll consider looking a little farther…maybe across the country, maybe across the Atlantic, or maybe somewhere you never expected.

Because sometimes the best opportunities are the ones you didn't know to look for.

Grab a cuppa. Start asking questions. And see where the journey takes you...