James Turner discusses why US universities are so open to taking exceptional British state school students

Today we are announcing the latest crop of UK trailblazers heading to top US universities, thanks to the Sutton Trust US programme delivered in partnership with the US-UK Fulbright Commission.  Thirty eight of the young people from the 2014 programme have been accepted early to leading American universities – including to Harvard, Yale and Princeton – and we hope many more will be accepted later in the year as part of the regular admissions round.  These Sutton Trust-ers will be joining 82 students from the previous two cohorts of the US programme who are now benefiting from a US undergraduate education and accessing almost $20m of financial aid.

I have blogged before about our reasons for running the US programme and why, for some British students, the US might be a great option.   But it is not just about supply: it is also worth considering why US universities have been supportive of the initiative and why the demand from the other side of the Atlantic has been so great.  This enthusiasm is reflected in their willingness to host and engage with our students and – the acid test – how many they admit and, essentially, pay thousands of dollars to attend their institution.

First, underlying it all is a genuine commitment to widening access to higher education and to finding the most talented students regardless of their socio-economic circumstances.    Of course, we find this in spades in UK universities too, and it would be foolish to assume that all is rosy in terms of equitable access to university in the US (John Jerrim’s paper for the Trust’s international summit on university admissions highlights the access challenge that America faces too).  But for the great US universities, widening access is not just a domestic issue but an international quest: they devote millions of dollars a year to finding and attracting students globally and their wealth means that many of these institutions can also afford to offer them the full financial support they need to make that journey.

But even with this mindset and considerable resources, it is impossible to reach all the schools in all the countries of the world.   So, in a UK context, schools in London and the Southeast – and overwhelmingly fee-paying schools in London and the Southeast – may receive a visit from a US university representative, but the chances of a comprehensive school in Grimsby, Barry, Scarborough or Derry getting a visit are slim.  It is even harder for US admissions tutors to know the context of those schools and communities. Yet these are all places from which some of the 38 successful Sutton Trust students come.  Talent is everywhere, not just in a few places within an hour of the M25. The Sutton Trust programme gives US universities a gathered field of exceptional British talent, beyond the usual suspects, which has already been‎ sifted from the thousands of applications we receive.   We make a conscious effort to look beyond the big urban centres and to take a proportionate number of students from all corners of the UK.

Of course, leading US universities are already hugely oversubscribed and could fill their places many times over with high SAT score students from US families who could afford to pay sticker price fees. The reason they don’t is that building a diverse class is seen as a positive end in itself.  They want academically exceptional students, but admissions decisions can be justified on the basis that a particular individual will bring some new knowledge, skills and insight to the group that would otherwise be lacking.  Our chairman, Sir Peter Lampl, recounts his experiences of sitting in on a Harvard admissions committee: they took a decision to admit a student from a tough inner-city neighbourhood with SAT scores which were lower than the rest of the field because they saw great potential to add value and for her to positively influence the class. She may not get the best degree at the end of the four years, but she could be a future mayor.  ‎ As well as top academic credentials, Sutton Trust students bring a new perspective the campus may otherwise be lacking.

It would be naïve to pretend that this is solely for the greater good.  There is self interest in this too in that universities want the greatest brains and the world’s future leaders so that their academic standing and influence remains at the top of the pile.  Private US universities are built on the donations of their alumni, and getting bright and ambitious students at undergraduate level is a pretty sure way of that continuing. But all the best partnerships are built on mutual interest. It is a win-win for UK students and US universities and we also think it is good for this country too.  It’s not brain drain: the numbers of UK students going to the US is far smaller than those who make the journey the other way, and we know that many of our students will come back to the UK after their degrees for further study and work.

As for depriving leading UK universities of bright students, we think there is enough untapped talent to go around.  This year we have 2,000 places on our UK summer schools and over 1,000 more places of various other schemes focussed on admissions to top tier British universities.  In fact, many young people on our US programme decide to stay here and attend an excellent leading UK university instead. That’s an informed choice that sixthformers at Westmnister, St Paul’s and Eton have been making for a number of years; it is overdue that those same options are available to those from poorer backgrounds too.

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