> But the overall impression I got was that for a well prepared and smart kid, it is much more straightforward than the so called elite US schools. Yes, plus y

> But the overall impression I got was that for a well prepared and smart kid, it is much more straightforward than the so called elite US schools. Yes, plus you can skip applying to all the US schools if you get accepted, because you get the acceptance letter in December. I went to a high school that sent kids to both US and UK universities, and the US ones are incredibly onerous, not to mention expensive to even apply for. Multiple teacher references, essays that are supposed to be some sort of work of art, requirements to do extracurricular stuff. I did the SATs, got the Oxford acceptance, and just dropped all the US stuff entirely.