How much does Oxford cost (USD) and what do I need to do to get in?

I'm planning which colleges to apply to and certain parental units are demanding "best education for cheapest cost" decisions. How much is Oxford, which one of it's colleges is best for a History degree, and what do I have to do to get in?





I'm also looking at McGill in Canada, Georgetown, Columbia, and NYU in the States.|||Since Oxford is a British uni and they have an entirely different program (A-Levels, Sixth Form, let's not get into it) to some degree it's hard to compare.


There's no definite GPA you need, because Oxford looks at A-Level scores. You can figure that you need for Oxford what you need for Harvard. 3.75 and above, preferably 3.8 or more.





What you need is AP scores. Since in Britan, students take a year of "sixth form college" (which for us would be somewhat like Freshman year or International Baccalaureate or a full year of AP courses) American students must have either an IB diploma, 3 AP test scores, or a year of college. To get into Oxford, the 3 AP scores you submit would need to be 5,5,5. They do sometimes admit students with 5,5,4, but it's a much lower chance. Two of the AP scores you submit need to be "traditional" ones: English AP, Art History, etc. One of them may be a more "out-there" one: AP Studio Art, Music Theory, Human geography. But again, since the school is very hard to get into it'd be best if all of your majors were more traditional and more focused on your major.





If you have an IB Diploma, it's much simpler. You just basically hand your credentials over. Again, you'll need very high scores. AAA or AAB. And again, you'll need a minimum of 2 traditional courses.





If your school offers neither AP nor IB, and you really want to go to Oxford, you'll need to go to an American university for one year and get a GPA of 3.75 or above and turn that into Oxford.





Its cost is harder to answer. British people don't really pay for college, not in the sense that we Americans do. Since you'll be a foreign student, you'll have to pay. For American students, it is about $30,000 a year, depending on how the pound is doing compared to the dollar..





Since schools in Britain don't really cost anything, they don't offer much in the way scholarships/aid. Anything they offer is called a bursary, by the way. It is much harder to get if one is foreign. Basically, all the cost will be on you.





Oxford accepts 50 or so American students, so you'll need to really stand out. You have much, much, much better chances of getting into any American university, and you have much better chances of getting aid. Columbia or Georgetown will give you a great education.