In the U.K., and at Roehampton specifically, class curriculum is largely dependent on the material being covered. There may be little assessment up until the final exam (which may be a written exam), where a large portion of the class grade would then be calculated. This aspect appears to be relatively similar with how certain classes are at Maryville. The classroom culture, as well as the flow of the semester also look to be largely the same. With faculty/student relations, each student at Roehampton is given a type of faculty advisor that is there to help them through school and answer any academic related questions that they might have. This appears to be similar to the way that students are given advisors at Maryville that are in charge of the major they are pursuing.
At Maryville, classes range from being worth 2-4 credits. Most classes are 3 credits, and the classes with labs attached to them are most often offered for 4 credits. In the U.K., students take about 3-6 classes a semester with a total course load of 60-120 credits. A course load like this would be about equal to 15 credit hours at Maryville. Students in the U.K. may also be required to complete research while in school, thus raising their per semester credit load. Whereas at MC and most other surrounding universities, classes are about an hour long on MWF and nearly an hour and a half on TR, the amount of time spent in class each week is different for many universities in the U.K. In the U.K., a 10 credit class will equal to about 3 credits at MC, and a 20 credit class will equal to about 4 credits.
Concerning letter grades, these are also much different in the U.K. than in the United States and at MC. In the U.K., the scale ranges from 100-70 being the equivalent of a U.S. A, 69-65 being an A-, 64-60 being a B+, 59-50 being a B-, 49-45 being a C+, 44-40 being a C-, and a 39-0 being an F. Because 40% is usually the average, grades tend to start there and rise rather than starting at 100% and decreasing from there like in the U.S.. It is fairly difficult to achieve high marks above 70%.
Concerning support services, the university that I am attending does offer accommodated housing for people that might require it. They offer quieter housing for people that don't wish to be bothered with louder people, as well as housing for handicapped people. They offer disability services, as well as special dyslexia services for people that have dyslexia. The school also offers specific loans for students with greater needs than others. There's a service for specialized one on one tutors available for students that need them as well.
To be considered full time at MC, a student needs to have at least 12 credit hours. Breaking it down, that's about four 3 credit hour classes, or some other combination of 4 and 3 credit hour classes to get to at least 12 hours. In the U.K., and at Roehampton specifically, a full time student must take at least 90 credits a year (most often 120), and no less than 60 per semester if enrolled for the single semester. If you break that down into the amount of courses, for a single semester of 10 credit hour classes, that's six classes (the high end of the average as stated earlier). Other combinations exist with some 20 credit hour classes thrown in as well.
Overall, the U.K. education system has its differences from the U.S. education system, and MC's own, but it's not that drastic of a difference. In short, it could be a worse transition to get used to. The strangest part for me will most likely be the differences in the grading scale though with what looks like lower grades actually not being that bad.
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