[Sulfolobus]

My other observation with the same corollaries is that UK students tend to be better at getting on with things as GENERALLY they have been given more independence and have been treated more as adults during their undergrads. US university can feel a bit like high school++ at times (e.g. compulsory gen ed, I've even seen classes take attendance, constant exams with an average grade instead of a few big end of degree exams, homework, etc.).

[seanmcdirmid]

I went to UW, one of the toughest public universities in the states. Depending on the class, our grades were almost exclusively determined by finals, but some classes (like physics) had mandatory labs and homework, which you did but they didn't help you very much (they could definitely hurt you) since the classes were heavily curved anyways (i.e. dog eat dog). Physics was also a big weed out class for engineering like Chemistry was for pre-med; 30+% of the class was expected to fail, and many more probably actually failed!

I actually found in-major comp sci courses to be EASIER than the pelim courses I took before I got into the department.

To be honest, I've heard that UK universities were easy, even Cambridge/Oxford, compared to some of the tougher US universities. But I really have no clue!