Hoping for some help from the UK

[Kirstini]

Ali:>I thought that the difference was 
that Scottish kids leave school one year earlier than their English 
and Welsh conterparts, so that the first year of Scottish University 
is equivalent to the last year of English and Welsh school?


Well, you can *choose* to go at seventeen, but it's not technically 
equivilant, as most people going on to uni don't do this. We used to 
be able to take CSYS (I think they've got a new system now)in sixth 
year, which is 17-18  and it was essentially an introduction to 
university modualar teaching. The difference is in the degree. I've 
got an MA, where my friends who went to English universities left 
one year earlier than I did with a BA.
(But then, as Dumbledad so wisely pointed out, nobody wants to 
announce that they had a substandard education...)
Kirstini

PS - Kathryn, it doesn't rain that much in Aberdeen at all. You're 
thinking of the west coast, you, you...London propagandaist!