Going to college overseas?

While looking at European colleges for the heck of it, I noticed the tuition for a school in say, the UK, is a lot cheaper than in the US.

I’d be very interested in attending an international school in the UK, however my parents don’t like the idea.

They were appalled when I told them that UK colleges tend to look more at test scores and grade point average in applications rather than how many clubs you were the president of and how many hundred hours you spent volunteering.
They also didn’t like the idea that UK colleges don’t spend much time reviewing high school things like English and Science and Mathematics – you go straight into coursework designed for your major. They told me that taking college level versions of all the classes I took in high school is “absolutely necessary” to be a “well-rounded individual”.

They then started ranting that if I got a degree in the UK, it wouldn’t be applicable in the United States and therefore having gone to school overseas will have been a big waste of money and I’ll have to get an American college degree if I ever want to get a job in the states.

I’m not sure if that’s plausible. Apparently, they had a friend who had a European college degree and was a physician but had to go back to school in order to be qualified in the US.

I’m really stressed out because I wanted to go to NYU but the exorbitant tuition cost is just too much considering I won’t even make as much as my tuition (ever) as a journalist. My parents are disapproving of pretty much every school that I’ve picked because they want me to go to college in state and get those “absolutely necessary” core courses for the first two years and then transfer to whatever brand name university I want.

So, I thought they’d be happy that I found out that I could study abroad for cheaper than in the US and get a quality education but they’re not. They said it’s irresponsible thinking that you can go from high school to college in London.

My stepmom also works with this woman who told her that it would be better for me to go to school at a local college the first two years and then transfer, all the while studying abroad as an exchange student. So that’s all she’s been preaching. Anything I suggest, she shoots it down because it’s not what her coworker told her and her coworker should know, she’s lived in 10 different countries.

So, if you got through all that, can you please help me clear up a few things about college overseas?

1. Is the application process entirely different? I’ve seen where some schools want you to send 3 AP exams with your application along with your ACT scores but in the US we don’t take AP exams every year of high school. This year, my junior year, is the first time I’ll be taking an AP exam and I wouldn’t have time to take two more before the application deadlines in Europe.

2. Is it irresponsible to think that you can go to college in the UK right out of an American high school?

3. Are the first two years of American college “absolutely necessary”? They don’t seem to think so in the UK.

4. Would my college degree not be accredited in the US if it came from a UK school?