How would British / UK schools stack up against American / US schools?

[Anonymous]

What are the equivalent tiers, prestigious schools, et cetera, for institutions on both sides of the pond?

[Anonymous]

A very complicated question. Is there a particular institution you are interested in?

[Anonymous]

UK schools are really different, in terms of what they offer and what the experience is.

My understanding is that kids apply for acceptance into a department, rather than acceptance into a school in general like in the US. They have more specialized knowledge of that substantive area than US students do.

When you combine that with the tutorial system, it’s just a very different experience than American colleges.

[Anonymous]

How familiar are you with the UK schools? Hard to compare as the American university system is its own beast and differs in some very significant ways from the British system. In general, American universities are much wealthier and at the elite level, much smaller. But in terms of prestige and academic quality (with an eye on research, since that tips the scale in global reputation tables) I'd very roughly put it somewhat like this.

HYPSM

Oxbridge = Columbia, Caltech

UCL/LSE/Imperial/St Andrews = Penn/Duke/Cornell/Northwestern/Chicago/Berkeley

KCL/Edinburgh/Durham = Hopkins/Brown/Dartmouth/Rice/UCLA/UMich

...or some iteration. There are way more elite U.S. schools, and they're typically much more selective.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How familiar are you with the UK schools? Hard to compare as the American university system is its own beast and differs in some very significant ways from the British system. In general, American universities are much wealthier and at the elite level, much smaller. But in terms of prestige and academic quality (with an eye on research, since that tips the scale in global reputation tables) I'd very roughly put it somewhat like this.

HYPSM

Oxbridge = Columbia, Caltech

UCL/LSE/Imperial/St Andrews = Penn/Duke/Cornell/Northwestern/Chicago/Berkeley

KCL/Edinburgh/Durham = Hopkins/Brown/Dartmouth/Rice/UCLA/UMich

...or some iteration. There are way more elite U.S. schools, and they're typically much more selective.

Brit here. I agree that it’s hard to compare, and you also need ot factor in what your American student wants to do afterwards with their UK degree.
I think Oxbridge is as prestigious as HYS (not sure I’d include others but maybe).
The next rung down is Imperial, LSE, and possibly UCL depending on department. St Andrews isn’t up there at all - it’s popular with Americans but not particularly prestigious in the UK. Then after that come all of the Russell group, but exactly where they rank completely depends on the subject in question.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How familiar are you with the UK schools? Hard to compare as the American university system is its own beast and differs in some very significant ways from the British system. In general, American universities are much wealthier and at the elite level, much smaller. But in terms of prestige and academic quality (with an eye on research, since that tips the scale in global reputation tables) I'd very roughly put it somewhat like this.

HYPSM

Oxbridge = Columbia, Caltech

UCL/LSE/Imperial/St Andrews = Penn/Duke/Cornell/Northwestern/Chicago/Berkeley

KCL/Edinburgh/Durham = Hopkins/Brown/Dartmouth/Rice/UCLA/UMich

...or some iteration. There are way more elite U.S. schools, and they're typically much more selective.

Brit here. I agree that it’s hard to compare, and you also need ot factor in what your American student wants to do afterwards with their UK degree.
I think Oxbridge is as prestigious as HYS (not sure I’d include others but maybe).
The next rung down is Imperial, LSE, and possibly UCL depending on department. St Andrews isn’t up there at all - it’s popular with Americans but not particularly prestigious in the UK. Then after that come all of the Russell group, but exactly where they rank completely depends on the subject in question.

I'm the PP; yes, you're probably right about St Andrews. I had it in the rung below initially but popped it up after very quickly consulting the latest league tables, where St Andrews ranks quite favorably.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How familiar are you with the UK schools? Hard to compare as the American university system is its own beast and differs in some very significant ways from the British system. In general, American universities are much wealthier and at the elite level, much smaller. But in terms of prestige and academic quality (with an eye on research, since that tips the scale in global reputation tables) I'd very roughly put it somewhat like this.

HYPSM

Oxbridge = Columbia, Caltech

UCL/LSE/Imperial/St Andrews = Penn/Duke/Cornell/Northwestern/Chicago/Berkeley

KCL/Edinburgh/Durham = Hopkins/Brown/Dartmouth/Rice/UCLA/UMich

...or some iteration. There are way more elite U.S. schools, and they're typically much more selective.

Brit here. I agree that it’s hard to compare, and you also need ot factor in what your American student wants to do afterwards with their UK degree.
I think Oxbridge is as prestigious as HYS (not sure I’d include others but maybe).
The next rung down is Imperial, LSE, and possibly UCL depending on department. St Andrews isn’t up there at all - it’s popular with Americans but not particularly prestigious in the UK. Then after that come all of the Russell group, but exactly where they rank completely depends on the subject in question.

"Oxbridge" is always ranked as one of the top 3 universities in the world. I may be biased as a grad, but I would say both are better than Harvard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How familiar are you with the UK schools? Hard to compare as the American university system is its own beast and differs in some very significant ways from the British system. In general, American universities are much wealthier and at the elite level, much smaller. But in terms of prestige and academic quality (with an eye on research, since that tips the scale in global reputation tables) I'd very roughly put it somewhat like this.

HYPSM

Oxbridge = Columbia, Caltech

UCL/LSE/Imperial/St Andrews = Penn/Duke/Cornell/Northwestern/Chicago/Berkeley

KCL/Edinburgh/Durham = Hopkins/Brown/Dartmouth/Rice/UCLA/UMich

...or some iteration. There are way more elite U.S. schools, and they're typically much more selective.

Brit here. I agree that it’s hard to compare, and you also need ot factor in what your American student wants to do afterwards with their UK degree.
I think Oxbridge is as prestigious as HYS (not sure I’d include others but maybe).
The next rung down is Imperial, LSE, and possibly UCL depending on department. St Andrews isn’t up there at all - it’s popular with Americans but not particularly prestigious in the UK. Then after that come all of the Russell group, but exactly where they rank completely depends on the subject in question.

"Oxbridge" is always ranked as one of the top 3 universities in the world. I may be biased as a grad, but I would say both are better than Harvard.

I'd agree there's a bit of a British bias there. IIRC the British publications tend to rank British institutions favorably vis-a-vis their American counterparts. I think Harvard is pretty unanimously considered the most prestigious university in the world, and it has the endowment to back that up. For the record, I'm not a Harvard grad and think it's a flawed institution in many ways, but I'd be foolish to pretend its reputation doesn't stand for itself.

I think even the equivalencies in 19:46 are a bit generous. I'd generally put Oxbridge = Ivy League (+ Stanford, MIT et al), and maybe the rung immediately below that (LSE, Imperial, UCL) as = to schools like Duke, Northwestern, Hopkins, UCB. But I would even put schools like UCLA, UM, Rice head to head with that second rung in terms of student quality and academic caliber.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How familiar are you with the UK schools? Hard to compare as the American university system is its own beast and differs in some very significant ways from the British system. In general, American universities are much wealthier and at the elite level, much smaller. But in terms of prestige and academic quality (with an eye on research, since that tips the scale in global reputation tables) I'd very roughly put it somewhat like this.

HYPSM

Oxbridge = Columbia, Caltech

UCL/LSE/Imperial/St Andrews = Penn/Duke/Cornell/Northwestern/Chicago/Berkeley

KCL/Edinburgh/Durham = Hopkins/Brown/Dartmouth/Rice/UCLA/UMich

...or some iteration. There are way more elite U.S. schools, and they're typically much more selective.

Brit here. I agree that it’s hard to compare, and you also need ot factor in what your American student wants to do afterwards with their UK degree.
I think Oxbridge is as prestigious as HYS (not sure I’d include others but maybe).
The next rung down is Imperial, LSE, and possibly UCL depending on department. St Andrews isn’t up there at all - it’s popular with Americans but not particularly prestigious in the UK. Then after that come all of the Russell group, but exactly where they rank completely depends on the subject in question.

"Oxbridge" is always ranked as one of the top 3 universities in the world. I may be biased as a grad, but I would say both are better than Harvard.

I disagree. They’re equivalent.

As an aside, Oxbridge, the Ivy League, and a selection of US schools like UChicago and Stanford, are all equivalent.

[Anonymous]

OP here! Was just curious as I have no real exposure to British schools other than Oxford and Cambridge. DD was momentarily imagining what it would be like to attend college in the UK, which then piqued my interest. It's not a loaded or serious question. I just wanted to gauge people's opinions. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

As others have noted, UK schools operate on a completely different wavelength from US schools. And the Oxbridge schools are also, to the best of my knowledge, different from the rest of the UK schools, being on the tutorial scheme.

American unis are world-renowned for the liberal arts approach, where students are encouraged to study a wider array of subjects. In this sense, the modern American uni is designed not just to educate, but to socialize and equip students to be "well-rounded leaders" and productive members of society. Hence the emphasis on "holistic" admissions and extracurricular achievements on top of scores.

I would generally agree with the notion that Oxbridge equals Ivy League+, but it's tricky because in my experience, the prestige/quality of schools in the UK drops off pretty significantly after those schools + perhaps UCL, Imperial, LSE. Whereas in America, there's a much more steady gradient of elite/prestigious schools. I would maybe even say that the top 5 UK schools are roughly equivalent to the top 25 or so schools in the US in terms of quality and reputation. This also lines up rather nicely with both countries' populations (US is about 5x population of UK).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As others have noted, UK schools operate on a completely different wavelength from US schools. And the Oxbridge schools are also, to the best of my knowledge, different from the rest of the UK schools, being on the tutorial scheme.

American unis are world-renowned for the liberal arts approach, where students are encouraged to study a wider array of subjects. In this sense, the modern American uni is designed not just to educate, but to socialize and equip students to be "well-rounded leaders" and productive members of society. Hence the emphasis on "holistic" admissions and extracurricular achievements on top of scores.

I would generally agree with the notion that Oxbridge equals Ivy League+, but it's tricky because in my experience, the prestige/quality of schools in the UK drops off pretty significantly after those schools + perhaps UCL, Imperial, LSE. Whereas in America, there's a much more steady gradient of elite/prestigious schools. I would maybe even say that the top 5 UK schools are roughly equivalent to the top 25 or so schools in the US in terms of quality and reputation. This also lines up rather nicely with both countries' populations (US is about 5x population of UK).

What does it take for an American to be accepted to a good university there? What is the main admissions criteria?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As others have noted, UK schools operate on a completely different wavelength from US schools. And the Oxbridge schools are also, to the best of my knowledge, different from the rest of the UK schools, being on the tutorial scheme.

American unis are world-renowned for the liberal arts approach, where students are encouraged to study a wider array of subjects. In this sense, the modern American uni is designed not just to educate, but to socialize and equip students to be "well-rounded leaders" and productive members of society. Hence the emphasis on "holistic" admissions and extracurricular achievements on top of scores.

I would generally agree with the notion that Oxbridge equals Ivy League+, but it's tricky because in my experience, the prestige/quality of schools in the UK drops off pretty significantly after those schools + perhaps UCL, Imperial, LSE. Whereas in America, there's a much more steady gradient of elite/prestigious schools. I would maybe even say that the top 5 UK schools are roughly equivalent to the top 25 or so schools in the US in terms of quality and reputation. This also lines up rather nicely with both countries' populations (US is about 5x population of UK).

What does it take for an American to be accepted to a good university there? What is the main admissions criteria?

AP's at level 5 + good SAT results.

Really you can find this info on the application pages of each university website - also they will give you a breakdown of fees for international students

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As others have noted, UK schools operate on a completely different wavelength from US schools. And the Oxbridge schools are also, to the best of my knowledge, different from the rest of the UK schools, being on the tutorial scheme.

American unis are world-renowned for the liberal arts approach, where students are encouraged to study a wider array of subjects. In this sense, the modern American uni is designed not just to educate, but to socialize and equip students to be "well-rounded leaders" and productive members of society. Hence the emphasis on "holistic" admissions and extracurricular achievements on top of scores.

I would generally agree with the notion that Oxbridge equals Ivy League+, but it's tricky because in my experience, the prestige/quality of schools in the UK drops off pretty significantly after those schools + perhaps UCL, Imperial, LSE. Whereas in America, there's a much more steady gradient of elite/prestigious schools. I would maybe even say that the top 5 UK schools are roughly equivalent to the top 25 or so schools in the US in terms of quality and reputation. This also lines up rather nicely with both countries' populations (US is about 5x population of UK).

What does it take for an American to be accepted to a good university there? What is the main admissions criteria?

The main criteria are test scores - AP, SAT (general and subject) and ACT. My kid applied to Oxford, so I am mostly familiar with that. They have a specified cutoffs for test scores, i.e. if you don’t have them, don’t bother to apply. Then they give you a written test (you can take it in US) which is really hard; barely anyone gets >80%, 65%+ gets you considered for admissions. Based on that test results plus the letter of recommendation and the p ersonal statement that is submitted with the application, the prospective students are selected for an in-person interview, which is effectively an oral exam.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As others have noted, UK schools operate on a completely different wavelength from US schools. And the Oxbridge schools are also, to the best of my knowledge, different from the rest of the UK schools, being on the tutorial scheme.

American unis are world-renowned for the liberal arts approach, where students are encouraged to study a wider array of subjects. In this sense, the modern American uni is designed not just to educate, but to socialize and equip students to be "well-rounded leaders" and productive members of society. Hence the emphasis on "holistic" admissions and extracurricular achievements on top of scores.

I would generally agree with the notion that Oxbridge equals Ivy League+, but it's tricky because in my experience, the prestige/quality of schools in the UK drops off pretty significantly after those schools + perhaps UCL, Imperial, LSE. Whereas in America, there's a much more steady gradient of elite/prestigious schools. I would maybe even say that the top 5 UK schools are roughly equivalent to the top 25 or so schools in the US in terms of quality and reputation. This also lines up rather nicely with both countries' populations (US is about 5x population of UK).

What does it take for an American to be accepted to a good university there? What is the main admissions criteria?

The main criteria are test scores - AP, SAT (general and subject) and ACT. My kid applied to Oxford, so I am mostly familiar with that. They have a specified cutoffs for test scores, i.e. if you don’t have them, don’t bother to apply. Then they give you a written test (you can take it in US) which is really hard; barely anyone gets >80%, 65%+ gets you considered for admissions. Based on that test results plus the letter of recommendation and the p ersonal statement that is submitted with the application, the prospective students are selected for an in-person interview, which is effectively an oral exam.

This is unhelpful. ONLY Oxford administers an entry exam. No other university in the UK does this.