Anonymous
Post 02/10/2025 17:28     Subject: Consensus world view of TOP 5/6 UK University Rankings (Prestige/Research)
From an international perspective:

Oxford/Cambridge ~ Harvard/MIT/Stanford -> True global recognition and importance

Imperial/UCL/LSE ~ Princeton/Caltech/Duke/Columbia/Yale/Wharton -> Very influential and popular but can be hit or miss on recognition

Edinburgh/King's ~ Lower Ivies/Northwestern/Johns Hopkins/UChicago -> Known in elite circles but general public will struggle

That being said, the US schools are generally more selective, and for purposes of working in the US, any US T10 should get picked over Oxbridge

Anonymous
Post 02/10/2025 15:47     Subject: Consensus world view of TOP 5/6 UK University Rankings (Prestige/Research)
Anonymous wrote:American parent here. So happy for our two kids that we found out about these schools early on. Both of my kids were decent students with good grades (1420 -1460 SATs and right at 3.75 UW) but not much in ECs. No luck with t25. We are CA, so it was tough at UCs. Their options were expensive private schools in the t-50/t-80 range or OOS publics with tuition costs that were almost as high….

They both went to the UK. My daughter to Exeter (Marine Sciences) and is now at UCSD working on her graduate degree/research.
My son went to Bristol (Civil Eng) and is now at Imperial doing his masters.

We saved a TON of money here and they received an amazing education.


I think the $$$ savings are going away...at least at Oxbridge.

The new international tuition at Oxford is between 35,000 - 59,000 pounds, so $43,260 - $72,924. This is tuition only.



Anonymous
Post 02/10/2025 15:40     Subject: Consensus world view of TOP 5/6 UK University Rankings (Prestige/Research)
OP: It was wrong to exclude LSE from your list.
Anonymous
Post 02/10/2025 15:35     Subject: Consensus world view of TOP 5/6 UK University Rankings (Prestige/Research)
American parent here. So happy for our two kids that we found out about these schools early on. Both of my kids were decent students with good grades (1420 -1460 SATs and right at 3.75 UW) but not much in ECs. No luck with t25. We are CA, so it was tough at UCs. Their options were expensive private schools in the t-50/t-80 range or OOS publics with tuition costs that were almost as high….

They both went to the UK. My daughter to Exeter (Marine Sciences) and is now at UCSD working on her graduate degree/research.
My son went to Bristol (Civil Eng) and is now at Imperial doing his masters.

We saved a TON of money here and they received an amazing education.
Anonymous
Post 02/10/2025 14:20     Subject: Consensus world view of TOP 5/6 UK University Rankings (Prestige/Research)
Anonymous wrote:

1. Oxford/Cambridge
2. Imperial
3. UCL
4. Edinburgh/King’s

This ranking aligns well with global university rankings that factor in research output. I didn’t include LSE because it has such a narrow academic focus, but within those fields, it is, of course, world renowned.

Hope this helps!


Englishman here, living in NYC for 20 years working in MC and I agree with this assessment. These 6 + LSE are the cream of the crop that are on par with any t20 here.

Outside of these I would put the following in an attempt to guide parents as to the next best in the UK for US students looking to get a great education with a brand that is still recognized worldwide:

Next Tier in no particular order that would be on par with schools in the US from T30 to t60.

Manchester, Bristol, Warwick, Durham, Glasgow, Bath, Birmingham, Exeter and St Andrews
Anonymous
Post 02/09/2025 22:37     Subject: Consensus world view of TOP 5/6 UK University Rankings (Prestige/Research)
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:There are about 22k american undergrads in the UK.

1) St. Andrews - 2200
2) Edinburgh - 1600
3) Oxford -1500
4) UCL - 1000

These are not an insignificant number.



Yes and these are by far the largest US alumni bases from these UK schools.

Edinburgh historically had the highest number of american students ever until St Andrews made an effort to push for Americans 20 yrs ago.

A lot of people here have no idea of how influential U of Edinburgh was on US Universities.

1) James Blair founded the College of William & Mary.
2) John Witherspoon reformed Princeton’s curriculum based on Edinburgh’s structure.
3) Samuel Bard one of the alumns that founded Columbia’s Medical School.
4) Penn, Harvard, Yale medical schools used the U of Edinburgh Medical School as their model.
5) the US university flexible curriculum was modeled originally after Edinburgh’s approach…
David Hume was very influential on Princeton’s and Harvard curriculums


Thank you for this. It is fascinating. I had not idea. Just read this about Witherspoon https://pr.princeton.edu/pub/presidents/witherspoon/
Anonymous
Post 02/09/2025 22:34     Subject: Consensus world view of TOP 5/6 UK University Rankings (Prestige/Research)
Anonymous wrote:Oxford and Cambridge - everyone knows them. Someone tells me they went there and I think =s our tip 3 Ivies.

Never heard of any of the others and I doubt many Americans have either.


this is like the DCUMers who have never heard of Williams. Whatever! This is about you, not the real world
Anonymous
Post 02/09/2025 22:32     Subject: Consensus world view of TOP 5/6 UK University Rankings (Prestige/Research)
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Yes this is helpful! My husband and I are currently discussing this with my son.

He is in the exact situation as you described. He didnt want to apply to our state flagship and now his options are a few expensive private schools. Tulane, Miami, Syracuse, SMU.
He also received Offers from Edinburgh and Exeter. He wants to study Business (International Business).

He is conflicted. What do you think?


I’m NOT the original poster, but I’m also English and I have lived in the US for 12 years.

I can’t speak for the private schools you mentioned in the US, but both Exeter and Edinburgh are among the top undergraduate business programs in the UK, according to the League Tables. Exeter, despite being a younger university, has built a strong reputation for placements in London. They even have a partnership with JP Morgan, where many students secure roles directly from Exeter.

One major advantage of Exeter is that the degree is only three years, meaning the total tuition cost would be roughly equivalent to just one year at many US universities. You do the math.

Between the two, I would choose Edinburgh due to its long-term prestige and name recognition in the US. While it is a four-year program compared to Exeter’s three, it would still be significantly cheaper than US options. Edinburgh has much stronger name recognition in the US and is, quite frankly, the more ‘prestigious’ university, if that matters to you. Outside of St Andrews, Edinburgh likely has the highest number of American students in its undergraduate program.

For International Business and considering how the university is viewed in the US, I would lean towards Edinburgh.


One thing to bear in mind is that Exeter is a very small town. Edinburgh is not huge, but it’s a decent-sized city.


yes, this is true. Exeter is a small town. Only 2 hrs by train from London. Nice coastline for being in the UK. Completely different environment. Exeter is more inline with a US University Campus. Beautiful campus. I think it is the greenest campus (as in number of trees) in the UK. Their business schools is good and has a decent path to London based jobs. Edinburgh is a real city. An amazing city. Not very big, only about 500k people. But a really cool place to spend 4 years. But it is not a real campus environment….it is very urban. Sure you have your Kings campus and George Square where the basset majority of courses are based, but it is still a city environment and very different from Exeter.



My nephew is at Exeter right now. 2nd year Business student. He absolutely loves it. Yes it is a very beautiful and green campus. He has an internship lined up at a PE firm in NY this summer.
Anonymous
Post 02/09/2025 22:23     Subject: Consensus world view of TOP 5/6 UK University Rankings (Prestige/Research)
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:There are about 22k american undergrads in the UK.

1) St. Andrews - 2200
2) Edinburgh - 1600
3) Oxford -1500
4) UCL - 1000

These are not an insignificant number.



Your numbers can’t possibly be correct if those schools only account for 6300 students. Where are the other 16,000 students?

However, considering there are over 16 million US college students…those are in fact insignificant numbers.


Im going to pretende i didnt read this… omg…. PP mentioned 4 schools only and gave you the total for all unis in the UK… what is wrong with you?


Because you are a dipshit. What other schools do you think account for 16,000 students? It’s the UK…if the top 4 or 5 schools don’t account for nearly all the US students then the overall numbers don’t make sense.



hey moron….go look at the data…. https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/students/where-from#detailed
Just in 22 there were right under 12,000 American Students in UK Universities….this is just undergrads.
Anonymous
Post 02/09/2025 22:11     Subject: Consensus world view of TOP 5/6 UK University Rankings (Prestige/Research)
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:There are about 22k american undergrads in the UK.

1) St. Andrews - 2200
2) Edinburgh - 1600
3) Oxford -1500
4) UCL - 1000

These are not an insignificant number.



Your numbers can’t possibly be correct if those schools only account for 6300 students. Where are the other 16,000 students?

However, considering there are over 16 million US college students…those are in fact insignificant numbers.


Im going to pretende i didnt read this… omg…. PP mentioned 4 schools only and gave you the total for all unis in the UK… what is wrong with you?


Because you are a dipshit. What other schools do you think account for 16,000 students? It’s the UK…if the top 4 or 5 schools don’t account for nearly all the US students then the overall numbers don’t make sense.



It looks like the PP was using a number that combined undergrad and grad from here:

https://www.study.eu/article/u-s-students-uk-universities-with-most-americans
Anonymous
Post 02/09/2025 22:01     Subject: Consensus world view of TOP 5/6 UK University Rankings (Prestige/Research)
Anonymous wrote:Why are you posting this at DCUM, a US-focused forum? Most Americans do not care what the worldwide reputation is of a college if the student is not pursuing some field with potential international reach. US employers are what matter to them.


Because, for students who would otherwise be full-pay at a place like American University, going to a UK school may be a lot cheaper.

For a student who’s an EU national or who is fluent in French or Spanish, tuition at a top EU university might only cost 2,000 euros per year.

As many as 5 percent of the students at some high schools are now choosing UK and EU universities, just because the cost is so much lower.
Anonymous
Post 02/09/2025 21:49     Subject: Consensus world view of TOP 5/6 UK University Rankings (Prestige/Research)
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:There are about 22k american undergrads in the UK.

1) St. Andrews - 2200
2) Edinburgh - 1600
3) Oxford -1500
4) UCL - 1000

These are not an insignificant number.



Your numbers can’t possibly be correct if those schools only account for 6300 students. Where are the other 16,000 students?

However, considering there are over 16 million US college students…those are in fact insignificant numbers.


Im going to pretende i didnt read this… omg…. PP mentioned 4 schools only and gave you the total for all unis in the UK… what is wrong with you?


Because you are a dipshit. What other schools do you think account for 16,000 students? It’s the UK…if the top 4 or 5 schools don’t account for nearly all the US students then the overall numbers don’t make sense.

Anonymous
Post 02/09/2025 21:26     Subject: Consensus world view of TOP 5/6 UK University Rankings (Prestige/Research)
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:There are about 22k american undergrads in the UK.

1) St. Andrews - 2200
2) Edinburgh - 1600
3) Oxford -1500
4) UCL - 1000

These are not an insignificant number.



I am not sure about these numbers. There are only 12k undergraduates at Oxford, I don’t think 10 percent of them are Americans. When I was there (admittedly 30 years ago) I don’t think they were more than 1 or 2 percent.


Oxford says that they had 2025 american students in 2023. They didnt give a breakdown between undergrad and grad students…..
Anonymous
Post 02/09/2025 21:13     Subject: Consensus world view of TOP 5/6 UK University Rankings (Prestige/Research)
Anonymous wrote:There are about 22k american undergrads in the UK.

1) St. Andrews - 2200
2) Edinburgh - 1600
3) Oxford -1500
4) UCL - 1000

These are not an insignificant number.



I am not sure about these numbers. There are only 12k undergraduates at Oxford, I don’t think 10 percent of them are Americans. When I was there (admittedly 30 years ago) I don’t think they were more than 1 or 2 percent.
Anonymous
Post 02/09/2025 20:23     Subject: Consensus world view of TOP 5/6 UK University Rankings (Prestige/Research)
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:There are about 22k american undergrads in the UK.

1) St. Andrews - 2200
2) Edinburgh - 1600
3) Oxford -1500
4) UCL - 1000

These are not an insignificant number.



Your numbers can’t possibly be correct if those schools only account for 6300 students. Where are the other 16,000 students?

However, considering there are over 16 million US college students…those are in fact insignificant numbers.


Im going to pretende i didnt read this… omg…. PP mentioned 4 schools only and gave you the total for all unis in the UK… what is wrong with you?