US vs UK universities in terms of Prestige

This is rubbish!

What makes HYP far better than Oxbridge?

I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned Imperial.

More competitive admission
Calibre of applicants
Huge endowment
Prestige
Network

I have friends at many of these schools and I will try to rank them in terms of general international prestige, especially in terms of undergraduate education.

(Note alphabetic order for same rank - !)

1. Penn (Wharton)
2. Oxford
3. Dartmouth, LSE (economics), Penn (other schools)
4. Berkeley, Brown, Cornell, Duke, LSE (other subjects), UCL
5. Durham, Vanderbilt

Now to arouse some controversy I will also rank the top schools of the US and UK together. Note! I am trying to not be biased here. It is a bit difficult to compare for example narrowly oriented schools like Caltech and Imperial with others. Also, I only rank these in terms of international prestige, not pure UK or US domestic prestige, nor for any specific subjects - engineering at Cornell for example is generally regarded as better than at Harvard.

1. Harvard, Penn (Wharton), Stanford
2. Cambridge, MIT, Oxford, Princeton, Yale
3. Caltech, Columbia, Dartmouth, LSE (economics), Penn (other schools)
4. Berkeley, Brown, Cornell, Duke, Imperial, LSE (other subjects), U Chicago, UCL

Note: Yes, I believe the US comfortably edges out the UK overall, but remember that the US has a population many times that of the UK so I suppose you could say the UK is more impressive 'per capita'.

this looks more like an americancentric perception of prestige than an international one. In the latter, Imperial, LSE, UCL are higher and Penn, Dartmouth, Duke, Brown lower.

I am afraid I have to disagree. You have to remember that the US is not only far more populous than the UK but also far more influential culturally and economically around the world. You would agree with me if I say that more people around the world would know about Penn, Cornell or Brown compared to UCL or Imperial. Furthermore, these schools have financial situations which are much superior to British schools in general and they are able to provide greater opportunities for undergraduates. Not to forget, acceptance to these schools is far more competitive -- remember that though American students may apply to an unlimited number of schools, each application requires more time per application on one hand and a fee ($75 - $90) on the other, making students on average apply to fewer schools in contrast to the UK where practically everyone applies to five schools through UCAS with one common application and a single fee of merely £23.

If I were to rank the universities in terms of American prestige, Oxbridge would not have been among the ranks of Princeton or Yale, and certainly would not have edged out Columbia or Penn.

The UK has many excellent schools, but in terms of international prestige, only Oxbridge attains that level of international recognition as elite institutions which most of the Ivy League, MIT and Stanford enjoys. I hope you agree with me. Also, remember that international prestige tells you nothing about which school is a better fit for you, since that is entirely subjective.

EDIT:

Though this is obviously no measure of international prestige, the number of English Wikipedia page hits for each university page reinforces my point about their global reputation. These statistics are for January this year:

University (English Wikipedia page hits rounded off to nearest 5k)

Harvard (190k)
Stanford (140k)
Yale (100k)
Columbia (90k)
MIT (90k)
Oxford (90k)
Cambridge (80k)
Cornell (75k)
Princeton (75k)
Berkeley (70k)
Brown (60k)
Dartmouth (60k)
Duke (60k)
Penn (60k)
UCL (45k)
LSE (35k)
Imperial (25k)

Hi guys,

I was just wondering what how you think the UK universities stand up to the US ones in terms of prestige in their own countries and globally as a whole. The universities I have applied to are as follows, and I would appreciate it if you could put in your opinion and add to the fray. (My list is in the order of my relatively uninformed opinion).

Oxford
UPenn
Dartmouth
LSE
Brown
UCL
Berkeley
Duke
Cornell
Vanderbilt
Durham

What do you guys think? Roughly correct or way out? The primary question I am interested in is UCL/LSE (because I have offers) vs the Ivy Leagues (waiting on). I am interested in studying law after my undergraduate course in either the USA or the UK, which would stand me in better stead? UCL or UPenn? LSE or Brown etc?

Although I've been rejected from Oxford, I'm still interested: Oxbridge or the Ivy Leagues (exc HYP). Specifically, is Oxford or UPenn more prestigious in the world as a whole?

Thanks everyone.

EDIT:

Though this is obviously no measure of international prestige, the number of English Wikipedia page hits for each university page reinforces my point about their global reputation. These statistics are for January this year:

University (English Wikipedia page hits rounded off to nearest 5k)

)

I have friends at many of these schools and I will try to rank them in terms of general international prestige, especially in terms of undergraduate education.

(Note alphabetic order for same rank - !)

1. Penn (Wharton)
2. Oxford
3. Dartmouth, LSE (economics), Penn (other schools)
4. Berkeley, Brown, Cornell, Duke, LSE (other subjects), UCL
5. Durham, Vanderbilt

Now to arouse some controversy I will also rank the top schools of the US and UK together. Note! I am trying to not be biased here. It is a bit difficult to compare for example narrowly oriented schools like Caltech and Imperial with others. Also, I only rank these in terms of international prestige, not pure UK or US domestic prestige, nor for any specific subjects - engineering at Cornell for example is generally regarded as better than at Harvard.

1. Harvard, Penn (Wharton), Stanford
2. Cambridge, MIT, Oxford, Princeton, Yale
3. Caltech, Columbia, Dartmouth, LSE (economics), Penn (other schools)
4. Berkeley, Brown, Cornell, Duke, Imperial, LSE (other subjects), U Chicago, UCL

Note: Yes, I believe the US comfortably edges out the UK overall, but remember that the US has a population many times that of the UK so I suppose you could say the UK is more impressive 'per capita'.