Importance of the first university

Hello,

I'm from Germany and I'm doing my A-levels (Abitur) this year and so I will have to choose a university. It's my dream to make my master's degree in Oxford, but for my bachelor's degree I will definitely stay in Germany. One of the reasons is that I have to improve my English skills, so I'm sorry if there are some mistakes. :-)
I want to sudy computer science, maybe in combination with engineering science.
I wanted to go to the „Technical University Darmstadt“ because it is close to my home and good for engineering. But now I'm wondering if it is important which university I choose if I want to get into Oxford afterwards. Do they care about the reputation of the former university or even its place in rankings?
Darmstadt is not really popular and it has only a place between 200 and 250 in rankings. Alternatively I could study applied computer science in „Ruprecht-Karls-University Heidelberg“. I think it is a more popular university and in rankings it is between 37 and 66.
My question: Do you know if the university where I made my undergraduate degree is important for Oxford? Could a more „popular“ university (Heidelberg) increase the chance of being accepted a little bit or should I better go to a university that is focused on subjects like engineering and computer science but is not popular (Darmstadt)?

Thank you for your help!

Reply 1

MonteCristo

This is probably a difficult question to answer because it will depend a lot on the individual admissions tutor. I don't think that there will officially be any extra "points" awarded to candidates from highly ranked universities. However, it's probably true that some tutors would feel more comfortable accepting an applicant from Cambridge, Harvard, or MIT (assuming all other things are equal) than someone from an institution with which they are unfamiliar. Having said that, I don't know that Oxbridge admissions tutors will be familiar with universities in Germany and so this will probably matter less for you than some others. In summary, it could matter but I don't think it will matter very much - they are more likely to be interested in your grades, other activities, references, etc.

Reply 2

username2490299

Thank you very much for your helpful and detailed answer.
Does anybody else know something about that topic?

Reply 3

nulli tertius

Original post by MonteCristo

I don't know that Oxbridge admissions tutors will be familiar with universities in Germany and so this will probably matter less for you than some others.

Of course they will. They will be attending academic conferences with German delegates. They will be sitting on editorial boards with them and they will be collaborating on papers with colleagues from Germany.

Reply 4

MonteCristo

Original post by nulli tertius

Perhaps so but I don't think that most academics will have a firm grasp of the hierarchy of institutions in Germany, or France, or China, or most other academically successful countries. Some universities in the US have international brand recognition but very few institutions can claim the same in Europe.