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British G5 unis v Top tier american unis

This is my first post and am gonna be applying to uni next summer.
Anyway i am not sure whether I should apply to a british uni (oxbridge or LSE, Imperial, UCL) or a top tier US uni like the ivies.
After reading previous posts i noticed that london unis like Imperial and UCL that have big reputations in Asia and Europe are not recognised in the US. But looking a the THES ranking (based on international peer assesment) Imperial is 9th in the world ahead of most the ivies and UCL (25th) is ranked higher than three ivies (http://www.topuniversities.com/worlduniversityrankings/results/2006/top_200_universities/)
Also for specific subjects like social sciences LSE is 3rd, imperial 4th for technology and medicine, and ucl 16th for medicine.
Also uni like UCL hold their own in specific fields in ARWU (which are in my opinion are more relevant to post grad education) for example it's 17th in the world for medicine.
So would it make sense to go a british uni for undergrad and USA for post grad, also would a undergrad degree from say ucl be recognised as on par with say Penn at US universities when considering post grad applications.

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What do you want to study?

My personal advice is for you to complete all your higher education in one country as this is the most expedient route generally.
If you like specialization then the route you described is apparently the way to go. I don't know much about postgraduate but from what I gather postgraduate universities a) care less about the university you went to and more about how you did there and b) know which universities are good at their subject. So if UCL is strong in the particular field you are applying for, its slightly lesser general reputation will not matter.

Having said that I reckon top American universities are the **** and that is where you will receive the best undergraduate education - at the expense of *some* specialization. (Although.. someone thinking of majoring in Physics told me that if you took Physics at Harvard you will end up with a more specialized knowledge than if you had done it at Oxford. To me this makes sense as the Harvard core requirements take only about a year and so you are left with three years in which it would be possible to take only Physics courses. Given that Americans are, frankly, lightyears ahead of us in terms of maths and science you will probably find yourself with a more challenging workload. Also if you enter with 3/4 A-Levels you can bypass certain requirements and have more space left for Physics.)
Reply 3
If you know what you want to do, then it's not a bad idea to do undergrad in the UK and postgrad in the US. In any event, I think the US will often be pretty superior for postgrad studies, especially if you need/want an assistantship/fellowship.

I think you should apply to unis in both countries and then decide based upon which ones accept you, instead of making decisions like this in advance. If you decide to only apply to US schools but get rejected from the ivies, then that's not really good. But maybe if you'd applied to Oxbridge/Imperial/UCL you'd've gotten a spot there.

I do believe that all postgrad admissions people will have a good knowledge of schools from around the world, and thus they'll know that a good degree from UCL is similar to a good degree from UPenn.

Oh, and also you'll need to consider where you want to work when you're finished with school. If you want a job in the US, people know US schools better there; if you want a job in the UK, people know UK schools better there.
Reply 4
thanks for the advice
Reply 5
i know im going on to a tangent here but do people agree with my opinion on the following on reputations of unis;
harvard/yale/MIT/stanford equivalent to Oxbridge
Princeton/columbia/CalTeach/Cornell/Chicago===LSE and Imperial
Penn/Brown/Duke/john hopkins===UCL
I'd put Princeton in the first group and move Cornell to the third group.
Reply 7
ChemistBoy
My personal advice is for you to complete all your higher education in one country as this is the most expedient route generally.


could you elaborate on the advantages of doing all your higher education in one country? thanks.
LSE has got really big reputation and I would probably put it in the first group.
mpat
i know im going on to a tangent here but do people agree with my opinion on the following on reputations of unis;
harvard/yale/MIT/stanford equivalent to Oxbridge
Princeton/columbia/CalTeach/Cornell/Chicago===LSE and Imperial
Penn/Brown/Duke/john hopkins===UCL


Penn's business school (Wharton) probably has the best reputation in the world. For this reason I think it should be a little higher up...
depends on what course is being studied anyway :s-smilie:
Cornell probably shouldn't be on that list at all.. jokes!
Reply 11
And CalTech is just as good as MIT for those subjects they have in common.
Reply 12
UCL is a good school but comparing it to Duke and Penn? I think that is a stretch.
Reply 13
UCL is a good school but comparing it to Duke and Penn? I think that is a stretch.
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I made the assumption on THES rankings, and other people who i spoke. I get the impression that americans generally do not rate foreign unis (european, asian etc) much, for example i get impression LSE is understood to be a average uni, and imperial and ucl are completely unheard of. I guess people in London have a better appreciation for international institution, being the most globalised/international city in the world. for example i was told that IIT and IIM grads are very highly rated in the city of london, UBS even have special internships for only IIT grads.
LSe is an average uni? Are they out of their mind? If you're speaking to somebody at ole miss that attitude is tenable..But, really speaking to those at the steep end of US higher education..those at Columbia, Harvard and the like, they apportion the same reverence to LSE as they do to Oxford. Yah, UCL, Imperial they haven't heard of, that I can believe.

But, c'mon man LSE is a brand name, it has a ring to it think about it LOndon School of Economics...how impressive does that sound?

And to say American's haven't heard of IIT's is laughable. There are cohorts upon cohorts of IIT graduates in the states. IIT's have even pervaded US popular culture (see a recent Dilbert strip)
Reply 15
morningwood
LSe is an average uni? Are they out of their mind? If you're speaking to somebody at ole miss that attitude is tenable..But, really speaking to those at the steep end of US higher education..those at Columbia, Harvard and the like, they apportion the same reverence to LSE as they do to Oxford. Yah, UCL, Imperial they haven't heard of, that I can believe.

But, c'mon man LSE is a brand name, it has a ring to it think about it LOndon School of Economics...how impressive does that sound?

And to say American's haven't heard of IIT's is laughable. There are cohorts upon cohorts of IIT graduates in the states. IIT's have even pervaded US popular culture (see a recent Dilbert strip)

Let's just say that those who need to know, know. And they know exactly what a brilliant institution the IIT is.
Reply 16
I'd say:-

Tier 1: Harvard, Yale, Princeton
Tier 2: Oxbridge, Stanford, MIT
Tier 3: LSE, Imperial, Chicago, Columbia, Dartmouth, CIT, Berkeley
Tier 4: UCL, NYU, Brown, Cornell, Duke, Northwestern
Tier 5: Michigan, UIUC, Carnegie Mellon, UCLA

Thoughts?
Knogle
I'd say:-

Tier 1: Harvard, Yale, Princeton
Tier 2: Oxbridge, Stanford, MIT
Tier 3: LSE, Imperial, Chicago, Columbia, Dartmouth, CIT, Berkeley
Tier 4: UCL, NYU, Brown, Cornell, Duke, Northwestern
Tier 5: Michigan, UIUC, Carnegie Mellon, UCLA

Thoughts?


oxbridge is superior to every other ivy institution bar harvard so id say theyd be in tier 1. I'd say LSE is on par with Yale with MIT being better than them both and definetly tier 1. Finally id definitely put Duke in Tier 3 at least
Reply 18
Tier 1: Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Oxbridge,
Tier 2: Stanford, MIT, LSE, Imperial,
Tier 3: Chicago, Columbia, Dartmouth, CIT, Berkeley
Tier 4: UCL, NYU, Cornell, Duke, Northwestern
Tier 5: Michigan, UIUC, Carnegie Mellon, UCLA, Brown,


Brown has had its decline IMO - and in the THES rankings opinion. Rhode Scholar is still very very prestigious and the link of harvard - oxford honestly makes the suggestion that they are the same level - also world rankings mostly put oxbridge top 5. Yale even drops out on some of those rankings.

Its also about specialty. LSE is just a propaganda machine but has made it work into a class act and imperial is just such an amazing school at what it does and has been at the forefront of so much and has always been so good.

E.g. I want to go to the Harvard business school but maybe Chicago economics. Post graduate especially it is specialization, but undergrad thats what I feel is wrong with the original table (though the unfamiliar names I have left like CIT).
I would personally say similar to you Knogle.

Tier 1: HYP Oxbridge
Tier 2: Stanford, MIT, Berkley + top few Liberal Arts College
Tier 3: LSE Imperial Columbia, Dartmoth CIT UPenn Columbia
Tier 4: UCL Brown, Cornell, UCLA, NYU, Duke, Chicago