lOngbOWmeN

lol thats kinda warped....since Camb is generally considered the better of the 2 and even Camb is unlikely to win Dr. Avrah in cross-admits

nickybol

Oxford is a really nice university, but it has a totally different system. You specialize right from the beginnen and get taught in really small groups, usually no more than three or four.

munchkin3590

QS Top Universities: Top 100 universities in the THES - QS World University Rankings 2007

World rankings according to The Times for 2007(British paper)

1 Harvard
2 Oxford
2 Yale
2 Cambridge

Bit of a cop-out to have 3 #2 schools, but I think they actually use numbers and such, so maybe it really did just work out that way.
From my experience, coming from a school that sends most of its kids to British or German unis, with only a handful going to the states this year, Harvard is considered a bit more prestigious. This may just be because Oxford has more people in each class, so it is much harder to get into Harvard, statistically. But, this year for example, no one really made much of a fuss when a classmate got an offer (conditional on IB scores, yeah, but an offer) from Oxford, whereas when I got into Harvard they flipped.

Personally, I do think US college education is better, simply because there is a more individual focus, and typically there is a broader more "liberal arts" education as opposed to specializing right off the bat. That's what grad school is for, no? College should allow for a bit of a chance to explore, because who really (like really really, really. Really. ) knows what they want to do for the rest of their life when they are 18?

justcallmebob

I chose harvard over oxford because of its emphasis on the liberal arts. Don't forget you can only study one (or, in odd cases, two or three) subjects at oxbridge. yawn.

Sci-Fry

Cambridge vs. Harvard is probably going to have more mixed views, even though it's not as "universally known" as oxford (maybe not)...

I'd probably rather go to Cambridge than Harvard because I want to do engineering, and I think Cambridge is overall the better of the two for engineering (I may be wrong).

onemoreparent

Harvard is great... for grad school. Oxford is great... for undergrad. Best of two worlds would be: Oxford first, Harvard second. This is my conclusion after a year of research into US/UK colleges. Anyone agree?

munchkin3590

I disagree, I think Harvard is also great for undergrad. I wonder, are you basing your judgements on the old rumor that Harvard ignores undergrads and focuses on grad students? From what I hear, that really is just a rumor, it has no truth to it at all.

CWalker

I agree onemoreparent. Obviously what is beneficial to one student is not always the best for another, but overall I'd say that the personal attention you get as an undergrad in the UK is more conducive to learning than large lectures. On the other hand we're not talking about large State U vs. Oxford here...Harvard's staff to student ratio is pretty good and a Harvard undergrad education is arguably as good as Oxford. I guess it really comes down to the individual. If you want to learn more in depth info in your field and like 1 on 1 or 1 on 2 attention from a tutor then go to Oxford. If you like the breadth of knowledge you receive from the US collegiate system and can learn in a group setting then go Harvard.

Jen98

I'll admit that my extent of knowledge of the UK collegiate system is based on what has been said in this thread, but it makes me still favor Harvard for undergrad and Oxford for grad.

Undergrad at Harvard would give you the chance to explore the liberal arts while still getting a top-notch education in the field you fall into. Grad at Oxford would then allow you to really focus your graduate work in that one particular subject. That seems to be the progression with any college student, a broad undergrad education and narrow but deep graduate schooling, no?

But like I said, I'm pretty naïve on the subject, so that's purely speculation.

lOngbOWmeN

^ actually most of my peers and I share the opposite view

that is the undergrad focus and 1 to 1 teaching at Cambridge (who gives a toot about the other place) makes it the best place for college, whereas the Harvard's emphasis on research and its huge funding gives it an unsurmountable edge at Grad level

CWalker

I think you hit it on the nose longbowmen. 1) you're right about "the other place"...it shouldn't even be in the discussion and 2) I don't know which university has the better resources since I haven't started at Cambridge yet and I haven't been to Harvard, but I do know that it is MUCH easier to get funding at Harvard. I don't think that most people realize that Oxbridge are public universities. While they have large endowments in comparison to other UK universities...they pale in comparison to Harvard and other top US privates.

lOngbOWmeN

large is an understatement, i read somewhere that oxbridge together has 70% of the ENTIRE UK university endowments, ivy in comparison has 13%.

well actually funding isnt as scarce as it seems, oxbridge being public unis receive substantial amts of funding from the british govt....Camb's operating budget for 05/06 was US 1bil, same as Princeton's, or about half that of Yale's which has an endowment 5.5x of Camb

and yeah the other place stinks, theres a reason y the best schools are found in Cambridge MA/UK =)

munchkin3590

If you mean, 13% of US endowment, then.... well, wherever you read that, the writer did some bad math. It's sort of a like a "well, duh" statement, because the UK has 126 unis, and in the states there are more than 3000. A little comparison comparison... 2/126 have 70%, 8/3000+ have 13%... It makes sense that Oxbridge's percentage of the UK endowments would be larger. You really can't compare the two figures at all.

rocketman08

These "Harvard vs Oxbridge" threads pop up occasionally and I never quite see the point of debating something which really can't be debated. Harvard and Oxbridge (Oxford and Cambridge) are two totally different types of institutions so it's like comparing apples and oranges.

Oxbridge is more than twice as old has Harvard. Harvard has twice as many grads as undergrads whereas Cambridge is the opposite with twice as many undergrads as grads. Oxbridge has a total traditional college system whereas Harvard has a residential 'house' system. Oxbridge runs undergraduate education strictly on the ancient tutorial system and Harvard follows the American classroom model. Harvard (and most US) undergrad degrees focus on the broad liberal arts model with a lot of 'general education' courses whereas Oxbridge (and most UK) undergrad degrees strictly focuses on the subject of the degree.

They're different for sure, but it's impossible to argue that one is somehow "better" than the other.

As for endowments (something that always comes up for why Harvard is "obviously just so much better than everyone else"), Cambridge has an endowment of almost $10 billion so although it's not as big as Harvard's it's nothing to sneeze at either. Another thing to take into consideration is the fact that both Oxford and Cambridge, whilst private institutions, receive significant subsidies from the government to fund education. A large part of Harvard's endowment goes to paying for their financial aid packages whereby much of that is provided by the government in the UK. Considering that with most endowments it takes about $20 of endowment to fund $1 of annual funding then you need a massive endowment to provide large tuition subsidies... hence why Harvard needed a $30+ billion endowment before it could start offering tuition subsidies that start approaching what most UK students have always received for Oxbridge.

As for prestige, worldwide (and I'm basing this on my own travels around the world) I'd say Oxbridge edges out Harvard, although not by much. Besides, it's not like anyones ever going to say "oh, you only went to Harvard" or "oh, you only went to Oxbridge." Also, overall bickering about "prestige" is largely irrelevant as what really matters is how a school fits in with ones particular educational needs and desires.

There's no question they're all world class schools so I'd just leave it at that.

CWalker

Well said rocketman...I agree that you really can't compare the two, but people will always try (hey..even I tried).