If I have a realistic chance at Oxford, LSE, UCL, does that imply the same for U-Penn and Princeton, or top LAC’s?
Many thanks.
No. Similarly, an acceptance from one top US college/university does not mean you will (or will not) be accepted by another top college.
Thank you- given though, for example, the high similarity between LSE and U-Penn (CAS and Wharton), and that both have similar acceptance rates- does being a competitive candidate at one make you competitive at the other? (ie removing differences in student ‘type’ preferences).
No matter how many times you ask the same question, the answer will remain #2.
And for US schools you are international (needing money), that is going to minimise your chances in top US schools. UK schools are just more straightforward.
There is no “given though.” The answer remains the same.
OK, that’s slightly different than your original question. And it’s also one that can’t be answered, since UK schools will accept you or not primarily on your GPA and test scores. Penn, like other top US private universities,also places importance on ECs and recs. So in theory, you can be competitive for LSE and uncompetitive for Penn.
Believe it or not you can be accepted to Princeton and NOT accepted to any other Ivy, it happens on a regular basis so there is no sure way to gauge your competitiveness. One school is looking for something and that something may change year to year.
Another way to think about it is that tippy top US admissions are harder to predict from “competitive” academic stats. If your UK school sends 5 kids to Oxbridge a year, it would be surprising if those kids weren’t all in the top 10 smartest/academically highest achieving kids in the year. But in the US that’s not at all the case. For example in my kids class 3 went to Stanford, 1 to MIT, and I wouldn’t consider any of them to be in the top 10 in the class academically (though all were in the top 5-10%). But they all had something else that got them in. That could be as a first gen student, overcoming huge life challenges, being very good at sports, or simply having connections. State schools (eg Berkeley or UCLA) are (just slightly) more predictable (and attracted most of the academically highest achieving kids).
I don’t see how LSE and UPenn are similar at all, other than both being highly ranked/regarded and urban.
And yes, the top UK schools and top private US schools evaluate candidates very differently.
Thank you all for your insights! Much appreciated. I guess I will apply and just see what happens.