<p>well you can have good ones or bad ones wherever you are</p>
<p>im not really bashing the system - if you really want to do all sorts of different subjects then fine but if youre really passionate about one, then uk is better. I chose cambridge over ivies where i held offers because of this.</p>
<p>Sargon- now you have a new story…if you are passionate about one subject uk is better???
lets see for language i would choose one college for math another for music so many fine schools, film another, for poetry another, physics another…get the point… we have so many excellent options- we dont need to have one school- cambridge only taking 3 courses… in the us one chooses the school that supports your specialty in depth with profs who are the best at it up to the student how much you want to learn the sky is the limit… get it?
and talent is nurtured something the BRITS know nothing about its not part of your culture that was obvious.</p>
<p>I just had a revelation-all of these schools are among the best, and arguing which one is better is arguing apples and oranges.</p>
<p>It’s hilarious reading this because it is circuitous and rife with subjectivity. I would kill to go to any of these schools, and it seems many of you are far too nitpicky in comparing them.</p>
<p>Here’s the experience of another Harvard student who studied abroad at Cambridge; the report has an emphasis on cultural and social factors and favors Cambridge:
<a href=“http://thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=346960[/url]”>http://thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=346960</a></p>
<p>From another student, with a focus on the issue of depth versus breadth:
<a href=“http://thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=508171[/url]”>http://thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=508171</a></p>
<p>A tongue-in-cheek explanation of why Oxford is superior to Harvard, by an Oxford student:
<a href=“http://thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=268430[/url]”>http://thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=268430</a></p>
<p>A Harvard student’s somewhat negative view of Oxford:
<a href=“http://thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=106988[/url]”>http://thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=106988</a></p>
<p>Factual description of differences, by a visiting fellow from Oxford:
<a href=“http://thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=151349[/url]”>http://thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=151349</a></p>
<p>just one last thing - everyone is free to go to whatever lectures they want at oxbridge, in any subject, just cant take the exams. you can even get tutorials arranged in other subjects. so if your interested you can get loads of breadth too. It is also straightforward to switch degrees in cambridge.</p>
<p>p.s. exams are at the end of every year and are the most horrible/pressure-filled thing ever</p>
<p>Oxbridge is far superior for studying a single subject in depth. Where-else do you get the 1-1 tuition or subject intensive workload? Harvard is not about depth or rigour at undergraduate level, but instead breadth and all around development in preperation for graduate school.</p>
<p>‘and talent is nurtured something the BRITS know nothing about its not part of your culture that was obvious.’</p>
<p>As we have come to expect from you, silly comments.</p>
<p>‘we have so many excellent options- we dont need to have one school- cambridge only taking 3 courses.’</p>
<p>What do you mean by this? Cambridge offer loads of subjects.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>The American concept of undergraduate education generally isn’t so much about depth - for that matter. Equipped with the right AP qualifications you can pretty much focus your undergraduate curriculum though, if you wish to.</p>
<p>As for rigeur acad</p>
<p>Gains in app numbers “oxford<em>avoids</em>drop<em>in</em>student_applications:”</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.cherwell.org/news/oxford_avoids_drop_in_student_applications[/url]”>http://www.cherwell.org/news/oxford_avoids_drop_in_student_applications</a></p>
<p>12,654 applicants for places at a college with 11,119 undergraduates.</p>
<p>At Harvard, 22,723 applications to a college with 6,554 undergraduates.</p>
<p>Is there any difference in terms of admission chances to graduate programmes if one has obtained a BA from Cambridge or one from any Ivy League university, as the Cambridge BA is far more in depth and subject orientated?</p>
<p>The thing is that I have been admitted to Cambridge, but I have also applied to some American universities. Although I do not think I have chances to be admitted in the US, I am still wondering how I would decide if I had another option…</p>
<p>Probably not. At some point it is probably about the individual. I know some idiots who attend Cambridge and ditto for Harvard. LOL</p>
<p>lol, ok :)</p>
<p>Regarding admissions numbers - if you add a two day academic examination interview period to the application process, and forbid applications to more than one ivy league school (like for oxbridge) then i guarantee you you wouldnt get more than 6000 harvard applicants.</p>
<p>Oh I don’t know: kids can only apply to a single school ED or SCEA, and HYPSPC average about 4,000 early apps each even before any “regular” apps are considered.</p>
<p>I wish I’d read your posts before… I’d have applied to Harvard ED had I known they have a marginally increased chance, for various reasons. ho hum, it’s in God’s hands now, what?</p>
<p>I lived in Oxford for three years, and I visited Cambridge UK extensively in that time; I must say Oxford is a dump, both the colleges themselves (with the exception of Christ Church and John’s) and the city all had an air of decreptitude about it. Cambridge by contrast was a delightful and open place, it seemed to even smell cleaner. it exuded an aura of health almost… The Oxford colleges were all musty, stinky, murky, and dreadfully cramped. Cambridge, again, had the best accommodation, and I know of at least 10 colleges that heavily subsidise the cost of rent there, so Cambridge is also cheaper to live in. That being said, apart from Trinity College, Cambridge, and maybe John’s Cambridge none of the other Oxbridge colleges can compete with American Endowments. oh yeah, in My Humble Opinion…</p>
<p>I have family living in Oxford, and I visited the university and thought it was the most beautiful place I had ever seen before in my life. And I love the city. Different strokes, I guess.</p>
<p>but have you been to Cambridge? or spent a few days in a college there? Furthermore have you been into the heart of the beast, the residences and common rooms of the Oxford Colleges?</p>
<p>Edit: I fully agree, that the outside of the colleges are very pretty, but Oxford the city has more of an industrial feel whereas Cambridge is a quintessential English small town… A man cannot live in a tent, unfortunately, in an Oxford Quad…</p>
<p>@ byerly: but the harvard application involves filling out a form and chatting to an alumnus, not a horrible academic interview. Dont you think that if harvard required all its prospective students to come to its campus for 2 days and get tested in a gruelling series of faculty conducted subject interviews it would get fewer applications?
The oxbridge academic interview is a far more rigorous selection procedure than the us apps imho - looking good on paper will not help much at a cambridge.</p>
<p>Demographically, it seems clear, the Oxford admits are drawn from a far narrower slice of the population - where many assume their “place” “at university” is a birthright. The school is making efforts to change, but change is slow, and the financial barriers are daunting.</p>