<p>They want members of the British upper class and other people that can be future influential leaders on the world stage. See the list of people that have been Prime Minister of Britain. Virtually all from Oxford or Cambridge. Look at the figures of “public” school acceptance rates compared to those of British “day” schools. Anybody can see the discrepancy there. The truth is that Britain as a nation runs on a diminished but still very real system of social stratification… their entire social backbone is built on it. Nobody said that the schools had to be fair, and they don’t even try to make a show of it like some of the top US colleges. Try to find info about undergraduate financial aid on their sites within the first couple seconds like you can do for every other top US college (I’m still looking for it. I’m not sure the page exists). Sure, they’ll accept a few internationals, but the ones that do apply will be hyper competitive and generally good enough to get into the top US colleges as well. </p>
<p>I’d stick to the colleges you know or some less competitive colleges in England. Or Berkeley. I might see you there…</p>