<p>Forthe best undergrad universities for polisci majors, would Oxford University make top 5 internationally? Cambridge? Any international school?</p>
<p>I don’t know about “top 5 internationally,” but PPE (Philosophy Politics and Economics) is one of the most famous and popular courses offered at Oxford. It’s also quite competitive (23.1% offered admission). I’m not sure if Cambridge has a similar course…</p>
<p>I think harvard and yale would still rank the top. Especially harvard, with its world-renowned kennedy school of government as well as the harvard law school (which is also something you’d like to master if you are going into politics). Both of them have VERY low admission rates, approximately 10%. It’s admissions standards are also very diverse and have a wider magnitude than that of top british insitutions.</p>
<p>In the UK The London School of Economics is also famous for the field.</p>
<p>just because admittance rates are higher at english universities it doesn’t mean they’re not as good - Oxford and Cambridge are both top 10 in the world - and both above Yale. Its because there are less applicants each year in england, so more proportionally get in. </p>
<p>The admissions standards at top UK universities are purely academic - one cannot get in via legacy, donations or sporting recruitment. Affirmative action does, to an extent, take place though (regrettably). Thus, the diversity of admissions standards is not as great - but this is because UK unis want good students, not ones with a lot of money or relatives who went there, and i don’t think that this can be said to be a bad thing.</p>
<p>politics - and especially PPE - is very strong at Oxford, and certainly one of the best places to study it in the world.</p>
<p>Well you can’t apply to both Oxford and Cambridge as an undergraduate in the same year, so this reduces application numbers by half. </p>
<p>The universities with the most applications in the UK are not the top ones. UK students don’t generally subscribe to the reach-match-safety philosophy because it would be too risky. Only 6 applications are allowed (via a wonderfully simple common application form at <a href=“http://www.ucas.com%5B/url%5D”>www.ucas.com</a>) and rather than accepting students straight away the universities give them “conditional offers”. For UK students the conditions are certain A-level grades, which they do not find out until August (for overseas students the conditions may be IB or AP scores etc). So assuming a student has 6 conditional offers (and most don’t), they then have to choose one to be their first choice and one to be their insurance choice. The idea is that the insurance choice asks for slightly lower grades so that if they don’t make their grades for their first choice, they can go there. The other 4 offers have to be rejected (and only withdrawing an re-application can allow a student to try to change their mind). Come the summer, if the student does not meet the conditions of either offer, they enter a system called “clearing” which matches students with places to colleges with vacancies. Not really that great since this process occurs only 1 month before the academic year starts. A mad scramble for the few places left. Hence a student who was predicted to get grade BBB in their A-levels, for example, would be a fool to apply to very highly ranked places and end up with conditional offers of AAA and AAB. In all probability they would not get the grades and be “cleared”, ending up at a college they didn’t want to attend, which they had never visited and in an area they didn’t want to live (clearing places have quite a high drop-out rate. There is usually a reason these courses were unpopular in the first place). Much better to apply to places with conditions ranging from ABB to CCC so that if the first choice grades were not reached, the second choice grades would be.</p>
<p>Another reason why the “best” universities do not have the highest application ratios is that a student must apply to study a specific subject in the UK. Sometimes lowly ranked unis have one outstanding department so students who want to study that particular subject turn down places which may be ranked better overall but low in their subject.</p>
<p>The most popular places in the UK tend to be in the middle of the country relatively close to everyone. I believe that Nottingham is usually the most popular with an application ratio of between 10 and 15 application per place and offers of AAA-BBCish depending on subject.(but remember that many people will turn it down as their second choice if they get the grades for Oxbridge or other highly ranked choices. Medicine and law are AAA subjects whatever the university).</p>
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<p>a BBB student probably wouldn’t receive offers from universities asking for AAA/AAB. they’d just reject him.</p>
<p>oxbridge applications are fairly low (relatively) because if you’re not going to get AAA, and have good GCSE grades, they won’t even consider you (barring exceptional circumstances). thus most people don’t bother wasting one of their six choices.</p>
<p>i think the uni that receives the most applications is manchester, because they have a good mix of decent courses and relatively low requirements.</p>
<p>also…you can do medicine and law at prestigious universities (obviously not oxbridge, though) with at least AAB, or possibly even lower (i know people in this situation…). however, you’d be fool to hire them.</p>
<p>Hmm, which of the two applicants below would have a better chance at Harvard Kennedy School of Govt.</p>
<p>A.) Student goes to Oxford PPE and does well there</p>
<p>B.) Polisci major at Yale and does well there</p>
<p>Assuming they both have the same ECs, and everyhting, which would have the better chance?</p>
<p>Im going to say Oxford</p>