<p>[hakunamatata838] I think you should also consider Cambridge (or Oxford) as options. I suppose the UK model differs in general from the US system to the extent that most of the marks used for your degree are earned in comprehensive annual exams as opposed to continuous assessment through homework, midterms, quizzes, etc. . Oxbridge however differs somewhat from other UK schools to the extent that the conventional university structure of lectures, labs, and final exams is supplemented by the supervision system offered by the Colleges, which allows additional one-to-one instruction beyond the regular lectures and forces you to keep up with homework assignments (like “example papers”) even though they are normally not graded for credit. In that sense, even without continuous assessment, I tend to think Oxbridge students are less likely to “slack off” during the school year and just cram for finals than other students in most European (e.g. German) universities. Incidentally, I would also point out that the whole residential college experience you will get in Cambridge or Oxford is really unmatched anywhere in the world (Harvard and Yale being perhaps the closest matches in that respect in the US, but not coming really that close IMHO).</p>