<p>^ artartart, I’m going to have to deny that Harvard is the best university in the world. Just look at student satisfaction rates. I’d say Oxbridge is up there though.</p>
<p>Also, I still think the UK unis are slightly easier to get into than the American ones (especially for you since you’ll be paying the top-dollar overseas student fees). In the United States, recommendations are thoroughly looked at, whilst even my counselor here in the UK has told me that the recommendation done through UCAS is never taken as seriously. Factor in the fact that British students usually apply with only their best A-Level grades (the courses that they are interested in, so the courses they do well at) as well as that extracurriculars are little more than an after thought, and getting into schools like Brown becomes much, much tougher. </p>
<p>For the record, I applied to both Brown and LSE (close to UCL standards, maybe even tougher). LSE didn’t see that I almost failed a math class my sophomore year, but they let me in because they only wanted to see my IB predicted grades. Brown, saw the math grade and promptly rejected me.</p>