<p>Hey, erickangnz, don't feel bad. Most people also care about prestige, but will claim that they don't. At least you're honest about it. </p>
<p>If pure prestige is what you want, then as far as US schools, Harvard is unbeatable. Or if you want flexibility to switch to something like engineering while also maintaining your prestige, then MIT is the way to go. If you're willing to compromise a bit on prestige so that you don't need Harvard, or if you don't care about having the absolute best engineering school at your disposal, and you care about undergrad teaching, then Princeton is a good way to go. Finally, I think if you want the most laid back (relatively speaking), but still highly prestigious education, then you should be looking at Stanford.</p>
<p>I don't want to comment too much on Oxbridge, because I don't think I know enough about them to say, but yes, I heard that Cambridge is having money problems. But honestly, as an undergrad, so what? Those things might matter if you're a graduate student doing expensive research. But if you're just an undergrad, then having all kinds of fancy expensive facilities isn't exactly going to help you anyway. After all, the LAC's like Harvey Mudd don't exactly have a whole lot of money, yet they are still able to deliver a prime undergrad education. What you should care about is how good the undergrad teaching is (which, unfortunately, I am unable to comment on at Oxbridge).</p>