<p>The decision is for study abroad purposes only.</p>
<p>I'm at the quaternary level of differentiation</p>
<p>So I ask which of the two has greater prestige and lay prestige attached in the US or otherwise in the world.</p>
<p>In general Cambridge for science and Oxford for humanities.</p>
<p>“Cambridge” vs. “Oxford” is almost meaningless for study abroad purposes: figure out what colleges within them you’re looking at.</p>
<p>both are within the top 10 in the norrington/tompkins tables</p>
<p>“both are within the top 10 in the norrington/tompkins tables”</p>
<p>LOL</p>
<p>“In general Cambridge for science and Oxford for humanities.”</p>
<p>LOL</p>
<p>^^^ </p>
<p>Why do you find that funny? </p>
<p>Cambridge is traditionally strong in the sciences and Oxford is traditionally strong in the humanities.</p>
<p>Cambridge is as strong as Oxford for social sciences and humanities. And, (slightly) better than Oxford for physical sciences and engineering.</p>
<p>Are you sure Cambridge as strong in all humanities? E.g. for philosophy, Oxford is MUCH stronger; no contest. I would just wonder if there are any other humanities where Oxford is better than Cambridge.</p>
<p>“Cambridge is traditionally strong in the sciences and Oxford is traditionally strong in the humanities”</p>
<p>So, yes over their extremely long traditions Oxford is slightly stronger in the humanities while Cambridge is slightly in the sciences. But both are REALLY damn good at both, and in practical terms you can get a great education at both. </p>
<p>So to take your example of philosophy, Oxford has a much larger staff with (next to NYU) probably the most renowned faculty in the world. But maybe someone’s area of interest is inferentialist semantics, in which case Pitt (with Robert Brandom being there) makes both NYU and Oxford look like crap. Or perhaps you want to get into post-Rorty expressivism. Well, Cambridge has Huw Price - someone Oxford can’t match for that area.</p>
<p>I’m just saying that repeating oft-quoted generalizations such as “Cambridge for sciences, Oxford for arts” is a rediculous oversimplification that does a disservice to both excellent universities. Go to either of them, for BOTH sciences or arts and you’d get a very high quality education.</p>
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<p>Historically, Cambridge has been associated with Newton and Darwin; Oxford has been associated with John Rawls, Isaiah Berlin, etc. Not surprising that each is slightly stronger than the other. But it’s probably negligible.</p>
<p>Rankings in philosophy do depend on what you’re interests are, but the overall rankings are meant to cover breadth in its various aspects. For example, UCI is number one in phil. of decision theory/game theory of whatever. but it’s in the 40s in the overall ranking.</p>