Cambridge vs. Princeton

<p>BACK TO REALITY....if u get in atleast one of them...GO AND GRAB IT DAMN!!....if u got in BOTH then WHO WILL B MORE LUCKY THAN U!!...I can make out the confusion of students who gets in both MIT and Stanford and had to choose one!!!..I M OUTTA THIS..(coz I need to get in in alteast ONE,priorly to ANYTHING!!)..</p>

<p>"Statistically, about 25% of applicants are admitted to Oxbridge, while the numbers are about 10% for HYP."</p>

<p>There is of course a fairly simple explanation for this. Since admissions to Oxbridge depends a lot on grades, people with below-par grades won't even bother applying. Admissions to HYP, on the other hand, are more random; not from the adcom's point of view, since the adcom might have a precise view of the kind of applicant he/she is looking for; but certainly from the applicant's point of view. The natural result is there are more, let's say, underqualified students applying to HYP than Oxbridge, since with Oxbridge they can say with certainty they won't get in whereas with HYP they can't be so sure.</p>

<p>So the 25%/10% thing doesn't necessarily mean HYP students are more talented than Oxbridge ones.</p>

<p>HYP = Oxbridge = ARE ALL VERY GOOD SCHOOLS :)</p>

<p>Matter solved.</p>

<p>Princeton is the best Under graduate university in the world; everyone(less jackasses) knows that.
You know i hate people who aren't worth of even applying to P'ton; who have been defered by Stanford only because they are paying full, else they would be rejected starighaway; Yet who brag about a conditional offer.</p>

<p>Mommie Mommie, he said i am a Jackass. Block him, mommie:p</p>

<p>
[quote]

In the UK, you gotta be really talented academically and very focused on one subject to be accepted, whereas in the US, anyone with some sheer of luck, great writing ability, connection to great letter of recommendations and some modest academic talent can get anywhere.

[/quote]

You are forgetting about rich mommies and daddies who send their kids to resit for A-level and resit till they get A. They are academically very capable:rolleyes:
* Essays don't matter much(as said by dean of admission at duke)
* Cambridge and Oxford do ask for Recs.
* You are forgetting about ECs.
P'tonians work in India, in Africa, amongst poor, spend their summers in slums, they help their communities, they do research, they write books.
Not just mug up for A-levels.</p>

<p>Hey, will anyone even bother to hav a look at what I hav posted in my last post...
This is all I hav to say:
Case A-Oxbridge Admissions
If you are excellent in Academics and can handle interviews pretty well,then u are IN...(INTERVIEW matters a LOT!!!..coz there are MANY who have excellent academics records and so, there is very little to choose academically.)
Case B-HYMP Admissions
You dont hav to b Excellent Academically, But you hav to b well-Rounded and must hav curiosity/passion towards the major u intend to...
And there is lots more that counts...
In general no one can ''predict'' who will get in..but one can tell about his/her probability of gettin in on the basis of his/her resume...</p>

<p>As of Financial Aid(I hav taken it separately coz it affects both ''almost'' equally)
For US-If u hav money u are in(provided that u hav met the requirements of the college excluding money)...Otherwise U might b out of the game(even though u satisfy the college requirements...U hav stand OUT of the already Outstanding ppl to get Aid..Although the case is a bit different for Need-blind colleges..But most ''top'' colleges r NOT need-blind)
For UK:If u are lookin for financial aid then forget about applying(I am talking about int'ls who are not citizens of EU)..</p>

<p>That is y I said-

[quote]
WOW! to choose between Cambridge and Princeton. I wouldn't mind the result of a toss either.<br>
I second it provided I hav enough funds.....

[/quote]

And

[quote]
BACK TO REALITY....if u get in atleast one of them...GO AND GRAB IT DAMN!!....if u got in BOTH then WHO WILL B MORE LUCKY THAN U!!...I can make out the confusion of students who gets in both MIT and Stanford and had to choose one!!!..I M OUTTA THIS..(coz I need to get in in alteast ONE,priorly to ANYTHING!!)..

[/quote]
</p>

<p>CONCLUSION: This thread is WORTHLESS..(unless ur IN in both)..</p>

<p>As of Statistics......well who cares about that if ur in or hav the capability to get IN!!!...</p>

<p>KalkiTheWarrior, are you Abhi or what? Btw, I didn't tell anyone to block you. There seem to be more guys than just me who find your posts inappropriate.
To end this ridiculous thing: I've never questioned Princeton's quality of education. I was asking about its computer science program. Cambridge seems stronger in this subject. End of debate.</p>

<p>Regarding the re-sits... Cambridge ask for the result of every unit paper you have done, and so they see resits, and look down upon them. Also, if it takes you longer than 2 years to finish your A-Levels ALL top universities will frown upon your application, that would be like spending 5 years in high school. Most people at oxbridge will have done very few resits, because they didnt need too.</p>

<p>And to whoever said Princeton's undergrad is the best in the world, I just don't see how you can make such a sweeping statement. You are comparing an institution where much of the close-contact teaching is done by TAs and grad students to an institution where every student spends atleast 2 hours a week with only one other student being taught by someone who is at the forefront of their field.</p>

<p>I don't want an argument over which is better, they are so different any blanket, statement becomes completely void, and as shown on this thread, is often made by someone with very little knowledge of oxbridge.</p>

<p>And to whoever said something about p'tonians helping the poor and all that jazz... firstly, UK high school summer breaks are 6 weeks, compared to say, 10, in the US, so much less time for trying to 'change the world' and secondly, who pays for these life-changing missions? The rich middle-class parents who know that it wil look just fab on their kid's application. Most of these activities amount to nothing more than being great for application material, their 'research' account to little more than assisting in a lab; UK students do what they are interested in, and not some faux, empty EC just to fill up the boxes on their application.</p>

<p>Ladylou , i was the one who said that Princeton's undergrad was "one of the best in the world" and i said it "is considered to be best in US" ...i never said that it was the best..i dont know enough evidence to say that..</p>

<p>btw, for what i said, i have totally valid reasons..
according to USNews.com, Princeton is ranked 1 among America's National Universities(undergrad program) ..and it is done by following a proper methodology.. check out this link <a href="http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/brief/t1natudoc_brief.php%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/brief/t1natudoc_brief.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>According to Princeton Review, Princeton has following ranks :
#2 Best College Library<br>
#5 School Runs Like Butter
#1 Students Happy with Financial Aid<br>
#2 The Toughest to Get Into<br>
#13 Their Students Never Stop Studying<br>
#3 Most Politically Active
#3 Best Quality of Life<br>
#2 Happiest Students<br>
#2 Most Beautiful Campus </p>

<p>check out this link:
<a href="http://www.princetonreview.com/college/research/profiles/rankings.asp?listing=1024041&LTID=1&intbucketid=%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.princetonreview.com/college/research/profiles/rankings.asp?listing=1024041&LTID=1&intbucketid=&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>sorry for the misunderstanding..but i am not arguing princeton is the best(although it is best for me personally due to my financial aid, academic interest, cultural interest and others which are entirely personal things)..i was just saying Princeton is one of the best.. i think i have presented my case reasonably and i have not made any sweeping statement</p>

<p>sailesh, you made a fair point. Nobody will contradict you when you state that Princeton is one of the best universities in the world. (Let's face it: there is no <em>one</em> best university).

[quote]

although it is best for me personally due to my financial aid, academic interest, cultural interest and others which are entirely personal things

[/quote]

That's right! It's all about the fit!</p>

<p>btw, i totally agree with aw5k's last post..
he started this thread asking which was better for a computer major...although i will be a Princeton student, from what i heard, computer major is not very good there..so, aw5k Cambridge is probably better for you... let's stop comparing US /UK or Princeton/Cambridge...this is too much of a waste of time for reasonable minds..</p>

<p>Agreed. [ 10 chars ]</p>

<p>I'm quite luckty I was borne to rich parents and so I do not after for employment so I would definitely go to Cambridge. If I after employment fter college, I would probabaly go to Princeton but since Princeton does not have a school of engineering, I would most definitely not go there. On a personal note, I think Cambridge is the finest school on earth. Plus it's in the UK which makes it more an appealing school to go to.I would probabaly go there for my MSc. If I get in.</p>

<p>Princeton does have a School of Engineering, vangie, in case you don't know. In fact, I'm going to be doing engineering there... </p>

<p>What do you mean you would definitely go to Cambridge since employment prospects aren't an important factor in your choice of university? And that you would choose Princeton if you wanted to be employed after you graduate. There is flawed logic here. You're implying that a Cambridge degree doesn't help a person as much as a Princeton degree when it comes to getting a job. This isn't true, of course. In my opinion, both qualifications hold more or less equal prestige and enhance a person's job prospects to more or less the same extent.</p>

<p>Cambridge, because it's the neatest school in the world. Except, maybe Oxford. I haven't decided which of the two I want to apply to when my time comes. Teddy Hall rules!</p>

<p>This is the world university ranking for Eng/CS from Shanghai Jiao Tong University:</p>

<p><a href="http://ed.sjtu.edu.cn/ARWU-FIELD2007/ENG.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://ed.sjtu.edu.cn/ARWU-FIELD2007/ENG.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>
[QUOTE]
One of the most widely cited rankings, the Academic Ranking of World Universities is compiled by researchers from Shanghai Jiao Tong University and includes major institutes of higher education ranked according to a formula that took into account alumni winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals (10 percent), staff winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals (20 percent), "highly-cited researchers in 21 broad subject categories" (20 percent), articles published in Nature and Science (20 percent), the Science Citation Index, Social Sciences Citation Index, and Arts and Humanities Citation Index (20 percent) and the size of the institution (10 percent). The results have been cited by The Economist magazine in ranking universities of the world.

[/QUOTE]
</p>

<p>They ranked Cambdrige the 2nd best university in the world (after Harvard), but only #16 for Eng/Cs. However, Princeton is even lower, #24.</p>

<p>lol, thomas, Harvard and Cambridge are much larger universities than Princeton in terms of faculty size and number of graduate students. </p>

<p>Cambridge University:
Students 18,933 (total; 2004–05)
Postgraduates 6,649 (2004–05)
Staff(academic, academic-related, contract research): 5160</p>

<p>Harvard University:
Undergraduates 6715
Postgraduates 12424
Faculty: 2497 non-medical faculty
10674 medical faculty</p>

<p>Princeton University:
Undergraduates 4815
Postgraduates 2300
Faculty: 1139 </p>

<p>Logically, Harvard and Cambridge should be able to publish more research papers and scientific articles because of greater faculty size and no. of graduates. Therefore, they rank high. </p>

<p>On the other hand, the fact that Princeton, with its considerably smaller size, can still compete favourably with other large research institutions in the world (to be ranked #24, which is quite good for its size) is laudable.</p>

<p>There is no doubt that Princeton has the resources and can choose to expand its faculty size and no. of graduate students overnight if it wants to. It can choose to do this in order to boost its world rankings. However, the administration is unwilling to adopt such a course of action because they want Princeton to remain a predominantly undergrad school with a lot of undergrad focus. That is why Princeton ranks #1 on the US ranking (this ranking is more relevant to undergrads because it ranks the quality of undergraduate education) and ranks much lower in the other rankings (Shanghai Jiaotong, Newsweek rankings etc. whose ranking criteria are based on no. of research papers published, no. of award winning faculty etc.). </p>

<p>For an undergraduate, i do not think such rankings as Shanghai Jiatong, Newsweek etc. are relevant because i believe he/she should choose a school for the reputation of its undergraduate education.</p>

<p>oh yeah, cambridge and harvard have large graduate schools too, while Princeton doesn't. </p>

<p>Again, Princeton can choose to set up large graduate schools but it doesn't want to. Unlike other large research universities, the focus is on the undergraduates.</p>

<p>Vangie: WAT??? who told u that??? Infact, p'ton is ONE OF THE finest engineering school in the WORLD!!!....</p>

<p>And I dont trust sjtu..their rankin is CRAP....I wont trust THES much coz it has a really good blunders...for e.g.-They place NTU(Singapore) over Cornell,Harvard,p'ton!!!!!..</p>

<p>I don't think either that one should pay too much attention to the ranking by broad subject field. It is not really relevant for undergraduate school. Personally, I'd choose Cambridge because of its academic excellence, the Silicon Fen and the atmosphere.</p>

<p>issacnewton - first of all, you're supposed to be a Cambridge fan, with that name :). No seriously, is Princeton really considered as one of the finest engineering schools in the world? I don't want to contradict you, I just didn't know. People here said that its engineering school is rather small...</p>