Coming from Columbia with a BA and looking into Oxford. Will coming from Ivy be a boost or will they not care - they seem to be all GPA and Honors.
[This is taking that I have the required GPA, have a prospective advisor, etc.]
Just wondering if name recognition also helps - I’m interested in the culture of UK schools as well if anyone knows some interesting stuff…
What are you applying for? The first thing to remember is that funding is handled separately from admission, and its really quite difficult to get funded places as an international student. On the other hand, if you are paying for a masters, the UK can be much cheaper than an equivalent paid course in the US.
Re name recognition, it might not be what you expect. For example the majority of people in the UK think of Berkeley as a better school than most places other than Harvard/MIT/Stanford and would be much more familiar with Berkeley than Columbia. They have heard the stories of people buying their way into private schools and that decisions are based on ECs and race, both of which are completely unacceptable (not to mention illegal) in the UK, and that leads to some skepticism of American admissions and qualifications. Academics would have a wider knowledge but are more likely to consider the reputation in their specific field, not just that you are at an Ivy League school (for example many math professors would regard Berkeley as distinctly superior to Stanford).
One thing you might well notice is that there’s nothing like the same push as in the US for current Oxbridge undergraduates to go elsewhere for a grad degree - they are at the best place already so why take a step down? That means up to half of the grad students were there as undergrads (you stay at the same small college) and already know the place and have a group of friends, and won’t necessarily be as engaged with those coming from elsewhere (though that is more common in a PhD program than in a taught masters where everyone takes classes together). There can also be a perception that students who were undergrads are treated more favorably (for example at my college students who had been undergrads could get research scholarships that gave them much better rooms, and that wasn’t available to new grad students).
So my take was that the internationals, especially those from a popular country (of which the US is obviously one), might be more likely to stick together and perceive it as a bit difficult to break into the British crowd. But I was a British undergrad and grad student, so I don’t have personal experience of being an outsider.
I was a foreign grad student (at different universities) for a taught Masters & a PhD, and recognize some of what @Twoin18 mentioned.
The continuing and local grad students in my taught Masters initially hung around together quite a lot, and the international students per force made up a separate group… That turned out to have some great benefits- it expanded all of our horizons enormously! By winter break, however, the groups were mixing quite freely, and groups formed and re-formed around other metrics- study groups, specific classes, activities, etc. Admissions-wise, they will know that Columbia is a good name, but won’t faint at the wonder of it. For a taught Masters, if you have the marks, and relevant elements (depends on your subject as to what those are), and a good Statement of Purpose you would have a solid shot.
For the PhD it was completely different: it’s a much smaller cohort (there were only 2 in my direct intake group, and a total of 6 in the overall program), and you are immediately tied into a research group. Although the majority of students were local, only a few students had come straight through UG/Masters/PhD (though it turns out that can vary considerably based on the field). Admissions-wise, it is much more dependent on how good your fit is with what they are doing- and the reputation of your previous institution(s) and reference writer in whatever field you are pursuing
As @Twoin18 noted, be mindful about funding if you are looking at a PhD- the funding system is different- and less certain- than the US. On the other hand, they are much better than the US about getting students through up and out- none of this 6/7/8 years malarkey!