Comprehensive Ivy Thread Part 2 (was Oxford vs. Ivy)

<p>top ivies, no question.</p>

<p>MODERATOR NOTE to " Which is better, top Ivies or Cambridge?" thread originally posted by Leprechaun: </p>

<p>I'm moving this thread to the appropriate forum (College Search & Selection) and merging it into the earlier thread (also started on the College Admission Forum) contrasting Oxford and Ivies. Note carefully the order of questions and replies.</p>

<p>It should be noted that UK universities are fairly poor by US standards. Only Oxford and Cambridge even come close to matching the endowments of top American schools, and they're on the level of Michigan. A school like Yale has far more money to spend; its great financial aid is one result of this.</p>

<p>
[quote]
cambridge and oxford are great schools but i was told they are more focused on "the classics"

[/quote]

I'm not entirely sure what you meant by this. If you're claiming that Oxford and Cambridge are better in classics or English than zoology or engineering, you'd be very wrong.</p>

<p>British universities tend to allow (or even require) earlier specialization by undergraduates than United States universities. If you are a math major at Oxford or Cambridge (both good places to study math), you will be doing mostly math most of the time. A math major at Yale, Harvard, Princeton, etc. will still be taking quite a few non-math courses at a very challenging level, and will have the opportunity to take challenging classics courses from great classical scholars.</p>

<p>
[quote]

It should be noted that UK universities are fairly poor by US standards. Only Oxford and Cambridge even come close to matching the endowments of top American schools, and they're on the level of Michigan. A school like Yale has far more money to spend; its great financial aid is one result of this.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>You might not be aware that British universities do not rely funding from endowment. The British government allocates about 30 Billion US dollars to UK universities and the chunk of that amount goes to Oxford and Cambridge. Oxford and Cambridge do also rely on tie-up private companies for research funding. The amount earned from endowment is just a support for their daily operation expenses.</p>

<p>I'm aware of that, but the finances of Oxbridge are more complicated. The wealth varies from college to college- something you won't find over here. I've been told that the older colleges tend to be much wealthier, although I don't know how true that is. </p>

<p>Nearly</a> half of Oxford's colleges in the red | Higher | EducationGuardian.co.uk</p>

<p>
[quote]
And he said he found recent comments that Oxford should be like Harvard and Yale "very strange". </p>

<p>"Harvard is very rich, while Oxford is very poor," he said. </p>

<p>"Unless there is a massive infusion of money either from the government or from the private sector, or from parents and students, England cannot afford to have universities that compete with Harvard and Yale."</p>

<p>BBC</a> News | EDUCATION | Oxford don quits over 'fundraising fatigue'

[/quote]
</p>

<p>^ You actually quoted an obsolete news</p>

<p>
[quote]
Since I have got an offer from Oxford and one from Yale..I am in a huge dilemna and i am not able to decide

[/quote]

lol, re-lookup the word 'dilemma'</p>

<p>I would say location matters in this case ;)
Congrats.</p>

<p>hmm, and depends on what type of education you want...
I got an offer from Cambridge in UK, but I'd rather go to US where I can study 2 majors...</p>

<p>I suppose then that no one would rank Cambridge inferior to Yale? Just a little rivalry between me and my best friend :)</p>

<p>Cambridge > Yale</p>

<p>but very slightly</p>

<p>"Cambridge > Yale
but very slightly"</p>

<p>I suppose you mean in school size..lol..it is quite hard to rank schools and to say this is better than the other etc...there are many factors and they all depend....(US News is clearly biased for example)
Another point is that it depends if its undergrad or grad...and most the rankings are for grad school actually (but they call them overall) since they focus on research papers etc...who really cares research papers during undergraduate?</p>

<p>Anyways prestige-wise Cambridge > Yale might be right and Oxford>Cam (in the US (slightly) but normally it s like Cam=Oxford) </p>

<p>My only factor is Graduate school placement..I just wonder if I ll have greater chances going to an Ivy league school for undergrad and then getting into an Ivy league Grad program instead of Oxford=>Ivy league Grad Program ?????? =((</p>