<p>I looked into transferring to foreign universities this last semester and in doing so discovered which were known (or at least recognized) amongst my peers and associates here in the US. Before applying, I first wanted to make sure that if I were to select a foreign institution its merits would be recognized in my home country. So for several months I casually discussed my prospects with a fairly substantiative cross-section of local society - from my friends at school to CEOs I've encountered through work. In short, your findings were very similar to my own.</p>
<p>Naturally Oxford and Cambridge were very well known and ranked them with Harvard and Yale.</p>
<p>Though not quite as many were familiar with it, those who were held the London School of Economics in high regard.</p>
<p>Less knew **Imperial College London<a href="though%20the%20ones%20who%20did%20weren't%20limited%20to%20science%20people">/B</a>, and all thought well of it. </p>
<p>Some recognized, Trinity College Dublin but I think that may be due to the presence of several small "Trinity Colleges" in the US. </p>
<p>Surprisingly many recognized St. Andrews University, and thought of it very favorably.</p>
<p>ETH Zurich was only recognized by two individuals I encountered. Both were electrical engineers and both ranked it up with the domestic ivy leagues.</p>
<p>Frequently I'd find that recognition of a school was not so much due to its academic reputation, but rather familiarity of the city. The University of Edinburgh, for example, is known widely amongst those who have seen the movie Trainspotting, but rather sparsely otherwise. Consequentially, those who know its name only because of the movie unfortunately don't have the best impression of it.</p>
<p>The University of Nottingham was also recognized for its city, thanks to Robin Hood.</p>
<p>The University of York was split between those who recognized the university and those who recognized only the city. Those who recognized the university thought very highly of it.</p>
<p>The University of Warwick, Bath, Cardiff, Leeds, and Bristol were recognized by some, but very few could say anything of their reputations.</p>
<p>Very few said they recognized Birmingham, Essex, and Sheffield.</p>
<p>Several recognized King's College London as a very reputable university.</p>
<p>I was surprised to find that many knew of the School of Oriental and African Studies, though no one really knew anything about it.</p>
<p>In the end what I discovered was that a ton of schools go unrecognized despite having an excellent academic reputation. This is true even for schools in this country. Here, a school gains its reputation first and foremost by having a [good] american football, and/or basketball team. The lack of which has meant many high ranking schools go relatively unknown. Nevertheless, I found that the people aware of the universities beyond our borders tend to be the ones running the companies and in the end that's what is important.</p>
<p>I should note that I live in Southern California. Empirically I've found that individuals in the northeastern US tend to be more aware of european universities.</p>