<p>I don't think Harvard has a better world-wide reputation that Oxford or Cambridge. I've lived in both Africa and two European countries. I do think the American idea of college education is fundamentally quite different from any of the European universities. There are advantages and disadvantages to both systems. I had a friend who transferred to Oxford (in biology - don't know which college). He had so much free time he taught himself to play the banjo and was winning festivals as a grad student.</p>