If you have a chance to attend either Cambridge or Yale, which uni would you go?

College Search & Selection
21

<p>It’s sort of an unfair comparison-- American students don’t really have the same interest/inclination (yet) to go abroad for education. While tippy top schools abroad are certainly well known and respected in the US, most US students would rather stay here for undergrad for plenty of reasons that have nothing to do with quality of education/institution.</p>

<p>That being said, Oxbridge is one of the most common places for people to study abroad (amongst those looking for an intellectual experience and not just partying), in my experience.</p>

22

<p>Cambridge. It’d be a great experience to go out of the country for four years. Yale doesn’t really fit me, and Cambridge’s math program is amazing.</p>

23

<p>I think the bachelors degrees at Cambridge take 3 years, not 4. Drinking age is 18 there, too.</p>

24

<p>Definitely Yale. On top of what everyone else already said, it’s just a lot easier to feel completely at home as a domestic rather than an international. I definitely wouldn’t be opposed to a semester abroad though… </p>

<p>To what Schmaltz said, I want to stay a kid for as long as possible- 4 years > 3 years. And let’s face it- just because college kids aren’t 21 yet, doesn’t mean they can’t get alcohol.</p>

25

<p>Yale. If this question were asked 50 years ago, the answer could have been Cambridge. It may not be that Yale is getting better, but Cambridge is getting worse. It may be easier to see Stanvard >> Oxbridge now.</p>

26

<p>Schmaltz is correct. Other than engineering and medicine, a bachelor’s degree in Cambridge (as it is in the whole UK) takes only 3 years to finish. </p>

<p>It’s now 7 -7. </p>

<p>This is a very close fight. It amazes me that Cambridge is actually matching Yale right in its own backyard.</p>

27

<p>

Ask on the British version of CC (TSR), and you’d be amazed how many British students would be clamoring to attend Yale over Cambridge.</p>

<p>The count is actually</p>

<p>Yale 8
Cambridge 7</p>

28

<p>

Most here are europhiles.</p>

29

<p>“Schmaltz is correct. Other than engineering and medicine, a bachelor’s degree in Cambridge (as it is in the whole UK) takes only 3 years to finish.”</p>

<p>I’m calling this into question. I may be wrong, but I think students “majoring” in a foreign language spend 4 years in undergrad because they spend one year abroad (the third year).</p>

30

<p>Also, I don’t think ALL schools in the UK have mostly 3-year bachelors degrees…I think in Scotland they are 4-year degrees…not sure about Wales or N. Ireland.</p>

31

<p>Scotland does do 4-year degrees. This is one reason I might consider Edinburgh before Cambridge.</p>

32

<p>Cambridge. The history of the place just appeals to me.</p>

33

<p>Cambridge doesn’t have a program in math. It has a program in “maths”.</p>

<p>Two countries, separated by a common language.</p>

34

<p>^ If you must be technical, it’s a “tripos” not a program.</p>

35

<p>Emma Watson did get into Cambridge but chose to attend Brown.
Anyway, this “survey” is gonna be bias because this site is mostly visited by Americans…and people dont really appreciate what’s in their country. So, my prediction is that Cambridge will win hands down.
For me, I think I would choose Yale…I just dont like UK educational system.</p>

36

<p>I agree with some of the above. I think Yale is unquestionably the better institution, but I would rather go to Cambridge.</p>

37

<p>“I think Yale is unquestionably the better institution”</p>

<p>It’s bizarre enough to claim one is “better” than the other; when you add “unquestionably” you are making a claim that is really a ridiculous stretch.</p>

38

<p>Yale is unquestionably better than Cambridge? Really? I didn’t know that.</p>

39

<p>Actually, Cambridge probably enjoys a favorable bias from its remove from the US. Half the posters are choosing it because it’s famous and exotic, just some distant name (to them) that is tied to abstract excellence, frequently due to historical circumstance. Harvard’s located in a town called Cambridge. Admittedly, the same goes for Yale, but Yale’s familiar enough on these forums that its finer features are known and debated, which certainly lessens its glamor appeal. I think this leads to a saner evaluation of Yale, which hurts it in a fantasy ****ing match like this one.</p>

40

<p>I guess I forgot to consider this is CC, where prestige, and perhaps in this case, mystique, would draw the average poster like a moth to flame.</p>