Oxbridge level colleges in the US

[IBclass06]

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@noimagination

Oxford is better known for the humanities, while Cambridge excels at math and science.

I keep seeing people saying that, and it’s nonsense. Cupcake phrased it best:</p>

<p>

Get over this Cambridge is superior for sciences and Oxford is superior for arts thing. Over 800 years of history this might be true on average, if you count things like Nobel prizes won and Prime Ministers produced. But on a day to day basis you are not going to be left uneducated by studying English at Cambridge or Physics at Oxford. I did natural sciences at Cambridge and as a graduate student I do some teaching (practical classes) for the Biology course at Oxford. I can tell you from personal experience that Oxford Biology is extremely similar to the Biology options in Cambridge Natural Sciences. I don’t expect other subjects to be any different.

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<p>(ewho- Stanvard? That portmanteau sounds very Scandinavian to me. :p)</p>

[interesteddad]

<p>

What distinguishes Oxbridge is not only prestige and longevity but also a tutorial style of education, with earlier concentration in the field of interest than is customary in American colleges. In this respect, there really is not any American college quite like Oxford or Cambridge.

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<p>While not exactly the same, Swarthmore’s Honors Program is the closest large-scale equivalent to the style of education at Oxford. It was an attempt by the head of the US Rhodes Scholars program, Frank Adylotte, to bring the Oxford approach to a US college.</p>

<p>For the last four semesters at Swarthmore, Honors Students take a double-credit Honors Seminar each semester in place of two regular courses. The seminars meet once per week, often for five or six hours. Two to twelve students distribute their weekly papers before the seminar meeting and the students and faculty members comment on the papers during the seminar. There are no grades for these seminars, which are designed for depth in a specific topic.</p>

<p>In May of senior year, 130 outside experts (mostly professors from other colleges and universities) come to campus and give individual written and oral exams to the Honors students. They are not allowed to discuss the students with their Swarthmore professors. At the end of the examinations, the visiting panel members determine whether each student receives Honors, High Honors, or Highest Honors.</p>

<p>Historically, and today, about 30% of Swarthmore graduates follow the Honors Program track – a number sufficiently high for so long (over 80 years now), that it has shaped the entire style of teaching at the college for both Honors and regular “In-course” students.</p>

[ewho]

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Stanvard? That portmanteau sounds very Scandinavian to me

I did not invent it, but get used to it. :)</p>

[1234d]

<p>u chicago probably.</p>

[ilovebagels]

<p>The entire Ivy League (HYP and then the rest), Stanford, UChicago, Duke.</p>

<p>Schools like Rice are just as good, but in the more Anglo-hierarchical establishment northeast, they don’t have the perceived excellence of Oxbridge.</p>

[noimagination]

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I keep seeing people saying that, and it’s nonsense.

I did say that “both are great at everything they do”. Nonetheless, I think my point stands to a very small extent. There are certain programs at both Cambridge and Oxford that are legendary (even if the actual difference is perceived and not really existent), and by and large they skew in the stereotyped directions.</p>

<p>That isn’t to say that such preconceptions are applicable to any actual choice between the two. If you prefer the culture, life, location, etc. of Oxford, you will almost certainly receive a top-notch education in whatever major you choose (and vice-versa with Cambridge). It is only in the measure of prestige (a fairly unquantifiable variable, but one that many on CC adore) that the difference is material, and even there both are considered excellent.</p>

<p>To return to the topic, I believe Ohio U offers a Tutorial college modeled after Oxbridge.</p>