<p>Before I applied, I knew about:</p>
<p>Cambridge
Oxford
Edinburough (sp?)
France Polytechnique (sp?)
Australia
McGill
Toronto
British Columbia
Tokyo
Kyoto</p>
<p>…</p>
<p>Out of those, I only seriously considered applying to University of British Columbia.</p>
<p>OP – there is the language barrier. I assume instruction in Universities in Germany is given in German. There isn’t 1/10,000 applicants to HYPSM type schools that would be fluent enough in German to think they could complete school in Germany. that means you’ve got less than 100 high school seniors of HYPSM quality that could even accomplish that!</p>
<p>Unlike every other country in the world where elementary school instruction includes (native language or two) + English, in the US language instruction starts at best in 6th grade with the most elementary of Spanish, French, or in some prep schools, Latin. That’s pretty much it over here.</p>
<p>The future world languages are Mandarin and English. Everything else is simply for a person’s fancy.</p>
<p>Oh, to answer OPs question –</p>
<p>Oxford, Cambridge, McGill, U of Toronto, St. Andrews.</p>
<p>If a University has a name containing the name of that country or its most prominent city (i.e. University of Tokyo), then americans would likely assume it to be the #1 university in that country. Therefore if I had to hazard a guess about the best university in Germany, it would either be the University of Germany, or the University of Berlin (don’t know if either exists … ). Likewise for France, I would guess the University of Paris.</p>
<p>
Actually, the French national universities suck, have an infrastructure worse than many community colleges in the US and are not at all selective. They do well with US exchange students who want to spend a year goofing off in France or claim they studied at the “Sorbonne” (which is just really a name given to a bunch of different universities in Paris). </p>
<p>The elite French schools are the so-called Grandes Ecoles, such as Ecole Normale Superieure or Ecole Polytechnique (which served as the original model for West Point). No US students apply to these schools because you need at least two years of preparation after high school before you can take the entrance examination. They are the size of Caltech and are extremely selective.</p>
<p>Typically if you come from any East Asian universities they’ll think that you’re really smart, good in math and science, and hardworking.
If you come from Indian universities they assume the same thing.
If you come from European universities they think you’re liberal, communist (to them same), and smoke marijuana.
The only actual universities they know overseas are Oxford, Cambridge, Stanford ("wait, that’s from California? I thought it’s American.), and Californian schools (“part of America?”)</p>
<p>I don’t know if Heidelberg is considered prestigious (to be honest I’m sure most haven’t heard of it) but its a really neat university. I was able to visit it and it had such a historical feel to it! And a beautiful location, too…</p>
<p>When I think of international prestigious, Cambridge/Oxford and Tokyo come to mind</p>
<p>I’m surprised that no one’s mentioned the University of Salamanca in Spain. If you visit there, you’d swear that it’s either got a lot of American students or it’s the top tourist destination for Americans of college age.</p>
<ul>
<li>Oxford</li>
<li>Cambridge</li>
<li>La Sorbonne</li>
<li>London School of Economics</li>
<li>University of Tokyo</li>
<li>McGill</li>
</ul>
<p>I have always heard Heidelberg is the top university in Germany. I only know of FU Berlin because I had a history professor who got his doctorate there (he was an American). I have studied a lot of philosophy, and whenever read about the many German philosophers, they always mention the various universities they attended and taught at.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t take Americans’ lack of awareness of German universities as any indication that the schools lack quality. Since very few Americans know or study the German language, they rarely even consider spending 5 minutes looking up which are the better ones.</p>
<p>There are huge differences between most American universities and many foreign universities (at foreign universities sports are usually not a big deal, students usually study only one subject, and the studying and classes tend not to be as structured), and those might be reasons Americans tend not to be very interested in them.</p>
<p>Many americans study overseas for a “year abroad”, and like stated above, its mostly goofing off, traveling and being a tourist and not a whole lot of serious work. There are exceptions, however. I know a lot of Americans study in Madrid and Seville, Spain. I also know that Saint Louis University operates a full campus in Madrid as Saint Louis Univ-Madrid which grants degrees and is chartered by the Spanish government, a very unique school. You can go there for a semester and you can go there for four years. </p>
<p>Most Americans dont apply to european universities because the experience is so different. We go to college for many reasons, much of which revolves around sports and socializing and the 'campus atmosphere" which is completely lacking in foreign countries. </p>
<p>MILLIONS of foreigners apply to university in the US for a variety of reasons. Some of them are rather belligerent about it and assume they have a right to be admitted, particularly if their government is sponsoring them: i.e. the chinese. But they are wrong. </p>
<p>Student exchanges have their place in the society and the world, but we can get too “globalized” for our own good, frankly. I think for the most part we have been good shepherds and our guests have used us like a doormat, gone home and now are usurping our jobs. But I digress.</p>
<p>You can always find some kid who wants to be different and will attend college all four years abroad. Most of them are in Great Britain and Scotland. St. Andrews sticks out as a very common venue for these kids. </p>
<p>Most US companies couldnt care less if you went to college in Heidelberg or Munich or Paris. They want you to be multilingual and open minded to other cultures for international business, but at the end of the day, they want you to perform your job here at home with skills that are compatible with US culture and US business practices. </p>
<p>What we do see, however is a large number of Americans going to Europe or the Orient for graduate school.</p>
<p>Oxford and Cambridge and University of London, including LSE, are the number one choices for that.</p>
<p>Was shocked that so many replies mentioned my alma, IIT. I don’t think more than a handful of people (outside of academia) that I have run into had heard of it. Quite a few associated it with the tech school, ITT.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Where do you get this data from?</p>
<p>“the Orient”… it sound very exotic compared to the Occidental countries.</p>
<p>@OP, I have heard of the university in Heidelberg and isn’t Heidelberg also thought of as a “college town”.</p>
<p>Also,
Oxford and Cambridge
London School of Economics
St. Andrews
the Sorbonne
a Swedish university in Goteborg
McGill and Dalhousie (in Nova Scotia)
University of Bologna (oldest medical school in the world and my FIL went there)
some university in Urbino (can’t miss it if you visit Urbino)</p>
<p>That’s all for now.</p>
<p>Oh! Also the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedebad (but I only know of it because of the Louis Kahn buildings).</p>
<p>Hebrew University</p>
<p>^^^ Goteborg (or Gothenburg) is crummy!</p>
<p>In Europe (aside from the UK, my country) i know of Copenhagen, Oslo, Uppsala, Lund, FU Berlin, HU Berlin, Freiburg, Heidelberg, Munich (through Sophie Scholl), Vienna, Jagiellonian, Charles Uni in Prague, TCD and Utrecht.</p>
<p>I think most people would know only Oxford, Cambridge, maybe a canadian university, and possibly that one polytechnique school that is very selective in france.</p>
<p>@Dad<em>of</em>3: my dad told me about it =P
i’m a silicon valley kid… maybe 1/5 of my school is indian haha</p>
<p>I’ve been to Heidelgerg, and it is indeed a beautiful small city. I’ve also been to beautiful Leiden, Holland, which is THE university city of that country. Also been to dramatic Salamanca, Spain, which is THE university city of Spain. All of these universities go against the usual worldwide situation of the best university in a country being in the capital and/or largest city.</p>