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<p>You yourself pointed out that Oxbridge takes more undergrad students than HYP does, so this is not a meaningful comparison. You would have to compare Oxbridge with “the top 20 schools or so in the States” (I haven’t actually checked your figures, but those were your words).</p>
<p>I’ve personally met students who went to top universities in either the UK or the US (and some who studied at both), and from both countries a few of the students I met were brilliant, most were fairly bright and pleasant but not outstanding, and a small number were just plain thick. I don’t think either system churns out better graduates than the other, and there’s no point trying to completely discredit one education system to make the other one look better.</p>
<p>There’s no denying that well-off students are at an advantage over poorer ones when applying to Oxford and Cambridge. However, I would find it hard to argue that the Ivy League is any more meritocratic. Put it this way: even the former Prime Minister Tony Blair couldn’t buy a place for his son Euan at Oxford, who despite the best academic preparation didn’t qualify for a place (Tony himself got into Oxford back in the early 70s after going to an expensive prep school, but I doubt he would qualify now). Compare this to Harvard, where rich, well-connected families blatantly continue to buy their unqualified children in (think Jared Kushner, the Kennedys, Al Gore’s son, etc etc)</p>
<p>BTW, after Euan Blair graduated with average grades from a second-tier UK university, he won a “merit based” scholarship to Yale and was also accepted for graduate study at Princeton and Harvard. He chose Yale and graduated from there in 2008. Coincidentally his father also lectured at Yale for a while after he retired from British politics. Neat, huh?</p>
<p>There’s a fascinating book by Daniel Golden about how money influences undergrad admissions at certain schools in the US (not all of them, of course). I think it’s called “The Price of Admission”, and there are some videos of the author’s speeches floating around the Internet as well. It’s interesting that not everyone would agree with Golden that college admissions should be meritocratic. Most top colleges in the US are privately-run businesses with a focus on the bottom line, so you’ll get some people who argue that being able to get a few million dollars for letting in academically unqualified brats is a net positive for the university. Who knows?</p>