I know a just-graduated set of twins in which one went to UVa as an Echols and the other was at Oxford 
@collegemom3717 Yes Echols looks like a nice honor. But will be hard to justify the OOS cost if its a choice between that and Berkeley/UCLA. The big advantage of the UK is that a 3 year degree saves a lot of money.
Good luck @Twoin18 – sounds like it’s been tough but your kiddos are accomplished and clearly going places (great places at that!)
@collegedad2020 - Do you have any info to share about the summer Latin camps your daughter attended? Would be grateful for some guidance!
On the off chance that anyone is going to the Edinburgh info session in Chicago on Monday, I’d love to meet. Message me!
S18 also got turned down by LSE for his two course applications (Pol/Phil and Govt) as well as UCL (PPE). So we went 1 for 5 on the UK applications (only accepted for PPE at KCL). Not a big deal as he’s got attractive options in the US and only Oxford was at the top of his list. The Oxford process went fine as he got an interview at a very competitive college, even though he didn’t get an offer in the end. And KCL was good as an early safety acceptance in advance of his US applications.
But I wonder what (if anything) could have been done differently to get further with UCL and LSE applications. Should he have contacted the departments to express interest? Offered to go over for a visit and interview (I think LSE at least may interview UK applicants)? It seemed like he threw the applications into a black hole and never heard anything at all (apart from “we are considering your application”) until the rejection (though this is also the case in the US, at least you generally write something specific for an individual college about your interest in going there). Obviously these are very competitive courses, but its far from clear to me how they choose between the large number of international applicants. I realize he was at a disadvantage at LSE because his personal statement was written explicitly for PPE and he didn’t want to do their four year PPE course, but the UCL rejection was more of a surprise.
“Obviously these are very competitive courses, but its far from clear to me how they choose between the large number of international applicants.” Agreed.
You might be forgiven for thinking LSE and UCL have more clout but the question I would ask hypothetically at the end of it all, would you rather have a first from King’s or a 2:1 from the the LSE or UCL. I would take the first from Kings anytime. My point being the difference in the cohorts will be 1 grade at A level maybe 2 at most, but IMO in this case, it clearly is a case not where you go but what you do when you get there.
@elguapo1, but I don’t know why you’d think that that would be the two options for any one kid.
Maybe Oxbridge (and maybe LSE) are more rigorous, but, especially with the system of external examiners, I would expect it to be equally difficult to get a first from either UCL or KCL. So the difference would more likely be first from UCL or first from KCL (or 2:1 from UCL vs. 2:1 from KCL).
I do know that Oxbridge, LSE, UCL, and Warwick are more heavily represented in the City and MBB consulting than other UK unis.
And we can see here that ranking by the percentage of firsts roughly follows prestige rankings:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/universityeducation/11589598/Top-10-universities-for-first-class-degrees.html
Only exception is Surrey, where there may be grade inflation.
Also, Oxbridge aren’t at the very top even though they have an extremely high yield (80-90%) while LSE doesn’t make the top 10, which may indicate that those 3 schools grade harder.
I was merely addressing the specific example of Twoin18’s case, an offer from Kings is not too shabby and the cohorts between LSE/UCL/Kings will be very close, and IMO a first from King’s tells you more about the quality of the candidate compared to a lesser degree from LSE/UCL. To earn a first at any these institutions you have to be at the very top of your game. Kids can also flame out otherwise you wouldn’t get 3rds at Oxbridge.
Yep, thought there was a little too much hand wringing going on, what if I did this or that. A first from Kings is going to get your foot in the door, whether they take a seat at the table is entirely up to the child. Between Oxford/LSE/UCL/Kings how many places are we talking? 600-700 places, 1000 tops, for candidates from all over the world who are all qualified and likely to meet the very minimum requirement. Getting a place at anyone of them is quite an achievement.
I did more digging, there are in fact only around 400 places for PPE among Oxford/LSE/UCL/Kings and they all have the same entrance requirements A*AA.
Not much hand wringing (S18 has some very good options in the US which he’s very likely to choose, notably UVA where the Echols scholars program allows him to specialize just like he would in the UK and potentially finish a masters in 4 years), more that I felt it would be useful to highlight our experience since many comments in these threads are about it being relatively easy to get acceptances at UK universities compared to top US colleges, and indeed that seems to have been the case for many here. It is interesting to know how few places are actually available for PPE.
But for the most competitive UK universities/courses (as opposed to those that are perhaps more focused on the fees paid by international students), I wonder how highly regarded US high schools and APs actually are? For example, I was interested to note how Cambridge offers interviews in the Far East, but none in the US. Certainly I think S18 would have had to perform notably better in his Oxford interview than a similar UK candidate to get an offer. Would the same be true when comparing him to a candidate from Singapore or Hong Kong (where the results can be compared directly to UK A Levels)? I don’t know.
Perhaps an IB program would be better if a US based student is truly aiming for Oxford or Cambridge as top IB scores can be more directly compared to A levels and very much directly to UK and EU students who are in IB.
PS the firsts percentage is fascinating. I am wondering how much it varies by subject. So at a given Univeristy is math harder than history for example?
" I wonder how highly regarded US high schools and APs actually are? For example, I was interested to note how Cambridge offers interviews in the Far East, but none in the US"
The latter may perhaps be more to do with the difficulty candidates may have getting visas to attend the interview in Cambridge, which isn’t an issue for Americans. OTOH, they offer interviews in Canada, which possibly undermines both our points 
I do think APs are regarded as less challenging than some other countries’ required exams.
My kid got a 6 on IB HL Chemistry, a 5 on the AP test and feels like she is better prepared than Engliah A level students who got an A .In her tutorials the tutor will ask who has seen a particular problem and she will be the onky one out of 5 or 6.
As they move in to second year those differences should disappear.
Even the SL IB exams are more challenging than AP. She easily got a 5 on both APs in Econ after taking SL Econ.
@VickiSoCal, well, the minimum IB scores required for the top programs everybody on here are referring to are TOUGH to get. Possibly better for Oxbridge (maybe LSE, Imperial, and some subjects at UCL). IB probably would be a disadvantage everywhere else.
BTW, I wouldn’t expect the percentage of firsts to vary too much by subject; if anything, probably more firsts in math as 70% is a first and it may be tough to write tests to keep students below that level while with subjects that are subjectively graded like history, the faculty can essentially choose what percentage of the student body they give firsts to.
“PS the firsts percentage is fascinating. I am wondering how much it varies by subject. So at a given Univeristy is math harder than history for example?”
Math is much easier to get a first in, at least at Cambridge. In my college about 50% of math students got firsts, for arts subjects it was more like 10%. Today probably closer to 60% and 25% respectively. My wife has often pointed out that her first (in modern languages) proves she is smarter than me.
Spring break trip completed. Visited Edinburgh, Durham, and York. As expected, the first choice remains EDINBURGH. Offer firmed up. Housing request next. We have one very happy young man on our hands!