<p>Apparently there were 267 UK applicants to Harvard for the Class of 2010 - many from private school grads who fear the deck is politically stacked against them at Oxbridge these days - and 32 were admitted.</p>
<p>The number of applications to Harvard and the other Ivies from the UK is growing, and is expected to grow further. With financial aid packages getting bigger, it may even be cheaper to study in America than in Britain, and facilities are often seen as superior.</p>
<p>Not to mention the incredible cost of living advantage.</p>
<p>I don't see how it could be cheaper for the top income bracket private school kids to study in America. Presumably they don't qualify for financial aid and its only like $6k/year for 3 years over here.</p>
<p>Oh well, I guess applying from England isn't an advantage after all :(</p>
<p>It's not so much the cost as the vastly superior quality of facilities in America compared to the UK. British Unis are chronically underfunded, not exactly something that Harvard can complain of.</p>
<p>It certainly does seem strange that parents who have been shelling out £23,000 a year on school fees (the rate for boarders at Wellington College whose head was quoted in the article) should then balk at £3,000 a year for a UK university. </p>
<p>But then, reading between the lines, those same parents do seem to be of the view that their £23k boarding school fees should have a guaranteed Oxbridge place attached.</p>
<p>(BTW the article is misleading on the question of bursaries when it implies that as a result public schools are not the preserve of the rich. Most schools may have bursary schemes, but there are not many actual beneficiaries. Again at Wellington College there are just 37 bursaries with only 10 carrying the maximum reduction of 85% of fees, another 9 with up to 50% off, and the rest only up to 20% (all means tested. I.e. the minimum you have to pay at Wellington is more than the fee at Oxford.)</p>
<p>Byerly's summary does neither the UK applicants not the US universities justice. Almost no-one I've met applied because they didn't think they'd get into Oxbridge. People apply because they recognise American universities offer an experience which is very different to the UK one and, naturally, much better suited for some people. I know a good number of people who only applied to American universities as a result of this.</p>
<p>It's certainly not on cost grounds. Compared to British private schools, university is practically free. US universities, in contrast, are of a comparable, if not greater cost. That £23,000 school is at the upper bound of how much British schools charge.</p>
<p>It'd be interesting to find out what the corresponding trend of American applicants to Oxbridge is. Again, Oxbridge provide a very different experience and unquestionably some Americans would be better suited to it than a Harvard style system. There are a load of Yanks at Oxford, but mostly at the post-grad level.</p>
<p>UKRUS has hit the nail on the head. I didnt apply because I was afraid I wouldnt get into Oxbridge and I don't support the fact that private school students have a disadvantage in their oxbridge prospects; they are stil heavily overrepresented, as they are in harvard i suspect. As a public school student, I certainly didnt feel any advantage.</p>
<p>Yeah that's the impression I get as well. Isn't Oxbridge still 55% private whereas elite American schools are only 30-40%ish?</p>
<p>Not really. Last time I checked, admittedly a while ago, Oxbridge was slightly more than 50% government funded schools, slightly more than 40% private schools, and slightly less than 10% international students.</p>
<p>guys take it from me, its way better to apply in UK, its so much cheaper. and people speak with British accents.</p>