Hello. I am a rising senior and my dream has always been to go to Oxford; however, I do not believe that will be possible for me due to the different testing and stuff since I am from the U.S. So, I was wondering if you guys could list some schools similar to Oxford in the U.S. Thanks!
Caltech, Rice, Harvard, Yale, UCSD, and others have houses/colleges like the Oxbridge colleges, but the academic experience at Oxbridge (with their tutorial system and year-end tests determining everything) is very different.
Some LACs may be kind of close to living and studying at a college. I believe that Williams has a few tutorials as well.
But since there are so many differences, tell us why you have always dreamed of Oxford.
What similarities are you looking for, @maddie995n ?
If you want tutorials, Williams has them (and has a house at Oxford for junior year abroad).
Oh, and testing differences aren’t a problem. US-educated kids can definitely go to OxBridge if they’re qualified.
@marvin100, true, but pretty different qualities looked for and criteria needed to be met. Oxbridge would be looking for mastery and academic potential in a subject or maybe a few. Because of that, they want 5’s in related AP’s and the interview will be important and done by a professor in the subject you will study essentially grilling you like a pupil. The academic statement would be about why you are a worthy pupil in that subject matter. One way to look at it is that the 3 years of undergrad at a top English school is essentially grad-school-lite (so you should expect to study only your major, so the 3 year undergrad is like 2 years in a major + 1 year of grad school compared to most American schools; Cambridge offers a little more flexibility).
US holistic admissions is about building a class and environment that will enrichen the school (and alumni base that will give back).
Basically, Oxbridge and other English unis are looking to produce experts in various academic subjects while the American elites are looking to produce leaders in all fields.
Architecture-wise, I believe Sewanee is similar.
Anyway, Tufts has study-abroad at one of Oxbridge.
Some other schools do too (though the GPA requirement is quite high).
@PurpleTitan - Yes, I know all that very well (I’ve helped a dozen or so kids get into the UCAS schools over they years, and a former student of mine became president of the Oxford Union).
The idea that different testing systems present an obstacle, though, is false–all the kids I helped had US-style educational backgrounds.
Fair enough.
Anyway, I found this webpage, which may be helpful to many: https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/international-students/events/which-colleges-accept-visiting-students?wssl=1
And schools with exchanges with Cambridge:
http://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/international-students/visiting-students
Interesting that far fewer Cambridge colleges seem to take in exchange students (and have more connections with Germany).
I believe MIT and Caltech have exchanges with Cambridge as well.
William Jewell also has an Oxbridge honors program where everyone in the program gets tutorials and then everyone heads to Oxford junior year: http://www.jewellalumni.com/page.aspx?pid=400
Note that a handful even get to register as students at a college in Oxford. The rest probably are taught by Jewell faculty but get to hang around Oxford for a year.