u/InternationalAge3034

Why is Cambridge the more famous and lauded university internationally?

Why is Cambridge the more famous and lauded university internationally?

Oxford and Cambridge are Europe’s two most well-known universities. After Harvard, they are arguably the most well-known universities in the world.

However, between the two of them, which is more lauded to Americans and internationally?

Aka will a villager in the Congo or the Amazon Rainforest know your university?

Tier S: Harvard, Oxford

Tier A: MIT, Cambridge, Stanford

Tier B: Yale, UC Berkeley, LSE

Tier C: Imperial College London, ETH Zurich, Sorbonne, Princeton

Tier D: UCL, Tsinghua, IIT, Columbia

Note: Universities within each tier are listed in no particular order.

Aka will a villager in the Congo or the Amazon Rainforest know your university?

Tier S: Harvard, Oxford

Tier A: MIT, Cambridge, Stanford

Tier B: Yale, UC Berkeley, LSE

Tier C: Imperial College London, ETH Zurich, Sorbonne, Princeton

Tier D: UCL, Tsinghua, IIT, Columbia

Note: Universities within each tier are listed in no particular order.

You constantly see Oxford and Cambridge grouped together as “Oxbridge.”

But when people name the single most prestigious or most well-known university in the world, they will always say Harvard or Oxford.

I was wondering why Cambridge is never individually claimed as the most prestigious or famous university in the world in the same way that Oxford or Harvard always are?

This is just my perspective as someone from Switzerland. I would like to understand a more US-centric perspective on this (hence posting in a subreddit with more US-favouritism).

Thank you all in advance for replying.

P.S. If you want to check it out for yourself just search on google “most prestigious university in the world” or “most famous university in the world” with quotations around it—you’ll get hundreds of results and approximately half of them will say Harvard and the other half will say Oxford. 

Did not find any sources/forums claiming Cambridge as the most prestigious or well-known university in the world.

You constantly see Oxford and Cambridge grouped together as “Oxbridge.”

But when people name the single most prestigious or most well-known university in the world, they will always say Harvard or Oxford.

I was wondering why Cambridge is never individually claimed as the most prestigious or famous university in the world in the same way that Oxford or Harvard always are?

If you want to check it out for yourself then just search on Google “most prestigious university in the world” or “most famous university in the world” with quotations around it—you’ll get hundreds of results and approximately half of them will say Harvard and the other half will say Oxford.

I did not find any sources/forums claiming Cambridge as the most prestigious or famous in the world.

Why do you all think this is?

P.S. This is just my perspective as someone from Central Europe, who has also lived in Pakistan and the UAE.

Aka will a villager in the Congo or the Amazon Rainforest know your university?

Tier S: Harvard, Oxford

Tier A: MIT, Cambridge, Stanford

Tier B: Yale, UC Berkeley, LSE

Tier C: Imperial College London, ETH Zurich, Sorbonne, Princeton

Tier D: UCL, Tsinghua, IIT, Columbia

Tier F: Cornell, UTokyo, Heidelberg, UCLA

Note: Universities within each tier are listed in no particular order.

Aka will a villager in the Congo or the Amazon Rainforest know your university?

Tier S: Harvard, Oxford

Tier A: MIT, Cambridge, Stanford

Tier B: Yale, UC Berkeley, LSE

Tier C: Imperial College London, ETH Zurich, Sorbonne, Princeton

Tier D: UCL, Tsinghua, IIT, Columbia

Tier F: Cornell, UTokyo, Heidelberg, UCLA

Note: Universities within each tier are listed in no particular order.

Aka will a villager in the Congo or the Amazon Rainforest know your university?

Tier S: Harvard, Oxford

Tier A: MIT, Cambridge, Stanford

Tier B: Yale, UC Berkeley, LSE

Tier C: Imperial College London, Princeton, Sorbonne, Columbia

Tier D: UCL, Tsinghua, IIT, ETH Zurich, NUS, KCL

Note: Universities within each tier are listed in no particular order.

From a European/South Asian perspective.

What do you all think?

Aka will a villager in the Congo or the Amazon Rainforest know your university?

Tier S: Harvard, Oxford

Tier A: MIT, Cambridge, Stanford

Tier B: Yale, UC Berkeley, LSE

Tier C: Imperial College London, Princeton, Sorbonne, Columbia

Tier D: UCL, Tsinghua, IIT, ETH Zurich, NUS, KCL

Note: Universities within each tier are listed in no particular order.

From a European/South Asian perspective.

What do you all think?

Aka will a villager in the Congo or the Amazon Rainforest know your university?

Tier S: Harvard, Oxford

Tier A: MIT, Cambridge, Stanford

Tier B: Yale, UC Berkeley, LSE

Tier C: Imperial College London, Princeton, Sorbonne, Columbia

Tier D: UCL, Tsinghua, IIT, ETH Zurich, NUS, KCL

Note: Universities within each tier are listed in no particular order.

From a European/South Asian perspective.

What do you all think?

Aka will a villager in the Congo or the Amazon Rainforest know your university?

Tier S: Harvard, Oxford

Tier A: MIT, Cambridge, Stanford

Tier B: Yale, UC Berkeley, LSE

Tier C: Imperial College London, Princeton, Sorbonne, Columbia

Tier D: UCL, Tsinghua, IIT, ETH Zurich, NUS, KCL

Note: Universities within each tier are listed in no particular order.

From a European/South Asian perspective.

What do you all think?

Aka will a villager in the Congo or the Amazon Rainforest know your university?

Tier S: Harvard, Oxford

Tier A: MIT, Cambridge, Stanford

Tier B: Yale, UC Berkeley, LSE

Tier C: Imperial College London, Princeton, Sorbonne, Columbia

Tier D: UCL, Tsinghua, IIT, ETH Zurich, NUS, KCL

Note: Universities within each tier are listed in no particular order.

From a European/South Asian perspective.

What do you all think?

Aka will a villager in the Congo or the Amazon Rainforest know your university?

Tier S: Harvard, Oxford

Tier A: MIT, Cambridge, Stanford

Tier B: Yale, UC Berkeley, LSE

Tier C: Imperial College London, ETH Zurich, Sorbonne, Princeton

Tier D: UCL, Tsinghua, IIT, Columbia

Note: Universities within each tier are listed in no particular order.

This is from my Swiss perspective (though I have also lived in South Asia and the Middle East)

What do you all think?

Aka will a villager in the Congo or the Amazon Rainforest know your university?

Tier S: Harvard, Oxford

Tier A: MIT, Cambridge, Stanford

Tier B: Yale, UC Berkeley, Princeton

Tier C: Imperial College London, LSE, Sorbonne, Columbia

Tier D: UCL, Tsinghua, IIT, ETH Zurich

Note: Universities within each tier are listed in no particular order.

This is from my Swiss perspective (though I have also lived in South Asia and the Middle East)

This is obviously a bit silly and just for a fun discussion, but what do you all think?

This is a silly question, but I’m asking this out of general interest. I think it would be a fun discussion.

Among Harvard, Oxford, and Cambridge, which university has the least international name recognition and aura to your average person in the world?

What do you all think?

Aka will a villager in the Congo or the Amazon Rainforest know your university?

Tier S: Harvard, Oxford

Tier A: Cambridge, MIT, Stanford

Tier B: Yale, UC Berkeley

Tier C: ETH Zurich, Sorbonne, Princeton

Tier D: LSE, Imperial College London, Tsinghua, IIT, Columbia

Note: Universities within each tier are listed in no particular order.

This is from my Swiss perspective (though I have also lived in South Asia and the Middle East)

This is obviously a bit silly and just for a fun discussion, but what do you all think?

Which university combination do you think has more aura for one to attend?

Combination 1:

Attending both Oxford and Cambridge

Combination 2:

Attending both Harvard and Oxford

I know this is a silly question but I’m just posting this here for a fun discussion. Thanks!

As a note, this is talking about the overall university, not the business schools.