Many of your children will be sitting down to serious revision over the holidays, hoping for the right grades in their A levels or IB to take them to their university of choice, and for an increasing number of families we help, this means a US university.
This is at least in part due to the rise in state school intake at Oxbridge, with Cambridge state school intake rising from 62.% to 72.5% from 2017 to 2022, whilst Oxford rose from 58.2% to 68%. The principal of Mansfield College, Helen Mountfield, recently said that this should rise to 95%, so as to be more reflective of the 93% of students who are state educated at GCSE level.
Many parents gulp at the prospect of the cost of a US university, with Ivy League tuition fees averaging just over £50,000 per year at today’s exchange rate. This is compared to £9,000 per year for UK universities. However, it is now undoubtedly easier to get into an Ivy League university than Oxbridge if you are applying from an independent school, plus the structure of the degree and culture of US universities appeals to many parents. Is it a worthwhile investment compared to UK universities?
Top UK universities average salaries 5 years after graduation
- London Business School – £69,000
- Oxford University – £54,000
- Warwick University (Warwick Business School) – £53,000
- Cambridge University – £52,000
- City University London (Cass Business School) – £50,500
- LSE – £50,000
- University of Sheffield – £49,000
- Edinburgh University – £48,500
- Imperial College London – £47,000
- University of Birmingham – £46,500
Top US universities average salaries 6 years after graduation
- MIT – £79,680
- Stanford – £75,000
- Harvard – £69,000
- Princeton – £69,000
- Yale – £66,500
- University of Pennsylvania – £66,500
- Columbia – £65,700
- Duke – £65,215
- Dartmouth £65,000
- Rice University – £64,300
So there you have it. US universities have higher earning potential, but at a higher cost. Of course, your choice of degree or major makes a big difference, so stay tuned for our newsletter on that. In the meantime, if you’re seeking any advice on UK or US unis, don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Photographs by Sylla24 /Wikimedia / Mys 721tx/Wikimedia
