I had the privilege of visiting the University of Oxford last summer on our UK trip. This summer, I was able to visit Harvard University on our trip to Boston. We took student-led tours of each. These are two of the most prestigious universities on the planet and touring them you get that feeling.
Considering how close the time was between these visits, I couldn’t help but compare the institutions to each other. The more I thought of it, the more I wanted to answer this question: Which university is more prestigious?
Unfortunately, I don’t have the time or resources to conduct a peer-reviewed study to make this determination. Instead, I came up with five criteria to crown the champ. The winner of each criteria gets a point so the first three points earns the title More Prestigious. Let’s go!
Date of Foundation
Though old does not necessarily mean good, the ability to stand the test of time is an important factor in prestige.
Harvard is old for American standards. In fact, it is the oldest American university and predates the establishment of the United States. With its founding in 1636, can it match up to Oxford?
The answer is no. There is evidence of teaching occurring at Oxford in some form as early as 1096. However, the actual date of foundation is unclear. The university was definitely around by 1167 when attendance rose with King Henry II banning English students from attending the University of Paris. Therefore, Oxford is at least 469 years older than Harvard.
WINNER: Oxford
Harvard 0-1 Oxford, Oxford is first off the mark!
Acceptance Rate
Schools with more prestige can afford to be more selective in choosing their attendees. This means prestigious schools often have lower acceptance rates than schools with less prestige. Acceptance rate is therefore a good indicator for this contest.
As is the case will all Ivy League schools, Harvard is notoriously difficult to get accepted into. In 2023, only 3.41% of students got accepted into the school. So, is Oxford even more difficult to get accepted?
Actually, it is not. In 2023, Oxford had an acceptance rate of 17.5%, which is quite a bit higher than Harvard. On the tours we did, we found out how each schools selects students is quite different and might be a factor in acceptance rate.
Besides standard requirements, Harvard puts a lot of weight on the whole picture of the student. Is the student involved in extracurricular activities? What leadership has the prospective student shown outside the sphere of their school? Which clubs, societies, etc. does the student participate?
Oxford, on the other hand, cares only how well the prospective student performs in the area of study for which they intend to go to school. They look at testing and essays and care very little if the student is in band or plays a sport. Oxford doesn’t even allow students to change “majors.” The student is there to learn a specific subject and that’s it.
Therefore, maybe Harvard’s relative subjectivity and Oxford’s lack thereof impact acceptance rate? Essentially, could prospective Oxford students have a better idea of their chances before applying than prospective Harvard students? Just a thought. Anyway, Harvard wins this round.
WINNER: Harvard
Harvard 1-1 Oxford, Harvard levels the score!
THE World Ranking
You might be thinking, surely there are rankings for this kind of thing out there already, right? First of all, don’t call me Shirley (RIP Leslie Nielson). Secondly, there are indeed resources out there that rank world universities. One of these is the Times Higher Education World University Ranking. Per the London-based company’s website, this is how they determine their rankings:
“The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2024 include 1,907 universities across 108 countries and regions.
The table is based on our new WUR 3.0 methodology, which includes 18 carefully calibrated performance indicators that measure an institution’s performance across five areas: teaching, research environment, research quality, industry, and international outlook.”
Now, let’s get to where our two schools sit in the THE rankings. THE puts Oxford at the top of their rankings for 2024 whilst Harvard comes in at fourth. Therefore, Oxford takes the cake here.
WINNER: Oxford
Harvard 1-2 Oxford, Oxford pulls back in front!
US News World Ranking
With Oxford taking the top spot on the THE world rankings, the contest is pretty much be over, right? Not so fast. There is another organization that ranks universities globally.
The US News has their own rankings. They don’t provide a nice two-paragraph summary like THE does, so click here if you want to see how they got their list. Or you can just trust me that it’s legit.
It might come as a surprise that the script is flipped with Harvard coming out on top in US News’ 2024 rankings while Oxford finishes fourth. Maybe it’s not shocking though. I mentioned THE is based out of London. US News happens to be headquartered in Washington, DC. Is there a little home field bias in play?
Regardless, THE and US News basically cancel each other out rendering them powerless in this determination.
WINNER: Harvard
Harvard 2-2 Oxford, things are all even going into the last category!
Nobel Prize Winners
The Nobel Prizes were first awarded in 1901 and are regarded as the highest honors in their respective fields: physics; chemistry; medicine; literature; economics; and peace. Therefore, the number of Nobel Prize Laureates a schools lays claim to seems like a good way to determine an institution’s prestige.
I was concerned obtaining this information might be tricky, but it turns out universities are quite proud to boast this honor! A quick internet search produced the desired information at each school’s official website.
Who has the most Nobel Prizes and hence wins more prestigious school? The answer is: Oxford! With 56 Nobel Prize Laureates in their history, they beat out Harvard’s 51.
WINNER: Oxford
Harvard 2-3 Oxford, Oxford wins!!!!
There we go! Oxford takes the trophy for More Prestigious university in this very scientific study. Let me know if they don’t post this award on their website so I can contact them! I encourage you to take a tour of both of these great schools if you get the chance.
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I appreciate you reading as always. Please check out the other posts on Boston and London. Take care and until next time,
