Harvard Outreach Newsletter

At US College Fairs, the Harvard Club of the UK’s alumni volunteers are sometimes asked: ‘Is there a US equivalent to the Russell Group universities in the UK?’  The short answer is ‘no’, but if you want a rough comparison between the Russell Group (the top 24 UK research universities) and other world universities, then you should find out where they sit in the world university rankings.

Universities that appear in the same area of the tables are likely to be of a similar calibre – but you should be cautious about reading too much into this, because (1) the organisations that produce world rankings use different assessment criteria, so the ranking of a particular university can vary wildly between different tables; and (2) there are many other criteria besides world ranking that you should use to determine which colleges make it to your shortlist.  The criteria include:

• Admissions requirements – how do your achievements compare with typical students who gain admission?
• Courses – what is your most likely major, and your desired balance between optional and required courses?
• Cost – which colleges provide financial aid for international students?
• Location – which part of the US do you wish to be based, and do you want to be in a city, suburban or rural environment?
• Size – do you prefer to be in a setting with just a few hundred students or a large campus with many thousands?
• Diversity – What is the proportion of women to men? International to American students?  Black and minority ethnic students to white students?
• Extracurricular interests – do you have an extracurricular interest that you cannot possibly do without?

Rather than asking yourself: which are the best universities?

a better question would be: which universities are the best fit for my particular needs and interests?

You should consider all of the criteria above as well as the ranking data to ensure that your final choices are the best fit possible.  If a particular US college or UK university satisfies all your requirements, then you should still apply regardless of its world ranking.  Nevertheless, if you want to check where your US college shortlist sits in comparison to other universities both within and outside the UK, the two main world ranking sites are:

QS World University Rankings 2025 (US)

Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2025 (UK)

Important note: the rankings are based on the performance of the whole university including all of its graduate schools, not just the undergraduate college.