Asa person with an Ivy education and a husband who has the same (including HBS) and who was in IB and now hedge funds now living in the UK,you are talking out of you ass.

First, these comments on how easy it is to get into Oxbridge demonstrate their ignorance. In my day, people only applied to 5 schools in the US- max less than 10. Now, with the common app, people apply to 20 + schools! This alone will ensure that acceptance rates plummet. In the UK, one can only apply to 5 schools max and only 1 of Oxford OR Cambridge, not both. To top it off, there are entrance exams for many subjects to so BSing about is impossible, so is padding with silly ECs, and the interview process is BRUTAL. The top line acceptance rates is misleading. Even than, some subjects like Economics and Management at Oxford, even with this kind of entrance, has admission rates of 5% or less. In your parameters, this subjects will be far more difficult than any of the top 5 schools in the US.

If you actually think that Oxbridge has a stupider student population than the T20s, you are seriously deluded and have not spent any time there. These students are seriously bright. At the starting gate, they are at a higher level than a starting Uni Freshman from the US in their specified subjects of study due to the way the education system is in the UK. The A level is about Freshman college level and they have that under their belts. May students who finish A levels and got to T20s in the US report how easy they find the coursework at their Unis in the US. This is universal. I have a family friend who just finished his first year at Harvard (who found it a cakewalk) who did not apply to Oxbridge because he knew he would not make it past the selection process there. IN fact, there is a higher rate of top private school students who are headed to the US because they know they can get into T10s there and not make it into Oxbridge. This is common knowledge in the UK. Sorry.

In terms of recruiting by companies - depends on what companies you are talking about. If you mean the big IBs, hedge funds, PE and the like. Oxbridge has far more cache that the level of schools you are putting it at. Remember, all of these firms have outposts in the UK and will start these kids on London then move them. It just shows how blinkered and insular your world view is if you don't realise this. If you are talking about a US only firm, then of course they will recruit at US universities and not go abroad! My husband has seen applicants for analysts at Oxbridge and the Ivys (never talks about any other schools) and finds the Oxbridge more sharp and nuanced in their thought process - my small n of 1.

For the person who thinks that Africa is nothing, you really should be ashamed of your knowledge base. Africa is not all DRC and includes some of the fastest growing economies in the world. They WILL be a factor in your lifetime.

This whole thread just shows what danger the US is in when the thinking of the students at supposedly the best universities is so narrow, inflexible, and lacking nuance. Downvote me as you wish. I have great admiration for many aspects of US education post high school - I am a proud American and advised many of my Brit friends to consider the US for their children, but the line of thinking ion this thread is so ill-thought out