Topcat
That quote you provided doesn't disprove the point I made about A levels and the first two years of an undergraduate degree in the US. They are about the same level.
It wasn't meant to disprove your unfounded allegation (it wasn't a point). It was meant to corroborate what I said by illustrating what highly selective universities want their undergrads to do.
What does Oxford think of US qualifications?
www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/international-students/international-qualifications?wssl=1
We usually expect students to have:
<span class="italic">either SATs or the ACT</span>
and
<span class="italic">either APTs (Advanced Placement Tests) or SAT subject tests (or a combination of APTs and SAT subject tests, or other equivalent qualifications, if they are in different subjects).</span>
Scores needed:
SATs: students sitting this qualification will need to achieve a total score of 1,470 (out of 1,600). We do not require the optional essay in the SAT. Any candidates with a test date prior to, or including, January 2016 will be expected to have achieved the SAT Reasoning Test with at least 1,400 in Critical Reading and Mathematics and also 700 or more in Writing, giving a combined score of at least 2,100 (out of 2,400).
<span class="italic">ACT: students taking this qualification will need at least a score of 32 out of 36. We do not require the optional essay in the ACT.</span>
<span class="italic">APTs (Advanced Placement Tests): grade 5 in three or more appropriate subjects.</span>
<span class="italic">SAT Subject Tests: 700 or more in three appropriate subjects.</span>
Specific subject requirements: please check your course pages for details.
Superscoring
Candidates are asked to enter all their scores for any tests taken when they complete their UCAS application, showing the relevant dates for each. This gives tutors a complete picture of a candidate's academic record, rather than just the ‘superscore’ of best results for the different sections of any test taken on multiple occasions.
Candidates are also asked to include any pending test scores on the UCAS application: that is, details of any test they intend to take up until the end of Senior Year. Again, this is to give tutors a complete picture of the candidates’ academic record, including studies which are still in progress.
Students doing APs are highly likely to be taking SAT subject tests, and needless to say, they will also have very high GPAs.
I personally know a lot of students who would be candidates for Oxford based on the numbers here.
www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/courses-listing/mathematics?wssl=1
Anyone who did AP calcBC would be well able for this.
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I've p[roved that the aid goes to those from privileged backgrounds rather than non.
No you have not, and you still don't understand why you are wrong.
As demonstrated, you completely misread the information that was right in front of you, and you don't understand the phrase 'demonstrated need' or its implications.
The information on writeoffs for the comfortable middle classes in Ivy League prospectuses is meant to counter the myth that a state school is always cheaper. Everyone (except you, apparently) knows that for students from families earning less than $65k the Ivy League is incredibly affordable/practically free. It's the bracket above $65k/$70k that might have assumed they would not qualify for any finaid, hence the specific mention of this bracket. It's an invitation to people in this bracket to keep Harvard (and the rest of the Ivies, plus Stanford, U Chicago, and more) in mind and not to dismiss the possibility that a bright student could go there based on the assumption that it would be financial suicide for the family.
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FYI, re salaries for RG vs non RG graduates:www.theguardian.com/global/2015/oct/09/10000-extra-a-year-the-reward-of-a-degree-from-a-top-university
The financial rewards of a degree from an elite university are revealed today in a report which estimates that an Oxbridge graduate will earn an average £10,000 more every year of their lives than a graduate of a non-Russell Group university.
According to the report by the Sutton Trust, graduates from Oxford and Cambridge will over their lifetimes earn on average £46,000 annually, compared with £41,000 earned by other Russell Group graduates, and just under £36,000 by graduates from other universities.
And...
www.bbc.com/news/education-41693230
Includes a graph entitled 'Universities Ranked by Median Earnings'.
'A picture paints a thousand words'
Graduates of the 24 Russell Group universities earn an average of £33,500 after five years - about 40% more than those who studied at other universities...
...Importantly, many of the differences here are not down to the universities themselves.
They have different average earnings partly because students aren't all the same - they have different abilities and interests.
Entrants to Oxford, LSE and Russell Group universities start their degrees, on average, with better exam grades..
...even when comparing students who did the same subject at the same university, those from the richest households still earn around 10% more than their peers from less affluent backgrounds.
This suggests improving access to university alone is not enough to address issues of social mobility.
Topcat your assertions about RG/nonRG income are off the mark.
Blaa - your assumptions about access are too optimistic.