The Golden Triangle is that of Cambridge, Oxford and London and is a way of referring to the 5 most elite universities in the UK: Oxford, Cambridge, LSE, Imperial College and UCL. What these universities have in common is a global reputation and ranking – all are ranked among the best in the world in any global university ranking – they all admit a high proportion of international students, and they are all research intensive universities with a large postgraduate student body.
Oxford & Cambridge
Oxford and Cambridge are unique in a variety of ways: they are collegiate universities which means you apply to a college not the university; they have their own way of teaching and their own application systems. They offer 3 short intensive terms of no more than 8 weeks which demand a great deal of students. However they are different universities with their own traditions and students need to choose between them.
Oxford and Cambridge applications have an early deadline, October 15, which means students will need to complete their whole UCAS application by this deadline. The academic entry requirements for each course can be found on the UCAS website. Cambridge asks for an extra application form for international students – Oxford does not. Most courses will require a specialist test to be taken in early November. Candidates called for interview will be notified by early December and interviews will take place later in the month – students have the choice of online interviews. For more detailed information on all aspects of Oxbridge applications see the attachment below.
LSE
The London School of Economic and Political Science, to give it its full name, is the only specialist Social Science university in the UK. LSE is based in Aldwych in the centre of London and has a global reputation – it is usually seen as the best Social Science university in Europe. It has always attracted large numbers of international students.
For example, in the academic year 2019/20 LSE had over 10,000 full time students, equally divided between undergraduates and postgraduates, and over half the student body was composed of non UK students making it one of the most international of all UK universities.
UCL
University College London is a large comprehensive university based in Bloomsbury that offers the widest possible range of degree options and is regularly ranked in the top 10 of global university rankings. UCLis a large university with over 40,000 students; over half of these students are postgraduates and over half are international.
Imperial College
Imperial College is the UKs equivalent of MIT or CalTech i.e. it is a specialist Science & Technology college. Imperial is based in South Kensington, is regularly ranked in the top 4 or 5 of global universities and is as difficult to access as Oxford & Cambridge.
Imperial has a student body of just under 20,000, like LSE equally divided between undergraduates and postgraduates.