How US and UK Universities Rank According to Areas of Study?

There is no doubt that world university rankings often play a part in a student’s decision as to where they want to set their application sights. Year after year the top places are dominated by world class US and UK universities - from MIT, Stanford and Harvard to Oxford, Cambridge and Imperial College London.

While these rankings are important determining factors as to the calibre of the institution in regards to their academic and employer reputation, their staff, student to faculty ratio and quality research output all play a role in rankings, causing the lists themselves to shift somewhat when it comes to altering the criteria in one important way - the area of study based on a career oriented major.

It is true that the world’s top universities still feature heavily on a vast array of subject area lists, but examining the subtle shifts in rankings based on your potential eventual academic focus can be an interesting exercise.

Of course, Crimson Education strategists personalise every one of their student’s best fit university lists with an eye to their individual academic preferences...but to give you an idea of how your preferred US or UK universities rank based on some of the most popular areas of study, take a look at QS’s most recent rankings by subject areas below:

Politics and International Studies

1. Harvard University
2. University of Oxford
3. London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)
4. University of Cambridge
5. Stanford University
6. Princeton University
7. University of California Berkeley
8. Yale University
9. Columbia University
10. University of Chicago

Engineering and Technology

1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
2. Stanford University
3. University of Cambridge
4. University of California Berkeley
5. University of Oxford
6. Imperial College London (ICL)
7. Harvard University
8. Georgia Institute of Technology
9. California Institute of Technology (CalTech)
10. Carnegie Mellon University

Natural Sciences

1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
2. Stanford University
3. Harvard University
4. Cambridge University
5. Oxford University
6. University of California Berkeley
7. California Institute of Technology (CalTech)
8. Imperial College London
9. Princeton University
10. University of California Los Angeles (UCLA)

Business and Management

1. Harvard University
2. London Business School
3. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
4. University of Pennsylvania
5. Stanford University
6. University of Cambridge
7. London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)
8. University of Oxford
9. University of California Berkeley
10. Northwestern University

Economics and Econometrics

1. Harvard University
2. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
3. Stanford University
4. University of California Berkeley
5. University of Chicago
6. London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)
7. Princeton University
8. Yale University
9. 8University of Oxford
10. University of Cambridge

Psychology

1. Harvard University
2. Stanford University
3. University of Oxford
4. University of Cambridge
5. University of California Los Angeles (UCLA)
6. University of California Berkeley
7. Yale University
8. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
9. University of Michigan
10. University College London (UCL)

Art and Design

1. Royal College of Art (UK)
2. University of the Arts London
3. Parsons School of Design at the New School
4. Rhode Island School of Design
5. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
6. The Glasgow School of Art
7. School of the Art Institute of Chicago
8. Pratt Institute
9. Goldsmiths, University of London
10. Art Center College of Design