QS World University Rankings 2025: What Can We Learn?

The Rankings

Firstly, let’s take a look at the top ten rankings, as published on the QS World University Rankings website.

Country Breakdown

The first thing to look at is the dominance of UK and US universities in the top ten rankings. Of the ten universities, four are based in the UK and another four in the US, with the remaining two universities being in Switzerland and Singapore. Whilst this isn’t a big surprise based on previous years, it does reaffirm the dominance that UK and US universities continue to hold in global university rankings.

What it shows us, however, is that the UK, and within that Oxbridge, are not the be-all and end-all of highly-regarded universities. With this in mind, applicants should be encouraged by these rankings to explore the diverse options open to them.

Specialist Universities

Another important trend to note in the top Universities is the high ranking of technical and science-focused universities. This is a trend that we have seen in previous years, but bears repeating. Of the top ten universities, four are engineering, science, and technology-focused institutions (MIT, Imperial, EHT Zurich, and Caltech). This means that, whilst MIT and Imperial are first and second in the rankings, with standout scores of 100 and 98.5 respectively, for arts and humanities applicants, Oxford, Harvard, Cambridge, and Stanford are the key generalist institutions, all with a score between 96.1 and 96.9.

With this in mind, humanities applicants should also be reminded that there are a wealth of universities just beyond the top ten specialising in a range of courses into which they may cast their net, rather than being restricted to the remainder of the top six. Equally, budding STEM applicants should look carefully into these specialist institutions as a priority.

Admissions Rates for UK Universities in the Top Ten

Here at Oxbridge Applications we help promising students make applications to top UK universities every single year, including all four of the universities in the top ten. As such, our experts are consistently engaging with admissions and offer statistics for these top institutions on a regular basis.

Let us look at recent overall offer rates for the UK universities in the QS top 10:

As we see looking at the above table, it is not a simple case of the higher ranked the university, the harder it is to get into. Of the four, UCL has the highest offer rate (with around a third of applicants receiving an offer), however this is followed by Imperial, to which around a quarter of applicants are given an offer. Oxford and Cambridge are then far lower than the other two universities, with roughly one in every 5.5 applicants to Cambridge and one in every 6.6 applicants to Oxford receiving an offer.

Of course, whilst these offer rates give an indication of the number of applicants being awarded places, it certainly does not tell the whole story (or at least, not the story that is useful to an individual applicant!). For this, it is important to break down the figures into individual courses; for example, at Oxford, whilst Mathematics and Statistics has an offer rate of just 4%, Modern Languages has an offer rate of 55%. For applicants looking into Oxford and Cambridge, we recommend checking out our comprehensive resources on Oxford Success Rates and Cambridge Success Rates on our website.

Admissions Rates for US Universities in the Top Ten

If you thought the top UK universities in the QS ranking were competitive, the US universities are even more so! See the table below for a full overview of the difference:

As we can see, every single one of the US universities in the QS top ten rankings has an offer rate of below 5% (meaning fewer than one in every 20 applicants receives an offer). Whilst one should take into account the far higher number of both domestic and global applications being made to US universities compared to UK ones (bear in mind that US applicants may apply to as many universities as they wish!), this is still not a statistic to be sniffed at.

The US university application system is arguably more complex than the UK one, or perhaps one could say it measures more ‘holistic’ metrics. Applicants to US universities must sit key aptitude tests in addition to reporting their school grades, and must write statements of intent (or similar such personal statements) to each university to which they apply. Typically, US universities are more interested in the extracurricular activities and personal characteristics of an applicant, compared to the UK which is more ‘academically’ focused.

Choosing the correct university for you is a difficult decision. However, rankings such as QS can be a useful tool in aiding your decision, and serves to remind us all of the diversity of options amongst the top-ranked institutions! However, as with all rankings, we recommend delving into the information yourself (beyond just the headline numbers) to get the best possible image of the data as it relates to your situation.

Using this article as a jumping-off point, we recommend heading to the QS Rankings website yourself and looking through the information in more depth. Remember that there are also university rankings per subject, as well as a detailed breakdown of how each university gets its score out of 100. If these facts and figures get a big overwhelming (as they can!), remember that our expert consultants are on hand via email, telephone, or our online booking links, to discuss your personal situation and find the best data-backed options for you. Do not hesitate to call on +44 (0) 20 7499 2394 or email [email protected] between 9am and 5pm on weekdays to speak to one of our consultants.