Board exams results out: Here’s a list of top foreign universities Class 12 science students apply to

As Class 12 board examinations come to an end and universities around the world open their doors to admit first-year students, the multitude of possible options can become agonising.

As Class 12 board examinations come to an end and universities around the world open their doors to admit first-year students, the multitude of possible options can become agonising.

The main building of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, MA, USA showcasing its neoclassic architecture at sunset. (Getty Images/File)

Especially, when you are opting for a science degree abroad, the selection of course specialisation, university and country build up to a monstrous task.

Since it’s imperative to get these information right, let’s start cutting through the clutter by shortlisting top global universities.

Choosing your specialisation

At this stage, most students would have decided or already had a brief idea on the specialisation they would want to take up. If you haven’t, then you can start by considering topics that give you the greatest satisfaction. Also, side by side, check the career prospects of the chosen courses.

Science covers a broad range of subjects under its four major branches ie mathematics and logic, biological science, physical science and social science. To help you choose a specialisation, let’s take a look at few of the popular courses:

Acoustics	Ecology	Anatomy	Earth Sciences
Astronomy & Astrophysics	Mathematics & Statistics	Biology	Material Science (Material Engineering)
Biochemistry	Nanotechnology	Biomedicine	Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
Biosciences (life sciences)	Physics	Chemistry	Neuroscience
Crystallography	Polymer Science	Biotechnology	Optics

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Shortlisting country and university

Don’t choose a university or a country just because your friend or a relative reside there. Instead, your choice should be based on the country or university that has huge resources allocated for science subjects (R&D funding, teaching funding, etc) so that you can benefit the best teaching, latest research and a great career start.

To help you narrow down your options, let’s start with the top countries to study science subjects.

Top countries to study science based on University performance in Science subjects as reflected on global university ranking systems such as QS World University Rankings and the World University Rankings.

United States	United Kingdom	Hong Kong	Germany
South Korea	Sweden	France	Japan
Singapore	Switzerland	Australia	-

Besides these, you can also look at countries such as Greece, Estonia, Mexico, Austria, and Portugal which were listed among the 10 top countries awarding the maximum number of STEM degrees per capita in the 2015 Science, Technology and Industry Scoreboard report by OECD.

To look at top universities, two lists have been created. The first lists out top universities for science irrespective of the acceptance rate. The second list out top universities with a high acceptance rate for international students, Indians in particular. The chosen universities are regularly featured in the global university ranking system* for science subjects.

Top Universities in the World for Science

Country	University
United States	■ Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) ■ Harvard University ■ Stanford University ■ University of California, Berkeley (UCB) ■ California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
United Kingdom	■ University of Cambridge ■ University of Oxford ■ Imperial College London ■ The University of Manchester ■ The University of Edinburgh
Hong Kong	■ The University of Hong Kong ■ The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology ■ The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) ■ The Hong Kong Polytechnic University ■ City University of Hong Kong ■ Hong Kong Baptist University
Germany	■ Technical University of Munich ■ RWTH Aachen University ■ KIT, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology ■ Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München ■ Ruprecht-Karls-Universitaet Heidelberg
South Korea	■ Seoul National University ■ KAIST - Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology ■ Korea University ■ Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU) ■ Pohang University of Science And Technology (POSTECH)
Sweden	■ 69 Stockholm University ■ KTH Royal Institute of Technology ■ Lund University ■ Uppsala University ■ Chalmers University of Technology
France	■ Ecole Polytechnique ■ Université Pierre et Marie Curie (UPMC) ■ Ecole normale supérieure, Paris ■ Université Paris-Sud ■ Université Grenoble-Alpes
Japan	■ The University of Tokyo ■ Kyoto University ■ Tokyo Institute of Technology ■ Tohoku University ■ Osaka University
Singapore	■ National University of Singapore (NUS) ■ Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU)
Switzerland	■ ETH Zurich - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology ■ Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) ■ University of Zurich ■ University of Geneva ■ University of Bern
Australia	■ The University of Melbourne ■ The University of Sydney ■ The Australian National University ■ The University of Queensland ■ Monash University

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Top Universities with High Acceptance Rate

Popular University (by enrollment)

Country	University
United States	■ Cornell University ■ Columbia University ■ Northwestern University ■ University of Colorado Boulder ■ Boston University ■ Texas A&M University ■ University of Minnesota ■ Florida State University
United Kingdom	■ The University of Manchester ■ The University of Edinburgh ■ UCL (University College London) ■ University of Bristol ■ Durham University ■ The University of Nottingham
Hong Kong	■ The University of Hong Kong ■ The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Germany	■ RWT Aachen University ■ Technische Universität Berlin (TU Berlin) ■ Universität Hamburg ■ Universität Frankfurt am Main ■ Universität Regensburg ■ Universität Potsdam
South Korea	■ Seoul National University ■ Korea University ■ Pusan National University ■ University of Seoul ■ Inha University
Sweden	■ Stockholm University ■ Lund University ■ Uppsala University
France	■ Ecole Polytechnique ■ 108 Ecole normale supérieure, Paris ■ Université Grenoble-Alpes ■ Université de Strasbourg ■ University of Bordeaux
Japan	■ Osaka University ■ Kyushu University ■ Okayama University ■ Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology
Singapore	■ National University of Singapore (NUS) ■ Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU)
Switzerland	■ ETH Zurich- Swiss Federal Institute of Technology ■ Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) ■ University of Zurich ■ University of Geneva ■ University of Bern
Australia	■ The University of Melbourne ■ The University of Sydney ■ The Australian National University ■ The University of Queensland ■ Monash University ■ The University of New South Wales

*QS World University Rankings

Take note that university application forms must be filled much prior to the application deadline. Scholarships forms should be filled 6 to 8 months before the application deadline. Therefore, shortlist the university, course and country at the earliest and start your application process.

(Chopra is the managing director and co-founder of foreign education consultant The Chopras. Views expressed here are personal.)