Ask most students to name a "top university" and you'll get the same ten or so answers: Harvard, Yale, other Ivy League schools, Oxford and Cambridge. But the QS World University Rankings top 100 is full of institutions that sit alongside, and sometimes above, those famous names, with admissions processes that are often far more transparent.
This piece looks at that second tier: universities like Imperial College London, LSE, ETH Zurich, the Technical University of Munich, the University of Toronto, the University of Melbourne, the National University of Singapore and the University of Hong Kong. Every one of them is in the QS World University Rankings 2027 top 100. If you're a genuinely strong student who isn't sure the Ivy League or Oxbridge bar is realistic for you, this is where you should consider looking.
A note on the numbers below: they are for 2027 entry wherever the university has published them. Requirements for 2028 entry have not yet been published. Entry requirements are set independently by each university, vary by course, and change from year to year, so always check the specific programme page before making decisions.
Why this tier is different
The most important thing to understand about this group is that admissions here tend to be grades-led rather than holistic. Compared with the heavily essay- and activity-weighted US model, most of these universities put most of the decision on academic results, with less weight on personal essays and extracurriculars. That's good news if you're an excellent student without a standout personal narrative or a long list of extracurricular achievements. Your grades do more of the talking.
It also means the requirements are usually stated far more explicitly than in "holistic" US admissions, which rarely publish hard cutoffs.
University-by-university snapshot
Imperial College London publishes explicit, subject-specific requirements, typically A*AA to A*A*A at A-level. For 2027 entry, Electrical & Electronic Engineering (MEng) asks for A*A*A or A*AAA, including an A* in Maths and an A or A* in Physics, or 40 IB points with 7s in Higher Level Maths and Physics. Grades are not the whole story, though: the majority of Imperial's departments interview applicants, usually between November and February, and Medicine uses Multiple Mini Interviews.
London School of Economics (LSE) standard offers for 2027 entry range from A*AA to AAB at A-level, and from 37 IB points (with 666 at Higher Level) to 39 points (with 766 at Higher Level), depending on the programme. Some programmes use admissions tests: the LNAT for Law, and the TMUA for certain Economics and Mathematics-related programmes. In practice, the most competitive courses, Economics especially, see many successful applicants presenting profiles well above the stated minimum.
ETH Zurich sets admission requirements by country and by type of school-leaving certificate, published in an annually updated country list. Depending on your qualification, you may be admitted on your certificate alone or be required to sit ETH's entrance examination. One point many international students miss: German is the main teaching language in all ETH bachelor's programmes, so strong German is essential, alongside a good command of English.
Technical University of Munich (TUM) converts foreign school results into the German grading system and then runs a two-stage aptitude assessment. Stage one scores your school grades and documents; borderline applicants are invited to stage two, usually an interview or a test. If your school curriculum differs from the German one, the interview is often mandatory. Most TUM bachelor's programmes are taught in German, so check the language of your chosen programme in TUM's degree programme database.
University of Toronto admits on a percentage average, programme by programme, and does not publish a single cutoff. For the most competitive programmes, such as Computer Science, Rotman Commerce and Engineering, successful applicants commonly report averages in the low-to-mid 90s%. Other programmes are less competitive, but the variation between programmes is considerable.
University of Melbourne admits Australian school leavers primarily via the ATAR, Australia's percentile-based admission rank, out of 99.95. As a guide for 2027 entry, Melbourne publishes its 2026 lowest selection ranks: Commerce 92, Science 91, Biomedicine 90, and Arts and Design 85. For context, an ATAR of 90 places a student in roughly the top 10% of their age group. That's high, but a meaningful step below the near-perfect bar of the Ivy League and Oxbridge (see our article What Grades Do You Need for Ivy League & Oxbridge Universities?). International students apply with their own qualifications, which Melbourne assesses against equivalent standards.
National University of Singapore (NUS) publishes an Indicative Grade Profile based on the previous year's admitted students, but only for the Singapore-Cambridge A-level. In its 2026/27 profile, Computer Science admitted students with straight As (AAA/A) at both the 10th and 90th percentiles, and Business Administration from AAA/C to AAA/A. NUS does not publish an IB profile because the sample is too small, and it considers non-academic achievements alongside grades.
University of Hong Kong (HKU) publishes expected lower-boundary scores for international applicants. Its most recent guidance gives IB 36 or A-level AAA for Business Administration, IB 34 or AAA for most Engineering programmes, IB 40 or three A*s and an A at A-level for its Engineering Elite Programme, and four A*s at A-level for Medicine. Interview performance is also taken into account.
The University of Tokyo (39th in the QS 2027 rankings) teaches most undergraduate courses in Japanese. International students without Japanese typically apply through its small English-taught programmes, such as PEAK, which select on documents, an English essay and an online interview.
What this tier has in common
The consistent pattern: you need to be a genuinely strong student, broadly in the top tenth or so of your cohort, but not necessarily at the near-perfect level that Ivy League and Oxbridge admissions effectively demand. And because these processes weight grades so heavily, a strong academic record travels further here than it would in a US-style holistic system.
Two caveats that apply everywhere in this tier
Subject choice matters enormously. At every university listed above, Medicine, Law, Computer Science, Economics and Business consistently require noticeably higher grades than other departments at the same institution. If a headline "typical offer" looks achievable, check the specific requirement for your intended course before assuming it applies to you.
Language of instruction matters too. ETH Zurich and TUM teach most bachelor's programmes in German, and the University of Tokyo mostly in Japanese. If you don't speak the language, your realistic options at those universities are much narrower than their rankings suggest.
The takeaway
This tier is arguably the best-kept secret in international university admissions. In the QS World University Rankings 2027, Imperial (joint 2nd), ETH Zurich (joint 8th), NUS (10th) and HKU (11th) all rank above every Ivy League university except Harvard. Melbourne and TUM also rank above Princeton, and Toronto above Columbia and Brown. These universities offer excellent degrees and career outcomes and run more transparent, grades-first admissions processes. If you're a strong student whose profile doesn't scream "perfect Ivy League application" but whose grades are genuinely excellent, this is very likely your strongest set of options.
This article reflects publicly available admissions information for 2027 entry, checked in October 2026. Requirements for 2028 entry had not been published at the time of writing. Because entry requirements are set independently by each institution and can change annually, always verify current figures on the relevant university's own admissions website before applying.
