UCL - the best university in the world...

...or so they keep telling us. Everyone is very proud that this year, UCL passed up Oxford in The Times' list of the best universities in the world. We're now number 4, after Harvard, Cambridge, and Yale. I hear someone spout this statistic probably once a day. Also, they like to make it known that 20 Nobel laureates have gone to UCL, including Gandhi.

But UCL is awesome for other reasons, too. The main building on campus is an exact replica of the British Museum - so exact, in fact, that it was used in the Mummy movies instead of the museum. (Also, don't forget that campus is a five minute walk from the museum, too.)

Bentham, the philosopher who developed utilitarianism, asked for his body to be embalmed after his death, and now he sits, fully clothed, in a glass case in the main hall. His real head is in storage because something went wrong with the embalming process, so a wax head is on display.

UCL has a huge collection of rare books, including, my friend Gabe excitedly told me, one of the first copies of Newton's Principia. (He got to touch it. I think it was the highlight of his week.)

UCL was the first UK university to accept people regardless of religion or social class, and now it calls itself "London's Global University." Over a third of the students are international.

The anthropology department at UCL is incredible. It is pretty big (200 undergrads), and we get our own building, called Tavistock. We also have our own library with a huge collection of anthropological books, journals, and films, and we get to use the Center for Anthropology at the British Museum any time we want. Departments here are pretty cohesive units because students rarely take classes outside their department - which means that everyone knows each other well. Anthropology is known for being especially social.

Campus boasts 15 libraries, 5 museums, 4 bars, 3 cafes, 3 gardens, 2 theatres, several hospitals, and over 20,000 students.

Is that enough bragging about my school?