While providing universal health care to a similar number of folks and with a smaller aggregate economy.
Those Europeans must be cooking the books, eh? /s
US GDP[0]: $25,462,700 million
Aggregate EU GDP[1]: 15.8 trillion euros
N.B.: USD/Euro Exchange rate (23 July 2023)[2]: 0.89 Euro == 1 US Dollar.
[0[ https://countryeconomy.com/gdp/usa?year=2022
[1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/279447/gross-domestic-pr...
[2] https://www.xe.com/currencyconverter/convert/?Amount=1&From=...
If America disappeared, Europe would look a lot less socialist
- accepting fewer students (having strict requirements).
- failing students out in early classes (fewer opportunities to retake classes).
- more professionally focused and shorter curriculum.
- less class and subject choices
- the degree commanding significantly less earnings
For whatever reason, the best students seem to end up at a few top European schools (like Oxford) or go to the US.
At the undergrad level, the subject matter is generally very well-established. But when you want a job after graduation, being close friends with the CEO's child helps far more than a few tenths of a point on your GPA.
Legacy admissions and nepotism are still very much a thing.