Aiming high: Kieren Kresevic, 18, graduated this year from Shore and plans to apply to study at top universities overseas. Photo: Ben Rushton

For most Australian high school students, Harvard and Oxford universities exist only in Hollywood films, as places posh people go to study and where secret societies meet in dark rooms.

It's a chance to do something extraordinary and it's gaining a new perspective and new approaches on education and on business. 

But when the HSC results are released next week, a small number of bright teenagers will have the world's most prestigious universities in their sights.

Cambridge University, one of the world's oldest and most prized academic institutions, sent five of its senior scholars to Sydney this week to interview dozens of aspiring students.

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Murray Milgate, an Australian-born economist at Cambridge, said they were looking for potential, resilience and commitment.

"As a university we just want to recruit the best people out there and they are not all within a five-mile radius of Great St Mary's Church in Cambridge, so that's why we're here," he said.

The president of the NSW Board of Studies, Teaching and Educational Standards, Tom Alegounarias, wants students to know they can be accepted into any university or college in the world with an HSC.

"We want this to be understood by all students from all schools, not just those from schools that promote this awareness," he said. "If you are an outstanding HSC candidate, you are outstanding in the eyes of the world and many high-level universities will scramble for you."

The sandstone institutions with mammoth reputations are realistically only accessible to a fraction of students, as entry is highly selective and tuition is extremely expensive. 

Nick Bampos, who is the deputy head of Cambridge's chemistry department, was educated at a public school in Marrickville and says the university is elite not elitist.

The annual cost of living and studying at Cambridge as an international undergraduate is between $60,000 and $100,000 a year, with about 20 per cent of international students supported with scholarships. Students usually need an ATAR of at least 98.5 to be admitted.

"We really, really are trying to broaden horizons and make the impossible possible for as many students as we can," Dr Bampos said. "It's a bit like wanting to join a great cricket or football side."

Of the Australians studying abroad, 27 per cent are in the United States, 26 per cent are in the United Kingdom and 20 per cent are in New Zealand, OECD data shows.

Almost 4500 Australian students study in the US, with a 6 per cent growth over the past year.

David McGuire from the US Consulate General in Sydney said students should not limit themselves to the Ivy Leagues or to a particular state.

"Just like Australia, we are a very large country and we have a lot of variety on offer," he said. "Sometimes you just have to scratch a little under the surface to find what's going to be the best fit."

Kieren Kresevic, who graduated this year from Sydney Church of England Grammar School, was considering studying in the US or the UK, either as an undergraduate or postgraduate student, while also hoping to gain entry to a number of Australian universities.

"It's a chance to do something extraordinary and it's gaining a new perspective and new approaches on education and on business," the 18-year-old said. "It's also really important for me to then bring that back and add to Australia's stock of innovation and Australia's perspective, knowledge and expertise."

In January he will apply to a number of Ivy League universities, including Harvard, Yale and Pennsylvania.

Like the Oxbridge universities, costs are high at the American Ivy Leagues, with tuition fees alone for undergraduate programs at Harvard, Stanford, Princeton and Yale topping $50,000 a year.

Kieren acknowledged the expenses were a "major drawback" to studying overseas.

"I'd be looking to get some scholarship or financial assistance and I think that has to be a factor for anyone wanting to go," he said. "Ultimately, if it's going to put you into huge debt then it's not necessarily worth it."