University College London

UCL was founded in 1826 to educate Catholics, Jews, and others barred from Britain's two other universities at the time, Oxford and Cambridge, which accepted only members of the Church of England. The largest of more than 50 colleges and institutes that comprise the University of London, it specializes in biomedical and physical science research. Alumni include Mahatma Gandhi, Alexander Graham Bell—and all four members of the band Coldplay.