What can you tell me about St. Andrew's?

[Anonymous]

My child (junior) is suddenly interested, based on a senior they know who will be attending. Based on Naviance, they look competitive for it and I see that the school is on the common app. We almost certainly will NOT be able to visit. What can you tell me about the school from your personal experience? Thank you.

[Anonymous]

I am assuming OP means the University St Andrews in Scotland, not some other unrelated school…

I have been there many times. It is a small college and golf town, with 3 main streets. There are very few hotels, which are all expensive. Some B&Bs, but try to book way in advance; B&B pricing is much higher during golf season. It does not have a railway station, so one takes the train to Leuchars and then the 99 bus. For climate, keep in mind it is pretty far north, so it is both cold and dark in winter with correspondingly more daylight in summer. It is often wet, sometimes snowy. Good university, but not really a large university. Solid academics. Students and faculty know each other well; students are a name not a number. One really needs to select one’s major prior to application, as with nearly all UK schools. Because of its theology/religion major, lots of US Presbyterians undertake graduate degrees there. Housing is very tight in/near town; market-rate housing is both scarce and expensive, so try to live in university accommodation every year. Restaurant food is a bit more expensive in the UK than in metro DC in my experience, though there are some more affordable places, such as the local chippy. Please do realize that many UK and European folks have and openly express anti-American sentiments, some based on reality (e.g., dislike US policy on topic X) and some are based on confusion/misunderstanding of the US constitutional and legal systems. So Americans at StA need to be thick-skinned about negative feedback about the US from others.

Look at all of the UK university rankings/reviews published in these 3 major UK newspapers - Guardian, Times, Telegraph. Each will rank differently, but also likely will list different strong/weak points for each UK university. These likely can be found online via “www.google.co.uk”.

If other specific questions, please post them…

[Anonymous]

OP there are literally hundreds of threads here on that college. Please run a search.

[Anonymous]

It's in Scotland.

[Anonymous]

In Scotland, most universities have 4-year undergrad degrees, unlike England & Wales which have 3-year undergrad degrees. The US university system derives in part from the Scottish system…

[Anonymous]

If you can’t afford to visit, perhaps rethink the idea of sending your kid there. It costs a lot to fly back and forth for holidays, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you can’t afford to visit, perhaps rethink the idea of sending your kid there. It costs a lot to fly back and forth for holidays, etc.

Disagree. If your kid needs frequent mom visits, then he or she is not a good candidate for St. Andrew's or for any long-term study abroad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you can’t afford to visit, perhaps rethink the idea of sending your kid there. It costs a lot to fly back and forth for holidays, etc.

Finances are not an issue; we just won't have the time to get there in the next few months due to some other obligations. Thank you.

[Anonymous]

Something to consider: it's a different style of teaching/learning, and changing majors is apparently difficult
Also google the William & Mary joint degree program with St. Andrews

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Something to consider: it's a different style of teaching/learning, and changing majors is apparently difficult
Also google the William & Mary joint degree program with St. Andrews

Thanks -- I'll look into the joint program. Can you be more specific as to how the teaching/learning is different? Thanks

[Anonymous]

My daughter attends and she loves it. Cold and wet and dark, yes. Exorbitant student housing prices, yes. Flights aren't too bad if booked in advance. Living costs can be high. There are a lot of very, very rich kids and there are stores/restaurants to cater to that demographic. She hasn't experienced any anti-American sentiment - or if she has, it hasn't bothered her. There are some St Andrews haters in this forum who are probably going to disagree with me, but the entry standards are very high and so the Scottish and English students who are accepted to St Andrews tend to be very smart and very competitive. Americans less so. It's not easy. Students are expected to act like the adults they are, and there is zero hand-holding. My daughter says that there is an assumption that students have already learned certain concepts, which might be the case for UK students but not for a kid who graduated from a public high school in the US. She took an Economics class and had to teach herself the material that the other students already knew, even though she took AP Macroeconomics.

Happy to answer any specific questions.

[Anonymous]

Like most UK universities, StA assumes students know the material in the applicable A-level exams from England &/Wales and applicable Scottish Highers. Which of those apply will vary by major, of course; check the StA website for more details.

Airfare IAD-EDI is not too bad in Sept-May. It is higher in the summer due to increased demand, but affordable tickets can be found by booking in advance. Depending on how much luggage one has, it sometimes is cheaper to fly IAD-LHR and take the LNER train between King’s Cross and Leuchars.

[Anonymous]

I used to live in Scotland. It was known as a decent school with a certain attraction for Americans and wealthy Brits (of course, Americans in that context are always assumed to be wealthy!).

Scotland is wet and way up north, OP. In the winter the sun is low in your eyes when you drive at 3pm. If your kid comes from a sunnier, drier place, they'll have get used to the climate quickly. It's not actually as cold as a similar latitude in America, though, because the British Isles benefit from the gulf stream current.

I agree with others that non-US universities do no hand-holding whatsoever.

[Anonymous]

It's so insanely overrated and anyone who knows anything about universities would tell you the same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's so insanely overrated and anyone who knows anything about universities would tell you the same.

It's not over rated. It's just a decent school. Not Oxford or Cambridge by any stretch, just like here nothing beats the Ivies. Stop exaggerating.