University of St. Andrews (Scotland)

[Anonymous]

What's the deal with this school? Over the past few years I've heard of several good but not great American students matriculating to St. Andrews, the common denominator being they all hail from wealthy families. It seems almost like the school is a socially acceptable alternative for families that couldn't get their child in at a higher ranked college in the US.

[Anonymous]

Lots of threads on this already. Run a search.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What's the deal with this school? Over the past few years I've heard of several good but not great American students matriculating to St. Andrews, the common denominator being they all hail from wealthy families. It seems almost like the school is a socially acceptable alternative for families that couldn't get their child in at a higher ranked college in the US.

that's a take. sounds like you're not interested.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What's the deal with this school? Over the past few years I've heard of several good but not great American students matriculating to St. Andrews, the common denominator being they all hail from wealthy families. It seems almost like the school is a socially acceptable alternative for families that couldn't get their child in at a higher ranked college in the US.

Like every other private school that's not ranked 1-15? I guess so.

Anyway, you can use the search feature for more information

[Anonymous]

that's a take. sounds like you're not interested.

Actually, I think my DC would be interested but I wouldn't want them to go only to end up stuck with hoards of elitist American students.

[Anonymous]

Experienced St Andrews via my kids participation in the W&M JDP program. Spend years at each school. Very good university is a small town. Yes there are rich kids there, as there are at every school. There are number of kids in the DMV attending St Andrews for all for years. It is a great value compared to a number of US LACs and some state flagships.

Plenty of MC kids from UK, Europe and US attend. Very different educational system. A few marked assignments account for your grade. No hand holding, no retakes, no sympathy for late assignments. Students are treated as full fledged adults.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A few marked assignments account for your grade. No hand holding, no retakes, no sympathy for late assignments. Students are treated as full fledged adults.

This basically applies to all European universities…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A few marked assignments account for your grade. No hand holding, no retakes, no sympathy for late assignments. Students are treated as full fledged adults.

This basically applies to all European universities…

Yup.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Experienced St Andrews via my kids participation in the W&M JDP program. Spend years at each school. Very good university is a small town. Yes there are rich kids there, as there are at every school. There are number of kids in the DMV attending St Andrews for all for years. It is a great value compared to a number of US LACs and some state flagships.

Plenty of MC kids from UK, Europe and US attend. Very different educational system. A few marked assignments account for your grade. No hand holding, no retakes, no sympathy for late assignments. Students are treated as full fledged adults.

Very helpful, thank you. The W&M program sounds wonderful.

[Anonymous]

Is this the same St Andrews hater really starting a new thread to bash the school? 😭😂

The language of the posts and replies is just so similar every time. Get a life?

If you don't like it, don't go there! It's a great school, but not for the faint of heart or the kid who needs hand-holding. Figure out if it's a good fit.

Ask around, I hear almost universal acclaim about St Andrews from other students and parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Experienced St Andrews via my kids participation in the W&M JDP program. Spend years at each school. Very good university is a small town. Yes there are rich kids there, as there are at every school. There are number of kids in the DMV attending St Andrews for all for years. It is a great value compared to a number of US LACs and some state flagships.

Plenty of MC kids from UK, Europe and US attend. Very different educational system. A few marked assignments account for your grade. No hand holding, no retakes, no sympathy for late assignments. Students are treated as full fledged adults.

How was that program? I thought it was really interesting and wanted my kid to look into it.

[Anonymous]

Honestly not sure what your motivation is with these anti-St Andrews posts. It's clearly the same poster who goes to all the different St Andrews threads to speak poorly of the school, and spread misinformation about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Experienced St Andrews via my kids participation in the W&M JDP program. Spend years at each school. Very good university is a small town. Yes there are rich kids there, as there are at every school. There are number of kids in the DMV attending St Andrews for all for years. It is a great value compared to a number of US LACs and some state flagships.

Plenty of MC kids from UK, Europe and US attend. Very different educational system. A few marked assignments account for your grade. No hand holding, no retakes, no sympathy for late assignments. Students are treated as full fledged adults.

How was that program? I thought it was really interesting and wanted my kid to look into it.

It’s a good program. You can choose from 1 of 6 majors; classics, English, economics, history, film studies and international relations. You get the breadth of liberal arts education and the specialization of a UK school. So will have 65 or 70 credits in your major field of study. Can have 1 minor, no double. major, so you need to be into the major you select.

US kids need to adapt to limited graded assignments and doing a lot on your own. Non-US kids find the 6-10 graded assignments at a US college tedious.

Not for everyone. In December it is dark when you get out of your 2PM class in St Andrews.

[Anonymous]

My DS graduated from W&M a few years ago. Many of his classes had a midterm and a final- that’s it. By the time you had a midterm grade, the drop period was over. No participation hand held gadgets there either.

[Anonymous]

do any colleges allow for retakes?

my kids have never attended a school in their k-college years that had retakes.