Tell me about St Andrews in Scotland

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:St Andrews is the third best university in Scotland after Edinburgh and Glasgow. They have a very clever marketing strategy that targets gullible Americans and tries to convince them, successfully by the sounds of it, that St Andrews is in the same league as Cambridge and Oxford. The reality is, they are in a similar league to University of York and Bristol…ie 10-15 in the Uk.

Please, look at any, literally any, national level ranking and st andrews is ranked in place 1, 2, or 3.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/uk-university-rankings-revealed-the-times-league-table-dbxtwgm70

On global rankings, which are reflect the quantity of research output, St Andrews is ranked near brown and dartmouth, as St Andrews is a primarily undergraduate focused institution. So it's not going to perform well on international university rankings.

Maybe 20 years ago you'd be right, but as we know, rankings change. Universities progress and decline. St Andrews has expanded massively and has raised tons of money in recent years. It's had really good leadership who have increased the quality, standards, and reputations of the institution, hence the rankings.

The former St Andrews president, Louise Richardson, went from St Andrews directly to become president of Oxford as she did such a good job at St A. Then St A got the number 2 at Oxford as their current president. It's good marketing, but also great leadership, great quality, and an amazing experience at St Andrews. The top students in Scotland and England are banging down the door to get into St Andrews. That's why it has the highest entry standards, alongside Oxford and Cambridge.

You are lying only to yourself. Ask any Brit. St Andrews isn’t even in the same realm as other British schools. It’s a party school for foreigners who will sPend big bucks there. That’s how the school was saved after WWII. Foreign students

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's weird how some people really hate other people's children attending a school they don't love. And are really passionate about other family's choices.

I don't get yucking someone else's yum, but it's better than spending a lot of time tearing someone's else's yum down on a message board as often as possible, in all caps, over several years.

Yucking someone's yum? If we're going there, a more apt analogy would be someone really loudly proclaiming that THIS restaurant is the BEST restaurant EVER, and everyone else telling them, well, no, it's not. It might be a good pit stop for tourists who don't know any better, but there are plenty other restaurants that taste better and probably cost less, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's weird how some people really hate other people's children attending a school they don't love. And are really passionate about other family's choices.

I don't get yucking someone else's yum, but it's better than spending a lot of time tearing someone's else's yum down on a message board as often as possible, in all caps, over several years.

Yucking someone's yum? If we're going there, a more apt analogy would be someone really loudly proclaiming that THIS restaurant is the BEST restaurant EVER, and everyone else telling them, well, no, it's not. It might be a good pit stop for tourists who don't know any better, but there are plenty other restaurants that taste better and probably cost less, too.

St Andrews: the Times Square Margaritaville of colleges.

[Anonymous]

you guys can check out /6thform and find out what "brits" think about St Andrews. Or The Student Room.

You don't need to rely on DCUMs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's weird how some people really hate other people's children attending a school they don't love. And are really passionate about other family's choices.

I don't get yucking someone else's yum, but it's better than spending a lot of time tearing someone's else's yum down on a message board as often as possible, in all caps, over several years.

Yucking someone's yum? If we're going there, a more apt analogy would be someone really loudly proclaiming that THIS restaurant is the BEST restaurant EVER, and everyone else telling them, well, no, it's not. It might be a good pit stop for tourists who don't know any better, but there are plenty other restaurants that taste better and probably cost less, too.

St Andrews: the Times Square Margaritaville of colleges.

+1. It’s ranked 342 globally by USNWR. I think that says it all

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:St Andrews is the third best university in Scotland after Edinburgh and Glasgow. They have a very clever marketing strategy that targets gullible Americans and tries to convince them, successfully by the sounds of it, that St Andrews is in the same league as Cambridge and Oxford. The reality is, they are in a similar league to University of York and Bristol…ie 10-15 in the Uk.

Please, look at any, literally any, national level ranking and st andrews is ranked in place 1, 2, or 3.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/uk-university-rankings-revealed-the-times-league-table-dbxtwgm70

On global rankings, which are reflect the quantity of research output, St Andrews is ranked near brown and dartmouth, as St Andrews is a primarily undergraduate focused institution. So it's not going to perform well on international university rankings.

Maybe 20 years ago you'd be right, but as we know, rankings change. Universities progress and decline. St Andrews has expanded massively and has raised tons of money in recent years. It's had really good leadership who have increased the quality, standards, and reputations of the institution, hence the rankings.

The former St Andrews president, Louise Richardson, went from St Andrews directly to become president of Oxford as she did such a good job at St A. Then St A got the number 2 at Oxford as their current president. It's good marketing, but also great leadership, great quality, and an amazing experience at St Andrews. The top students in Scotland and England are banging down the door to get into St Andrews. That's why it has the highest entry standards, alongside Oxford and Cambridge.

You are lying only to yourself. Ask any Brit. St Andrews isn’t even in the same realm as other British schools. It’s a party school for foreigners who will sPend big bucks there. That’s how the school was saved after WWII. Foreign students

the st andrews haters are out in full force today!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's weird how some people really hate other people's children attending a school they don't love. And are really passionate about other family's choices.

I don't get yucking someone else's yum, but it's better than spending a lot of time tearing someone's else's yum down on a message board as often as possible, in all caps, over several years.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's weird how some people really hate other people's children attending a school they don't love. And are really passionate about other family's choices.

I don't get yucking someone else's yum, but it's better than spending a lot of time tearing someone's else's yum down on a message board as often as possible, in all caps, over several years.

I think it’s partly caused by the overconfident classmates who apply exclusively to St. Andrews, Ivies and Top 10 schools and declare St. Andrews is their only safety (which accepts single digits internationally but close to 50% of US applicants so people are sort of impressed at first) then end up going there.

[Anonymous]

how is that a problem for anyone? 50% admissions rate for top students seems like a pretty solid bet to me. And for a lot of UMC, 50k a year is a financial fit when 90k isn't.

finding a safety you love - and can afford - is such a wonderful way to walk through the admissions season, not that I'd know.

[Anonymous]

DD and her friends just won their first pub quiz. She is finishing up her second year in the W&M JDP so first year at St Andrews. She is getting a great education at two very good universities.

UK and other international students chafe at the number of graded assignments at W&M and DD had to adjust to 2 or 3 graded assignments and a totally different grading structure.

Only last two years count for your classification at St Andrews but grades count against GPA for all four years for W&M students.

Yes there are a lot of Americans at St Andrews and a lot of kids who where rejected at Oxbridge. St Andrews had the highest UCAS scores during the last admission cycle so they get quality students from the UK.

DD will spend next year at St Andrews and finish up at W&M. Made great friends at both schools both in the JDP and the outside the program.

Anyone going to St Andrews for 4 years will get a great education but it will be very different to the typical US university.

Let the haters hate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:St Andrews is the third best university in Scotland after Edinburgh and Glasgow. They have a very clever marketing strategy that targets gullible Americans and tries to convince them, successfully by the sounds of it, that St Andrews is in the same league as Cambridge and Oxford. The reality is, they are in a similar league to University of York and Bristol…ie 10-15 in the Uk.

Please, look at any, literally any, national level ranking and st andrews is ranked in place 1, 2, or 3.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/uk-university-rankings-revealed-the-times-league-table-dbxtwgm70

On global rankings, which are reflect the quantity of research output, St Andrews is ranked near brown and dartmouth, as St Andrews is a primarily undergraduate focused institution. So it's not going to perform well on international university rankings.

Maybe 20 years ago you'd be right, but as we know, rankings change. Universities progress and decline. St Andrews has expanded massively and has raised tons of money in recent years. It's had really good leadership who have increased the quality, standards, and reputations of the institution, hence the rankings.

The former St Andrews president, Louise Richardson, went from St Andrews directly to become president of Oxford as she did such a good job at St A. Then St A got the number 2 at Oxford as their current president. It's good marketing, but also great leadership, great quality, and an amazing experience at St Andrews. The top students in Scotland and England are banging down the door to get into St Andrews. That's why it has the highest entry standards, alongside Oxford and Cambridge.

You are lying only to yourself. Ask any Brit. St Andrews isn’t even in the same realm as other British schools. It’s a party school for foreigners who will sPend big bucks there. That’s how the school was saved after WWII. Foreign students

St. Andrews is a school for well-to-do US private school kids who couldn't get into places like NYU. Fact. I'm sure it's a fun place to go to school if you don't mind eight months of darkness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:you guys can check out /6thform and find out what "brits" think about St Andrews. Or The Student Room.

You don't need to rely on DCUMs

Why do you keep spreading this demonstrably wrong information? the facts themselves don't lie.

St Andrews' admitted class had the second highest UCAS levels in the UK, per the Good University Guide.

"Confirming its academically elite reputation, St Andrews’ entry standards are only one Ucas tariff point lower than the highest in the country at Cambridge."

https://dlv.tnl-uk-uni-guide.gcpp.io/universities/university-of-st-andrews-a0YyN9Z01Dsa

[Anonymous]

look at any national UK ranking of universities.

Good University Guide

"Our Scottish University of the Year is the leading Scottish university in our academic rankings — although Oxford has bumped it off the No 1 spot. St Andrews continues to shake up the time-honoured order of our institutional table by outperforming third-place Cambridge once again. Its position is fuelled by remarkably — and consistently — high rates of student satisfaction. The university has the second-best results in the two National Student Survey-derived measures included in our league table: teaching quality and student experience. Last year it came top in both.

The university is in the top ten for graduate prospects and staff-to-student ratio, and remains the top-performing university in Scotland."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's weird how some people really hate other people's children attending a school they don't love. And are really passionate about other family's choices.

I don't get yucking someone else's yum, but it's better than spending a lot of time tearing someone's else's yum down on a message board as often as possible, in all caps, over several years.

Yucking someone's yum? If we're going there, a more apt analogy would be someone really loudly proclaiming that THIS restaurant is the BEST restaurant EVER, and everyone else telling them, well, no, it's not. It might be a good pit stop for tourists who don't know any better, but there are plenty other restaurants that taste better and probably cost less, too.

St Andrews: the Times Square Margaritaville of colleges.

+1. It’s ranked 342 globally by USNWR. I think that says it all

Let's put on our thinking cap. How are these even remotely helpful when discussing where to go for undergrad?

USNWR global rankings seem to reflect research expenditure, and not much else, hence the high-ranking of standalone medical schools.

16 - UCSF - which is a postgraduate-only medical school + PhD programmes
46 - Icahn School of Medicine

63 is UW Madison,
74 is U of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
But Brown is 129. Dartmouth is 261.
Williams and Amherst are nowhere to be found.

UW Madison and UIUC are great schools! but if you get into Brown or Dartmouth, you're not picking UIUC because it's ranked higher on USNWR's global rankings. Global rankings look at research quality/quantity/expenditure. Not helpful for undergrad

[Anonymous]

My kid attends and loves it. They fit the profile of a unhooked kid. Our great grades and tests but not a stellar sport or EC) aka very high stats who did not get into Ivy League but did get into second tier Wesleyan/Emory/Georgetown and chose St Andrews. There are tons of super smart kids from the UK because it is indeed very difficult to get in from the UK. Much easier for Americans bc they want our money, but becoming harder every year.

So let the haters hate, I'm not sure what axe they have to grind other than it's possibly people who went to school in the UK decades ago and are relying on info from back then and are upset about the school William went to becoming better.

Here is some more recent info:

The University of St Andrews is the top university in the UK, moving ahead of Oxford and Cambridge, in the Guardian University Guide 2023 published Saturday 24 September.

It is the second time in two years that Scotland’s oldest university has come ahead of its larger Oxbridge rivals to top a leading university league table. In 2021 St Andrews was ranked number one in The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide, the first time in the 30-year history of league tables that any university other than Oxford or Cambridge has come first.

The Guardian places St Andrews top in its ranking of the UK’s 130 universities for the first time. St Andrews first broke the Oxbridge duopoly in 2019, unseating Oxford to take second place, and holding that position in the Guide the following year.