Why do so many private school kids go to St Andrews?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another plus is the peers. The UK peers you will have at St Andrews are on par with the top kids in the US. It is much harder for them to get in and most need A*A*A* just to be considered or a 42+/45 IB.

Wouldn't Oxbridge peets be on par with the top kids in the US? I would consider StA peers to be T50 level. Also, the admission requirement minimums seem to be ABB, not 3 A*s. E.g. https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/subjects/management/management-ma/#entry-requirements

You are wrong. The minimum is a worthless metric. Sta has the highest Tariff entry for Scottish students. And the highest in the UK.
The avg entry grades of Oxford/cambridge and Sta kids are very very similar for English students. Minimums get you to apply. If you are applying to non-competitive program, sure. Same everywhere. Please go to student room forum. It is a UK forum with kid discussing their acceptances and rejections….many A*A*A*s rejected at Sta. That is top of the top.

I looked there for a bit but I couldn't find any with three A*a rejected.

[Anonymous]

Are st Andrews and McGill on par?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Another plus is the peers. The UK peers you will have at St Andrews are on par with the top kids in the US. It is much harder for them to get in and most need A*A*A* just to be considered or a 42+/45 IB.

On par with more than that. If the future King of England attended, you know this is a school acceptable to the aristocracy. The idea that that would be appealing to (some, not all, before you come at me) private school kids is a no-brainer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:St Andrews, and McGill. These I don't get it.

Why not Oxybridge? Why not UBC?

A lot of private school Californians randomly go to UBC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:St Andrews, and McGill. These I don't get it.

Why not Oxybridge? Why not UBC?

A lot of private school Californians randomly go to UBC.

+1

We’re in Colorado and more people go to UBC vs. McGill. I think it’s more common in the west.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another plus is the peers. The UK peers you will have at St Andrews are on par with the top kids in the US. It is much harder for them to get in and most need A*A*A* just to be considered or a 42+/45 IB.

Wouldn't Oxbridge peets be on par with the top kids in the US? I would consider StA peers to be T50 level. Also, the admission requirement minimums seem to be ABB, not 3 A*s. E.g. https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/subjects/management/management-ma/#entry-requirements

You are wrong. The minimum is a worthless metric. Sta has the highest Tariff entry for Scottish students. And the highest in the UK.
The avg entry grades of Oxford/cambridge and Sta kids are very very similar for English students. Minimums get you to apply. If you are applying to non-competitive program, sure. Same everywhere. Please go to student room forum. It is a UK forum with kid discussing their acceptances and rejections….many A*A*A*s rejected at Sta. That is top of the top.

I looked there for a bit but I couldn't find any with three A*a rejected.

Not going to babysit you….you can look through here starting with the Oxford kid rejected at Sta: https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7519579&page=48

[Anonymous]

Are St Andrews and McGill on par?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another plus is the peers. The UK peers you will have at St Andrews are on par with the top kids in the US. It is much harder for them to get in and most need A*A*A* just to be considered or a 42+/45 IB.

Wouldn't Oxbridge peets be on par with the top kids in the US? I would consider StA peers to be T50 level. Also, the admission requirement minimums seem to be ABB, not 3 A*s. E.g. https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/subjects/management/management-ma/#entry-requirements

You are wrong. The minimum is a worthless metric. Sta has the highest Tariff entry for Scottish students. And the highest in the UK.
The avg entry grades of Oxford/cambridge and Sta kids are very very similar for English students. Minimums get you to apply. If you are applying to non-competitive program, sure. Same everywhere. Please go to student room forum. It is a UK forum with kid discussing their acceptances and rejections….many A*A*A*s rejected at Sta. That is top of the top.

I looked there for a bit but I couldn't find any with three A*a rejected.

Not going to babysit you….you can look through here starting with the Oxford kid rejected at Sta: https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7519579&page=48

The required grades don’t mean much for UK students. Obviously you have to get these grades to get in but all of the top universities require similar. And simply getting the grades doesn’t mean you automatically get in either. It isn’t a useful metric to rank quality of the university. As has been exhaustively discussed in this forum, St Andrews is extremely popular in the US but it is not super popular in the UK (for lots of reasons including extra year of study, weather, location, etc) nor is it super prestigious compared to Oxbridge, UCL, LSE, Imperial, etc. However, it is a sort of hack for Americans because it is considered prestigious here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Good academics, adventure, Harry Potter style, drinking age is 18, plenty of Americans to build a social circle to bring back home, good job placement, good price.

explain how StA is a “good price” for US students. absurd.


2024-2025 GBP Sterling US Dollars
Tuition fees (actual tuition fees table) 27,450 37,058
Catered residence fees or rent, utilities, food 11,328 15,293
Travel - based on two trips per year 2,000 2,700
Computer equipment, books, etc. 1,200 1,620
Personal, living expenses (37 weeks) 3,700 4,995
Total £45,678 $61,666

Also please add:

Visa 490 662
Immigration healthcare surcharge (based on four years of study) 3,492 4,714
Total £3,982 $5,376

[Anonymous]

2025-2026 Total Cost to Attend (excluding travel)
- USC $99K
- NYU $88K
- Georgetown $87K
- Tufts $92K
- BC $89K
- Tulane $88K
- UCLA OOS $77K
- Lehigh $82K
- BU $91K
- Villanova $81K

While StA is by no means 'cheap', for those stuck with full pay and not great in-state options, the difference is meaningful enough to be an added consideration.

[Anonymous]

St Andrews, McGill are for smart (not top) kids from privates who are full pay but get shut out of the top 25/50 for whatever reason - lame EC, too many peers also full play + legacy or ECs, not a recruited athlete. There are only so many spots at the top schools for each school, even though they claim it’s untrue.

The top kids now can’t get into ivies now, and top 20 is even dicey. Then these kids end up at the tufts, Emory’s, michigans which is where smart but not top kids would have gone. Now those kids who are smart but not top may not even get into the respectable schools like BC/BU anymore…. And they don’t want to go to Denison or Trinity or JMI after busting their butts for four years at privates. St Andrew and McGill are really great schools and studying abroad for four years is an appealing experience for some.

[Anonymous]

Although St Andrews has the highest UCAS tariff of the 3 Stockbridge universities its application process (common app) is familiar and the 4 year degree offers some flexibility in terms of double majoring.

That and a $20-$30K per year discount over a number of US choices and St Andrews becomes a very attractive option for an independent kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:St Andrews, McGill are for smart (not top) kids from privates who are full pay but get shut out of the top 25/50 for whatever reason - lame EC, too many peers also full play + legacy or ECs, not a recruited athlete. There are only so many spots at the top schools for each school, even though they claim it’s untrue.

The top kids now can’t get into ivies now, and top 20 is even dicey. Then these kids end up at the tufts, Emory’s, michigans which is where smart but not top kids would have gone. Now those kids who are smart but not top may not even get into the respectable schools like BC/BU anymore…. And they don’t want to go to Denison or Trinity or JMI after busting their butts for four years at privates. St Andrew and McGill are really great schools and studying abroad for four years is an appealing experience for some.

My kid chose St Andrews instead of Georgetown, Michigan and NYU.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another plus is the peers. The UK peers you will have at St Andrews are on par with the top kids in the US. It is much harder for them to get in and most need A*A*A* just to be considered or a 42+/45 IB.

Wouldn't Oxbridge peets be on par with the top kids in the US? I would consider StA peers to be T50 level. Also, the admission requirement minimums seem to be ABB, not 3 A*s. E.g. https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/subjects/management/management-ma/#entry-requirements

You are wrong. The minimum is a worthless metric. Sta has the highest Tariff entry for Scottish students. And the highest in the UK.
The avg entry grades of Oxford/cambridge and Sta kids are very very similar for English students. Minimums get you to apply. If you are applying to non-competitive program, sure. Same everywhere. Please go to student room forum. It is a UK forum with kid discussing their acceptances and rejections….many A*A*A*s rejected at Sta. That is top of the top.

I looked there for a bit but I couldn't find any with three A*a rejected.

Not going to babysit you….you can look through here starting with the Oxford kid rejected at Sta: https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7519579&page=48

The required grades don’t mean much for UK students. Obviously you have to get these grades to get in but all of the top universities require similar. And simply getting the grades doesn’t mean you automatically get in either. It isn’t a useful metric to rank quality of the university. As has been exhaustively discussed in this forum, St Andrews is extremely popular in the US but it is not super popular in the UK (for lots of reasons including extra year of study, weather, location, etc) nor is it super prestigious compared to Oxbridge, UCL, LSE, Imperial, etc. However, it is a sort of hack for Americans because it is considered prestigious here.

Bogus….Every UK ranking produce for British people St Andrews is highly ranked. Besides, it isn’t popular in the UK is total BS. Just look at the fav t tha 1/3 of the school is RUK (UK students outside of Scotland). Scottish make up about 31% and the remaining 3rd is international.

It is ULTRA competitive for The UK contingent. For most courses you is need TOP grades on everything. Stop spreading misinformation.

[Anonymous]

I am not sold on the idea of going abroad for four years. If you can’t get in ivies, what difference does it make between going to Rochester and McGill? What difference between Tulane and St. Andrew’s?