Tell me about St Andrews in Scotland

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You Brits just can’t stand it when the Scottish have something good. St Andrews is a small town in Scotland with an ancient university that has been improving by leaps and bounds over the past 10 - 20 years.

Don’t forget it is the alma mater of your future king and queen.

And that says it all. Americans want to go because of Prince William. That’s lovely, and they are welcome to go and have a great time, but Prince William isn’t known for his brains, and he didn’t pick St Andrews because he was looking for the best education. St Andrews is absolutely incredible… at marketing to Americans.

They do? I don’t think that’s true at all. Everyone knows William couldn’t follow his father at Oxford so wound up at St Andrews. Kate too isn’t known for raw intelligence. I haven’t heard any American saying this.

Charles went to Cambridge. Got a lower honors degrees - his bodyguard had to sit in on all of his classes, was offered than chance to sit the exams and got an upper honors degree. The Royal Family are not known for their intellect.

[Anonymous]

I just don’t understand the hate for St Andrews. It has high entry standards, high student satisfaction, is highly ranked in fields such as economics and international relations and provides a good value for the money spent as either a Scottish, UK or international student.

The university’s administration is obviously proud of their improved rankings, but no one is selling it as the greatest university on earth but rather one that provides a quality education at a fair price.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You Brits just can’t stand it when the Scottish have something good. St Andrews is a small town in Scotland with an ancient university that has been improving by leaps and bounds over the past 10 - 20 years.

Don’t forget it is the alma mater of your future king and queen.

And that says it all. Americans want to go because of Prince William. That’s lovely, and they are welcome to go and have a great time, but Prince William isn’t known for his brains, and he didn’t pick St Andrews because he was looking for the best education. St Andrews is absolutely incredible… at marketing to Americans.

They do? I don’t think that’s true at all. Everyone knows William couldn’t follow his father at Oxford so wound up at St Andrews. Kate too isn’t known for raw intelligence. I haven’t heard any American saying this.

Charles went to Cambridge. Got a lower honors degrees - his bodyguard had to sit in on all of his classes, was offered than chance to sit the exams and got an upper honors degree. The Royal Family are not known for their intellect.

You are correct.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just don’t understand the hate for St Andrews. It has high entry standards, high student satisfaction, is highly ranked in fields such as economics and international relations and provides a good value for the money spent as either a Scottish, UK or international student.

The university’s administration is obviously proud of their improved rankings, but no one is selling it as the greatest university on earth but rather one that provides a quality education at a fair price.

Edinburgh is better for econ than st andrews

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Parent of a current St Andrews student here. I think it's a fantastic school, and it's been ranked higher than Edinburgh, LSE, and Imperial for the past 4 years. You can dismiss it all you want, but in every UK ranking it is in the top 3. Now, do I think it's a cut-price Ivy? Of course not. I do, however, think it's miles better than many of the top 50 US schools. It's a different academic model, and it's not a research university, so it's hard to compare apples to apples. But I have an another student at a top 50 US university and I can tell you that the academic rigor at St Andrews is much higher than at the US school. If you don't have first-hand experience with a student at St Andrews or if you are basing your opinions on some vague impression from 25 years ago, I would take your comments with a shovelful of salt. But please, haters, keep on hating. I'd rather keep St Andrews a secret for a bit longer.

The academic rigor of any top 20 British university is considerably greater than most American universities, I will give you that.

NP well if you give her that, then why slag St Andrews at all?

I wasn’t slagging it off at all, it’s a good school. It is not a great school though, more like bottom end of the Uk top 10…which is comparable to a mid tier school over here. St Andrews is the equivalent of a William and Mary or a Lehigh. It cleverly markets itself to Americans as this amazing university but, honestly, it is very few British students first choice - it is incredibly small and relatively remote. Edinburgh, Bristol, Durham, York, Imperial College, LSE - all more appealing to British students. And as for Oxbridge? So far in the distance it’s not even visible.

+1. The strange thing is that Americans don’t understand the prestige of Imperial College. It’s much more highly sought after than St Andrews but never mentioned here

Imperial is highly ranked here https://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/league-tables/rankings at number 6 just 2 spots below St Andrews.

Or is this another poor ranking guide?

Imperial is the MIT of the UK. St Andrews is the Elon. You do the math.

I've lived in the UK. THIS. Facts. Imperial is impessive. St. Andrews is not. At all.

+1 I'm British. I got my undergrad and 2 post-grad degrees in the UK. I think the US populace is more obsessed with St. Andrews than anyone in the whole of the UK. It's almost amusing. But I do understand it has "risen" in the ranks officially and good for them.

💯

St.A doesn’t place well in the city as even Durham.

I’m not exactly sure what and where st.a kids do

They aren’t really overflowing in whitehall either

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just don’t understand the hate for St Andrews. It has high entry standards, high student satisfaction, is highly ranked in fields such as economics and international relations and provides a good value for the money spent as either a Scottish, UK or international student.

The university’s administration is obviously proud of their improved rankings, but no one is selling it as the greatest university on earth but rather one that provides a quality education at a fair price.

Edinburgh is better for econ than st andrews

I don't think there is any hate. What happens from time to time on dCUM is that a mom (or a year ago a dad) gets the idea that sending their kid to St. Andrews is somehow a feather in their cap and REALLY SMART and they brag. Those that know, tell, them that that is not the case - that the school has been saving itself from banktuptcy since WWII by marketing itself to American. also the system of education is different. And tht it is dark and cold and that drinking is beyond anything seen her in the U.S. These parents don't want to hear it so cite back ridiculous rankings which mean nothing. And on and on.

[Anonymous]

eh, I prefer the proud parents over the finger wagging "your child is not special (aka mine are better than yours)" parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:eh, I prefer the proud parents over the finger wagging "your child is not special (aka mine are better than yours)" parents.

Me too, but sometimes they cross the clown line and should expect the brushback.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:eh, I prefer the proud parents over the finger wagging "your child is not special (aka mine are better than yours)" parents.

Me too, but sometimes they cross the clown line and should expect the brushback.

I don't know, I give more credence to the parents who actually have kids at that school than I do to parents who have such animosity for a school they've never even visited. See any thread about Northeastern. Presumably the parents know if their kids are happy despite the cold and the dark. And as for drinking culture, I would be concerned if my son (who is at a school in the US, not at St Andrews) joined a US fraternity because of the out of control drinking. Such odd mean girl behavior on this board sometimes. Seriously, why do you even care?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:eh, I prefer the proud parents over the finger wagging "your child is not special (aka mine are better than yours)" parents.

Me too, but sometimes they cross the clown line and should expect the brushback.

I don't know, I give more credence to the parents who actually have kids at that school than I do to parents who have such animosity for a school they've never even visited. See any thread about Northeastern. Presumably the parents know if their kids are happy despite the cold and the dark. And as for drinking culture, I would be concerned if my son (who is at a school in the US, not at St Andrews) joined a US fraternity because of the out of control drinking. Such odd mean girl behavior on this board sometimes. Seriously, why do you even care?

Agree! My only child was lucky to go to HYP, but dh and I went to " dummy state u. ". Why are some people here so mean about other people's choices? We were in Scotland last week and visited St. Andrews golf course and also stopped by the university. It was gorgeous.

[Anonymous]

People aren't reacting negatively to "My kid loves St Andrews and is getting a great education there," they're reacting to "Stoxbridge."

[Anonymous]

Yes, the old guard from Oxford and Cambridge are upset because St Andrews is knock, knocking, knocking on the door of their vaunted place atop the UK University system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, the old guard from Oxford and Cambridge are upset because St Andrews is knock, knocking, knocking on the door of their vaunted place atop the UK University system.

Now we have a comedian on the forum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:eh, I prefer the proud parents over the finger wagging "your child is not special (aka mine are better than yours)" parents.

Me too, but sometimes they cross the clown line and should expect the brushback.

I don't know, I give more credence to the parents who actually have kids at that school than I do to parents who have such animosity for a school they've never even visited. See any thread about Northeastern. Presumably the parents know if their kids are happy despite the cold and the dark. And as for drinking culture, I would be concerned if my son (who is at a school in the US, not at St Andrews) joined a US fraternity because of the out of control drinking. Such odd mean girl behavior on this board sometimes. Seriously, why do you even care?

The drinking culture is far worse at English schools says DD who is there

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just don’t understand the hate for St Andrews. It has high entry standards, high student satisfaction, is highly ranked in fields such as economics and international relations and provides a good value for the money spent as either a Scottish, UK or international student.

The university’s administration is obviously proud of their improved rankings, but no one is selling it as the greatest university on earth but rather one that provides a quality education at a fair price.

It’s not hate. It’s a perfectly fine university. Your description could apply to any number of good UK universities, so it’s just a reaction to the idea that St Andrews is in the same league or even close to Oxbridge, or better than the Russell Group universities that are its actual competitors.