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U of St Andrews - Admissions per State
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Anonymous
St Andrews considers/ accepts a lot of independent school kids WITHOUT APs or IBs. I heard a zoom with the US St Andrew admissions rep, and he mentioned this specifically. He also said that St Andrew understands that many independent schools have much lower grade inflation US publics, so GPAs can be lower and still find favor depending on the school. |
Anonymous
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St Andrews took literally the tippy top 1% of my kids public school in Burbank, aka one student. and she was planning to attend, to take politics and IR then LSE offered her a place and she immediately swapped out.
London is FAR more interesting than St A's which is 50 mins from the nearest city (Edinburgh). |
Anonymous
| you could say the same about New Brunswick or Williamstown or Hanover or etc etc etc |
Anonymous
No arguing LSE vs St Andrews. Amazing pick. But London is not for everyone. Some of LSE’s halls are 30 minutes away. There is zero sense of community or camaraderie. It feels like a commuter school. There are more internationals (not Americans) at LSE than St Andrews. Much more. How do I know? My son graduate from LSE last year. He loves London and is a huge Arsenal fan. So that was great. But he was miserable for 3 years. Very few friends. Hard to relate to people there vs real campus uni or a uni in the middle of nowhere. He regrets not knowing how it must be elsewhere. But he has an amazing Job in Zurich if that matters. |
Anonymous
This is true. They do take a pretty holistic approach to admissions with Internationals. Specially Americans. |
Anonymous
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I'm a US-based St Andrews grad who was also accepted to a T10 US school. Here are some relevant insights:
-Holistic approach to admissions: St Andrews does take a much more holistic approach to admissions relative to Oxbridge, university's in London, or even McGill. Ensure your essay is solid, visit the school if you can, and attend admissions events. -Test Scores: I keep seeing posts about the minimum scores for SATs being so low at St Andrews. These are absolute minimums- effectively a cutoff. It's not reflective of the actual score they accept or the caliber of students they accept. Even the most prestigious US schools will take applicants with low SAT scores- those schools just don't publicly post their cutoff -Acceptance Rate: It is currently much easier to be accepted as an American than an UK student, primarily due to funding. It does seem that St Andrews is getting more competitive for US students. I keep seeing people on this thread compare St Andrews to US Schools based on their acceptance rates- that is not a statistically fair comparison. I also see people on this thread say "St Andrews accepts most students from my kids school".. you need to look at most recent student data (last 2/3 years). Furthermore, if you go to a feeder school/private school in the US, St Andrews will lower the bar for you signficiantly because they know its a challenging school and they want your deep pockets. I did notice a lot of CT and MA boarding school types. -Academic Caliber: First two years are not super challenging unless you study the Sciences. As a point of reference I took BC Calculus at a top US high school and took Multivariate Calculus at St Andrews. The kids in my St Andrews calculus class would have smoked most of the kids in my HS calculus class. Students are sharp- the type that do math for fun on the weekends. I was honestly not pleased to read all the boomer and Karen posts on here. Please post information that is factual or based on actual experience. St Andrews has changed tremendously the past 10-15 years. It seems that people on this thread get easily triggered by comparing St Andrews to US schools, so instead of providing my view on US equivalent schools I've listed the profiles of my 5 closest friends from St Andrews who were also American, to provide a flavor of the caliber of students: -Friend 1: Grew up in the suburbs a large city on the east coast, second accepted choice was UPenn. Currently works as an analyst at a top 5 US bank in NYC -Friend 2: Grew up in the suburbs a different city on the east coast, second accepted choice was Cornell. Currently worked in Private Equity in DC -Friend 3: Grew up in the suburbs of a third city on the east coast. St Andrews was always top choice. Works at a AI startup in NYC. -Friend 4: Grew up in suburbs of the same city as friend 3. Currently works in Investment banking at a top 5 US bank in NYC. -Friend 5: Grew up in the suburbs of a city on the west coast. Had 4.0 GPA at a prestigious high school. Works in strategy/operations at one of the top ride sharing apps. St Andrews is not for everyone, but for those who it is a good fit I strongly encourage it. Good look to all the HS students out there 
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Anonymous
Thank you for the insights! I’m an incoming Mgmt/Econ student. |
Anonymous
People keep pointing out the minimums because comments keep claiming that the minimums somehow negate the 60% +-10 acceptance rate because they filter applicants out. But As and Bs and three AP 4s don’t actually filter that many potential applicants out. If you’re a US student and are even somewhat above the minimums (especially the optional 1320 SAT), your odds are pretty good. |
Anonymous
I suggest networking with St Andrews alum and taking advantage of the societies since banks/consulting firms don't have on campus recruiting for US students - OP |
Anonymous
The minimum definitely does impact the overall acceptance rate. Compare this to US schools- so many mid students will put applications out to "reach schools" which bring the acceptance rate down. You also need to consider that only a certain "type" of US High school student applies to St Andrews and that type (boarding school, feeder, open-minded. driven) is likely to have good stats. I strongly disagree with the last sentence- marks only slightly above the minimum will certainly not give you good odds. Recent accepted student data does not reflect this. |
Anonymous
I didn’t say slightly above, I said somewhat above. They are different. The only minimums are As and Bs in honors courses and three 4s on APs. SAT/ACT are optional. So no, the minimums don’t prevent “mid students” from applying. The reality with a 60% or even sometimes 70% acceptance rate is that if you are somewhat above the minimums, your chances are pretty good. Hell, with those acceptance rates if you’re slightly above the minimum your chances are still not bad, especially if you can submit a test score. |
Anonymous
Read through these posts and here are some missing pieces of the puzzle: 1. If you go to the St Andrews website it states "Many of our courses require you to have a particular background in the subject(s)..Examples of pre-requisite knowledge requirements are AP scores of 5 on subject tests. For example, “AP Calculus BC” (or equivalent) for entry to study Mathematics, Physics or Computer Science programmes". This is one area UK admissions varies drastically from US admissions- they care most about the grades you want to study. For example you could get 5s on AP Chemistry, Biology, Statistics and get Bs in English/History, but still be accepted to St Andrews. They want to see exceptional performance in the subject you are applying for. Unlike US schools, UK schools are much more diligent on the numbers of students they accept for a given subject/major. So you not only need to meet the minimum requirements, but you also need to meet the subject requirements. Students typically don't apply unless they feel they have competitive marks for their subject- this is one reason the acceptance rate is inflated 2. The original post oversimplifies the applicant pool. For example the minimum SAT may be 1320, but its possible the middle 80% of applicants have a score of 1400-1450. A high acceptance rate would still mean you're accepting high caliber students in this case. You can't make the "somewhat" assumption without knowing the distribution of the marks above the minimum. My understanding is that the US applicant pool, especially in recent years, has become stronger, which would explain why the US acceptance rate is relatively high. |
Anonymous
This seems true from my very small sample. My D is an incoming fresher. She did not take SAT or ACT, no AP or IB. Went to a unique independent academy in ME. Some of the other (American) kids she knows of who are going come from St George’s (independent, RI), Holton-Arms & the Bryn Mawr School. |
Anonymous
You vastly overstate 1. If you look at the actual program pages, there are only a few subjects that actually require something beyond the general minimums. On 2, you’re missing that 1320 isn’t a real minimum because they are test optional. So this idea that it filters applicants out is inaccurate. If they went test required it would be a different story. And your last sentence is the point I’ve been making—if your stats are of a certain caliber, your odds of acceptance are good. Even a 1400-1450 middle 80% (which isn’t certain at all, and would only be those who reported scores) would mean getting a 1400 gives the kids a decent shot. |
Anonymous
On a separate note people often look over "test optional". I have spoken to a $$ college consultant, unless you come from an underrepresented area, not having a test score will significantly impact your chance of acceptance. I have even heard of situations where bright kids have applied without SAT and St Andrews has then requested it. |