Tell me about St Andrews in Scotland

[Anonymous]

I don’t know anything about the school, but prince William went there right? I’d go just to say I was educated at the same place as the future king 😂

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know anything about the school, but prince William went there right? I’d go just to say I was educated at the same place as the future king 😂

But Prince William went there because he couldn't get in to Jesus College at Oxford where his dad had gone

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know anything about the school, but prince William went there right? I’d go just to say I was educated at the same place as the future king 😂

But Prince William went there because he couldn't get in to Jesus College at Oxford where his dad had gone

Uh, King Charles graduated from Trinity College Cambridge.

[Anonymous]

Great school for an independent American student, but not for everyone. Has the highest entry standard for any UK university - https://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/league-tables/rankings?sortby=entry-standards

[Anonymous]

Best university in the UK… at marketing to Americans.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I graduated from St Andrews relatively recently. A couple of points:

1. Many highly qualified St Andrews students turned down offers from ivies. One of my best friends from the states turned down an offer at Penn. My freshmen year roommate who was also from the states turned down a scholarship from Dartmouth. One of my other good friends got into Columbia. I’m not suggesting St Andrews is better than these schools- I believe school selection should depend on a students needs and aspirations. I do believe St Andrews is objectively a prestigious university. The material I was learning in my fourth year classes was more advanced than my friends studying the same subject at prestigious US schools. First year classes aren’t too bad, however the honors courses in third and fourth year can be very demanding.

2. You cannot judge St Andrews by the QS/US news rankings. St Andrews is known for its undergraduate education, it has a relatively small number of graduate students/programs. The QS/US ranking uses factors that favor larger institutions that have large graduate programs. Many smaller reputable schools in the US (Brown, Williams, Dartmouth) also do very poorly on the QS/US news rankings for the same reason. Use the UK rankings to judge St Andrews. Traditionally St Andrews has been significantly easier for Americans to be accepted compared to UK students, however, that gap is quickly closing.

3. St Andrews does not have the same name recognition as the ivies in the states mostly because people haven’t heard of it (name recognition is growing). However, most top companies understand that St Andrews is an academically prestigious school. I had no problem securing interviews at top consulting firms (BCG), investment banking firms, and Fortune 500 companies. Most of my friends studying computer science work at Apple, Meta, Spotify, Goldman, etc. My friend who went to St Albans for HS started working at Bain and Co right after graduation. Many of my friends from St Andrews have gone on to study at prestigious graduate programs in the US (Harvard Business School, MIT Sloan, Wharton, Georgetown Law, etc.)

4. St Andrews academics and lifestyle is very hands off compared to US institutions. It has its pros and cons. Pro: the majority of my fellow classmates living in the US noticed that after graduation we were considerably more mature and independent than our classmates who attended prestigious universities in the US.

5. St Andrews is truly a unique experience. I have good friends from all over the world. I’ve attended numerous black-tie balls, fashion shows, dinner parties, wine and cheese tastings (our wine tasting team travels all over the world for competitions). I’ve seen Obama golf on the Old Course. I’ve met Hilary Clinton when she visited. I’ve traveled to so many countries in Europe and had so many memorable adventures. The list goes on..

+1

[Anonymous]

It seems that some people don’t believe St Andrews is a good university simply because they haven’t heard of it.. Most people in Europe know of St Andrews but have not heard of Brown, Williams, or Cornell..

[Anonymous]

All the Brits at this school, the administration as well as the faculty, roll their eyes at the Americans who are now a whopping 20% of the student body. They hate having so many Americans in campus, but they ran out of money to keep the lights on.

The Americans are tolerated as a necessary evil. There are so many of them it’s changing the “international” experience. Sounds like Greenwich CT on campus.

[Anonymous]

Well… the University is highly respected, but the quality of the undergraduate teaching is so -so. Lectures with the professors, but grad students teach the small group classes.

Also being an American there is kind of like going to Barnard, but taking all your classes at Columbia. You’ve got an asterisk hanging over your head that denotes “came in through the back door”.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All the Brits at this school, the administration as well as the faculty, roll their eyes at the Americans who are now a whopping 20% of the student body. They hate having so many Americans in campus, but they ran out of money to keep the lights on.

The Americans are tolerated as a necessary evil. There are so many of them it’s changing the “international” experience. Sounds like Greenwich CT on campus.

UK and EU citizens love to complain about Americans. How quickly one forgets that without Americans they would all be speaking German today.

[Anonymous]

Here’s a story- they had a computer glitch during Covid, and over accepted hundreds of UK students by accident, and allowed them to remain enrolled since it was the fault of the University system.

Maybe because they are bursting at the seams, or maybe because they just don’t care, certain administrators are literally chasing down students, especially Americans, who are in violation of one thing or another, and using their easily fixable violations as an excuse to terminate their studies and send them home.

American families tend to give up and move on instead of fighting it.

One administrator in particular describes himself in his own bio as “ruthlessly efficient in his administrative duties.”

Good luck hammering out the ins and outs at that school- the higher ups in the administration are looking for reasons to thin the herd. They will not work with you, meet with you, they threaten to report their own colleagues for breaking protocol if they help students find a workaround, it’s an antagonistic stance toward their own students.

[Anonymous]

Ah yes… “ruthless efficiency”… yup, heard about this

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here’s a story- they had a computer glitch during Covid, and over accepted hundreds of UK students by accident, and allowed them to remain enrolled since it was the fault of the University system.

Maybe because they are bursting at the seams, or maybe because they just don’t care, certain administrators are literally chasing down students, especially Americans, who are in violation of one thing or another, and using their easily fixable violations as an excuse to terminate their studies and send them home.


whoa! got a link?

American families tend to give up and move on instead of fighting it.

One administrator in particular describes himself in his own bio as “ruthlessly efficient in his administrative duties.”

Good luck hammering out the ins and outs at that school- the higher ups in the administration are looking for reasons to thin the herd. They will not work with you, meet with you, they threaten to report their own colleagues for breaking protocol if they help students find a workaround, it’s an antagonistic stance toward their own students.

[Anonymous]

Yes the university was over enrolled that first year during Covid- not a computer glitch but because A level testing in the UK was graded by kids own teachers instead of the usual committee. This meant more kids than expected met their conditions for entry. BUT that very large class is graduating so the overcrowding issues of the last few years are done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well… the University is highly respected, but the quality of the undergraduate teaching is so -so. Lectures with the professors, but grad students teach the small group classes.

Also being an American there is kind of like going to Barnard, but taking all your classes at Columbia. You’ve got an asterisk hanging over your head that denotes “came in through the back door”.

in what way do you mean coming through the back door