<p>St Andrews is more likely to be on the “radar screen” for internationally minded American college applicants because higher education in Scotland, like in the US, is four years and isn’t as specialized as English universities. </p>
<p>It was an interesting article, if a little bit infuriating. It constantly excluded Wales, Northern Ireland and other British territories and only mentioned Scottish and English students - just say British damn you! Anyway, contrary to what that article says, for an “international experience” i wouldn’t go to St Andrews.</p>
<p>If i said to you, i went to Bristol, Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool, Cardiff, Exeter or Leeds would you be impressed? Not impressed? Have no idea what or where that is?</p>
<p>Oh and just in reply to the age thing, if that is true how come nobody ever mentions Glasgow (founded 1451) or Aberdeen (founded 1495)? They’re both old too.</p>
<p>1 Oxford
2 Cambridge
3 Imperial
4 St Andrews
5 UCL
6 Warwick
7 LSE
8 Durham
9 Exeter
10 Bristol
i understand this is the British equivalent to US News ranking, or am i wrong?</p>
<p>i originally thought St Andrews was over-hyped in the states, but this proves me wrong</p>
<p>To answer your question about Bristol, Liverpool, Exeter, etc…</p>
<p>When someone tells me that they go to one of those places I really don’t feel strongly either way. It’s like if someone in the states told me they went to Oregon, Kansas, Indiana or any other decent, but not particularly prestigious state university.</p>
<p>The only British schools I heard of are Oxford, Cambridge, St. Andrews, LSE, and Durham, because I know people who go there/ “of course” i’ve heard of Oxbridge. Besides Oxbridge, I have no idea how good these schools are. (One of my economics professors strongly recommended LSE for economics though.)</p>
<p>I mean, it would really depend on the course. Imperial is obviously not going to rank anywhere for anything outside of sciences and maths. Likewise for LSE with respect to economics and history and stuff. There are loads of good schools in Britain. There are just certain schools that are the best at what they do. If Imperial weren<code>t so expensive and in London, that</code>s where I would have ended up for my physics degree.</p>
<p>Yes of course, but let me repeat, i just want to know what Americans think in general.
The last time i spoke to a Yank about this he tried correcting me, saying “no, its called MIT not Cambridge…;);)” so i hope you can understand why im asking you here.</p>
<p>Is it true people want to go to St Andrews so they can pretend they’re at Hogwarts?</p>
<p>As you’ll see, 1/7 of the St. Andrews student body is American. Why do Americans go there? I don’t think it is for a Hogwarts experience (they’d get more of the feel of that setting at Oxbridge), but because St. Andrews recruits heavily here in the USA and tries to demystify the unfamiliar admissions process.</p>
<p>Americans in “general” think that Oxford and Cambridge are prestigious. Maybe 50% of Americans have heard of the LSE on the news, but do that many even watch/read news anymore? I doubt 1 in ten Americans have ever heard of Imperial, or St. Andrews for that matter. Edinburgh? Isn’t that a city in Northern Ireland?</p>
<p>Seriously, Americans in general no nothing about British universities. They barely know anything about American universities. Go ask the average Jane and Joe in the street in Philadephia or Worcester or Bakersfield to name the eight Ivy League schools. Bet you they can’t.</p>
<ol>
<li>Cambridge</li>
<li>Oxford</li>
<li>University College London</li>
<li>Imperial College London</li>
<li>King’s College London</li>
<li>University of St. Andrews in Scotland </li>
<li>University of Edinburgh</li>
<li>University of Manchester
(This is not a ranking but instead what I can think of from my head).</li>
</ol>
<p>These are the big name prestigious schools in the UK.</p>
<p>I’m an American who just got accepted to Cambridge and I have yet to run into another American who hasn’t heard of Cambridge and who doesn’t already know it is a world-class university.</p>
<p>If the Ivies in the USA represent not merely an athletic conference, but a certain mystique and competitive admissions, when I think of UK schools for the same type of kid who might consider Ivies, I would think of:
Oxford & Cambridge
St Andrews (I know a lot of kids who do something like a 6 year MD degree out of HS here)
LSE
Edinburgh</p>
<p>I know quite a few kids who have gone to UK schools and those are the most popular choices, which is self-perpetuating as once you’ve seen schoolmates attend it make the concept less overwhelming.</p>
<p>I cannot imagine any one would choose an overseas university simply to emulate a hit movie/book series! That seems like it might be a good line for an article, but it is difficult to imagine any one doing that in reality.</p>