<p>Hey! I am happily unconcerned with the US college admissions process anymore because I was accepted to both Edinburgh and St. Andrews in Scotland. </p>
<p>Sadly....I have no clue on which one to attend. If anyone has any info it would be greatly appreciated. BTW...I am pursuing an international relations or European Languages major.</p>
<p>St Andrews! LOVELY school (I'm also considering it!), in a beautiful coastal town. Its supposed to be fantastic for international relations. </p>
<p>Edinburgh has a great reputation as well, but the city of Edinbugh isn't very nice (I think), and since there is no campus it just feels spread out.</p>
<p>Wow, that's great! My friend got into Edinburgh as well, and she's going to go there. She's super excited since they have her exact interest as a major: Green Mechanical Engineering.</p>
<p>Ooh, wait I do know something about Edinburgh: Edinburgh has that great fringe festival there. I'm so visiting my friend so I can see that.</p>
<p>Congrats to you!</p>
<p>Hey! I was accepted to both of them too. Sadly, my folks are pretty set on states schools... but I'm going to study IR as well!</p>
<p>Edinburgh is in the city, has a lot more undergrads (almost 20k), and a lot better nightlife. St Andrews is smaller, more campus oriented, in a small town, but still only 45 minutes from Edinburgh so you can get to the city if you want it.</p>
<p>The city of Edinburgh is gorgeous, with huge gothic buildings, but like psychgirl said it's more spread out.</p>
<p>St. Andrews is on the beach (although its cold enough that you dont swim much) and also has beautiful old buildings.</p>
<p>It really comes down to, what do you prefer? An large urban campus or a small town?</p>
<p>Either way, both are excellent choices.</p>
<p>The city of Edinburgh is absolutely wonderful. It's diverse, historically rich, quite safe, has a buzzing music scene and of course, beautiful architecture. It also has fairly quick access to the Cairngorms and great climbing. Quite honestly, it's the best city in Scotland. St. Andrews is obviously smaller and more subdued, but certainly could be argued to be Scotland's loveliest town.</p>
<p>I'm not sure how the two schools rank for international relations or languages (check the prospectus, league tables and Good University Guide), but they are roughly equivalent in terms of prestige. </p>
<p>St. Andrews University is often stereotyped as posh and has a large foreign student population. </p>
<p>Edinburgh's student housing isn't that nice. They have two campuses, one for science, mathematics and engineering, and another for other subjects. There is definitely a campus feeling in the George Square (humanities, etc.) area.</p>
<p>St. Andrews has a great IR program, actually its one of the best in the UK. However overall its overrated in the US.</p>
<p>How can it be overrated in the US? The only British Universities with any name recognition in the US are Oxbridge. I mean, if LSE, UCL, KCL and ICL didn't have "London" in their names most Americans wouldn't know where they were from either.</p>
<p>I think what tanveer is trying to say is, St Andrews' IR program is outranked but US programs, like those at Tufts, Georgetown, etc.</p>
<p>Not positive that's whats being said or if it's true, that's just my interpretation of the statement.</p>
<p>Thanks....so St. Andrews would be better than Edinburgh for IR then? I'm kind of leaning towards Edinburgh because I love the city but I would rather go to St. Andrews if it is significantly better than Edinburgh in that field.</p>
<p>Actually I meant that the IR program at St. Andrews is great but as a whole the university is a bit overrated in the US. Its ranked only18th in the UK and only became well known in the US because Prince Williams studied there.</p>
<p>St Andrews is not ranked 18th in the UK! It depends on which list you look at but in all of the major ones it is ranked in the top 10 in the UK. </p>
<p>Edinburgh is massive and has no community while St Andrews is much more small, has waaaay more international students/students from North America and has more of a community feeling. It really depends on what you want. Edinburgh is an amazing city - it's cosmopolitan, great fun for students, and home to the biggest/original fringe festival in the world. Both are great but I know for me St Andrews is a better choice.</p>
<p>So right now I'm deciding between Bowdoin, Wesleyan and St Andrews - what do you guys think about that? Is St Andrews well known in the US? More well known than Bowdoin or Wesleyan?</p>
<p>I am biased but I say St. Andrews. I hope to study abroad there. If you do IR I definitely suggest going there.</p>
<p>I go to a school on an American military base in northern England, not too far from Scotland. I've been here for ten years and I just want to go to school in California where it's sunny and warm (I've been accepted to UC Berkeley, Santa Clara and a few other CA schools). Edinburgh and St. Andrews both enjoy excellent reputations here in the UK - either one would be a good choice. The bad news - the weather in Scotland is pretty lousy between October and June (it gets dark by 4 pm in the winter). The good news - the drinking age is 18 in the UK, so a nice pub with a warm fire can help you get through the winters.</p>
<p>My 2 cents: Both will offer excellent educations. I went to St. Andrews for a year of grad school, and spent a bit of time in the city of Edinburgh. The biggest difference is that St. Andrews is very isolated and small-townish. I'm not a big-city person by any means, but I got very claustrophobic in St. Andrews. The St. Andrews buildings are scattered around town, so there is no real campus. Edinburgh is a very nice and beautiful city.</p>
<p>edinburgh .... its better and ranked higher ..</p>
<p>no, St Andrews is actually ranked higher.</p>
<p>great blog about applying abroad: [The</a> Uni Guide](<a href=“http://theuniguide.■■■■■■■■■■/]The”>http://theuniguide.■■■■■■■■■■/)</p>
<p>I spent a miserable year as a grad student at St Andrews. It’s very small and isolated, and the train doesn’t run through the city, so it can get claustrophobic. I’m not a picky eater at all, but would often have to eat at a restaurant immediately after picking at a terrible dorm meal (fairly limited array of restaurants in town, too). The university buildings were sometimes in bad repair and very few were attractive (in other words, very very little of the Oxford/Cambridge-type beauty). It’s nice having the North Sea right there, and nice to have the historic golf course there, but even in one year there weren’t enough pubs to keep me interested.</p>
<p>This thread has been inactive for a while, so I am interested if anyone has anything new to say on the subject of whether Edinburgh or St Andrews is the better choice.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>St Andrews is generally ranked higher in the British [League Tables.](<a href=“http://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/league-tables/rankings”>http://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/league-tables/rankings</a>)</p>