<p>Is anyone familiar with the University of St. Andrews in Scotland? I'm a junior in high school (in the USA) and St. Andrews is my first choice. I'm trying to figure out what GPA range they are looking for, as well as SAT scores. I've gone to several websites to try to find out, but they only discuss scores in terms of British testing.</p>
<p>I've head the 1300 range, or 1350 up is pretty much needed to get in. I was going to apply for a while, so I know about some things from the American perspective if you will</p>
<p>do know anything about the GPA range?</p>
<p>3.5 GPA or above 1800 to 2300 on the new SAT and some AP's and or some SAT single subject exams.
The yearly cost would be around 13,000- 15,500 for most degree's and 16,100 for Med-sci Degree for 2006/2007.
<a href="http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/services/admissions/ugrad.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/services/admissions/ugrad.htm</a></p>
<p>Scottish Studies Summer Program (For US High School Students) </p>
<p>Creative Writing Summer Program (For US High School Students) </p>
[quote]
This form is designed for use by US students who wish to apply directly to the University of St Andrews.</p>
<p>It can only be used by students who are:</p>
<p>1) Classified as "Overseas" for fees purposes.
If you are in any doubt as to your fee status, please read the Fee Status information on this site, or contact <a href="mailto:intoff@st-andrews.ac.uk">intoff@st-andrews.ac.uk</a> for further advice.
2) NOT applying to any other UK university.
A candidate wishing to apply to more than one UK university MUST apply through the UCAS system. </p>
<p>The form must be downloaded, completed and returned to the Director of Admissions, University of St Andrews, St Katharine's West, The Scores, St Andrews, Fife, KY16 9AX, Scotland, UK</p>
<p>Students wishing to discuss any aspect of the application process further are welcome to contact <a href="mailto:intoff@st-andrews.ac.uk">intoff@st-andrews.ac.uk</a></p>
<p>Students are welcome to have teacher evaluations and transcripts sent to the above address separately from the application form. Please note however that an application will not be considered complete until we have received the following :</p>
<p>Completed Application Form
Candidate's Personal Statement
Candidate's up to date High School Transcript
2 Teacher Evaluations
High School Counselor Evaluation
In order for us to begin processing you application, payment of an application fee is required. The application fee of 50 pounds sterling should be paid online at: <a href="http://pink.st-andrews.ac.uk/epages/UniversityOfStAndrews.storefront/%5B/url%5D">http://pink.st-andrews.ac.uk/epages/UniversityOfStAndrews.storefront/</a> through the "International Office" link. </p>
<p>Direct Entry Application Form: US Students (pdf format)</p>
<p>Adobe® Acrobat® Reader software is required to read the above document. Follow the link to download the latest free version of this software if required.
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</p>
<p><a href="http://www.ucas.co.uk/%5B/url%5D">http://www.ucas.co.uk/</a>
<a href="http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/sss/international/pdeparture.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/sss/international/pdeparture.htm</a>
<a href="http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/sss/international/arrival.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/sss/international/arrival.htm</a>
<a href="http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/sss/international/extending.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/sss/international/extending.htm</a>
<a href="http://www.ukcosa.org.uk/pages/advice.htm#immigration%5B/url%5D">http://www.ukcosa.org.uk/pages/advice.htm#immigration</a>
<a href="http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/services/admissions/ucasus.shtml%5B/url%5D">http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/services/admissions/ucasus.shtml</a></p>
<p>What is your GPA and what are SATI scores? Do you have any AP coures or SAT Single Subject exams?</p>
<p>i'm in ap european history, ap gov, ap statistics, ap english, ap french literature, i'm taking sat ii's us history and math 1c soon. my gpa is a 3.3</p>
<p>Have done anyother AP's and or SAT II's if so what did you get in them?
You could e-mail St. Andrews and see what they say.</p>
<p>i haven't taken any of the ap exams yet because Im only a junior, and Ill be taking the SAT ii's soon, but i've havent taken any yet.</p>
<p>Is St. Andrews a really good school?</p>
<p>It seems pretty easy to get into relative to US schools.</p>
<p>My husband may take a job in London and I've heard that Scottish schools are more like American schools. My daughter could actually graduate after her junior year in June here and I think go to University next year in the UK. She has about a 3.5 uw and a 3.9 weighted. Which one do they use? Also a 4 on AP US Hist and a 730 on the US Hist SAT II. She's taking SATs, ACT, and 2 more APs and possibly SAT II Math this spring. Do you think she has a shot at St.Andrews?</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>Two more AP's with 3 points or higher and an SAT score 1800 to 2300. Your daughter might even want to take Highers if your husband takes the job in London. If could take those exams and recieve A-C grades on the 3-5 subjects she could just apply to Universities St. Andrews, Edenbrugh and Glassow.</p>
<p>
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Is St. Andrews a really good school?</p>
<p>It seems pretty easy to get into relative to US schools.
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</p>
<p>Your daughter would have to expect to take a fairly specialised degree then the one she would in the USA. This is why it might be a very good ideafor her to take highrs or 2-4 Advanced highers even thought she has done fairly well here.</p>
<p>Quote:
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Is St. Andrews a really good school?</p>
<p>
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It seems pretty easy to get into relative to US schools.
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</p>
<p>Your daughter would have to expect to take a fairly specialised degree compared to the one she would in the USA. This is why it might be a very good ideafor her to take highrs or 2-4 Advanced highers even thought she has done fairly well here.
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[quote]
kpusa1981 Two more AP's with 3 points or higher and an SAT score 1800 to 2300. Your daughter might even want to take Highers if your husband takes the job in London. If she took these exams and recieve A-C grades on the 3-5 subjects she could just apply to Universities St. Andrews, Edenbrugh and Glassow.
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Which one do they use?
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They probaly llok at both.</p>
<p>St Ands is the Oxbridge of Scotland, on the same level as Trinity College, Dublin. It's popular with US students because although it does specialise, similar to the English system (Cambridge, Oxford, LSE, UCL, etc) it allows you to take elements from other degrees, to some extent. </p>
<p>As for getting in - it's easier than Harvard/Yale/Princeton simply because the pool of applicants is smaller. If you think there are 20,000 applicants for 2000 places at Harvard/Yale/Princeton (estimation), that puts chances at 1/10, which is a high number. When you apply to St Andrews, you look at the application ratio of individual subjects. Some subjects, (English, History, Law, International Relations in particular at St Andrews) are highly competitive and very difficult to get into. The offers St Andrews will give for these, in terms of A levels, are normally AAA/AAB, ie, the top end of the bracket. For a less commonly applied for subject, like Theology, the demands of the applicant will be lower, a common offer like AAB/ABB, which raises chances.</p>
<p>I wouldn't look upon St Andrews as 'easier' than the top Ivies in the US, however. They have very different requirements. UCAS forms do not leave much in the way for extra-curriculars bringing up academia. The personal statement is designed to focus pretty solidly on <em>why</em> you've chosen to study that particular subject for three/four years; evidence of how you've committed to it beyond the syllabus, how you have linked your study of other subjects to that subject, and how your life outside academia reflects your interests academically. Typically, it runs thus</p>
<p>Para 1: Thesis as to why you chose that subject - How your other subjects give you information to use in that subject.</p>
<p>Para 2: Why do you want to study it for four years in a uni setting, rather than pursue it as an external interest. </p>
<p>Para 3: (short) How your ECs make you a more well-rounded individual/mention of anything spectacular, ie, that you are an Olympic athlete. </p>
<p>Para 4: Summary: Why you would be a fantastic choice for this subject. </p>
<p>You have to 'prove' to these departments (because the application runs past departments, not one central office) that you will be an intelligent, interesting and thoughtful student, who is going to be a pleasure to teach. Having strong evidence in this regard is necessary.</p>
<p>For scores - think Ivy League for the US. i imagine about 2200-2400 on the SATI, and then 4s and 5s on APs, generally at least 5 APs.</p>
<p>I thought the over 1800 on the SATs and 3s on the APs seemed very low. So that's what she'd need but she would probably not get in with that.</p>
<p>And to major in business - would she have to have extensive business experience? She took one course in high school and her father's in business. That's about as much as most American kids could manage.</p>
<p>I also thought that the Scottish system was like ours. You get kind of a liberal arts degree with a major. And it takes 4 years, not 3.</p>
<p>It does take 4 years, but you pick your degree subject before you're applying and have the option of taking one or two other subjects a year (IIRC), but I think most people only do that for their first year or two...I'm not 100% sure though, it's been a while since I investigated such things.
You can do liberal arts type degrees at a number of UK universities (Newcastle for one), where you have three or four subjects listed on your degree, but they're not usually highly regarded, as it indicates that you didn't have the nous to get a 'real' degree.</p>
<p>Hello, I'm a US student who is going to St. Andrews next year. I would say that while St. Andrews is a top notch school, it certainly is not impossible to get into and the fact that the applicant pool is smaller probably helps. I think that you are pretty much applying against other Americans (epecially if you use the direct application route), so this makes things a bit easier as it seems they are willing to take on a lot of the American applicant pool. However, at the same time, the applicant pool is self-selecting at least somewhat because only someone who has clearly done their research is going to bother applying to St. Andrews. Students unlikely to make the cut are unlikely to spend a whole lot of their time familiarizing themselves with the UK education system and learning about it and then spending their time learning how to write the personal statement the UK way. Applying does require some knowledge and additional effort and students must be willing to take the time on top of their US applications (which are obviously already a hassle!)</p>
<p>I applied using the direct application that is linked above, as it made things A TON easier but you can only use this if you applying only to St. Andrews in the UK. If you are interested in applying to more UK unis, then you must apply through UCAS. UCAS is a common application that you submit in the UK for up to 6 universities. The UCAS personal statement must reflect your academic interest in a subject as you are basically declaring your major and applying to school based on their reputation in your chosen subject. This is a lot different from US colleges, where you are largely undecided (well at least in liberal arts). This is a careful consideration to make when thinking about uni in the UK: are you committed to a specific area of study and really truly committed? UK is much more specialized in their education system. You only take classes in your subject and start right away! It can be incredibly nice though if you know what you want to study, as you will never have to deal with core classes in areas you could care less about. At the same time, others may really prefer the breath of US colleges.</p>
<p>As for my stats, I had a 2150 SAT, 3.9 unweighted GPA (something like 4.2 overall weighted), some honors and AP classes, and damn good letters of recommendation. I did not have AP scores to submit (though I submitted writing samples and essentially made sure I proved I was AP material) so it is not essential to have AP exams for acceptance, as everyone told me. When I was applying, I was told that having 2 or 3 AP exams of 4 or 5 was almost a requirement. I also only had one SAT II of 640 in lit (because I was so lazy about SAT IIs, but hey doesn't matter now! I'm in the school of my dreams!).</p>
<p>St. Andrews is nice in that as an American you do not necessarily have to declare your major right away like at most UK unis and they give you a bit of leeway. I was admitted to the Faculty of Arts and I wrote on my application I was interested in studying English, Modern History, and International Relations , and it seems to me I could probably get a degree in either of these three subjects. But granted this is obviously a lot more restrictive than a US colleges, so it's good that you know this ahead of time.</p>
<p>Hope this helped. If you need additional help, feel free to post on this thread or PM me. If you search the board at the top of this screen and type in "St Andrews" you should find some other threads that may be of help. Also, look at The Student Room (type it in google). It's like college confidential, only for British students. Good luck!</p>
<p>Alice-</p>
<p>St. Andrews is a good university, but it is certainly not the "Oxbridge of Scotland" as you seem to think. Edinburgh is a better multi faculty university. St. Andrews is overrated in the US, perhaps because of the University's successful marketing efforts.</p>
<p>Amazon:</p>
<p>Go on to the UK equivalent (kind of) of this website</p>
<p><a href="http://www.**************.co.uk%5B/url%5D">http://www.**************.co.uk</a></p>
<p>for more info about St. Andrews and about higher education in the UK in general.</p>
<p>Also, everybody: combined degrees are becoming much more popular and widespread in the UK.</p>
<p>Examples abound at many universities.</p>
<p>If you do joint honours (the very rough equivalent is a double major)
both subjects have an equal weighting in your final degree:</p>
<p>example: French and Arabic BA from SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London)</p>
<p>Another choice is the rough equivalent of a US major/minor where the first subject is studied for about 3/4 of the time, and the second for 1/4 of the time:</p>
<p>example: History with a Modern European Language BA (University College London of the University of London)</p>
<p>The key words in the degree title are the "and" the "with": "And" means a 50/50 concentration on both subjects, "with" means a 75/25 concentration.</p>
<p>There are also a few bachelor's degrees which offer a three subject concentation (I don't know the relative proportions).</p>
<p>example: ESPS (European Social and Political Studies) offered at University College, London.</p>
<p>To sum up: In UK higher education there is early specialization, but there are also many combined degrees which allow candidates more choice.</p>
<p>Finally, you can find all this out by going on to the sites of the universities you are interested in. The URL suffix is .ac.uk (academic UK) or just google.</p>
<p>For the normal UK university entrance route, and you should consider this, instead of confining yourself to a few universities you may have heard of before either because they are very famous, or because they have been successfully marketed,</p>
<p>see</p>
<p><a href="http://www.ucas.ac.uk%5B/url%5D">http://www.ucas.ac.uk</a></p>
<p>It's a very plain looking website (this makes me trust it, I guess because it's functional and not flashy, no beautiful pictures of London in the sunshine or St. Andrews in the snow- it's not really selling anything) but there is a lot to it, in terms of information- see the part with data sets- you have to dig around a bit though.</p>