<p>Hi All </p>
<p>As far as PhD in IR/Security, how does Georgetown view St Andrews
My MLitt is in Security Sudies and I also have an MA in IR too.</p>
<p>Specifically looking at Post Soviet Studies
Any thoughts would be appreciated</p>
<p>I’d say that St Andrews would be viewed relatively favorably. In my experience, Americans view British universities somewhat differently than British academics do, but there’s a general correlation. LSE and Oxford are the uncontested top tier in American eyes, but St. Andrews rates alongside Aberystwyth, Cambridge, and Kings. Its certainly an institution that the professors at Georgetown will be familiar with, and Georgetown undergrads study abroad there fairly frequently. </p>
<p>I don’t think that St. Andrews gives you a real bump the way that a perceived top-notch school would, but it certainly doesn’t hold you back if the rest of your application is solid.</p>
<p>Ehhh, my experience in the US is that the average Joe knows very well what Oxford and Cambridge is, and knows these are just as strong as HYP. And the average Joe probably heard about LSE and St. Andy, but never ever heard about Aberystwyth or KCL. But of course it differs from town to town, people to people. I met people who never ever heard about Princeton, but knew their state school well. In overall, nearly everyone sees Oxbridge as mystical top notch something, but people usually never ever heard about any other UK schools.</p>
<p>In terms of academics, professors are well aware that Cambridge is a world top 5 school and Oxford is always in the top 10. Any other UK institution is far behind them, and no other belongs to the world top 10. In my field, you can find plenty of people in US departments who received their PhD from Oxbridge, but barely any, who received from elsewhere (and in 90%, that elsewhere means Imperial or UCL). In terms of numbers this means that while I saw at least 200 US departmental homepages, in every good one there were people from Oxbridge and I counted dozens of them, I just saw probably 6 professors with non-Oxbridge PhD’s. </p>
<p>“but St. Andrews rates alongside Aberystwyth, Cambridge, and Kings.”
Megalol :D:D:D:D:D</p>
<p>^To be clear, I was referring specifically to how these programs rate among American academics in the field of international security. Obviously, in general it’s rather different.</p>
<p>Ahh, see, my mistake. Then, you’re probably right, I cant deny, I dunno much about such programs 
Still, as I see, in the US the fame of the faculty or program is one thing, but the overall reputation of the university is more important. But of course, top noch unis never have really weak programs, just average ones…</p>