<p>Which of these two colleges would you say has more prestige/is better? Thanks!</p>
<p>It depends what one is looking for. Kenyon will most likely be more widely known in the United States and St. Andrew’s will be more widely known across the pond. It also depends on what interests the student has and what they are looking to get out of their experience. Two pretty different schools. The size especially can play a factor in the availability of teachers to students and potential to get into labs etc on the science side of things. Two great, but different schools, it just depends on what the student is looking for.</p>
<p>At Saint Andrew’s you’ll apply to a specific program. At Kenyon, you’ll study broadly and then pick a major, as you would at any LAC. Which is a better approach for you?</p>
<p>St. Andrews is the fall back for many boarding and prep school kids who don’t like their college choices and generally everyone is accepted from a rigorous school with 1800+.
I am told that St. Andrews is not nearly the most prestigious university in the UK. Oxford, Cambridge, University of London and others are much higher ranked. Both are very good schools, not the absolute top tier, but will give a fine education. There are few clubs and sports at St. As compared with Kenyon. You can decide late (after May 1 deadline) about St. A’s if you prefer the UK and don’t mind being so far away from your family (and even far from London).</p>
<p>Apples and oranges. I attended/graduated from Kenyon but studied abroad at St. Andrews. You’ll meet people who have never heard of St. Andrews but are impressed by Kenyon, and vice versa. Neither institution has universal name recognition, but rest assured that the people who matter will know that both are excellent institutions. I spent the last 45 minutes writing a really eloquent post about the similarities and differences between Kenyon and St. Andrews and this &^%@) website logged me off, so I’m going to try to recap in bullet points this time, and if you have specific questions you can message me. </p>
<p>Similarities
- Both institutions are small and isolated (Kenyon more so.)This means it’s really easy to get to know your professors/tutors/lecturers (seriously, this point can’t be stressed enough: take advantage of the insane accessibility of the world-renowned but still down-to-earth faculty.) This also means that you always run into people you know, so if you’re seeking anonymity, you should probably look elsewhere.
- Both institutions are relatively isolated. I found this to be much more of a pro than a con; students tend to stick around campus, so there’s always a lot going on, from lectures and debates to film screenings and plays. (And always plenty of beer.) If you need to get away to a big city, Edinburgh and Glasgow are a lot more accessible to St. Andrews (and much more exciting) than Columbus is to Kenyon, though.
- First-year residence halls: it’s like summer camp for an entire year. There’s a pretty good chance you’ll meet your best friends early on and stay close until graduation.
- Stunning campuses with unbelievable surroundings. Learn to go on long walks in the Scottish or Ohio countryside; I’ve found that nature is the best remedy for stress.
- If you’re not a varsity-level athlete, both institutions offer plenty of opportunities to play the sports you love. I don’t really speak from experience, having only participated on the extreme periphery of intramural sports, but if athletics aren’t your only raison d’</p>
<p>poetandiknowit, </p>
<p>I attend one of the “rigorous” prep schools a previous poster mentioned. </p>
<p>I was very tempted to apply to St. Andrews because it provides students a far more concentrated course of study in their major than any American college does. For example, a student at a top U.S. college might take only 10 or so semester courses in Physics to major in that discipline. At St. Andrews, one’s major comprises 1/3rd of the classes taken the first two years, and all classes taken the last two years. </p>
<p>Although I seriously considered St Andrews, I applied instead to the Ivies and top American liberal arts colleges for financial aid reasons. At no time, however, did I, or anyone I know, regard St Andrews as a “fall back” school. </p>
<p>Here’s why:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>A student with an “1800+” SAT is not guaranteed admission to St Andrews. In fact, St. Andrews rejected several students I know with SATs ranging from 2300+ to 2150. Moreover, the St Andrews’ website suggests a 1950 SAT as a minimum standard; this standard is higher in other disciplines such as International Relations; and St Andrews requires 5s and 4s on any AP tests taken. The average SAT for students admitted to St Andrews from my prep school is in the 2150 range. There are also (I believe) more than ten applicants for every spot at St, Andrews.</p></li>
<li><p>In 2012, The Guardian ranked St. Andrews the third best British university after only Cambridge and Oxford. Other recent rankings place St Andrews fourth or sixth among British universities. If you average these rankings, St Andrews is a top five British university. Its entrance standards also rank among the top five for British universities according to the Times. By any metric, it’s a prestigious university. Granted, it’s not Cambridge or Oxford. But if prestige were only judged by that lofty standard, no American university or college would be prestigious except for Harvard, Yale, Princeton, or Stanford.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>None of this is meant to disparage Kenyon, which is an excellent college. I only write to clarify the above points regarding St. Andrews, a university that was founded before Columbus ‘discovered’ America.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Kenyon is a LAC, and St.Andrews is as close to a LAC as a British institution can get, though it’s more of a LAC/research university hybrid; its small, it focuses on undergraduate teaching rather than research, etc. In terms of undergraduate education, it’s easily in the top 5 in the UK, in terms of research or graduate courses (with the exception of the humanities and social sciences) it’s nowhere near the top 20. That being said, it’s research is still very strong when it comes to comparing it with a LAC -thats the reason why St.Andrews ranked relatively high on world rankings.</p>
<p>Be as it may, I would say it’s name recognition across the globe is a way better than that of Kenyon.</p>
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<p>This is true, but only tells a third of the story. I have a son in St. Andrews. You apply to study a specific course, but you are admitted into the Faculty that runs that course. Each course has minimum entry requirements. If you choose course A, and change your mind in the meantime, you can do course B, C, D etc as long as you meet the minimum entry requirements for the course in question. All Scottish universities are the same in this respect.</p>
<p>You then choose your courses and you are free to drop some and choose others during your first 2 years. From year 3, you start the honours program if you have fulfilled the criteria in years 1 & 2 - and it is easy to work out, and your adviser will also assist. Once you start Year 3, you are locked into your Major until you graduate. So the way in which St. A works in this respect, is very similar to how I suppose Kenyon does.</p>
<p>There is an equivalent of CC in the UK, on which just like here, you can post questions of existing pupils etc. You can find it at <a href="http://www..co.uk%5B/url%5D.(the">www..co.uk.(the</a> student room - no spaces).</p>
<p>My son loves St. A. He likes the close knit community, and friendly and helpful faculty. You can walk from one end of the town to another easily as it is not that big.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t say there was a campus as such, it is more of a university town. It is one of the safest places in the UK. When we went to visit before my son went there, he dropped his wallet with his bank cards, ID, money etc. we realised when we got to the airport in Edinburgh and the plan was to get home and cancel all the cards etc. By the time we landed in Heathrow there was a message on his phone saying it had been handed in. They used his name to access his info, get his no and call. They couriered it to him the next day and refused to let him even contribute to the cost. That is not to say that it would be the same today, but personally, I don’t see why not.</p>
<p>Some pupils however, hate St. A for the fact that it is so small and remote. As in all things, ‘one man’s meat can be another man’s poison’.</p>
<p>Good luck anyhow.</p>