received an unconditional offer today for international relations and history 
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Congratulations!! Great course
i’m applying to transfer into second year for a joint honors in English and art history (4.0 hs gpa, 3.67 uni gpa w/ full schedule studying abroad in london, good ecs and recs) but transfers seem to be very rare. does anyone know if its more/less competitive than first year?
No son applied on November and still hasn’t heard back. Application portal shows they have everything. Anyone else still waiting to get admissions decision?
We’re still waiting too. My son applied in late October, five months ago. We’d hoped to get a decision by January and have St. Andrews serve as a kind of “safety” early acceptance. Obviously not. However, my son has since been accepted RD by his top choice (US) and has all but moved on.
Someone speculated on a UK forum that StA was aiming to send out all decisions by 3/31, so maybe there’s that. Regardless, it’s kind of a shame that decisions can’t be made in a more timely manner for international applicants who make the effort to apply early. At the least, StA could provide some communication about timelines so we’re not left completely in the dark for months on end.
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Wow - talk about coincidence - just minutes ago by son received an unconditional offer from StA via email! Computer Science + Philosophy. Had it arrived just a week earlier, the news would’ve been more exciting in our household, but still, it’s an honor for him.
Ok, get this. St Andrews admissions accidentally deleted my son’s application out of their portal. We just had to have his school counselor call them since they were not responding to my son. Just had to resubmit SAT scores RUSH. What a nightmare!
Yikes. Nightmare for sure! Their process does seem very opaque and without knowing when they’re supposed to respond, I can see how things like this could happen without you knowing. I was wondering myself if I should contact the CommonApp and ask for a refund since it seemed StA didn’t care or had forgotten to review my son’s app.
I believe internationals can apply until May. I hope they expedite your son’s review and they make a decision right away.
i got in yesterday for english and philosophy
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Any updates for anyone?
So you would like a school that you see as a back up plan to put you first?
The admissions offices at UK universities just handle the paperwork. The actual evaluation is done by the professors who will be teaching the students. For joint subjects (eg Computer Science + Philosophy), the profs in each department have to review the applications. They do that around their teaching responsibilities, and each subject handles reviewing applications in their own way, so the University can’t say what the timeline will be (some subjects are known to take longer- IR, for example, which is one of the most popular subjects). This is so normal in the UK that nobody remarks on it.
I 100% understand how frustrating it is to wait, but understanding how other systems work is an important part of going international.
Yes, actually, that was the plan and why my son sent the app in October, with the hope that a decision would be had prior to the U.S. regular decision deadlines in January - to have the comfort of a school he really liked already in hand, and perhaps not have to apply RD to so many schools. I know from these threads (and likely from you, @collegemom3717) that UK universities operate differently, but also have seen acceptances come as early as November. So my point is, for applicants in future cycles who may have the same plan, that you shouldn’t count on it.
I described it as “kind of a shame” because for a long time, my son was checking his UStA portal eagerly for any update, but with nothing in the way of communication over all those months, his enthusiasm all but evaporated. Again for future US applicants, take this example as why you can’t count on St Andrews as a sort of great early acceptance that takes pressure off later applications, as was our hope.
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I’m so sorry your son hasn’t gotten a decision yet. Your original premise was correct, but as we’ve all seen this year, all the norms and typical expectations have gone out the window.
I think your son’s story is a good cautionary tale for any US students considering college outside the US. Applying to the UK is an EXCELLENT way to get an early decision from a great school with a great-fit course (major). But there are a lot of differences in the systems, and appicant MUST get to know and understand as much as possible during the application period.
Where we have to pause is the expectation that the top tier of any foreign university system is a “safety”. If a student happens to get an acceptance from StA or Edinburgh or UCL or Warwick, sure, it may look like they had a safety in the bag. But even the very top UK students are getting rejected from courses where they meet the academic requirements. This was not really a problem in the past, but Covid has really thrown the entire system out of equilibrium. I’ve been watching what’s going on at some of the top UK schools, and the UK students are in the same confusing situation as US students this year - top students not getting the offers they qualify for and expected. There is a notable difference that the UK system, in general, is more transparent and predictable - just not right now.
If a US student wants an early acceptance to a UK school, do apply early (October) and do apply through UCAS (like the Common App in the US) and use all five of the course selections. It costs the same whether applying to one or five. Apply the same reach/match/likely philosophy to the 5 selections. StA is never a safety - it’s a top-tier UK uni with one of the highest entry standards of all the UK unis. Some international students benefit from the apples-to-oranges comparisons of qualifications, but not all. Include other UK unis well-known for the student’s course, and those may come back as unconditional offers early in the year. Then no matter what the StA offer comes back as (or UCL or Edinburgh, etc.), there is still a good option on the table when the US RD cycle is so disappointing.
When our D set out on her multi-national application effort, we accepted we may have to deposit at a US school, then renege if and when the UK decisions are out after May 1. This is true for every cycle, not just 2022, and those looking for a UK course should be aware the cost may be a bit higher for those multiple deposits. And this is not a “double-deposit” situation - as soon as the UK offer is accepted then the US offer is declined, very much like any waitlist situation.
For some context: D has an unconditional from Stirling and StA, and a conditional offer from Glasgow (much to our surprise, as their entry tariff is much lower than StA). Edinburgh was expected to be a conditional offer, but they’re taking their sweet time, and D is ready to waive her application on April 30 if they can’t get their act togeher for their international applicants. At this point, she’s expecting a rejection, based on the stats of the offers currently rolling out. The point is, she has options because she applied to multiple UK unis with diverse entry requirements and didn’t peg all of her hopes on just StA.
OP - your son shouldn’t give up hope yet! Until he’s actually rejected, he’s still in the running. I saw a post somewhere that StA is hoping to have “all” offers out by April 19 or maybe April 22. Hang in there, and good luck to your son!!
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I applied in November and still haven’t heard back. should I be concerned? I’m actually a British citizen and originally wanted to go because it’s a great institution and thought they would charge me to tuition they would for a British resident, but they didn’t, so it’s much lower on my list now, but I’d still like to know. I’m thinking at this point, since I haven’t heard back, it’s a rejection.
No he has, it’s all good, he was accepted to St Andrews unconditionally for Computer Science + Philosophy on March 24th. However, he was accepted to his top choice school (a US LAC) on March 18th, which is where he’ll be heading in the fall. Our strategy/hope was that, by applying to StA in October, he’d have a decision prior to the US RD deadlines in January, to take some pressure off those applications. That’s the point I was making, to not count on that happening (ie., essentially he was treating StA like an Early Action application.)
St Andrews made his list of schools for many reasons, with a major one being the better predictability of acceptance versus US schools of similar stature, due to the review process being based more on academic factors than holistic. He chose to apply Early Action to the University of Georgia for similar reasons, and was accepted to the UGA Honors college in November. He would’ve happily attended UGA or St Andrews in other circumstances.
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@PacRat sorry for my misunderstanding, and congratulations to your son! UGA is a fantastic school and the honors program is incredibly competitive! I’m glad he has an offer he’s happy with.
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@emelianacos If you haven’t heard back, they haven’t decided yet. Offers are still coming out each day. That’s too bad your fee status isn’t RUK - that looks like a nice price to this US parent!
Son FINALLY got his decision today, accepted! He applied in October 2021 and received a confirmation e-mail. Still had not received a decision by end of March, he called them and apparently had accidentally deleted his entire application out of their system including SAT scores, recommendations, transcripts. We had to scramble and expedite sending scores at our own cost. We’ve been back and forth with admissions as to when they would give a decision as he has other US school acceptances and must make a decision by 5/1. No answer and no apologies from St Andrews. We are hoping to be able to visit campus next week.
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Congrats! For future applicants who may find themselves worrying about a similar situation, did your son apply via Common App, UCAS or St Andrews directly? It could be relevant, I guess.
Man, that’s going to cost you a bundle. Last minute fare. Ouch.