Would you pick any or all these top, but non-Ivy, US colleges–Georgetown, Amherst, Williams, Wash U, Chicago–over the Scottish unis (Edinburgh and/or St. Andrews)? Assume student is American (but some family in Europe), money is not a constraint, subject is humanities, and that HYPMS (and Oxbridge) not an option but these top US colleges are. Particularly interested to hear from anyone who started at Edin or StA and transferred to a US college or anyone from a top US college who transferred to Edin or StA.
Be aware of the difference between Edinburgh and St Andrews - the former is in a city (a small city admittedly but still definitely urban and vibrant), the latter probably perceived as more prestigious but in a tiny town; it’s not for everyone, as beautiful as it is.
A more general consideration that I presume you’ve looked into is the difference in degree structure. UK unis have more narrow focus - whether you think this is good or bad depends on what you want, and what probability you place on the chance of the student deciding to change his/her major during the course of the degree - this is definitely an easier option in the US system. For humanities, this probably isn’t as critical as someone aiming towards a profession like medicine or law though. It probably does make it more difficult to transfer from UK to US colleges or vice versa. A semester or year abroad would probably be a better way of combining them imo.
For many Americans, I’d think Georgetown and Chicago at least would probably be considered more prestigious than the Scottish universities. Then again, I’m of the opinion that studying in a different country and culture is always a plus on a resume.
You asked this question back in April, and got a lot of good answers. What are you looking for that is different this time?
St.Andrews (the town) is quite small & isolated. Unless you are very content to have your social life revolve around a handful of pubs, you will get bored there very quickly
Trust me, it isn’t a handful of pubs in StAs. St. Andrews has more pubs per capita than any town or city in all of Europe, and that really doesn’t include the Union or the Bop. That being said, StAs is in the middle of nowhere. Getting off the train at Leuchars will be a shock to most US students. It was to me back, as a JYA, back in 1996.
I attended StA as a JYA and graduate student. I went to Georgetown for law school (of course, GULC isn’t in Georgetown). But, they could not be more different academically, socially, and environmentally. You are generally considering US universities in major urban centers. Edinburgh doesn’t even compare, and StAs, well…the train doesn’t even go there (but buses and taxis do!). Setting aside the drinking age issue, there will be more options at the US universities. Our universities are just structured differently. For example, Georgetown has an excellent D-I basketball program. Organized collegiate sports really doesn’t exist in Scotland. Maybe on a club level, but nothing like what we have (and, to some degree, they don’t get it). That being said, you will watch Rangers v. Celtic and the Six Nations Rugby. Different environments.
Academically, Scottish universities grading is just different. StAs uses a typical British 1st. 2/1, 2/2, 3 system, but translates it to a 20-1 scale (at least it did when I was there). For a JYA it was confusing, but ultimately understandable.
I think you really haven’t decided on what you want. These are two diverse options.
I attended St. Andrews too. I would guess there are somehere around a dozen pubs–maybe a few more. Even if there are 20, some will appeal to you & some won’t. Some are in hotels, some are more for locals or tourists, some will have a selection of beer you don’t like, etc. So you will likely narrow it down to a few on the 2 main business streets–hardly enough to keep most people entertained for 4 years.
so I heard Edinburgh is more prestigious and William originally wanted to go there, but security couldn’t be as tight there as St. Andrews so he had to go to St. Andrews. I visited St. Andrews because William and Mary has a relationship with them for their International Relations program. I liked the town and school. How do both of these compare to Trinity College in Dublin in terms of prestige? I think most US students would go to Amherst or Georgetown or almost any of the little ivies over the European universities.
I’m not sure if you’re talking about prestige factor mainly or the particulars of the education.
My D was accepted to both Edinburgh, St. A’s (and Durham) last year but ended up choosing a top US LAC instead. For St. A’s she was intrigued but their biology program (course) did not match up with her specific interests. If she wanted to do marine bio, it would have been a great choice. Edinburgh is larger and seemed really high quality but I think ultimately her research made her think the fact that college students there are in less of a bubble and have to be and function more like independent adults was a turn off. She felt like it might be overwhelming. For a lot of students, I think it could be a real plus, but not her.
The universities noted on this thread are not meaningfully different in prestige. As @AlmostThere2018 notes, the key thing is fit. I agree that most US students would go to any of a number of US colleges over any international university- same as most European students would go to any number of European colleges over any US university. Money, distance, cultural and academic differences, etc. all play a part.