@VickiSoCal:
Re: time to work.
Speaking from experience at an elite American private, the time requirements differed a lot by course/major. I’d say STEM majors (and music majors) typically spent twice as much time on school work as humanities/social science majors.
That said, UK undergrad allows for much more flexibility. It’s ideal for a kid who is great at cramming. If she can, there’s a ton of time most of the time.
@VickiSoCal I think in the interests of accuracy I should comment.
Some students may well show up with a 100k in cash, however that will be a tiny number. It you decide to go this route you will need to declare anything above 10k on entering the UK. There will be inquiries in order to rule out money laundering so be prepared to deal with the bureaucracy.
The majority of students will drink, and some communal kitchens in hall will resemble a party on Sat night.
“Very, very unstructured. You must take responsibility for yourself. If you never come to class, ever, noone will care. (Students admitted they were not in science subjects and those are different)”
This is just an out and out howler. The skeleton of any course will be structured around lectures, labs and tutorials. In order to flesh out this framework, the student will be expected to read from the extensive reading lists provided, more so in the arts and social sciences. In the UK one reads for a degree, failing to attend the lectures/tutorials/labs or do the required reading it is a recipe for failure. Expect the rules on attendance to get tighter, the government is asking colleges and universities to begin recording student attendance in order to eliminate ‘students’ entering the country and then disappearing in the populace. Although there is some push back from universities, if at the end of the day it becomes law the universities have little choice.
Note the majority of the content was supplied by two recent grads and 2 current parents so not official uni reps. The sack of cash came from the the admissions officer but he pointed out it would raise questions.
@elguapo1: You have to show up for tutorials/seminars and labs but many lectures are online now and you do the reading at your own time. And there is typically less homework/essays than in the US.
Compared to American colleges, uni in the UK is most definitely far less structured.
It is unfortunate that every American student, the tour guide, and so on she has talked to is IR/History/Econ
It would be nice to have had a science student perspective.
Purple. you are correct that tutorials will be monitored, who shows up will be noted what ever year you are in. Lectures when in your third and forth years will be down to 20 or so, the course supervisor will know who is not there. Courses are always structured, the reading around those courses are an integral part of the instruction, how much you choose to read is optional, its not the same thing. You can choose not to do the reading or turn up to lectures/labs but you would be a fool to think there are no consequences. It would be more accurate to say how hard you are prepared to work will be reflected in your final grade.
Attendance for tier 4 holders is monitored closely. It is mandated by the government. At Edinburgh, a student cannot miss more than 3 tutorials/labs per semester without consequences or a very good reason.
Science majors are much more time consuming, more contact time, more homework. My DD lives at a dorm with art majors and they have A LOT of free time.
@elguapo1: I suppose we have a different idea of what “structured” means. When I was an undergrad at an American uni on the quarter system, each quarter, a science class would have 2 midterms and a final. That meant 9 major exams through a year-long sequence. After the first week of a quarter, there was pretty much always multiple things due or tests to study for every week with 4 classes. Contrast with the British (or at least English) experience, where your whole mark for a module often rides on one test or paper at the end of the year.
I know English students (at a top English uni) who go home to a different part of England taking multiple long weekends a term (and there are long breaks between terms as well). That would have been unthinkable where I went for undergrad as you would have fallen far behind even if you took a three-day break.
So yes, you are expected to read and learn material at British unis, but it is far far less structured than (top) American colleges.
Let’s take semester-long informatics course at Edinburgh - there are three major graded assignments (10%, 10% and 20 % of the grade each) and the final. Quizes almost every week, not graded. Foreign language is even more structured, weekly quizzes, essays (in class and out), and many more hoops to jump through. A semester in Scotland is shorter than in the US (I think), plus a week-long break in the middle of the second semester before spring break.
@PurpleTitan at least in Chem at St. A’s all modules are only one semester long, with exams at end of semester and I assume some of the grade is lab based, otherwise why go to all those labs. 
@VickiSoCal - thanks for posting a summary of the St A meeting. The three formal dresses recommendation is making me think StA would not be a good fit for my daughter. She is not even interested in going to her high school prom and has never attended a school dance. However she was captain of her golf team for two years, and the Old Course is a big draw!
@KaffeineKitty The formals are not compulsory and she wont feel out of place if she doesn’t go to any although if she joins the golf society they will no doubt have an end of year dinner she might want to attend where she will need a cocktail dress.
Found out today D was declined by St A. So she firmed Edinburgh and made Glasgow her insurance. So glad to have this stage of the process over!
Sympathies & congrats to your daughter, @KaffeineKitty! I know that it’s been a long journey to get to this point
@KaffeineKitty sorry to hear about St Andrews but it must be nice to be done!!
Now I can start obsessing about the accommodation options at Edinburgh and Glasgow!
Got rejected with a 3.93 GPA, 2380 SAT, 800 SAT 2 Math, four 5’s and one four. Guess that’s what happens when they asked for supporting documents and you don’t respond their emails and piss them off.
Oh well. Congratulations to the rest of you applicants!
@KaffeineKitty, I hope to see your daughter at Edinburgh if I end up attending. I would have chosen Edinburgh over St. Andrews in a heartbeat.
@Ilovecherrypies did you miss the email? St. A’s asked for transcripts and school profile very shortly after my daughter’s UCAS app was submitted. Bath also asked for additional supporting docs. Edinburgh, York and Durham did not.
@VickiSoCal When I looked back, they said I had 1 week to mail them transcripts and documents and I didn’t. Missed it completely.
Bummer. Even if it wasn’t your first choice, it’s nice to have options.
Edinburgh flat out didn’t respond to several emails so we had a bad feeling about them.