Oh and thank you so much @collegemom3717 for your advice, I really appreciate it! I might have a few more questions after I visit, I hope you don’t mind.
Hello,
I applied Mid-December for Economics. I understand the admissions office was closed for a period, but I am wondering how long it will take. I am sure they have many applications, but if anybody has applied/received an offer for Economics, or has any guidance your help will be much appreciated. Thank you in advance.
Hi @offtocollege2021 I applied for Economics in late October and heard back Jan 16th (got an unconditional btw). The time frame for you to hear back seems to be pretty random this year, so you’ll just have to wait and see! I’m sure Economics didn’t get as many applications as IR, but I’ve seen on college confidential that there has been a huge spike in American applications this year so that also might be why it will take longer for them to get back to you.
Great to know! Thanks @sta2017 Out of curiosity, how long was it that you got the offer after you received the email with the information for your online track my application portal?
@offtocollege2017 it took quite a while to hear back. I would say I got the information for my online portal probably five days after I applied, whereas the decision came much later.
Has anyone made a GroupMe or a Facebook page? The Facebook page I found has little to no activity and only has 85 members. I want to start getting to know other prospective students!!
Hello! IB student from VA here. Just got my unconditional offer for IR yesterday and I was actually surprised it came in before February because I applied on December 6th. Anyway, very excited!
Thanks for the info! I did apply to 2 separate programs, so it makes sense that they’re slower responding to one than the other. I think I’m in line with the other applicants, though I definitely meet their academic requirements. 33 ACT, 2 SATII’s above 700, full IB, and several AP scores, though I think my ECs are my strong suit. Congrats on the acceptance! Hope I get to say the same soon. When you sent the email to check on your application, what did they say?
@user251567 There’s one called St Andrews Class of 2021 which has 153 members, and has a really nice group chat going on
Sorry that’s University of St Andrews Class of 2021
My son got in unconditionally to St. Andrews and Edinburgh for IR, and we just purchased tickets to visit in April. He is also applying to quite a few US schools (He is a US citizen.) Any thoughts on what the “must see” places are for him to get a sense of where he wants to go to school. Of course he will try to sit in at a class in each school. Does anyone know if there is an opportunity to visit student housing? What else can he do to give him a sense of student life?
Thanks much!
Don’t overweight housing as a decision element- most students live out after first year at both places (and it’s only guaranteed for the first year at StAs- after that it’s a lottery).
‘Must-sees’ as a student are different than as a visitor. Try walking the paths between key places in each place (eg, student halls/IR classrooms/food sources/etc).
Yes I meant “must see” as a student. I have actually visited Edinburgh before (love it) but my son has not.
Hi @collegemom3717! How many students get college acco in their second or third years at St Andrews? Is it easy to get acco outside?
They say that 1/2 the student body lives in college housing, 2/3 first years and 1/3 returning students. First years are guaranteed housing (if they meet the deadlines & local students can get bumped).
There is enough local housing to go around - just about. The hassle of organizing it is one of the more frequent complaints that I have heard from StAs students, especially those going into second year. By third & fourth year they have it down.
Our tour guide said most students get a group together around this time of year (February) and start looking and find a place for second year. She said she was sure she wouldn’t find anywhere, but it really wasn’t that hard.
Thanks @collegemom3717 and @VickiSoCal
@psycholing to be blunt, one way to see if it’s for him is to have him do all the research and planning for this trip. British undergraduates are treated more or less as completely independent adults, so this would be a good experience/preview.
@chzbrgr perhaps you misunderstand. I did not ask for advice to determine whether my son can manage being in an “independent adult” in a foreign country. I already know the answer to that, since he was perfectly fine navigating on his own in Brazil at age 16 as an exchange student (surviving political upheaval, high crime, zika, neglectful host parents and education in Portuguese). I expect compared to the drama of Brazil, Scotland will be a breeze. I was actually asking for advice on what we should see to make an informed decision about the academic and social environment at these two colleges. It is a bit of an apples/oranges game, comparing UK colleges with those in the US.
Furthermore, I am not as young as I used to be, and while my son might be very happy sleeping on the floor of the dorm room of a friend, I would hope for more comfortable accommodations than that. So I will not take you up on your invitation to have him plan the whole trip.
@psycholing What I mean is not whether he can cope in a foreign country (and Brazil isn’t exactly the end of the earth), but that being treated as an independent adult makes a meaningful difference to the academic and social environment of the colleges. As someone who has taught at comparable US and UK universities, and who has a daughter of that age, the difference is like night and day: as adults, UK students are allowed to drink all the time, do not share bedrooms, and as a whole there is nobody there to check up on them. (An exception here is Oxbridge colleges, which function more like US SLACs.)
But I stand by what I said. If he’s not up for planning the trip to see the college by himself, then perhaps he’s not suited for a UK college education.