@chzbrgr I don’t know why you are intentionally mischaracterizing what was asked and what was said. (For example, I didn’t say my son wasn’t up to planning the trip, I said I wasn’t up to staying in his type of accommodations). Your comments are not in the spirit of CC, and not at all responsive to my question. If I wanted to ask if my child was ready to live abroad, I would have asked that. But, you see, I didn’t.
So let me ask you – Does it make you personally feel superior to put down other people’s children in an anonymous forum? You really think living in Brazil is easier than living in Scotland? Perhaps I should extrapolate that your daughter of similar age is irresponsible. Perhaps she can’t handle the ability to drink and that is why you are generalizing to my child. If so, I am sorry you are having that experience, and I hope you manage to work it out. But it really has nothing to do with my question and with my son.
I’m not sure being in a single vs a double has much to do with maturity or independence and I never saw drinking laws stop any US College student from drinking. As for planning the trip, we were on a family vacation and had 6 days to visit three campus and have some fun and I needed to book rooms and plane/train tickets for 4 and that’s my role in the family. We did send her off on most tours and interviews when we arrived in the town by herself. Since the vast majority of American students at UK universities do not scuttle home after a month, I expect they do fine.
(The worst international adjustment I ever saw was an “American” who had lived as an expat in the developing world her whole life. She arrived at a US college and was soon in shock that noone was going to be cleaning her room or doing her laundry. She hadn’t the slightest clue how to do such things.)
@psycholing I’m not going to get into an argument with you because you seem to be attributing to be seeing snark from me where none is intended. I apologise that my original post was a bit snarky, and it is good that your son has experience in Brazil, but my main point really was serious. There is a vast difference in how students are treated and expected to look after themselves between the UK and US universities (with the possible exception of huge directional state universities), and spending a lot of time alone and ‘independently’ on the campuses in Scotland will give him some of a sense of that aspect of student life.
Another suggestion: check out the structure of exams at the Scottish unis. Far more so than in the US, a huge amount hangs on a set of exams at the end of the 3/4 years (though many schools are moving away from this system).
Hi @psycholing , I’ve also been accepted to St A’s and Edinburgh, and am planning to visit, but one of my cousins has several friends who go to both places.
For Edinburgh:
Accommodation- depending on whether your son is self catered or catered, walk from your theoretical accommodation to places like grocery stores, main lecture halls and nightlife to see if you think it’s doable
-the union
-visit the Meadows, apparently a lot of students study and hang out there.
-cowgate, nightlife area
-the gym, if that’s your thing
-see if you can meet with someone from your son’s department, I asked about it, and they were really nice about setting up a meeting for me!
Last bit- Walk around the city, see if you like the atmosphere.
For St Andrews:
Accommodation: same as for Edinburgh, but really think about which accommodation you would like because some is better located than others, if your son decides to go to St A’s, I know some pretty good tips for getting the accommodation you want!
-the union
-the gym
-visit places he might eat at around town, it’ll give you an idea of the selection (as St A’s is smaller)
Last bit- try and visit the beach!
That’s all I can think of right now, I hope this helps!
Right now i’m leaning towards St A’s, which does your son prefer, and what is his course, if you don’t mind me asking?
@VickiSoCal that’s true but the scores themselves tend to be lower. I only award an 80+ every few years, and have never awarded more than a 90, which would have to be of publishable quality. Most students get a “2:1”, averaging in the 60s.
Well I have another son with disabilities/ Executive Dysfunction where I would not even consider having him go to college out of town, let alone out of the country.
But maybe we can try this: Did any of you visit St. Andrews and U Edinburgh when applying? If so what did you do, what did you find helpful? Are any of you definitely going?
We visited St. Andrews, Edinburgh and Durham over Thanksgiving. Spent the night, except at St. A which we did as a long day trip. We walked a lot, at at nearby restaurants, and generally explored. At. St. A and Durham she was able to meet with advisers in her department, at Edinburgh she was not.
She did not like Edinburgh at all. The distance of the department of chemistry from the main campus buildings, the complete unresponsiveness of the admissions department to a very simple, but important question, and the urban setting, all turned her off.
At this point it is likely down to St. A or Durham or a US choice, some of which we are still waiting on.
@AceofallTrades Thanks much. I had missed your post. Very helpful – that was what I was looking for.
To answer your question.
My son got into Quantitative IR in Edinburgh and IR at St. Andrews. We are thinking the Quantitative IR may be a better fit for his interests – he loves politics but also wants to continue to pursue mathematical approaches of analysis. If he goes to an american school he will probably end up double majoring in IR and economics just to keep up that mathy side. Also the price of St. A may be an issue for us, especially if the exchange rate goes back to what used to be “normal”.
The other thing is my son is sort of an urban guy. He is very comfortable navigating cities and likes to be able to go out to museums, live music, art, etc. So perhaps St. Andrews will be too small or insular? He is very very comfortable with an international crowd, and likes to pick up at least a few words of every language he runs into. So I am not sure the high proportion of Americans at St. Andrews has much of a pull for him, but I can see the appeal that would have for some others from the US.
Finally, his Mom (me) is footing the bill on this endeavor. I worry most about the academic quality, and want to make sure we are not wasting our funds. So I will veto any place that doesn’t seem to be academic enough for my standards. I assume one can’t get much of a job from an undergrad degree in IR, and that graduate school of some sort will be necessary. In order to be competitive for grad school, one needs to do some research as an undergrad. So I will be looking for that.
Well @psycholing I know that St Andrews has one of the best IR programs in the UK, and I’ve heard it’s no slouch for math either. Do you know about Scotland’s 3 track uni system? It may solve the lack of Quantitative problem.
To be honest I don’t know much at all. The decision to apply to the UK was a last minute decision after the election of Trump. That is why there was no submission to some of the other colleges (Oxford, Cambridge, etc.) It was way too late.
Oh, alright, well @psycholing the way the Scottish system works, is for the 1st two years you study your subject (IR) and 2 other outside subjects (let’s say Econ and Quantitative). It is possible for you to switch subjects (from IR to Quantitative) or even do a joint course (IR and Quantitative).
Can a student take any other two areas, or must they apply into them? Also he is going to want to take some language courses – does that count as an area, or can that be additional. His friend who is currently at Edinburgh is taking IR and business type classes, but is also taking a course in Italian. The Italian seems to not count as an area of concentration.
I know that @ St Andrews you can take addition night language classes, and yes I belive that you can take any other two areas, but I’ll have to check. I’m planning on doing Economics and French
Your son should contact the office of international admissions and they will arrange a tour. Edinburgh will not let him sit on a class or visit dorms. Dorms are assigned, but a student often gets his first choice. Look at self-catered accommodations. Based on what you are saying about your son, he might enjoy this type of accommodation.
Academics are very rigorous at Edi, you have nothing to worry about
Look here at degree structure
http://www.drps.ed.ac.uk/16-17/dpt/utmahinrqm1f.htm. First year there are 4 compulsory courses and 40 outside credits (1 year long course or 2 semester long courses). He can take foreign language as his outside course. If he has taken a foreign language through AP level, he will be placed in a higher level course, usually 1B.
Are students allowed to take an overload? Also how is foreign language level determined if he hasn’t taken an AP. He is fluent in several languages but may be rusty in them by next Fall. He maxed out several languages at his school so this year he started up Mandarin, but at a very rudimentary level.
Can you link me to the equivalent pages at St. Andrews for IR?
Hi @collegemom3717! I’ve been following your posts and wanted some advice. How would you compare UCD and Trinity Dublin to St Andrews? How is the accommodation situation in Dublin really? I’ve heard that it’s quite diffi
An overload during the first year, especially with a language, will be a bad idea and most likely not permitted. Language has a lot of contact time, and all courses require a lot of work and self study. He will need to pick a language and reach out to the course organizer for that language. Sorry, i cannot help you with the relevant pages for St.A.
