Studying in the U.K. and possibly at University of Edinburgh as an American

MODERATOR’S NOTE: I merged the user’s two threads, since they were so similar.

Just a note about St. Andrews that no one has yet mentioned. (We visited St. Andrews and U Edinburgh in 2017). St. Andrews has all these quirky traditions and ceremonies, which some have described as “Harry Potteresque”. These include being assigned “surrogate parents” from among upper classmen, students wearing their ceremonial cape in a certain manner to indicate their year (e.g. right shoulder year one, left shoulder year two, etc.), having to ransom some item from a house parent and then being sprayed with shaving cream in the middle of the night, taking a dip into the ocean in the middle of another night to commemorate a student who drowned, and many more. The students who attend there appear to enjoy these traditions, but my DS was not particularly tempted. He is in uneven health and swimming in the middle of the night in freezing temperatures would not be appealing. St. Andrews is also rather isolated from pubic transportation, and the connections are not frequent. That is, going to Glasgow for a night out is not an option.

U Edinburgh felt to be much more a typical university to me than St. Andrews. I adore Scottish culture (especially their music and humor), but I think there would be a bit of culture shock living there for a young person unused to foreign travel. I lived there for a short while when I was 18 – for me the accent was the biggest challenge.

agree with @psycholing that what entices one student can turn another off.

Fwiw, college ‘parents’ are a thing at a number of UK unis- it’s a part of the students looking out for each other. Most unis will have some ‘quirky’ traditions, and you can generally choose your level of involvement, but at a comparatively small/compact uni like StAs they are a bigger part of the culture than larger/more central unis.

Not sure why anybody would think of going from StAs to Glasgow for a night out, as it’s half again as far as Edinburgh from StAs, but even Edi is 90 min by train/bus.

Students are not assigned academic parents at St. Andrews, they are invited and can decline and not everyone participates. Some students become close to their academic families and some do not.
As.for May dip, my daughter and many of her friends did not do it this year. (it was particularly cold this year)

Per google maps, using public trans I am getting about 2 hours St. Andrews student union to Glasgow, about 2 hours St. Andrews student union to Edinburgh, but one can shave down the Edinburgh time by 20 minutes by making just the right bus connection in Leuchers. When we visited, we did not get “just the right” connection and it was the same duration to get to either city. For us, the cheap flights came out of Glasgow, so that was where my son would need to go if he wanted to go home.

Generally St. Andrews students take the bus to Edinburgh, not the train. It’s about 1:45 minutes and you don’t have to change. And it is cheaper. But they just don’t go all that often, too busy studying and doing things in town. I suspect the same as students in the US who are within a train ride or bus of NYC or other metros, you end up doing it less than you think.
For the airport, they book a shuttle.
The dark and cold has been the hardest for mine.