University of St. Andrews in Scotland

<p>RML - That is in one table. What I’m saying is St Andrews has been consistantly in the top 6/4 for the past 5 years, it is not some blip like Imperial coming 10th in the Guardian.</p>

<p>I have just finished my first year at the University of St Andrews and found it to be a pretty amazing opportunity. I am from New York and therefore had only US schools to compare my experience to. In comparison, I felt as though I had been missing out an a true college experience-I must admit that I opted not to attend most of the lectures (like most other first years) and although I ended up doing well it was strange not to have to go to classes, I spent over five hundred pounds per month on food/drinks/events, I felt lonely and isolated (although I did make some great friends from all over the world), but all in all I think that the general consensus among truly American students is that it is a good short term experience but not really something that you want to do for four years.</p>

<p>That being said, I know plenty of students who absolutely love it because they never wanted to have a conventional college experience. All that I am trying to say is that the experience may not be for everyone.</p>

<p>The town is located about an hour and 15 minutes (without traffic) from Edinburgh and although many people come to St Andrews from the US hoping to travel it is very expensive to take a taxi or shuttle during a regular weekend to get to the airport. There is also a train, but I think that if people really do decide to travel they opt to bite the bullet and pay the taxi fee. </p>

<p>Because many students, especially first and second years, do not attend lectures or because lectures only meet three times per week on pretty much any given night (except for sunday and monday…although you still may find a few people willing to go out) the town, bars, and flat parties will be in full swing. Tuesdays and Thursdays are the biggest nights of the week. While this may seem to be most 18 year olds’ dream come true it gets old pretty fast as there are only about two or three places in town that people consistently go to. Almost everyday feels like the weekend, so when it does finally come around it feels like just another day and there is usually little to do on Friday or Saturday, unless you go to the Union or are older and have a flat to have a dinner party.</p>

<p>The social scene is divided as many of the British students either knew each other from before, met through mutual friends, are from the same area, or have little interest in making American friends. There is a huge population of Scandinavians that is somewhat exclusive and rules the social scene. A certain group of Americans and Canadians will become a part of this group that attends 50 pound+ events weekly. Otherwise Americans are left to hang out solely with each other, which some students are perfectly content with, some groups form around a bond of wanting to transfer back home second year, and some groups float around.</p>

<p>All in all, the essays that I had to write certainly provided me with a good opportunity to research things that I was interested in and I feel that I really did learn a lot this year because I had to motivate myself to work. The winter was dark (at 4pm!), cold, and long. After spring break, it does not get dark until about 10pm, it was sunny 9 out of 10 days, all that is left to do is study for exams, the town is full of tourists and golfers, and it is truly a happy and beautiful time. I had a great year, but it was not something that I could imagine doing for four years. I wish the best of luck to anyone going, and please do not let my perspective stop anyone who feels that they are not going to have an issue going against the normal college experience. This is simply a lot of the information that I wish that I had known before I went.</p>

<p>transfer- ouch. Is it really that bad? I was really interested because i’ve heard they have good connections (like jobs- has a unique but good reputation) but the fact that americans are singled out would make me turn it away in seconds. if you don’t mind me asking were you social or just expect friends? I’m social and was looking foward to the mixing of students if I got in. Also I’ve heard its small- isn’t it only a short way from places, and students travel a lot?</p>

<p>jacob92, what was your GPA?</p>

<p>Geeze, I started reading this thread from the beginning (2009) and I got so bored with reading all the posts where RML fights with everyone that I skipped to the last posting page and…THERE HE STILL IS!!! Two years later! Whoops, actually, not sure if it is a “he” or a “she”–sorry for the assumption. Hard to find actual, helpful/practical substance on this thread without having to wade through the garbage.</p>

<p>^ Then you’re not being objective. lol</p>

<p>^ It is not WHAT you say, it is HOW you say it. I don’t have any problem with your supposedly “objective” information. I have gained a lot of information from this forum and I hope that I have been helpful to some on other threads. For the most part everyone acts with a certain level of decorum so it always take me aback when people say things online that I hope they would never say in person. I don’t understand why information sharing needs to be confrontationa.l Namaste.</p>

<p>Sorry for bumping a relatively old thread, but in terms of competitiveness, where would you guys place St. Andrews in relation to American universities? One of my friends (attends UCL but was admitted into St. Andrew’s) says that the competition rate would be somewhere between GWU and NYU, could anyone provide some insight on this statement? </p>

<p>Also what type of criteria do they use for admissions?</p>

<p>…any thoughts on the new joint degree program with William and Mary?</p>

<p>I am a high school senior right now from the US with St. Andrews as my top choice. This may seem like a strange question, but will my dual-citizenship with Chile in any way help my chances of being accepted?</p>

<p>bump…</p>

<p>If your GPA is over 3.6, your SATs are over 2000 and your parents can pay full cost you will likely get in. Dual citizenship probably wouldn’t matter. You would be an international student and have to pay full cost- the standards are somewhat easier as there are a certain number of slots that can only go to non-UK/EU students.</p>

<p>I spent a year there as a grad student, and transfer2011x’s post #282 rings pretty true to me.</p>

<p>Transfer 2011:</p>

<p>Would you recommend Edinburgh instead? </p>

<p>My son is looking at both.</p>

<p>The 2 most irritating things I found at St. Andrews were:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>The fact that the train doesn’t run through town. The town is small, and you feel the need to get out of it and breathe a little bit, but any trip outside the city (unless you have a car) involves the addition of an expensive (taxi) or slow (bus) trip to and from the nearest train station. If you look at a map, you figure students would be dashing to Dundee or Edinburgh all the time for a day of shopping or sightseeing, but it rarely happened from what I saw.</p></li>
<li><p>The tribal social life. When I was there it was Brits vs. North Americans vs. Asians vs. Continental Europeans vs. Everybody Else. The Brits aren’t the friendliest people in the world, and that sets the tone for the whole school. There were many factions of Brits, but few of them seemed inclined to mix with others. However, if you are an attractive female, you will probably have guys from all the tribes there getting to know you.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>there are so many ugly girls at LSE, UCL and most specially, Imperial, and they thrive under such milieu. lol… :D</p>

<p>The nice looking girls are largely found at Cambridge, Oxford, Durham, Warwick, Bristol, Exeter, Edinburgh and Nottingham. :)</p>

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<p>Gotta agree with you here and its not just limited to St Andrews but other universities in the UK. It seems international students are “ghettoed” as I call it where they have to end up hanging out with people from their countries especially if they did not do their A-levels (what is called college) in the UK. I have heard so many complaints about this. A couple of international students (even continental europeans who brits should supposedly have something in common with), I know have complained about how they knew so few brits despite studying there for years.</p>

<p>However, I kind of find this ironic, when I hear this from Americans because well some international students feel the same way in the US- so its like everyone getting their own taste of the medicine of what it feels to be foreign in a particular country. At least when I was in undergrad, the large majority of people were from Northeastern prep schools and all knew each other from high school and formed cliques immediately they got to college. Then of course lets not even begin to talk about the racial divisions in US colleges where each table has a different ethnicity/race sitting down.</p>

<p>So yeah it sucks being an outsider but then I am sure we are all guilty of excluding people from our social stratosphere and leaning towards people we have more things in common.</p>

<p>I agree with the racial self-segregation, but at most of the American colleges I’m familiar with, foreigners have a certain cachet, and a lot of Americans are eager to get to know them.</p>

<p>I was offered a place at St. Andrews for this fall, but chose to attend Georgetown University instead, and now I’m wondering if I made the wrong decision…</p>

<p>Basically, I thought Georgetown would have a diversity in the student body that I wouldn’t find elsewhere. The student body may be diverse in color and nationality, but students tend to have homogenous personalities. Frankly, everyone is so perfectly normal, it’s like everyone is just a version of the same personality. Don’t get me wrong, Georgetown is a fantastic school, but is probably better situated for someone who has tons of friends from the same private school going there, because you’ll find that social groups are defined that way anyways. </p>

<p>Anyways, I’m considering transferring to a university with more interest in the student body. Would St. Andrews or Oxbridge be a better fit in that respect, or are they just as homogenous?</p>

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<p>I don’t know about St. Andrews, but Oxford and Cambridge don’t accept transfer students. You would have to apply as a prospective freshman and, if accepted, you would lose all your course credit from Georgetown and would have to start your degree from scratch. </p>

<p>On your main question, I suppose Oxford and Cambridge probably have a more homogenous student body than any top US university. Diversity is not an admissions criterion in England, where universities care about academic credentials only. Apart from internationals, most students you will find at Oxbridge are white, middle-class or upper-middle-class people. </p>

<p>In fact, according to a recent [BBC report](<a href=“http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-14069516”>http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-14069516&lt;/a&gt;), the top 4 private schools in England, including Eton (where PM David Cameron and Prince William studied), Westminster College (attended by Deputy PM Nick Clegg) and St Paul’s school (attended by finance minister George Osborne), plus one selective state-funded school send more pupils annually to Oxbridge than 2,000 low-performing public schools combined !</p>