<p>Hopey:</p>
<p>My son attends St Andrews.</p>
<p>He showed no demonstrations of interest, yet earned admission.</p>
<p>That being said, if you can attend any of the various recruiting events they hold from time to time in the United States , that wouldn’t be a bad idea. </p>
<p>In general, I would say that if you have high standardized test scores and are able to pay the high tuition they charge for foreigners, you have a good chance of getting in.</p>
<p>Thanks Florida Dad!
Do you mind my asking your son’s stats for admission.
My daughter has 2000 SAT and AP scores of 4’s and 5’s. We can afford the tuition.
Her 2000 score is close to the 1950 they recommend. St. Andrews is her first choice.
She had a relatively long visit with a representative here in the states and he seemed encouraging but my daughter is afraid to get her hopes up.
How has your son enjoyed his experience at St. Andrews?</p>
<p>hopey:</p>
<p>I sent you a private message</p>
<p>Thanks for the info Floridadad. Unfortunately CC won’t let me return your private message as I don’t have enough posts but I greatly appreciate the information. My daughter is still going to apply but I am glad to see the level of scores of an accepted student. Your son sounds very impressive. Glad to hear St. Andrews is a good match for him. Will be keeping my fingers crossed for my daughter.</p>
<p>Follow up: I was granted an unconditional acceptance offer to University of St. Andrews and I couldn’t be happier! Acceptance to first choice prior to thanksgiving, how many people can say that?!</p>
<p>I expect many internationals can say that indy123, rarely are the rejected or given a conditional offer.</p>
<p>indy123,</p>
<p>Congrats!</p>
<p>Getting accepted to your first choice university before Thanksgiving is definitely something to savor. Now, you can relax and enjoy the remainder of your senior year.</p>
<p>Congratulations indy123! Now you can relax! I hope to see you there!</p>
<p>Dear all (except Real & Nordic, who know all this!)</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Please understand that there is NO high school in the US that is going to impress a UK uni. They are never going to know (or care) whether your high school is rigorous or not. </p></li>
<li><p>Even St A’s, by a long shot the most Americanized uni in the UK, uses GPA as a basic standard. They do not care that much about it, so you don’t need to parse every hundredth of a point or W/UW etc.</p></li>
<li><p>The only unis in the UK that interview are Oxford and Cambridge, and no unis track interest in the uni.</p></li>
<li><p>They do care that you can demonstrate an interest and aptitude for the subject you are applying to study. You sell interest and aptitude in your Personal Statement and you demonstrate aptitude by good test scores on <em>relevant</em> APs and SAT IIs.</p></li>
<li><p>If are going to ask for advice or opinions about your application you must SPCEIFY THE SUBJECT that you are applying for. As an example, kuldipow, if your daughter is looking at English she is in good shape; IR or history are plausible, but for Biology she wouldn’t have a hope. As a corollary, ONE subject, or a couple of closely related subjects (ie, IR and IR with French) ONLY. Film + IR + English = no.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Hope that helps :-)</p>
<p>hi everyone! i’m toying with the idea of applying to st. andrew’s. the problem is my GPA is 3.52. i did really poorly in physics honors last year which brought me down 
i do take the most difficult courseload at my school. i also have an SAT of 2250 and a 5 on AP eng lang and a 4 on apush. i am taking 5 more aps this year (statistics, french, euro, econ(both), english lit). since my GPA is lower am i not even eligible to apply? i also have some good extracurriculars like newspaper Editor in chief but idk how that factors into UK admissions. thanks for your help! also are there any other UK colleges that i should maybe consider? i’m interested in art history/management. thank you!</p>
<p>So, good news, St A’s is not out for you.</p>
<p>Bad news: you need to figure out how to make the random group of tests and ECs you have collected demonstrate your aptitude for, and interest in, art history / management.</p>
<p>What we tell people is that IN GENERAL UK colleges and universities are more interested in your scores on AP tests (or SAT subject tests) and in your commitment to the subject you want to study. So USUALLY they are not interested in your GPA or your non-related extracurriculars. They are not looking for someone “well-rounded”, which makes it completely different from USA.</p>
<p>Make sure that you really kick butt on those upcoming AP tests.</p>
<p>But I know that St. Andrews has started taking a lot of American students, so they may be more interested in “American” style qualifications.</p>
<p>loljk:</p>
<p>My son earned admission to St Andrews a year ago.</p>
<p>In my opinion, good SAT scores and good AP scores are what they are looking for.</p>
<p>I don’t think they care about ECs, nor even that much about gpa.</p>
<p>I just received a conditional offer today from St. Andrews via UCAS, and I, too, applied with a 3.57 GPA. The only condition I must meet is that I earn a 3.6 or higher by the end of spring semester 2014. My intended majors are Medieval History and Art History. They didn’t ask for one test score, but they did ask for my HS and CC transcripts.</p>
<p>Congratulations HoliPoli on your conditional offer from St. Andrews! Well done! I have a couple of questions if you don’t mind. Are you an American student? You were accepted without submitting any test scores?? No SAT, ACT, AP, IB or A levels? You said that they asked for your HS transcript and CC transcript - is that Community College? That is my assumption and they are accepting that over test score - am I correct?</p>
<p>Hopefully this is helpful,
I only applied to art schools aside from St. Andrews. I just decided to apply “for fun” because my best friend goes there and also because it’s just one other academic option rather than a full art school.
I’m a UK citizen and have lived in the US for almost 10 years. I got a 2000 on my SATs and have about a 3.5 GPA. I have basically no extracurriculars apart from one part time job. In my essay, I even wrote that part of the reason why I was applying was because my best friend was going. </p>
<p>I was totally not expecting to get in, but I was accepted to their Art History program.</p>
<p>The only reason why I’m posting this is because I see so many comments about “do I have the right grades” or “do I have the right scores” when honestly I don’t think it’s really about that. I mean it is, but I think honesty in your essay is reaaaally important. Tell them exactly why you’re applying and what you plan on doing in the college… don’t sound like everyone else!!! Expressing your personality through words is hugely important and that’s what I think got me in.</p>
<p>Good luck!!!</p>
<p>You got in because you will be paying international fees, no other reason. </p>
<p>Nordicblue - why do you say that? Yes, I know they want international students for the fee but they accept anyone who can pay the fee? Is that what you are saying? There is nothing wrong with a2000 and a 3.5 GPA - its quite respectable. So if an applicant has enough money in the bank account they’re in? I really hope that is NOT the case! I give St. Andrews more credit than that. I am sure they are looking for qualified applicants who will do well at there school. Your comment is an insult to all international students…well the ones who have to pay the international fee.</p>
<p>They really do take anyone who pays international fees; I’ve yet to meet an American who has been rejected by St Andrews. I find it very strange that St Andrews care about an applicants’ GPA - no other British university does because it isn’t a reliable way to test a student’s ability. Did they even ask for any APs in your offer? It seems to me that they go out of their way to make it easy for international students.</p>
<p>My daughter applied and was accepted by both Edinburgh and St. Andrews and they wanted her SAT, APs, and to be honest I don’t know if she included her GPA on the UCAS. She had an excellent personal statement (that is coming from a unbiased source familiar with the UCAS) and stellar letters of recommendation. St. Andrews did not ask for additional AP’s in her offer - you are correct. Edinburgh did but its a pretty manageable score that she needs - a 4 on English AP. So, I guess she didn’t need to work hard the last few years on her grades, SAT or AP’s, or writing a good personal statement? I do agree that it seems like I have only heard of acceptances from the U.S. but St Andrews starts off with higher requirements w/ a 1950 SAT and 4-5’s on APs. Perhaps the applicant pool is already self selecting.
My daughter has worked hard over the last many years and she deserves to be recognized for her merit and not a bank account. I guess I would like to know if anyone knows of American students who have not received offers?
I sincerely hope that is not the perception of UK students about American students!</p>