Scottish universities

[LoniceraJaponica]

I believe that degrees at Scottish universities are usually over four years. Does this mean that the first year is slightly easier for English students who may have covered some of the coursework in their A levels? Do they get a shock in the second year when they actually have to do some work?

DD is taking a gap year and her friends who are in Scotland seem to party all the time and do very little work. Her friends at English universities party less and have more work to do, or are they just more conscientious?

Have to say DD is a Scottish student at a Scottish university - now in second year studying law.. She enjoyed her first year but it was certainly not an easy ride - she had a 9am start 4 mornings a week and lectures, 2 hour seminars and tutorials every day . To keep up with the reading required she spent lots of time in the library. - she worked very hard.

This year she seems to be doing a bit more socialising and has joined a sports club and is actively involved in another uni organisation. However she does also seem to be working pretty hard.

Her flat mates last year included some "party-ers" - but 2 of those dropped out before the year end and she knew of at least another couple.

I suspect that for arts and humanities students who traditionally don't have as much contact time it is easy to fall into the trap of partying hard and coasting - but as others have said those students do tend to get found out round about exam time !

The English students in my engineering degree at a Scottish uni had covered most of the first year maths in their a levels and found it easy. There were quite a few who got an almighty shock in second year.

First year is designed to let people try a breadth of subjects, maybe even across faculty, especially things they might not have had a chance to try at school.

This is designed to give breadth as well as depth of understanding. This allows a student to bring knowledge skills and techniques from one discipline to bear in others. That’s kind of the hallmark or education as opposed to training.

So for example in my first year I studied Politics, International Relations, Philosophy, Astronomy, Biology and Economics.

In second year I studied Politics, International Relations and Philosophy. In third year Politics and Philosophy and in my final year just Philosophy.

So, done right, no it’s not a holiday. It’s education, not training. And Scottish people aren’t just “lazier” than others.

Seems like you could benefit a little from education and broadening the mind yourself...

Agree completely Fairy . I was also at a Scottish uni - and really loved the opportunity to try different subjects - in fact I seriously considered changing tack and continuing with my third subject .

I was an arts student so had not very much contact time but lots of reading to do . Other friends from school who went down the science path had much less "free" time - one was a medic who worked extremely hard.

I do think the subject studied does make quite a difference - and of course it will be interesting to see just how well Lonicera's dd's friends finally do !

Could someone explain what they mean that the fees have increased to £37000. Is that over the 4 years

Fees at Edinburgh University for RUK students i.e not Scottish or other EU students are £9250 per year - assuming a 4 year degree course this equals £37,000.

However many Scottish universities only t charge students from England fees for 3 years - but you would still have the cost of accommodation/food etc for the 4th year

Seems Glasgow, Edinburgh & St Andrews all charge the full for 4 years. I'm guessing its only a minor university discount (buy 3 get 1 free).

I studied law at Edinburgh uni and did not work hard and managed to pas my exams. They were just passed though. I done advanced highers at school which are the same level and passed them with no hard work either.

I had to choose an outside course each semester too. They were even easier than law.

I found high school subjects harder at lower levels. It might have just been me though.

Defensive reply Fairy. Clearly a number of posters have found it to be the case. I am also basing my thoughts on a handful of partygoers who don't seem to be taking their education seriously.

The more I read about it the more I like the sound of the Scottish university system with the option of studying other subjects as it seems to offer a more rounded education.

If students only specialise during the last 2 years does this mean that they cover less content of a biomedical science degree for example?

Glasgow uni do cap fees for a 4 year honour degree, it’s more expensive for a 5 year MEng, MSc or Medicine/Vet/Dentistry.

I think Edi Uni used to cap for 3 years (but this may not be the case). But as many English students are admitted as Scottish students for many courses so it doesn’t look like higher fees are preventing applicants. St Andrews aren’t as transparent with their Scotland rUK numbers.

Actually some people might not like to hear this but English students do have a very easy time in the 1st year of Scottish unis. Massive amounts of partying goes on. Why else would they actually be allowed to skip 1st year if they want to?

Just to annoy some posters even more, the Scottish unis love the English students because they pay fees. It is pretty easy for English students to get places at Edinburgh University.

It sounds like an ideal model for most young people to be able to ease into higher education more gently and have more fun at the same time. I almost wish that DD had applied to some Scottish universities.

Do they knuckke down and work hard in the second year then? Or is there a higher drop out rate in year 2?

knuckle

**If students only specialise during the last 2 years does this mean that they cover less content of a biomedical science degree for example?

They could do depending on their subject choices but most degrees require at least half of the second year to be courses directly relevant to their final degree. I think at Glasgow university most 2nd year biology students not aiming for joint degrees e.g with psychology etc take only life science courses in second year. Although I think they can't just take human biology. They need to do courses in at least one other area e.g. immunology, animal, biomolecular.

They still do stuff towards their degree during first and second year. I'm an education student and 50% of my workload is education based I then pick 2 elective topics in both first and second year.

Thank you everyone for your input on this thread. I have found it very interesting. I'm off to check if the biomed courses are accredited.

I think it's only BSc degrees you can do direct entry to second year, not Humanities degrees. I'd like to point out that it's the English 3 year narrow degree that's unusual in an international context, not the Scottish 4 year degree!
My great uncle went to Glasgow Uni to study medicine when he was 16, but that was in the 1930s.

I didn't know that wiggly. I wonder why?

When you think of it, senior school physics or Maths curriculums are going to have almost identical content wherever you live in the world but English will be extremely varied from country to country, my DS has AH English, he's studied mostly American and Scottish texts but no Chaucer or Shakespeare. He is studying History but has mostly studied 19th and 20th century themes at school, other countries take a more linear approach And obviously study their local history. DS has chosen modules in four different History areas he hasn't studied before. I think that's part of it.

Direct entry to second year is available for humanities degrees at Scottish Unis wigglybeazer and loniceraJaponica well it certainly is at the Uni my dd and Ds are/ were at and Uni I and my dh went to

...and btw this direct entry to second year for humanities is available at Ancient Unis

The first year of my degree course in Scotland was actually harder than the equivalent in England, at least, it covered topics not taught in first year there 3rd year was a placement year so it was only.

Highers are not half A levels, just because they are done in a single year.

Which universities are the ancient ones? Glasgow, St Andrews and Edinburgh?

I stand corrected, I didn't check all of them, only the ones DS was keen on and was going on something half remembered from ages ago. It seems Aberdeen do and Glasgow does for social Sciences as well as Sciences . I haven't checked Edinburgh because the moral is that you need to double check if you are interested in that option because it isn't universal across all departments.

Aberdeen is an ancient university too.

It depends on the course that is chosen if the first year is 'easy'. DD did a joint degree in Stirling and she had a lot of course work to do in both her first and second years. She also had to take a module of a different subject and pass that - no skiving. She did get to pick the modules she studied for her course, within reason. She then went on to complete her MSC this year at the same university.

And yes, the original post did sound goady and sneery and so did some of the subsequent posts by others. You need to be more careful about how you word things. It is too easy to misunderstand on these boards.