St Andrews

[IthinkIsawahairbrushbackthere]

DD has received a very good offer from St Andrews. She loves the look of the course and is very keen to go there. Aside from the course she loves the idea of a small town, has no interest in nightlife as part of the "student experience" and loves the quirky traditions.

Does anyone have any experience of being there and the extra expenses that could be involved such as the extra cost of travel, formal dinners and the like?

We are a low income family in an economically deprived area. She is part of a very small 6th form - 12 in the Upper 6th. Her school is not in special measures but is holding on by the skin of its teeth! They are very keen for her to go to St Andrews but she is not going to be their responsibility!

We will support her as much as we possibly can but I am worried that it will be a lot more expensive than a less elite university.

Any thoughts?

Well that is nice. The accommodation website wouldn't let DD book a slot on Friday so she emailed them. They've replied confirming the slot she wants (as late as humanly possible) and offering transport from Glasgow or Edinburgh airport. We were originally going to fly into Dundee but this may make it easier all round.

We are all going, DD, DH and me. Because:
a) She is quite shy and socially nervous
b) She's our precious only child
c) DH has never really been to Scotland
d) This is the only opportunity I will have for a break/holiday all year.

Thanks @Newgirls - iPad still has me baffled!

And @slug - enjoy your trip. The weather up here is varied at the moment but it's still beautiful 😁

@slug that's good news and yes flying in to Glasgow or Edinburgh will be so much easier. I feel the uni are trying to make a very tricky situation a little less stressful. Hope you enjoy your trip to Scotland as Heff says the weather is variable but if you pack clothes for all seasons in one day you will be fine!

Thanks all. I'm from Wellington so I'm well versed in the 4 seasons in one day scenario.

@Heffapotamus on my desktop there is a bit at the top which says "My Mumsnet" which has a little tick (or similar) when you have a message.

I am sending you one as a test in case it helps.

I’m glad I’m not the only one who’s feeling a bit nervous. And then I look at the fb page and see all the Americans flying over n their own, and think I should get a grip!!
We’re “only” a 4-5 hr drive away.....
And yes, like a PP said my. DD is also worried about not making friends, and wondering if the people in her flat will like her.

I think the difference of coming from a gap year is that DS is less anxious and just desperate to get on with it. On the loneliness front, at least everybody is really good at zoom etc, so the DC can stay in touch with old friends in a way which would not have been possible in our day.

Can I pick your brains on the airport shuttle pls? Is the uni shuttle bus free for students and parent? How did you book?

Update - dd is in wardlaw so the wardrobe might be hers!! She is worried that it’s girls only and they will be separate from rest of university block. I think the dining room is same for all of university? Does anyone remember pls?

@Newgirls I was in Wardlaw in my first year! It has its own common room (with a beautiful grand piano!) but everything else is in the main building of University Hall- dining room, arts library, science library, formal dining etc. Wardlaw girls are very much part of the hall in exactly the same way, they'll spend most of their time in the Uni Hall common room or dining room (or the vodka bars, if they're still doing those!) There's actually three parts of Uni Hall- Old Wing, Lumsden and Wardlaw, and they're all pretty equal in terms of numbers, so there's certainly no feeling of Wardlaw being 'other.' Hope that helps and your DD has a wonderful time. St Andrews was the best years of my life.

Also I should say that in my year, the Senior Students and their team greeted each of us individually, showed us our room then promptly whisked us off to the common room. So don't be alarmed/upset if you don't get much time helping her to unpack etc before she wants to go and join in!

An hour after I arrived we were all being taught vital knowledge by the Senior Students (Uni Hall has two of them) such as the Uni Hall theme song and the rules of the AGV (don't ask!) I was a teenager who really struggled to approach new people and start new conversations, but the way they did it made it so easy to get to know people. Four of the people I met in that common room learning the Uni Hall chants are still my best friends today. I can't speak for all of the other halls, but lots of them are similar, especially the older more 'collegiate' ones (Sallies, Regs, Mackintosh).

MH just read that out to her and she’s grinning away! Thank you for the reassurance. I will try and prep myself for being abandoned every quickly - I need to stay there as no train or flight back til next day so will have to amuse myself! 😭

@Newgirls there was a post about the free shuttle on the FB page a couple of weeks ago. May be intended for Internationals, but I am sure they would not turn people away if they were running it for a particular flight and had space. Will link it if I can find it.

I think DS is in a boys' floor in Lumsden, but generally has a very mixed friendship group - has a GF, but likes female friends, so I am sure it won't just be the Wardlaw girls looking for friends outside the bubble.

Maybe you could PM the room number to the wardrobe poster so you can find out whether that is her room - sounds a bit of a stretch through. Very jealous of the castle experience!

I’ve just come across this thread. I went to St Andrews 45 years ago! 1975. Shared in Wardlaw, second floor, I think Room 25. Still besties with room mate and two others.

Accommodation was £50 a term. They were wonderful years. And my red gown was great as an extra blanket.

Is anyone on this group still waiting for accommodation offers? Quite a few reports coming in on the Parents of Students at St Andrews FB page of international freshers being told there is no more accommodation in halls. If anyone's sitting waiting, this might be a good time to get proactive .

I'm really feeling for some of the international parents who are sending their kids across the world and have just discovered the implications of all the extra UK students who made their A-level grades this year.

Shuttle booked 👍

Room number allocated 👍

Really nice to hear about sociable students and the fact that the floors are single sex anyway- that makes sense of course. Sounds like they have already stated to connect and dd has chatted to a few already!

Horrified at the us students not having rooms yet - what a worry for them. I am sure this is now happening across all unis and with such short notice too. Maybe trump will donate a hotel to them...

Yes, awful for the US students. It looks like the university is still guaranteeing accommodation to people who applied before 30th June, so these must be people who missed out on that, maybe the university are keeping back all accommodation from late applicants to fulfil their obligations to the guaranteed applicants. If so, that would mean that they will probably end up with spare accommodation once the remaining A level fallout settles, but probably is not enough when you are sending your DC over the Atlantic!

I think the small print on the accommodation guarantee does say that they don't absolutely guarantee a room in halls. So you might potentially be offered offered something in private accommodation but organised by the university. However, that's not made particularly obvious and it will have come as a big shock for parents who are oblivious of the whole A levels fiasco.

It looks like the student association is now actively helping stranded freshers find accommodation asap. I like the idea of Trump buying them a hotel!

The uni accom team really have their work cut out.

I know, I dont think theyre a big team and have probably been working at home juggling kids and then to be landed with this mess, not to mention some of the irate American parents from the facebook page raging about pokey shared rooms.

The shared room in pitch perfect looked very small. That’s the extent of my knowledge 😬

Ds was mildly taken aback to discover that he was exoected to sleep 2 feet away from his roomate in first year but in true British style it never occurred to us to complain and it was fine, apart from the time his roomate got astonishingly drunk and started to pee on DS2 while he slept!

Urghh! Did they remain friends after a year together?

One of the photos is of a DRA room which is meant for 1 with 2 single beds squeezed in and just the normal wardrobe to share. I would not be happy with that!

That room looked designed for 1 didn’t it?

Omg at the peeing 😳 hopefully it will motivate them all to work hard and be able to afford their own spaces one day!!

It was all fine, they're not friends exactly, different interests, but parted on good terms and DS2 thinks fondly of him. Their room was obviously designed as a single originally as it only had one set of fitted furniture and the beds were about 2 feet apart(his single room across the corridor last year was the same size) but they managed fine and it was a lot cheaper than the modern halls with ensuite bathrooms.