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?

So nice to hear everyone is finding their feet and settling in. DS seems to be doing ok - has tried some sports sessions, been for plenty of walks and went out for dinner with his flat mates last night. I’ve advised him to investigate the laundry room over the weekend!

@Monkey2001 that's fab news! Dd has met a lovely group in her corridor and they have all gelled. I felt a wee bit emotional with the new rules thing and she phoned me for clarity as they were a bit confused. Her response was well mum I understand and you know it could be worse at we all just feel lucky to be here. Now that made me cry because these wee souls have given up so much this year and not once complained. They are all incredible in mu eyes and I am mad all the blame for the rising figures is placed at their door.

Are they allowed in each other’s halls?! He might want to be quiet on that one!

Glad they are finding pals and socialising. Next week should be even better when they have actual work to do and coursemates to meet.

According to DD, AMH common room is open but with a limit of eight people. Unless that's changed. Don't think I've seen anything saying guests aren't allowed. They are being very strict on masks in all common areas.

Dining hall has a capacity of 51, for a hall with 277 rooms, so the queue to get in is apparently very long and snaking down the stairs. But at least that means they have plenty of time for meeting new people at mealtimes!

Yes big queues at university too but dd doesn’t seem to mind too much as they chat

I just assumed with the accom bubbles they were meant to stay in their own. But I have no idea of what students have been told.

Glad to hear that lots of your DC are settling in well. I think it was lucky that they had a week to meet people before the restrictions got tighter. It is tough for people arriving in places like Birmingham today, which has particularly strong restrictions. It is also lucky that they are in a place where it is very easy to encounter other students in the absence of student events - people in cities can't just spill out onto the beach even if permitted by the numbers.

@Newgirls the Scottish rule is that 2 households can meet if there are fewer than 6 in total, DS hates breaking rules, so I am assuming the university are following that route. It would be really tough to say that people can only mix with their own bubble, particularly when they have a single sex bubble and are used to a big and varied friendship group.

I guess depends on households - a floor, part of floor, a hall? Who knows? If someone wanders in from another floor? I’m sure most are being very sensible and
I’m very pro socialising.

I was following the St. Andrews community fb page and there is a grumpy post about students on beach again so I’ve unfollowed it. I felt like posting ‘university has been there for hundreds of years, when did you move there’ but resisted...

Dd reports that she doesn’t have any live tutorials or labs til week 9! Is that what other students are saying? I thought it was all starting between 3 and 7?

@Newgirls gosh that's quite a long time. Dd had an email from the maths department to say tutorials starting week 3. She actually had a couple of online lectures last week and work to complete. If it's any consolation she said the content and format etc was excellent, so feels whatever happens it will be ok. What subject is your dd doing? No problem if you dont want to say.

@Newgirls sorry to hear that. How is she feeling about being there?

DS knows that medics are lucky. They had a face to face clinical skills session on Thursday and they have a dissection class next week.

DD says Maths, Physics and Astronomy are all proposing some variety of face to face contact from week 3. They are in the process of allocating students to tutorial/lab groups.

Although I guess there is still a risk that might change over the next fortnight if cases carry on rising .

Hi gang - she’s doing neuroscience. So I think was expecting some live tutorials or practicals. She only got the timetable yesterday so perhaps some problems with rooms? I don’t know. She might well be wrong or it’s a bit rubbish no sure!

Wasn't neuroscience one of the areas picked out for excellence in the recent rankings?

Yes St. Andrews came out top for it 👍 (Oxbridge don’t do it at undergrad level)

Are any of you doing the Bejant family event this afternoon?

Thank you for mentioning that Monkey We are booked in but I'd completely forgotten about it!

@AChickenCalledDaal

Thank you for mentioning that Monkey We are booked in but I'd completely forgotten about it!

Oops haven't signed up might try now

Completely missed that! Any top gossip?

Some of it was good, although I felt they glossed over the things which had not gone well this year and came across as a bit smug.

A parent from Wardlaw said it was impossible for their daughter to study online from a triple room. That must be a problem, I think they should have prioritised quiet study space for people sharing rooms, they just said that library spaces would be available. Has it been a problem for your DD @Newgirls?

There were questions about how students were made to feel welcome, absence of welcome packs. They said everybody had a welcome pack delivered by the wardenial team, and that the wardens made an effort to engage with all students with the social distance rules. My DS said that there was a bag with some masks and a card left on his door which is not quite the same thing! Luckily he has managed to find people to talk to, but I do not think the university has made it easy for shy people, students have had to be proactive to meet people.

Somebody asked whether students could go away for raisin week and it did not sound good. DS has said he would like to come home that week, but they said that it is supposed to be a week of time for reflection on your learning and not a holiday, but that if Covid is looking worse than now, it is likely that students will be discouraged from going away. I can see the logic, but it will be disappointing for many.

I think it was worth 1.5 hours of a Sunday afternoon, but I don't feel much better informed.

On the academic side, they said that their plan is that the week after raisin week all the small group stuff which they had planned to deliver on line from the start of term should be face-to-face. I think that is anything in a group of less than 35 unless the member of staff is isolating.

I saw a BBC interview of an academic from Psychology and Neuroscience who is a member of SAGE where he said he did not think people should be going back to work unless absolutely necessary (Prof Stephen Reicher). That may be part of the reason why Neuroscience are looking like one of the later ones to go back.

Oh very useful thanks. Dd is fortunate with quiet study as her roommate seems compatible.

Interesting about the neuroscience prof - Prob blocking it. Prob best I wasn’t on the meeting 😡

Dd planning to come back during reading/raisin week. Hard to argue against it if all online. Shall see how that plays out...

Does sound like neuroscience may not be no1 next year 🙄 I guess the profs get paid anyway - who cares if the students aren’t happy/leave.

I think the raisin week issue is that if it is under control in St A but people go home to places with higher rates of cases, they may come back with it.