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?

Good idea and they can still explore Edinburgh. Plenty to do and very quiet. Our St. Andrews air B and B is very reasonable too if anyone thinking of going.

@Monkey2001 the situation is a little more complex than it first appeared. I cant really go into to details as may be outing to someone else. Sorry to be cryptic!! However they are all fine and something good has actually come out of it.

Sounds better than it was @Alittlewornout

@Monkey2001 sent you a DM.

Have you all seen the e-mail shared on FB about the results of the survey on student option on return to in-person teaching. I was surprised to see how many students think the in-person teaching is starting too early. @Newgirls Psychology and Neuroscience students seem particularly reluctant to go F2F!

Detailed report is here - drive.google.com/file/d/1zXeh8jvOr7svyrKPuN4vU2UoRdG2WOdg/view?fbclid=IwAR0fRC1q7Ym20NdF2c5ILKBMXFDxb-F1r3k1l0_3tVrcuw2xchnoFhjkOME

Hadn’t seen that! Good work monkey!

Typical about the neuroscientists! Why on earth don’t they want to go into that gorgeous building?!! Perhaps their prof has been influential!

That sounds positive @Alittlewornout

I’ve just got back from St Andrews, it was busy as usual. It was so lovely seeing DD

We are in St. Andrews visiting at the moment! It’s so pretty exploring the beaches and old streets. Loved the lade brae walk. Feels strange that the cinema and restaurants are closed (after 6) when figs are so low but dd doesn’t seem too worried about that. I saw the big tents but nothing happening during the day when we walked past of course. Hope more happens in the evenings. A lovely place but very sleepy of course!

@Newgirls glad you are having a lively time with your dd, St Andrew's is such a lovely place.
We were up last week and so pleased we did as Ds heard he was successful in obtaining a graduate job for next September!! We had lunch at the old course to celebrate. The views were amazing there and looks like they do a lively afternoon tea too.
I have to say we had an equally lovely lunch at the local student haunt of the toastie shack. Would def reccomend the famous macaroni cheese toastie, it's a lovely walk out to it. Hope you enjoy the rest of your visit bet your dd was so delighted to see you.

Oh she mentioned the toastie! We saw the shack but had only just eaten breakfast! Will return for that.

Congrats on the job! Did you go to the huge red/brown building by the course?

@Newgirls yes that's the building and def get the toastie next time you are there, I was skeptical but it was delicious!! Ds is obviously delighted and takes the pressure off, he can just concentrate on 4th year now.

Congratulations @Alittlewornout, he did well to get a job now. A friend's son who graduated this year said that several of his friends lost their grad scheme places when the virus hit, so the competition was even tougher than usual this year with strong graduated from last year in the mix.

@Newgirls glad you had some time up there, had your DD decided to stay there or is she coming come?

We had a family zoom and DS talked about how much he loves St A as a place, walking around it is so lovely and he likes seeing people he knows in the streets. I don't think he would come home early even if his teaching was all on line. I can only imagine how wonderful it would be if there was no virus!

She has to come back for a funeral in Nov and then will decide whether to stay home. So still in two minds! She does like the town very much though which is great.

Has anyone’s student been in the tents yet? Hopefully there will be more cocktail events soon 🍹

There is a lovely penthouse flat for sale in St. Andrews if you are bored and want to look on rightmove. It has a turret and a huge roof terrace with amazing views. What a place to live!

@Newgirls maybe we should all club together, looks amazing!
@Monkey2001 thanks for the good wishes re the job. He is very very relieved as was well aware of the situation you describe. He kind of always underestimates himself and I think was worried no one would want him. I know I am his mum but he is a truly amazing young man and he got such lovely feedback from this company about his performance throughout the process so that was good for him to hear.

We went over to the Dundee v&a today which was very swish. For such a huge building there wasn’t a huge amount in there but the design section was excellent. Seems a long way to commute to St. Andrews for students however - I wonder how the students placed there have got on.

DD and her flatmate have had to isolate this week as had some symptoms. The university have been great: lots of food provided, in fact almost too much for them. But that’s much better than what I’ve heard about other places. And it wasn’t just pot noodles! Hot meals that the had to eat within the hour.
Luckily they’ve both had negative tests. Which is a relief.
It’s been weird not being able to make sure she’s ok (I appreciate I’m a worrier).

That’s positive to hear - sounds like they are more able to cope now than during the USA students august isolation

Anyone made it to the cocktails yet?!

DS had to isolate 10 days ago for a neighbour's test which was negative. We had his GF here for dinner and he was hungry after a packed meal left outside his door, so we were all sad for him. I sent him a big parcel after that enclosing a sealed box to be opened when he next has to isolate, snacks to stash away for when he needs them and a couple of plastic plants from IKEA to replace the real ones which have failed to thrive! The Poinsettia looks very realistic, but I always think Poinsettias have quite an artificial look when real.

I was thinking about what this time of year would normally be like at St A with balls and concerts. He took his DJ with him in September but sadly not needed. Luckily he loves the course and town and does not know the full extent of what he is missing - maybe that bit is harder for older years, although they at least had a chance to build solid friendships.

Sorry to hear about the students needing to isolate, it's so hard on them all.
You are right Monkey2001 this term is usually full of balls and other social activities. Dd is still making the most of what she can do, being able to do her beloved ballet has made such a huge difference to her mentally.
Its DS in 4th year I will need to keep an eye on I think. He was quite low yesterday which is so not like him, he has always been so positive and happy. I think it's the sameness of everyday that we are all feeling, that is getting to him. Hoping we might get up next week if we get moved to tier 2 taking him out for a meal always makes him happy

Interesting about the testing 30 nov to 6 Dec with students who are negative being able to return. Wonder how this will play out at St. Andrews. Also discouraged from using public transport which might be tricky.

Will uni staff get vaccines next year? If over 50 I guess so. That would really help a return to normality. I guess students themselves won’t as low risk.

I think we're expecting a statement from Nicola Sturgeon tomorrow on Scottish unis.

DD wants to stay in St A's until her last exam, which isn't till 14/12. So today's announcements for English unis make no sense for her.

Already planning that we'll probably drive up and get her, mainly so as to minimise the risk that she picks something up in one of the three major railway stations she needs to pass through in order to get home. Also LNER seem reluctant to commit to actually running any specific trains in December, which is quite stressful!

We'll probably make her get the train back in Jan though ... assuming they are going back .

Yes it will be different for Scottish uni students interesting

When I went through edin station couple of weeks ago it was so quiet with lots of one way and line markings everywhere. Having to prebook tic should mean they can control numbers in the stations. So personally I would think trains fairly safe but I guess the daily fail would have a field day if even one station looked busy.

That's interesting about the station Newgirls. She'd have to come through Edinburgh, plus two London terminals and the tube, which makes me nervous. But perhaps I should speak to some people that have actually been through London recently, instead of making assumptions!

I think trains are very safe at the moment - they are so empty! DH is going from Bristol to Edinburgh next week for work, so can update but I have a friend who is a train driver and in the last lockdown he drove 2 trains from Plymouth to Bristol without a single passenger! The train operating companies are restricting numbers so tightly that there are only a few people in each carriage. I think trains are much safer than planes with their recirculated air.