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?

St Pancras is deserted with some cafes closed. It’s very open too with plenty of air coming through so I wouldn’t worry about that one. Tubes - busy at key times but not compared to usual and loads of taxis as they are keen for work. Certainly no pressure to do any of that but I can’t see it being anywhere as busy as usual even in Dec

@Newgirls did your DD go back to St A or is she with you for lock down?

Universities minister on R4 this morning saying that they want students to go home between 3rd and 9th Dec. DS wants to do his exams on 8th and 10rh in St A, so not sure what will happen. Hopeful we will hear the Scottish perspective today.

Hopeful that the availability of the vaccine will make the second semester much more normal, although I don't think students will get it.

She’s home with us monkey and as it’s all online for her, no reason (and prob against covid rules) to go back before start of next term. She seems happy enough doing endless online lectures and there are a few home pals around now.

I hope uni staff concerned about covid get the vaccine - that should help everyone.

Hello all, I’ve been following this thread as I went to St Andrews 45 years ago as a medical student. It was the best three years of my life.
However, I am having a bit of a clear out and I found my beloved scarf. I haven’t worn it for forty years but it is in perfect condition. I have no idea if students still wear these.
I just don’t want to put it in textile recycling or the Surrey charity shop!

It’s pure wool and I have just unpinned the dry cleaning label from years ago.

If any of you would like it for gratis, please just message me and I will post it.

I sold my red gown many years ago, I hope it’s still in circulation!

I’ve messaged you soosan that’s so kind and might help cheer up my at home student 👩‍🎓 but also don’t worry if already sorted x

www.standrewsuniversitystore.com/Products/UNIVERSITY-SCARVES

We experienced one of the few positive aspects of all this corona virus stuff last night as we were able to live stream compline from the chapel where DS had a solo

I really doubt uni staff will be offered a vaccine earlier. It will follow the nationwide guidance for who will be offered first. My husband is a lecturer and I also work within HE/FE at another institution and we've not heard anything about vaccinations. I think it will be the age, health conditions, essential workers/NHS (which we are not, HE is not the same as school education for essential)

Well done monkeys son! Solo in term 1! 🎉

My vaccine comment was thinking about the uni staff who are unable to teach f2f due to covid concerns so those I guess will come under general health concerns. It would be nice to have more f2f next year / my student hasn’t met anyone from her course yet!

It's partly due to the rule that no face to face teaching can be done if the class size is about a certain number... my husbands course has over 60 students in it so he has no choice but to deliver virtually.

@Newgirls all the music is solo at the moment as it is so difficult to sing together within the rules. He is missing the ensemble singing, but it is great for developing confidence.

Re order of vaccines, the vulnerable will be done first. Here is the complete list from govt website:

1 - older adults’ resident in a care home and care home workers
2 - all those 80 years of age and over and health and social care workers
3 - all those 75 years of age and over
4 - all those 70 years of age and over
5 - all those 65 years of age and over
6 - high-risk adults under 65 years of age
7 - moderate-risk adults under 65 years of age
8 - all those 60 years of age and over
9 - all those 55 years of age and over
10 - all those 50 years of age and over
11 - rest of the population (priority to be determined)

But people will be less concerned about the consequences of the virus spreading once the most vulnerable have been vaccinated, so things may relax a bit.

That looks very sensible to me monkey both vaccine order and solo singing!

My dd course is quite small and tutor groups very small - regular posters on here will know my frustrations. Hopefully things will improve next year all round.

She has just got a reasonable refund for not using catering for rest of term which shows great flexibility by the uni 👍

Well done @Monkey2001 DS. That must be pretty scary - singing solo. Unless he’s used to it?

@Newgirls that’s really positive that they’re being flexible about the catering costs.

When are your DC coming home for Christmas? DD and her flatmate are staying until they’ve done their exams. So we’ll be picking her up after 16th. Seems ages away!

Is anyone looking for accommodation for next year? There’s a couple of posts about it on the FB parent’s page. But they all seem ridiculously wealthy, so I think their idea of a reasonable rent is slightly different to mine!

My dd wants to stay in halls if she can. It seems so early to think about renting but if your student has a group ready to look, why not!

We saw a few students walking from the other side of late braes so I think that’s normal and much cheaper. Nowhere is very far really is it?

My DS would also like to stay in hall, but I am worried there will be a lot of competition for places. Which hall does your DD want to be in @Newgirls?

@Monkey2001 I wouldn't worry too much, ds knows students who have spent their whole time at uni in halls. The bun fight for student houses in town starts about the end if January but it would appear that they all end up somewhere. Ds has always secured a shared house within his budget.
And you are right no where is far in St A.

Thanks @Alittlewornout, I know that usually all the students who want to stay in hall can, if not necessarily the hall they want, but this year could be different as most of the first years have not really had a chance to meet the right flatmates. They are also a very big year, so there will be greater pressure on all types of accommodation than usual. I assume they may need to give priority to students who did their first year remotely and have not had a chance to get to know the town or flatmates.

I am stressed about it monkey but dd doesn’t seem to be. I think she’d stay in same place.

I hope little is right. Maybe the uni will do things differently and leave space for 1 years and pos 2 years? Older students won’t be able to book? We shall see. It will be worrying if they have to go to Dundee or elsewhere - how likely is they do we think?!

I haven't even asked DD what she's thinking about next year's accommodation yet. I can foresee her wanting to stay in halls rather than deal with the stress of finding housemates etc, although she has apparently accumulated some actual, real life friends recently, so who knows. I get the impression quite a few of the private rentals are quite small, so maybe you only need to find one or two people to share with.

At the moment, I'm mainly feeling very torn about the pros and cons of her travelling by train or us going up to get her. She wants to stay till after 18/12, so that she's certain to be able to do all her exams in St A's. That last few weeks before Xmas are going to be stressful.

Hope everyone is keeping well! DS is hoping to get a house with friends. He seems laidback about it at the moment but I’ve said he needs to do some research over the holidays and be on the ball when he gets back. He’s very lucky in that he has made some really good friends in halls.
He’s hoping to return home around the 12th. Most of his friends from halls will have gone by then. He’ll do 2 exams there and one at home. I think we’ll drive and get him. He’s looking forward to relaxing over Christmas- says he’s never worked as hard!

It does seem to be a lot of work! How would they have fit it all in this if social lives had been normal?!

@Newgirls That’s exactly what my DS said! No idea how students would have a social life and fit all the work in! I do worry he’s working too hard sometimes but I suppose there’s not much else to do at the moment!

Dd is exactly same work wise but is fitting in a bit of socialising, within the restrictions ofcourse. They made a full Christmas/ Thanksgiving dinner in their Kitchen on Thursday as one of their household was flying back to the U S. It looked delicious! And I think after studying they sometimes walk into town to get a Janettas as it is open for take out til 10 I think. Mind you not sure I fancy an ice cream in November!!