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?

[AChickenCalledDaal]

STEP results are on Aug 13th with the A level results. And she needs grade 1 in papers 2 and 3.

At the moment, it's looking more like a grade 2, but that potentially still puts her in the territory where Cambridge might squeeze her in. I think the middle of August is going to be very stressful, particularly if we have to wait for Cambridge to deliberate while the clock is ticking for the start of term at St Andrews. Eek.

[AChickenCalledDaal]

They may indeed Alittlewornout. She was pretty delighted to get a slightly reduced offer from St Andrews, which made it into a realistic insurance option. That was a nice surprise.

Goodness knows what kind of accommodation she'll end up with, though, especially if she is kept hanging on until the end of August!

[Monkey2001]

Urghhh, good luck to your DD Chicken. One "good" bit for your DD is that she will have a copy of her script and the mark schemes will probably be up on The Student Room within a couple of days or her maths teacher will probably be happy to look at it for her, so she should be able to get a reasonable feel for what her mark will be and therefore may have more certainty about which way it will go in August than she would have in a normal year. I expect STEP will matter more than A level results this year.

St Andrews don't allocate accommodation until offers are unconditional, so if there is any delay it will probably mean that she ends up in the expensive en suite accommodation - what did she choose?

[Monkey2001]

Nice to see St Andrews 3rd on the Complete University Guide rankings and, most importantly, top for student satisfaction, although that may be partly because, weirdly, Oxbridge don't have satisfaction scores.

www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/league-tables/rankings?sortby=student-satisfaction

Here is the maths table for the maths people - www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/league-tables/rankings/mathematics

[Alittlewornout]

Thanks @Monkey2001 for the links

[AChickenCalledDaal]

Lack of satisfaction scores can mean that not enough students responded to the survey. I read that in 2018, Oxford and Cambridge students boycotted the survey as a protest against the teaching excellence framework. Maybe that's still the case.

Nice to see satisfaction is so high at St Andrews, though.

[Monkey2001]

Are any of you still watching this thread? DS got his accommodation (he will be in University Hall, standard catered, so could not be better).

You might like to know that the way they are doing accommodation arrivals is that they are going to make slots available from 31st August to 13th September and entrants will book a slot to arrive. They have advised people against making travel plans too early (I may be glad that my travelodge booking is flexible).

I don't think anyone will want to arrive in the second week as they will miss orientation week. DS is torn on dates - arrive too early and you will be knocking around by yourself, arrive too late and everybody will have made friends and you will miss a load of social stuff. He is inclined to stick with the original date of 5th Sep if he can.

[Heffapotamus]

Glad some accommodation has come through - we're still waiting!

[Monkey2001]

@Heffapotamus he has been lucky enough to get a very early allocation, nobody on Student Room has said they have accommodation yet and they said they would start mid-July.

Has your DC got an unconditional offer?

[Alittlewornout]

@Monkey2001thats exciting news! Dd has unconditional but neither she nor her friends have heard yet. Think on various subject chats some students have been allocated Agnes Blackadder. Dd would love DRA as her brother was there and had a blast. We have said whatever hall you get you will love. Will need to look at the arrival dates we were originally thinking the 6th as freshers meant to start the 7th but not sure if there will be any fresher events?? I will keep my fingers crossed for some as things are changing all the time.

[Heffapotamus]

@Monkey2001 yes, he's a Scottish student so unconditional. Thank goodness with all the upheaval there's been this year!

[JBX2013]

Hi @IthinkIsawahairbrushbackthere !

I drove our daughter to St Andrews in 2016 for a specially arranged mini Open Day. Gorgeous place, cool even in mid-Summer and tiny, really tiny. Our daughter's main concern was that it was a 4 year course, rather than the usual 3 years in England. She wondered about her own stamina. It also means an extra year to fund.

Good luck to your daughter and to your family!

[SidSparrow]

I'm from a working class background, spent 4 years at St Andrews and hated it. It was when Prince William was there and it seemed to attract a certain type of student... It really wasn't for me. I wasn't exactly having an easy time of it in my personal life so no doubt this clouded my view. I did make some good friends but on the whole I thought I had very little in common with the other students. Most of them were from private schools, east coast american WASPS. It felt like people were there to network. I certainly felt like I was on a different wavelength.

After a while the small town feels smaller.

I do know people who loved it though! But personally I wish I'd gone to a city where there was a combination of different minds, different backgrounds, interests and things to do. Once in St Andrews your options are limited but in a city you can dip in and out of things to do.

[Monkey2001]

@Alittlewornout DRA should be a fairly safe choice as it is so big, but if course you have to keep your fingers crossed until it is confirmed! DS has not used FB for such a long time that he has forgotten his password, but maybe the will sort him on to join and meet some of his cohort.

[Alittlewornout]

Whitehorn hall has also allocated rooms apparently. No news yet for my dd but my bank balance is relieved she didnt get Whitehorn looks like it will be DRA. Hope we hear soon as I am off next week and could get started on the uni shopping! @Monkey my dd doesn't really use facebook either but has done for the chats. She is more lurking than joining in though as I think there are are some over keen beans on them.

[Heffapotamus]

Stewart Melville. Happy - his money will go further 😃

[Alittlewornout]

@Heffapotamus think you mean Andrew Melville, Stewart Melville is an Edinburgh school.😉 glad your ds got his choice. Still waiting.....

[Monkey2001]

Great news @Heffapotamus that was DS's second choice. Although the building is not everybody's cup of tea, it has recently been refurbished so the rooms are supposed to be nice, if compact, with the bonus of a small double bed, and it is very good value.

Did you manage to see the contract? DS said his phone could not open it because he did not have the right viewer, so he just accepted it anyway, which will be fine as we trust them, but in years gone by the room number was on the contract and it would be helpful to know whether he is in the old but (single beds) or the new bit (which I think is small doubles) so we can get a mattress topper.

[Heffapotamus]

Sorry yes, AM 😂

Haven't chatted about the contract - just happy for him

[Alittlewornout]

@Heffapotamus it's so exciting for them and it suddenly feels like it will happen after all the uncertainty over the last few months. What is your ds going to study? No problem if you dont want to say.

[Monkey2001]

@Heffapotamus we have realised that you can book your arrival slot now by doing the induction pages on the accommodation page, so if your DS wants to get a time that suits him best he can do that now, it does not take long.

One of the things I read somewhere about Andrew Melville was that there are lockers in the kitchen, but not enough for everybody so it is first come, first served. If he wants a locker, might be good to get an early slot and maybe you live close enough to drop him off to sort all his stuff and he can come back for a couple of days if it is too quiet.

DS just stuck with arrival on the 5th as we are coming a long way (420 miles). Hope it does not feel like arriving after the party has begun!

[ClaudeDuval]

thetab.com/uk/stand/2020/07/10/st-andrews-fraternity-suspends-members-following-allegations-of-sexual-assault-23004

Story also in the Telegraph but behind a paywall.

[slug]

Watching this as DD hasn't had any communication about accommodation yet.

[AChickenCalledDaal]

DD has St Andrews as insurance offer and the lack of any information so far is disconcerting. Good to hear about the revised arrival arrangements. It might actually suit her to book a later slot, if she goes there, as there is such a short period between A Level results and term starting. We don't want to do lots of shopping until we know what kind of accommodation she's in. Her firm choice is fully catered so no point buying loads of stuff if she then makes her grades!

[Monkey2001]

Chicken I think that for mathmos Cambridge might use STEP more heavily than A levels this year. One good thing about the college system is that each college has fairly small numbers so the review of results is very personal. Has your DD been able to get someone to look at her STEP and score it for her? I don't know whether the grade boundaries move much, but maths is less subjective to mark than a lot of subjects.