St Andrews into 2021 (new thread)

[Newgirls]

Ok can’t think of a catchier title! If anyone can send the other thread over here pls do!

Prospective and existing parents etc all welcome here. Transport, accom, cloaks, choirs, beaches and more to be discussed. Next year will be better surely!

Hi 👋 what a pain about the accom. I am sure they have tried everything I can think of.

dd staying in hall - nearly rented with friends then was horrified at the cost so is staying put. We will have this issue next year I am sure as I think she will want to move out by then!

On a more positive note she is having a great time up there and is coming home at the last possible date! Mostly due to drama productions I think.

i can’t believe the strike action now looming - they never get a break this cohort do they

Glad to hear your DD is sorted @Newgirls and that she likes Uni Hall enough to stay for a third year. It is the final year in St Andrews for my DS, so he wanted that flat share experience. Yes, the strike action is another blow.

Where does he go to continue his medicine degree monkey? Is it Edinburgh? Hasn’t it flown by?

two more years for dd. She thought about a year abroad (y3) but is now thinking afterwards to get her full St. Andrews experience

More houses will surely come on the market now won’t they? As students will have them booked til I guess July?

fingers crossed

@SayYouDontMind Several of my DD's friends have jobs in St A. Waiting tables, mostly. Lots of debate about which gigs get you the best tips from rich American golfers.
@Monkey2001 Oh no! Bad luck for Preston. But I'm sure he'll find a way to make it work. If Covid's done one thing for them all, it's made them more resilient and able to roll with the punches.

Thanks to Monkey and 9265abc and DoggerelBank for all the invaluable info and advice. My DS is accepting his Unconditional offer from St As so we can finally get the accommodation application in and student finance process underway.

Initially Gannochy looked appealing (self-catered standard) from the financial angle but we loved McIntosh Halls when we visited so will probably put Standard Catered as our 1st option and hope we get it. I know it's in the lap of the Gods. Do the subjects you're studying have any bearing on where they put you?

Anyway thanks again - good luck to all your offspring as they continue their journeys at St As. So glad my DS will be beginning his own journey there this September.

I think DD put Macintosh down and got Uni Hall but that has worked out well. It’s sociable, nice rooms, looks like a castle. Your student can’t go wrong really - it’s all great 👍

Hi one for the St Andrew faithful out there.

Dd (just completing first year) hasn’t found accommodation yet but needs to find somewhere to store her stuff as AMH needs her to vacate her room by this Sat. Anyone used a trustable, cheap storage firm? She has found St Storage.com but they charge £15 for a box 30cm x 30cm x 50cm. It delivers and collects the boxes but that size barely takes 2 raincoats! Any advice appreciated.

@NadiSel someone asked whether people could store stuff and had some responses on the Get A Room FB site www.facebook.com/groups/StAndrewsHousing

@Monkey2001 nothing there but thank you

@NadiSel it was this one

I don’t want to hijack the thread, but I also don’t want to start a second St A’s thread for new starters…

….I want to ask, have any of your DC with conditional offers at St A’s had any further information/admin to do beyond firming St As on UCAS, indicating a preference for halls, and applying for financial aid?

I find myself twitchy, feeling like we might have missed something. DD1 is handling everything and rightly wants me to butt out. 😳 But I still fret.

@Stockpot I don't think there is anything to do until offer turns unconditional. Accommodation is usually a last minute scramble as they don't allocate until after results day. At that point your DD needs to keep an eye on her St Andrews email account so she does not miss the offer of accom.

So just focus on securing the grades!

I do remember it all felt very last minute after grades came out especially as they start weeks before the English unis. But it all worked out.

by all means this thread should be for new families and anyone who finds it useful 👍

Thank you! It looks like she can’t create a St A’s email account until after A-level grades are secured which makes sense. I do worry about emails getting lost.

3 exams down, 6 more to go. She is so keen.

@Stockpot i was thinking what a scramble it must be for the English kids. Only 2-3 weeks between results and starting term. I’m sure I didn’t start in Edinburgh till mid October. So must have had 2 months between results.

For those who came with unconditional offers when do accommodation offers start coming through? I’d heard July and May being mentioned

DS had an unconditional offer for 2020 start. He had to apply for accom by 30th June and I think it was allocated to him mid July. In his year they didn't allocated any accom until they had all the applications in as they divided the accom types for each batch of allocations according to demand. So if they have 30% conditional on A level grades they reserve 30% of each accom type for the August allocation. It is not "first come, first served".

@Monkey2001 thanks that’s helpful.

@reusername I think you might be looking for this thread?

Thanks @Stockpot I finally found it. Shall we start looking for Yr 2 accommodation now??😆

Newbies might want to know that the uni is building more accom which I think is ready for next year? Lots of student stay in uni accom as they own so much of the town. So it should get easier

Does Student Accommodation pay attention to room share requests? My DS put a friends name down as someone he would be happy to share with. I wondered if they take that into consideration or whether they like to mix things up.

I think they’d be happy to agree to that. They don’t want people unhappy and moving so that’s an easy win for them