Anyone heard back from St Andrews?

[VorpalSword]

DD has 4 offers in but hasn’t heard back from St Andrews yet apart from the ‘we have received your application’ way back.

Any other English applicants (I know it might be different for Scottish students) got an offer or rejection yet?

DS just heard he’s been offered an unconditional place for IR / History joint. So pleased as really wasn’t expecting it.

@Eightytwenty Congratulations that's brilliant.

@Aurea "I'm not sure it's quite correct though about Scottish students having priority." The departmental head was clear on the open day Zoom that they take 50% Scottish applicants, then 30% overseas and then 20% RUK. Whether the 50% is a fair ratio to the number of applicants I do not know. Thanks I hope they all thrive wherever they end up on results day.

Sympathy @Chewbecca. DS is pretty much over it already and I hope your DS grows to love which one he chooses to firm.

Thanks @EwwSprouts! That is my understanding of the funding impact.

Still waiting to hear. DC has applied for computer science and it is v v v unlikely he will get an offer. He has offers from others including Birmingham and exeter and would be very happy to go there.

Would just quite like to know really. He is also taking a gap year which may count against him.

Congratulations and also commiserations. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for all the DC still waiting for good news.

DS just got unconditional offer for St Andrew’s for Economics and Philosophy. Now all he’s waiting for is to see whether he gets an offer for PPE at Edinburgh - if he does, he’s got a tough decision to make but either way he’s happy

(BTW he’s a Scottish, state school applicant with 5 grade A Highers and predicted 3 As at Advanced Highers plus an additional predicted A at another Higher.)

DS's friend
Offer from St A
In December

Meant to add- England

This might be helpful based on what I learned yesterday.

I talked to the St A accommodation office yesterday.

• you can apply from 15 March if you confirm your place
• you can apply up to end of June
• there is no advantage in applying early
• they batch offers in waves so will allocate x% of types of accommodation per wave
• it seems (though this wasn’t confirmed) that you can’t request a specific hall just a type of accommodation - eg en-suite catered (not us too expensive!).

Thanks @Eightytwenty that is good to know.

Its just the knock on effect of St Andrews (and other Uni’s dragging their heels announcing offers) and how this might limit accommodation choices and availability at other Universities some of whom opened their accommodation portals on a first come first served basis weeks ago!!!

I know in theory first years are guaranteed rooms in halls in the first year of a course but certainly last year the Uni accommodation offered wasn’t necessarily based in the town or at the University they applied to thus changing and deadening the University experience for some students.

I’d hope that was down to the circumstances last year which might be a little mitigated this year. But agree first year in Dundee is a rather different experience.

Yes but it wasn’t just St Andrews affected. I believe some York first year students ended up in Leeds and Hull and some Durham students were also shunted out to another city etc etc.

This was the system last year I think, DS requested self catered shared bathroom but got self catered en-suite, was happy with that and has actually got same place for second year

And I will add that DS doesn’t know of any freshers that got Dundee last year (not that’s its scientific research!)

DS is a current 2nd year. You request a type of accommodation rather than specific halls. They can be pretty slow in sending accommodation offers out after A level results - they send them in batches over approx 10 days. With an early start date this sometimes doesn’t leave much time to get ready!
This year for returners accommodation they had over 1000 more than usual applicants. Many have been disappointed and are unable to afford the alternative offers or high rents in St Andrews so unfortunately for many Dundee is the only alternative. The lack of affordable accommodation is not highlighted at open days and Uni student ambassadors are allegedly not allowed to mention it!
My son loves it there and is very happy but accommodation is a nightmare!

For Context www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/fife/3090581/st-andrews-university-housing-crisis/

@Dahliafairy don’t suppose you know what average rates are like pp? Is it a problem with finding accommodation as well as paying for it?

Right in the centre it’s not unusual to see rents of £900-£1000+ per person per month! You can get more affordable accommodation on the outskirts but the real issue is finding the accommodation in the first place as there is a real shortage. New listings are snapped up in minutes. My son and his friends tried to get a private flat last year but were unsuccessful at every attempt despite great references etc. They were incredibly fortunate to get a place in Uni accommodation via the ballot for their 2nd year and amazingly have secured the same for their third year but many of their friends have not been so lucky and are scrambling for places.
It is a magical place but for students who don’t have an unlimited budget, finding accommodation can be extremely stressful.

Yes, DS would only receive the minimum loan so we would have to top up his funding and it will be a struggle in subsequent years if accommodation rents are through the roof. St Andrews is such a lovely place and I could see DS very happy up there but we I think we might be struggling to support him.

Yes there is a bun fight every year for accommodation but somehow ( until this year perhaps) it all worked out. My dd is in a private let with 2 others and pays just over 600 ponds per month without bills. We fully expect this to increase. They are hoping to hang on to it until there time at uni ends. It means we are paying for 12 months but we will use it for a weeks holiday on the summer as will the other girls families. Aware we are very very fortunate to be able to do this.

Thanks for sharing. It sounds quite stressful and very expensive. I understand Durham quite similar.

I just wanted to add something to @Eightytwenty's helpful summary.

If you're a conditional applicant, then your accommodation request isn't looked at until you become unconditional ie after A level results. That means, I'm surmising, that RUK students are behind Scottish students, international students and those on a gap year. So, also surmising, they'll be most likely to end up in Dundee.

However, I'm very much hoping that Dundee was an anomaly due to last two years of chaos.

@Valleyofthedollymix I don’t think so based on how it was explained to me yesterday. I think they allocate a % of accom per batch/ wave.

For example
Wave 1 - June
100 unconditionals allocated 10% of accom across 4 different types
Wave 2 - July
100 unconditionals allocated 10% of accom across 4 different types
Wave 3 - August post results
200 800 unconditionals allocated 80% of accom across 4 different types

That is my interpretation though so best check with them. They were very helpful and easy to get through to.

In 2020, my son received his accommodation offer on the 26th Aug and was one of the last batches to be sent out. He still got his first choice of standard catered though so I think they do allocate it as fairly as they can for those waiting for results. His friend got hers 2 days after A levels - they seemed to start with the largest halls and work through to the smallest.