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Higher education

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Original poster

Anyone heard back from St Andrews?

170 replies

VorpalSword · 12/02/2022 19:02

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?

OP posts:
Darbs76 · 17/03/2022 20:53

@Bellie99 - I’m sorry, it’s so tough when they work so hard to achieve those kinds of predictions. My son was devastated when he didn’t get an interview for Oxford. But he did manage to dust himself down and move on and I’m sure your daughter will too. It is so hard for them

Wordlewobble · 18/03/2022 06:37

Sorry to hear that @Bellie99 which course was it for and where are her other choices or could/would she take a year out?

Eightytwenty · 18/03/2022 07:25

@Bellie99 it seems super rough when those grades are so high. I know of a 4A* predicted/ achieved from last year who also didn’t get in. Lots of speculation about what they and other competitive universities are looking for but I guess we will never know. Sounds like there are good alternatives and hope Durham hurry up.

Bellie99 · 18/03/2022 07:44

Thanks all. She's picked up a bit but you can see it has knocked her. I think if Durham doesn't happen either Warwick would be her choice. Which is an excellent uni. She is looking for English Lit and Spanish so it's not a large intake anywhere so it was always going to be a tough one.

Newgirls · 18/03/2022 08:02

St Andrews is tiny and the course intake reflects that.

She has great places to go to - Exeter is a gorgeous campus and not far from the sea. All good options.

Alittlewornout · 18/03/2022 09:02

Sorry to hear of your dds disappointment @Bellie99 it is so hard for them and us as parents. She has fab universities to choose from and I will keep my fingers crossed for Durham.

Igglepigglesblankie · 18/03/2022 10:38

@bellie99 so sorry to hear that. Very disappointing for her especially as her application was so strong…I don’t think anyone really knows what St Andrews is looking for which is what makes it quite frustratingly. She has some great offers on the table though so the future is still very bright.

Bellie99 · 18/03/2022 13:28

Thank you all again. @Igglepigglesblankie that's the really gutting part for DD. She wouldn't have applied if her grades were not at the level. Funnily enough on the spread of courses suggested by school Durham was seen as the stretch at 2A * and an A with St Andrews as 'safe' at 3A's.
Danger of small uni I guess and the continued impact of Covid with deferrals etc.
I think she will ask for feedback, but not holding out much hope for anything other than standard.
Good luck for all those that are waiting still

Igglepigglesblankie · 18/03/2022 15:48

I was just talking to another parent who told me that apparently the IK government put in place a cap on the number of U.K. students (outside of Scotland) that could be taken by Scottish universities. Apparently this started with 2021 entry. So with the number of deferrals from last year there simply aren’t enough places for English/welsh/Irish applicants. I did a quick Google search and this does seem to be the case….apparently the Scottish universities are annoyed as it means they have to turn down excellent candidates. There is also the double whammy of having to hit other targets in terms of diversity numbers. This might explain why there are so many RUK rejections with perfect grades. Doesn’t bode well for St. Andrews and other Scottish universities in the long run though….

Igglepigglesblankie · 18/03/2022 15:48

Meant to say “U.K. “ government, not IK

Stockpot · 18/03/2022 16:45

Lots of fantastic universities have their numbers capped across the uk. It makes it harder and harder to get in, and the selection more and more random. It’s not just Oxbridge turning down “perfect” candidates.

Eightytwenty · 18/03/2022 17:42

I didn’t know about that - but found this which shows that it’s a numbers game - U.K. government decision - adversely impacting RUK coming to Scotland due to the lower numbers to start with.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-52884134.amp

Bellie99 · 18/03/2022 18:16

Wow. Hadn't appreciated that either! Thank you. Whilst not a great system, may help soften the blow that it's not a true reflection of dd.

Darbs76 · 18/03/2022 18:42

@Igglepigglesblankie - that’s interesting. I think it’s probably a combination of gaps, covid, deferrals etc. I read the other day that St A was the hardest Uni to get into (it said possibly the world) with an acceptable rate of 8%. Not sure if that’s true.

Newgirls · 19/03/2022 18:09

[quote Darbs76]@Igglepigglesblankie - that’s interesting. I think it’s probably a combination of gaps, covid, deferrals etc. I read the other day that St A was the hardest Uni to get into (it said possibly the world) with an acceptable rate of 8%. Not sure if that’s true.[/quote]
I’d heard that too. I think lots apply because they don’t interview (compared to oxbridge of course) plus it’s tiny so I can well believe that %

vinho · 20/03/2022 07:40

Don’t forget though that the ‘acceptance rate’ is very different to the ‘offer rate’. Courses will (to a greater or lesser extent) over-offering to fill the amount of places they have a sometimes by 5 times or more. They have to because they know students are applying to 5 unis and not all will take up a St As offer. International students may not even be sure they want to come to the U.K. at all, but would have applied to keep this option open. This is what I found when one of mine applied to LSE - they published their acceptance rate and it was something like 8%. I thought “ no chance” Grin. But then, I googled and hound an FOI request showing that the “offer rate” was more like 40%. It was just that only 8% of total applicants actually ended up going there. The acceptance rate is how many choose to go to an institution.

Newgirls · 20/03/2022 09:08

@vinho

Don’t forget though that the ‘acceptance rate’ is very different to the ‘offer rate’. Courses will (to a greater or lesser extent) over-offering to fill the amount of places they have a sometimes by 5 times or more. They have to because they know students are applying to 5 unis and not all will take up a St As offer. International students may not even be sure they want to come to the U.K. at all, but would have applied to keep this option open. This is what I found when one of mine applied to LSE - they published their acceptance rate and it was something like 8%. I thought “ no chance” Grin. But then, I googled and hound an FOI request showing that the “offer rate” was more like 40%. It was just that only 8% of total applicants actually ended up going there. The acceptance rate is how many choose to go to an institution.
I think that’s true of many unis but St A offer very late to reduce that I think.

When they had to take extra students two years ago they had about 600 extra students I believe so not 40% over. They don’t have the flexibility in the town to fit them all in so are cautious with offers.

They prob assume that most students will take the offer if they get one. Hence why oxbridge students don’t always get a St A offer. They know what they are doing

Inamuddle36 · 20/03/2022 10:02

My son just learned he hasn’t been given an offer either (predicted AAA*A). I am cross because think he might have been declined because StA might assume he will take oxbridge offer. But he was inclining toward StA because he prefers the breadth of the programme there. Also, though raised in England, he has gone hill walking in the highlands most summers since he was very young and hopes to live in Scotland eventually. The single Personal Statement for UCAS applications is unfortunate as it doesn’t allow for applicants to explain their interest in particular universities and courses.

Eightytwenty · 20/03/2022 10:57

Metrics should be offer rate (% if total applicants that receive an offer) and acceptance rate (% of applicants that accept their offer). Whats the value of measuring acceptances / total applications.

For DS’ course it’s almost 100% acceptance rate but it’s low numbers as a joint honours. For the straight IR it was between 60-70% with a higher acceptance rate from RUK which is perhaps surprising.

@Inamuddle36 universities don’t know where you’ve applied to, but early entry is a flag. I was very surprised to hear that DS received an offer from St A after not being fished from the pool at Cambridge. I felt his PS was more geared to Cambridge. I think there is a question of luck as much as science there.

vinho · 20/03/2022 11:02

How can they tell who would have got an Oxbridge offer though? Can unis actually see the whole UCAS and where else people have applied?

I guess if the application was sent through before 15th Oct, that’s a slight giveaway. But what many students do now is only send the Oxbridge application before 15th Oct and then add in the others later.

A lot of people applying to St A will also have applied to Durham as it’s a similar vibe and they can’t possibly know where students will choose out of those two.

Newgirls · 20/03/2022 11:40

@Inamuddle36

My son just learned he hasn’t been given an offer either (predicted AAA*A). I am cross because think he might have been declined because StA might assume he will take oxbridge offer. But he was inclining toward StA because he prefers the breadth of the programme there. Also, though raised in England, he has gone hill walking in the highlands most summers since he was very young and hopes to live in Scotland eventually. The single Personal Statement for UCAS applications is unfortunate as it doesn’t allow for applicants to explain their interest in particular universities and courses.
Anecdotally this is the key - you need to write your statement for the St A course.

They know if you apply to oxbridge as the application arrives earlier.

It’s all anecdotal by the way. Theories between students who get in and those who don’t.

Newgirls · 20/03/2022 11:43

@Eightytwenty

Metrics should be offer rate (% if total applicants that receive an offer) and acceptance rate (% of applicants that accept their offer). Whats the value of measuring acceptances / total applications.

For DS’ course it’s almost 100% acceptance rate but it’s low numbers as a joint honours. For the straight IR it was between 60-70% with a higher acceptance rate from RUK which is perhaps surprising.

@Inamuddle36 universities don’t know where you’ve applied to, but early entry is a flag. I was very surprised to hear that DS received an offer from St A after not being fished from the pool at Cambridge. I felt his PS was more geared to Cambridge. I think there is a question of luck as much as science there.

The course type and size is key too. If you want to do international relations at st a that’s really tough so need to focus.
Eightytwenty · 22/03/2022 09:12

DS received an email from St A yesterday about the offer day. It went to his junk holder. Some really good options for visiting halls as well as subject lectures and general info.

FictionalCharacter · 02/04/2022 18:37

My DC has still heard nothing at all from StA. Does anyone know if there’s a date by when they send an offer or rejection?

MarchingFrogs · 02/04/2022 19:53

The deadline for universities to respond to all on-time applicants is 19th May.