Getting into Scottish university from England

[cubangal]

Is this even possible ?

Yes but you'll have to pay the fees if you don't live in Scotland.

Yes Edinburgh and St. Andrews universities are both full of English students

i live in England and DC currently at a Scottish university. There are limits on the number of Scottish students due to no fees. Hence students from rUK (rest of the U.K.) are attractive due to paying full whack. Just be aware degrees are often 4 years instead of 3 so longer period of funding.

And so is Glasgow.

Well, yes, you just apply.
I think there is even a grant available to English students

I hope so as DS2 is planning to go from SE England to Glasgow Caledonian in September…

Why wouldn’t it be?

Weirdly, given where we live, DS2 has two friends from school who started at Glasgow last autumn. (Even more weirdly, although they were both friends of his at school they didnt actually know each other there - his socialising with them out of school was also separate. Both girls, though, and it's a boys only school up to GCSE, so I suppose it's possible that two girls joining in yr12, who didn't know each other before, could go through two years, admittedly in different classes, and never meet, but it still strikes me as, well, weird. Sorry, sidetracking there🙄).

They must be able to as I met my dh at Strathclyde Uni and he was from England

With the right A levels/IB subjects English students can get 2nd year entry to some degrees. For some medicine type courses there will be less places for non Scottish students though so worth checking.

Glasgow has many English students but nothing on the scale of Edinburgh or St Andrews. The statistics show that Glasgow is actually an unusually ‘local’
university compared to comparable institutions. Partly that’s to do with how Glaswegians are culturally about their city and their university.

Edinburgh and St Andrews are quite different in that regard. People with experience of the universities really notice the difference.

But there are lots of English students there and absolutely no reason why any rUK student should be put off applying to any Scottish university because they’re in Scotland.

The other way round, it does make a difference for funding reasons. As a Scottish student, you’d need a pretty compelling reason to incur huge debts to go to an English university when you could not do so at a Scottish one. That works for students looking at really prestigious courses. Not so much for people considering media studies at an ex-poly.

DD completed undergrad and postgrad at Glasgow ( just finished) and has several friends who are from England although I agree Glasgow does not appear to be as popular with English students as Edinburgh and St Andrews.

Also agree that many students at Glasgow are from the city or surrounding area and this was the case in my own undergrad days ( hundreds of years ago).

Worth checking out the fees basis - whether the uni charges for the full 4 years or, like Glasgow, for only 3 of a 4 year course (excluding medicine / dentistry / vet med). Also, Glasgow still charges for 3 years if you do the advanced entry into Yr 2.

Yes, my DS was offered a place at St Andrews and Edinburgh this year. Loads of English students at both

The courses are 4yrs but often you can apply to join in year 2 if you’re an English student who has done A levels. This is because many Scottish students start at 17 so the first year is more relaxed with a wide range of topics you can study. My son was accepted into year 2 direct entry for both St A and Edinburgh. He didn’t want to waste another year plus another year to pay for the 1st year. In the end he firmed Warwick but they said you’re treated like a 1st year student for everything else but just go directly into year 2

For the majority of courses you have a much better chance of getting into a Scottish uni as an English student than as a Scottish one due to funding limits.

I went to Edinburgh. I was the only Scottish person in my social circle.
People used to joke I was the ethnic minority.

Very few Scottish students go to university at 17 nowadays. It is possible as entry is based on Highers and most will sit 5 Highers in S5. In practice most will stay at school for S6 to do Advanced Highers which require much more independent study. For high tariff courses such as medicine or law places it is now quite rare to get a place only with 5 Highers - that's a minimum entry requirement

If you have a DC who is keen I would say you need to do an FOI on the admissions statistics for the specific course. It is true an RUK student brings in more fees than a Scottish student but an overseas student trumps both by £££s.

Edinburgh publish their offer rates by course for Scottish, rUK and international students

You can only usually do direct entry into second year for sciences not humanities subjects, people don't tend to know that if they've only applied for sciences.

People from England, Wales, Northern Ireland along with people from all over the world attend Scottish universities.

Just as Scots attend English universities.

It's probably easier for English students than for Scottish in that they come with £9500 per year instead of about £2000.

Just as Scots attend English universities.

Very rarely - Scottish universities are free for Scots!

But places are capped for Scottish students because the Scottish Government only contributes £1.8k in fees per year.

And some courses / universities are more appealing.

So I know quite a few that went to English / Welsh / NI / Irish universities for specific courses or to the more prestigious unis (Oxbridge / LSE / Imperial).