St Andrews top tips

[Eightytwenty]

DS will be starting next month and as a Scottish student he has a firm place and halls (Sallies) confirmed.

Anyone have any ‘wish I’d known’ top tips / recommendations for him or us?

I’m all ears for this too. My eldest starting in September also a Scottish student with unconditional place and accommodation at Andrew Melville Halls. I’d like to know how big the beds are so I can get the right sized fitted sheet!

Small doubles,apart from rooms C 614 and B 714,those are singles..Info on Uni website.

Thanks fifeinlife I saw that they were small doubles in most rooms I just don't know the measurements. I guess I could just buy a standard double sheet and if it's too big they can just tuck it in.

I need to set up for paying the residence fees in instalments. It says that you need to do this before term starts. I believe the maintenance loan will be paid into their bank account on a monthly basis. I don't think you can pay the residence fees on a monthly basis - I think maybe every two months is a possiblity? Need to get the timings right on this. As parents we will need to top up by about £175 a month for the catered accommodation alone.

'Small double', unless there is a difference in Scotland, imeans a 4ft bed. Plenty of places sell fitted sheets in thos size (possibly encouraged by its popularity in university halls of residence, particularly the privately owned ones?) - try Amazon or John Lewis online.

There are four payment options,the longest payments can be spread over is four installments,sep/nov/jan/mar.

@fifelife thanks. We’ve been looking for that information.

Thanks fifelife. We'll definitely be going for the 4 instalment payment plan. Better get that set up in next week or so.

I've been pretty chill about organising for the move. But I'm thinking there are a few things we need to do soon. As my child is going catered I'm thinking they won't need much in the way of kitchen stuff. I don't want to buy a kettle or toastie maker because I know they're not allowed to plug them in in their rooms are they? And I can imagine the kitchens would be overflowing with kettles and toasters if every student bought one. I think the kitchens in Andrew Melville are pretty limited/basic because everyone is catered in there and only have to fend for themselves for Sat/Sun evening meals.

Need to get them fitted out with a suit because they've outgrown the suit they wore to Prom. Can you get away with just a black suit for formal balls? Or does it have to be a proper tux I wonder?

Checking in as I have a DC also with a place confirmed at St Andrew's and will be living in Andrew Melville hall. Haven't got my head round what will be needed yet - if cooking is required at the weekend, are there pots and pans?

We booked a drop off slot this week, and also signed up for the family newsletter thing so that we can go to the parent reception on the Sunday afternoon.

My Scottish DS was in Sallies for first year and the part of second year before Covid hit. He liked the cooked breakfasts!
In second year he got a part time job in the kitchens in Sallies, if your DS wants a wee job, it's worth getting in there and asking before anything is advertised.
Food and drink tends to get pinched from the little kitchens in Sallies and some of the overseas students can get a bit loud when they discover the joys of legal drinking so ear plugs would be good.
DS is a bit quiet and was only 17 in first year so he didn't really capitalise on the social aspects of halls (in hindsight he might have been better in AM). He just recycled his black suit from his leavers dance for his attempts at going to balls.
He found pals through societies but had to try lots to find the ones that suited him. Of course his experience was marred by Covid but he still enjoyed it.
Buying a red robe is a waste of money unless you are into posing for Instagram! Mostly seems to be American girls who are really into them!

St Andrews is a bit isolated so need to have travel means:

A Young Scot Card for free bus travel:
young.scot/get-informed/national/young-persons-free-bus-travel

A 16-25 Railcard for 1/3rd off train travel
www.railcard.co.uk/16-25/

Go to the Freshers Fayre
Freshers Fayre is on Mon 5th and Tue 6th September from 1-5pm in the Sports Centre grounds. Where all the societies and sports teams will have stalls
www.yourunion.net/activities/societies/

Can students coming from outside Scotland get the bus card?

İ believe they can

Yes. Just have to be a student at a Scottish Uni if not a Scottish resident.

Even international students, ie Americans my DD knows have gotten one.

Your lucky, lucky children. I went to St. Andrew's. And I LOVED it.

I never owned a red gown.

@Lerouge is the reception just for international parents?

@Wbeezer our DS will be 17 for some of the first term. I wonder how much that impacts their ability to socialise.

@Eightytwenty my DS did sometimes have issues getting into the student union, I cant remember exactly but I think he had to get in early before the bouncers were on the door. He's a bit of a rule follower though so wouldn't have taken any risks.

Assuming DD makes her grades, she won’t be able to firm and get a place in halls and sign up to everything until a-level results day on the 18th of August. It makes me so nervous, what if she forgets to sign up to something or it’s too late? I try to be relaxed, but this really pushes my anxiety buttons.

@Eightytwenty no as far as I can see it's for parents from anywhere (we are Scottish parents). You need to register for the family programme to get the invitation: www.st-andrews.ac.uk/development/family-programme/

Thanks. Have signed up and am quite surprised/ impressed but cynical enough to assume that it must be set up to support fundraising.

Suspect he will continue to be pissed off at being young for his year. Fortunately he doesn’t have too long to wait but it’s still rubbish. Starting at 18 like English students is much more sensible.

@Stockpot I was thinking of you the other day when I realised the close gap between results and start date. I know they are set up to do it in an accelerated time line but there are a few things to do. It must be stressful. The sequence so far is

• acceptance


• accommodation application


• registering for my saint


• accepting accommodation

(more steps for international students). All of the above came direct to us but we had movements of stress where we wondered if we’d missed something.

@Eightytwenty
Ooops, you are supposed to have put in an accommodation application with an offer by now, you don’t need to wait for results day:

“Applications for entrant undergraduate students will open on 15 March.
You can apply for accommodation 48 hours after you receive and accept an offer of a place to study at the University. You should apply as soon as possible, regardless of whether your offer is conditional, unconditional, or an insurance place.

You must apply for accommodation by 30 June in your year of entry to meet the accommodation guarantee. The online application form will be available from 15 March.”
www.st-andrews.ac.uk/study/accommodation/apply/

@Discovereads yes you’re right!

Thanks @Eightytwenty , very helpful to have the “tick list”!

@Discovereads she did already apply for the accommodation, so that can be ticked.

My DD was in Andrew Melville three years ago. She needed pots and pans that work for an induction hob. I think she had to keep all her kitchen stuff under her bed because the kitchens are relatively small for quite a lot of people, so not much storage (although possibly it was her choice rather than a necessity to keep under bed). She had to go through several fire doors and downstairs to get to her kitchen. She didn't do much cooking that year. Room was pretty small, so don't let your DC bring more than will fit!

I echo the 'don't buy a red gown' advice. We've got a few photos with a borrowed gown but she only wore it for that one photo shoot, I think.

This may depend a lot on the social circles your DC moves in, but dressing up clothes may be just as or more important than black tie outfits. If you can get hold of free Hawaiian/cat/lederhosen/angel/devil etc etc etc, then do. Many of the Americans will happily order a brand new outfit on Amazon for every theme night; most Brits don't have the budget for that, so some useful go-to outfits will come in handy. Although there's no predicting what the themes from year to year will be, of course.

Doggerelbank thanks for the tips on induction hobs. Might send them off with a small frying pan and saucepan for emergency pasta meals and bacon/egg sandwiches 😊

Hope you don't mind me asking a few more questions?!

Did your DC manage to eat all three meals everyday when they were in AMH? My DC is going to have most of their lectures in centre of town. Location-wise McIntosh would have been ideal but I'm grateful that AMH seems friendly and is hundreds of pounds cheaper!

My DC will be taking their bicycle but I'm wondering whether they may skip the occasional lunch rather than get back to AMH for the lunchtime sitting. I will discourage this obvs as we don't want them forking out for food when it's already included in their residence fees!

And finally, (for now 😁) I've seen a video of an AMH room and the girl had an underbed storage drawer that she pulled out from under the bed. Does that come with the bed/room? Or would you just buy one yourself - she intimated that it was part of the bed which would be great.