Still waiting to hear from St Andrews - is that a bad sign?

[lucasnorth]

DD has applied for English at St Andrews which will be her first choice if she gets an offer. She has heard back from everywhere else she applied. Also, there is an offer holders open day on 5 April so was really expecting to hear back in good time before that.
Does anyone involved in uni admissions know what it means that she has still not heard? Is it likely a ‘no’? Or doesn’t it mean anything to have not heard yet?
Thanks in advance for any wise words…

A lot of selective universities, like St Andrews, seem to make offers in waves now. The most promising applicants receive offers, then there is a lull, and the next group on what is presumably a ranked list gets offers. So, yes, the longer your DD waits, the less likely it is she will receive an offer.

Ds got an offer last month - he’s not put it as first or insurance choice, so presumably St Andrew’s will make another offer in a subsequent wave as he won’t take up his place there. I’m sure that there will be quite a bit of movement as students start to firm up their choices, and for folk who didn’t apply for the early Oxbridgr deadline it’s only been a few weeks since they had applications in. The fact your dd hasn’t got a rejection is the important point to hold onto

Thanks both. She did apply to oxbridge (so early app); got an interview but not an offer. All 9s at GCSE and the feedback from oxbridge was that the personal statement was strong, it was the interview that was not so good. So had hoped the delay didn’t mean anything; but sounds like bad news. Feel so bad for her she has done everything from an academic perspective and still rejections :(

I should have added that DS also applied to Oxbridge but didn’t get his offer until last month. St Andrew’s was the last of the five to get back to him. It seems to be incredibly popular, particularly among private school kids, and has a huge amount of applicants with great GCSEs - possibly more competitive than Oxbridge given there are many fewer places available. Fingers crossed for your dd.

I've heard of others still waiting for St Andrews offer (but got all other offers already). Think they are often late to offer!

Thanks. Will keep fingers crossed…

My dc got a St Andrews offer 3 days before the offer holders day 2 years ago (this was mid March) - so definitely still room for hope, I would say.

My experience is ten(!) years out of date but it was definitely March when I heard.

I think sometimes you go on a maybe pile, and might get an offer if others in the first wave turn them down. My cousin got a medicine place quite late, end of April I think from St Andrews. That was a few years ago though.

I'm Scottish. St Andrews is notoriously late in doing offers, well known as being one of the very last to finish, and do them in various batches. I would t panic yet.

Don’t think you can read anything much into it. St A are notorious for offering very late. And in any case, it tends to be done by subject (as with all universities) so you shouldn’t over-interpret other people having had st A’s offers already

It is nerve wracking having to wait for the first choice places. We have a friend whose DD just got offered a spot 2 wks ago at St. Andrews for International Relations (I think) and she lives in Los Angeles.

I would expect your DD should hear over the next few weeks. Come back and let us know?

Still waiting here, also an Oxford interviewed but declined Dd predicted all A*! All her others came in before Christmas so it's a long gap.

Hope they all hear asap. No way we can make the offer holder day even if she gets one as too far away to organise in time (we are the other end of the country)

Thanks everyone for posting, and sorry to hear others also on tenterhooks (although, selfishly, also glad it’s not just us 🫣)
Will update when we hear something

Is your DD a home (Scotland) or an rUK applicant?

These will be separate lists.

She is rUk

Five years ago mine found tsr useful as she could see when offers (and rejections) started coming out for her subject/fee class. She made it thru several weeks of offers/rejections before being binned. However there were offers too when she was binned.

Good luck. I sat thru an English talk at StA was impressed.

Ds got an offer last month - he’s not put it as first or insurance choice, so presumably St Andrew’s will make another offer in a subsequent wave as he won’t take up his place there.

I have seen similar to this mentioned elsewhere but it won’t be as simple as ‘one out one in’. Universities know not everyone will accept an offer so will over-offer based on previous years. They will then watch the pattern of rejections before deciding how many additional offers to make. It may be far fewer people than usual reject the offer (even though some do) and they then don’t feel able to make any more offers, or may decide to wait a bit longer before making more offers, or it could be more people than expected reject and they can then send out more additional offers than initially expected.

It's not necessarily true SA will have offered the best candidates first and then work their way down the list ... they offer contextually first, then look at the Scottish list, then internationals, a lot of Oxbridge candidates (many successful) who tend to have perfect grades and PSes don't get offered until VERY late in the cycle. And each department will tackle their list in a different way. Your dd is in with a good shot, OP, it's early March plenty of time to go. Often people don't hear from SA. plus Edin. Durham, UCL etc until May.

And LSE

Good to know, thank you @gladtidingss

@lucasnorthany news yet? Still nothing here…

Mine only heard back from St A in early May a couple of years ago - rejection. From what I read on the Student Room, they have few places available for RUK students and the UK government tells them in late April how many offers they can make (since central UK government funds the shorfall between the real cost and the fees that the student pays). Seems they sit on applications from promising students in the hope to be able to make an offer, so there was a slew of rejections the week mine got theirs. Also all 9s at GCSE, 4 A*, supposedly very strong PS etc.
But it was ok - in the end they ended up at the best place for them and have been happy. Good luck to your YP.

Thanks. Still no news here…

DD applied last year and St Andrews were the last to say. Took ages.