Is St Andrews considered a top university in the UK?

[ThatOliveRobin]

From an international perspective, I’m a bit confused by the gap between St Andrews’ global QS ranking (around 113) and its strong reputation within the UK.

How is St Andrews generally viewed by British students and parents, and which UK league tables are considered the most relevant?

I think this is ridiculous. I’m far more interested in a student who’s studied at St Andrew’s for example than the University of Wolverhampton or similar.

Yes I would consider it one of the top unis, and it is well regarded in the UK.

I know a couple of people who went there and really enjoyed their time, it is small and a bit isolated though (and expensive), so worth considering if you would be happy living there (I don’t think I would have in my teens/early 20s)

From my son’s sixth form the student who went to St Andrews got 3xA* A levels and it was considered 3rd or 4th Oxford and Cambridge & LSE. Durham was probably next and Bath.

Agree. Tbh it has only really been in the ascendence and recognised internationally since W and K attended although it was always so in Scotland. Medicine is tricky there because you have to relocate for the placement years,

Relocating for you clinical years is not the problem (though more universities are integrating clinical and preclinical years so ít might become an issue if more of their partner universities go that way). The real issue is with their five-year MBChB Scottish Community Orientated Medicine degree.

The obsession with RG universities on MN always makes me laugh. I went to a RG uni. But it is sooooo far away from a prestigious uni it's ridiculous to put it in the same prestige grouping. When I was applying, it was all about 'red brick' universities (i.e. old, long standing prestige) which makes much more sense to me.

When I was applying, it was all about 'red brick'

presumable as opposed to brutalist concrete architecture? Though a lot of ‘red brick’ universities have a fair amount of that too!

The Complete University Guide is supposed to be a good league table.
https://www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/league-tables/rankings

When I went to uni in the early 90’s st Andrew’s was recognised as a “top” institution.

so not just a W&K thing. That was also back in the day pre tuition fees and loans, so plenty of non-Scot’s chose to go there because of it’s reputation.

Why?

I get the earlier point about the robustness of courses, but there will surely be courses which are better at Wolverhampton than St Andrews?

I'm currently there as a mature student so my perspective is quite different but I really do love it. The staff are all so very friendly, approachable and very much there to help. The structure is different to most UK unis in that its 4 years instead of 3 with the first two years a combination of modules in your chosen subject and then others in either those subjects or completely other disaplines. I'm currently studying comparative literature and medieval history but I've taken modules in philosophy, theology and modern history.

I'm not there to the social side, but I know there is active nightlife in the town (student bars and pubs as well as uni organised events, societies etc), that a lot of students go into Dundee on the bus for nights out there. Also, I commute from Edinburgh and regularly see groups dressed up heading into Edinburgh on my train back home. It won't have the same vibe as a large city, but I also don't think many are bored. As well as the night stuff, it's right on the coast and there's always loads of people walking back and forth from swimming at the beach on a nice day.

It's not a "campus" as such either. The buildings are dotted around town so the whole town feels like a community.

The structure is different to most UK unis in that its 4 years instead of 3 with the first two years a combination of modules in your chosen subject and then others in either those subjects or completely other disaplines.

That is the same at all Scottish Universities. In Scotland you can go to university after your Highers in S5 when you are just 16/17 years old. The majority of school pupils stay on to S6 and do Advanced Highers these days but as they are applying with Higher grades in hand most will get unconditional offers. But that is why it is a four year course - the first year replaces the equivalent year 13 in England.

I am very aware of that fact. But I cannot be the only person to know people and to have seen posts on here where their DC "want to go to an RG uni" as if that were some guarantee of quality, and implying that this was a sine qua non, when in fact, while it may be a factor (or it may not) it should not be the only one. Or even a main one IMO.

I'm always bemused by the way people on MN seem to revere it. When I was growing up in Scotland, post W+K, it was just another one of the universities that people applied to. You got 6 choices so the at least vaguely academic people would generally choose Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee, Aberdeen, Stirling and St A. It really wasn't seen as a big deal at all and didn't need particularly higher grades to get into.

Yeah I remember a privately educated teen family member chatting about their uni choices. I remember thinking wft is Russell Group and why are they talking about it with such reverence.

seems to me it was a bunch of uni’s who no longer had the university vs. Polytechnic angle got together to find something other hook to seem “better”

Agree . I have two friends whose children went to St Andrews , all in the same type of job as my children who went to Leeds, Nottingham and Lancaster . My children are getting further in life generally because they has brilliant personal skills,confidence and can sell themselves.
Am not saying that St Andrews students cannot do this but other students at different Universities can achieve as much ,if not more so .

On a related note, for something like Biochemistry BSc (Hons) at St Andrews — the published entry requirements (AAB / ABB with Bio & Chem) look relatively low given how competitive it is.
In practice, do offers tend to be close to those grades, or are most successful applicants well above them?

If you look at the historical data on the UCAS course page you can see that the offer rate is 24% and the most common grade achieved by accepted students is 3 A stars. The offers will be as published but most people who get an offer will be getting much higher.

The whole RG thing is an English fascination that hasn’t taken off in Scotland.

even though Edinburgh and Glasgow are in it - no one even mentions RG as a thing in Scotland

Generally speaking, it’s considered an excellent place to study and also from a teaching perspective, the university’s management is significantly better than many.

It's not an English fascination either.
It's a MN fascination.

That reflects the Scottish education system don’t forget - students generally do one less year at school and go to uni a year earlier - hence four year degrees. The first year is at a lower level that the first year in rUK.

I think it’s a private school thing because they can use it as a measurable “success” for bragging. The only irl kids I’ve heard go on about it are private.

2 students cambridge
5 medicine
20 Russell group universities.

sounds better than 20 went to various uni’s of no specific standing.

It’s not even that… whenever it comes up, most of the subsequent posts in relation to RG are generally rather dismissive, as on this thread, pointing out the likes of Bath, Lancaster and St Andrews. And always a few claiming that despite the debunking it’s an ‘MN obsession’ despite this.😂

Yes… if you look up the requirements for direct entry to the second year for that course it looks like it’s AAA
https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/subjects/biology/biochemistry-bsc/direct/#entry-requirements