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?

It does have it, but it's not undergrad I think

My child is doing IR at StA. Yes, it’s a course that the Uni is very well known for, yes, the course does attract quite a lot of Americans, and no, it’s not just known as a “posh” university. There may be so called posh students there but there are also thousands of … err, not sure what to call them?! Normal? Average? students. There is a whole mix of students from all backgrounds. It’s regularly a top 5 uni and the only reason that it doesn’t rank so highly in the international leagues is that it’s a very small Uni (less than 10k students compared to say, Edinburgh which is about 30k) and accordingly it doesn’t have the breadth of research and study courses that other bigger unis may have.
It has excellent student support and very high student satisfaction ratings.
I would say that it is an excellent and highly respected Uni.
Whether it’s the best choice and fit for a student depends on so many factors.

My son has just been offered a conditional place at St Andrews to study medicine. It was his first choice and whilst it’s not as lively a place as Dundee etc he loves the area and the smallness of the location and town. Another appeal was that he will be there for 3 years and then has the chance to go to Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow or Dundee for the next 3 years.
A number of his friends are already at St A’s and they love it as well.

There is a mum on here whose son did medicine at St Andrews. He had a ball. There is plenty to do as the halls organise so much. It’s hard for visitors to see that as it goes on inside the private buildings but it’s very social and can be very affordable as the hall socials are cheap and often funded.

Absolutely

We went up for an open day on Monday - 10hr drive each way from the South Coast. DD has been offered a place for Classics and is beside herself with excitement. We all absolutely loved it. She is quite introverted (and autistic) and we live quite rurally now so she feels a big city would be overwhelming. It feels such a nurturing, supportive environment. She is much more excited about joining the Hiking Society than going clubbing.

How lovely for you, my son is autistic and close St Andrews for the same reasons, we were so relieved when he got a place ( places for Scottish students are limited because of the fee cap so for his subject it was more competitive than Oxbridge !). He did take a wee while to really find his feet socially and COVID happened which didn’t help but the sheer range of student societies meant he had a go at lots of things ( ballroom dancing was a fail!) until he found his people and never got bored of the town or walks on the beach.

Yes! St Andrews is recognised internationally as a top university. I have supported many students applying from international schools with their UK applications, and St Andrews is always among the list for those students who also have top universities such as Oxford or Cambridge.

For UK university rankings, I typically recommend The Guardian to my students as websites like QS take the university's contribution towards research into consideration. Whereas The Guardian looks at student happiness ratings and employment rates after graduation.