University of St Andrews

Is St Andrews really that bad?!

So im seriously thinking of firming my offer for St Andrews to start this September and I came on here to see whether anyone else was and what student life is like there etc. and I am so disappointed to be bombarded with nothing but criticism for it which has obviously put me off D: is it really that claustrophobic and boring? I would think having such a good student population the uni life would be great but on here there is nothing but criticism for the whole student life so what is it that makes everyone hate it so much? Shall I really reconsider firming it? it's between here or Bristol. I am so confused now.

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Reply 1

RunningHam

Original post by zizi8

I personally know nothing about St Andrews, but I think that if you got a good feeling for the university and were looking forward to it, then you should trust your gut. Everyone has an opinion on something, and it's not always going to be the one you want. It's what you will get out of it, not the people who hold a opinion on St Andrews (who have probably never been.) If you like it, and you want to go there, go for it! Don't let other people's opinions sway your own that drastically. :smile:

University of St Andrews

Reply 2

LETSJaM

Original post by zizi8

That is funny. For me it is the complete opposite. No-one I heard could be nicer about St. Andrews, and nastier about Bristol. So there you go, it depends entirely on who you talk to. If you think that you would fit in, go for it!

<3 x

Reply 3

Iron Lady

Have you been to the university? TSR is not representative, so do not let this forum cloud your judgment too much.

Reply 4

M_E_X

Original post by zizi8

I love St Andrews, and it is the place with the highest student satisfaction ratings in the UK (usually the highest, I think). Don't let a few whingers on here put you off - you don't hear from all the people having a great time, only the few who want to complain.

That said, though, you shouldn't make your decision based on this post! I would seriously suggest you go and visit each place again and try to decide where you would prefer to spend 3 or 4 years of your life - it's well worth a weekend visit to be happier for 4 years!

Reply 5

stac4321

Because it's in a relatively small town, I can see where those comments stem from, but don't let it change how you feel about it. I'm sure not everyone who said that stuff has actually studied there so maybe take it with a pinch of salt. Many universities do have a distinctive character, which can be intensified by being slightly more isolated, like St. Andrews is, but that's no bad thing. It probabily has quote a tight community, so as long as you 'fit in' (for lack of a better word) I can see why that should cause you problems. It's probabily best just to have a visit, you'll be able to tell if you clash with the university or if you feel at home there.

St Andrews and Bristol seem very similar from what I've heard about the actual universities, so it's may be best to go with your gut feelings here because I can't see how you'd be worse off by picking one over the other... just to throw my 2 cents in and confuse you more :smile:

Reply 6

JustRollingAlong

I went to St Andrews and loved the town and made some great friends, however I was not fan of the university itself. I found it to be pretentious and often concerned with appearance rather than academics. It's worth saying that I was the first in my family to go to uni and came from a state school and I'm sure that factored in to my experience there. I lived in halls in first year and was the only person on my floor (15 people) to have come from a state school. The uni is mostly populated by middle and upper class students so it naturally caters more towards that population.

Still, as I said I loved the town and had no trouble making friends so if your concern is for that side of things I think you'll be fine. Keep in mind that which uni you will fit best at is really a personal thing, and as the person above said TSR is not representative. Weigh up what's important to you about your uni experience and then research St Andrews and Bristol and decide which is most likely to give you that experience.

Reply 7

Oxy

Some people are just bitter, like myself.

Reply 8

do5

Like many, I fell in love as soon as I came to St Andrews.

Its a nice small town and I found it very easy to get integrated and meet new people.

I'd strongly suggest coming to see the town for yourself.

Reply 9

Purplestardust

I'm inboxing you, please please please read what I have to say xxxxxxx

Reply 10

blacksheep

I got an offer from the university of St. Andrews. I come from China.

In China, many students think it has a high ranking in Times(usually top 5) because the Prince William studied there. How do u think?

Reply 11

Add!ction

Aren't St. Andrews famous for their foam parties? If that doesn't make you want to go, I don't know what will.

Reply 12

Bella_trixxx

Original post by Add!ction

Aren't St. Andrews famous for their foam parties? If that doesn't make you want to go, I don't know what will.

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=raisin+weekend&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US :redface:

fficial&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=wSZWT_6FNonO0QXWwJXxCQ&biw=1280&bih=661&sei=wyZWT5TWKquY0QX6rPj1CQ

Reply 13

electric-wars

Original post by Umiisadorable

I'm inboxing you, please please please read what I have to say xxxxxxx

I too am about to firm St Andrews and am curious about what you have to say.

Reply 14

M_E_X

Original post by Umiisadorable

I'm inboxing you, please please please read what I have to say xxxxxxx

Original post by electric-wars

I too am about to firm St Andrews and am curious about what you have to say.

She's a massive troll/St Andrews hater. Just be careful guys. The student satisfaction survey/overall happiness of people are way more important than one moaner on an internet forum.

Sure, listen to what she has to say, but also read her post history, she's massively anti-St-Andrews biased. I'd take what she says with a pinch/bucket of salt.

Reply 15

electric-wars

Original post by M_E_X

...

Thanks for that.
Perhaps an odd question but are you from Liverpool (noticed the football icon!)?

Reply 16

M_E_X

Original post by electric-wars

Thanks for that.
Perhaps an odd question but are you from Liverpool (noticed the football icon!)?

Yeah! How come?

I'm currently a final year physics student at St Andrews as well - if you have any questions I'll be happy to help :h:

Reply 17

Purplestardust

Original post by M_E_X

Hi Zizi, I'm not a troll, I'm a fourth year student who's graduating soon who came here with every hope of having a great time as I'm sure you are too, only to find myself massively dissappointed. M_E_X dislikes me because I started a controversial thread in 2009 in my second year (which I think I mentioned in the message I sent you) that's had about 25,000+ hits on this site and has 44 thumbs up and 40 thumbs down to date and has been shared on facebook 10 times...I wasn't expecting that, nor was I expecting the level of attention the thread attracted when I created it, and I was genuinely suprised at how much conversation and debate it caused....I was expecting just to be shot down and/ or ignored- the fact that I wasn't and that this became a debate speaks volumes, as does the 44/40 comparison of likes to dislikes on my original post, it at least suggetss that opinion is divided...

Anyway, M_E_X is the type of person who loves this place so much that he'll smear anyone who disagrees with him, he's accussed me of creating fake accounts and all sorts of things if you read the thread. That alone says a lot about the kind of attitudes of the people who like it here, because he's their biggest representative on the thread and he's just been really childish about any kind of criticisms directed towards this place....

Anyways, I hope you read my private message Zizi, I hope its not too garbled...I'm doing this because I ignored my own instincts about this place and I don't want you to do the same xxxxxxxxxxxx

Reply 18

Purplestardust

* Also, correction MEX I'm 'one moaner' with 28,000 odd hits on their thread :-D...and now since I last checked, its moved up to 45 thumbs up...

Reply 19

Ecosse_14

Just to make clear, a very VERY small percentage of St Andrews students agree with Umiisadorable's views, the vast majority agree with M_E_X. If you're going to read what Umi has said in her private messages to you guys then you should also spend time browsing the threads in this forum (old and new) to see how many people are positive about the university, like M_E_X and myself are.