[bobbricks]

I am considering this university but was wondering how multicultural it was- i.e. are there many people from different backgrounds, what are the ethnic minority percentages of students etc (especially in comparison with Cambridge/Oxford).

Thanks

[Ecosse_14]

Some facts: 56% of students are from the UK, 13% from the EU and 31% from overseas. There are over 100 nations represented in our student body, so yeah, pretty multicultural.

[Oxy]

Too many Americans and too many Asians.

[AviG123]

It has one of the highest proportions of international students among universities in the UK. The student body also has representatives from over a 100 different nations. Of course, it is needless to say that St Andrews is a favourite for the Americans, for whom the university is a cheaper alternative to the Ivy League.

[A level Az]

(Original post by AviG123)
It has one of the highest proportions of international students among universities in the UK. The student body also has representatives from over a 100 different nations. Of course, it is needless to say that St Andrews is a favourite for the Americans, for whom the university is a cheaper alternative to the Ivy League.

Cheaper and less prestigious...

[Oxy]

(Original post by A level Az)
Cheaper and less prestigious...

From people from Dartmouth, they say St. Andrews is on par. Last time I checked, it was an Ivy League.

[kieranfcurran]

(Original post by A level Az)
Cheaper and less prestigious...

Aye, but when you consider the endowments of the ivy league institutions and the fees charged it does make you question the value for money compared to British universities for foreign students.

[Meteorshower]

It's potentially worth pointing out that prestige isn't equivalent to quality.

Personally I like that there are so many different perspectives at this university. It's quite unique within Scotland.

[A level Az]

(Original post by Oxy)
From people from Dartmouth, they say St. Andrews is on par. Last time I checked, it was an Ivy League.

You expect me to further my argument after such a vague and irrelevant "point"?

[Oxy]

(Original post by A level Az)
You expect me to further my argument after such a vague and "irrelevant point"?

I don't really care what you do.

[Forkissima]

I thought this topic was about how multicultural St Andrews is but I see the discussion got sidelined and turned into how prestigious St Andrews is. What a shame as I'd really be interested in how multicultural it is.

[Ecosse_14]

(Original post by Forkissima)
I thought this topic was about how multicultural St Andrews is but I see the discussion got sidelined and turned into how prestigious St Andrews is. What a shame as I'd really be interested in how multicultural it is.

Then read the first few answers.

[triplexm]

(Original post by A level Az)
Cheaper and less prestigious...

Prestige is not exactly quantifiable, and can be interpreted in so many different ways. Looking at in terms of name recognition, my experience has been that it largely depends on your audience. Should probably add at this point that I spent my freshman year at Brown, and have since made the decision to transfer to St Andrews. So I've had the opportunity to witness people's reactions to both universities. Yeah, American people generally will not have heard much (or anything) about St Andrews - if they have, it's probably Prince William related. Or they'll crack some joke about golf (actually, that applies to everybody, not just Americans…) As for British people, the great majority have heard about the Ivy League and recognise its prestige. The thing is they aren't really able to name any of the ones besides Harvard, Yale and Princeton (or perhaps even know others exist). A lot of them hadn't heard of Brown at all. And these weren't uneducated buffoons - these were people who interviewed me for internships and so forth. I'd agree though that if you want to go and work in the US, the Ivy League is the better option to put down on your future resume. And vice versa. Whatever.

Prestige in rankings? Don't really need to explain this one, it's been discussed a lot already. All ranking systems use different measures, and assign different weights to different aspects of the institution. Which is why you often see large public universities being placed higher than more 'prestigious' smaller institutions. In those rankings, it's clear that research has been given a particularly heavy weight.

As for 'cheaper', I'm Canadian so have to pay international fees for both. The difference is negligible. Both incredibly expensive (tuition and accommodation). As for living expenses, the cost of living for a student at Brown was very low…again pretty much equatable to St Andrews. Of course, it would be a different matter if you were comparing it to Columbia, in which case there would be a significant difference.

Anyway, to wrap up this long winded post, I think we really need to stop being so obsessed with the idea of 'prestige' and which university is 'better' (read: looks better). I'm not saying prestige doesn't matter or make a difference. Of course it does. It's just that what is perceived as prestigious differs so vastly depending on your audience that there really is never a right answer. Just go with what feels like the right fit. Seriously.

[Mr. Roxas]

I took up grad education (master's) at Brown after obtaining my undergrad at Warwick. I would say St Andrews is just as prestigious as Brown, if not even more so in some countries I've been to.

[Blair93]

As a St Andrews student going to second year my answer is "sort of."

There are certainly a lot of different nationalities if that's what you mean. The largest being (in order) English, Scottish, American, German, Chinese and Scandinavians (they seem to get counted as one for some reason haha). Then there are assorted Eastern Europeans, Sub-Continentals, Arabs and Africans thrown in.

It's really quite segregated though. "Town" is full of middle/upper class white people and "North Haugh" is full of Chinese and working class Brits.

On nights out (other than freshers) you will pretty much only meet white people. And the social scene in general is dominated to a ridiculous extent by 3 distinct groups:

-the properly posh people generally control all the balls and fashion shows etc.
-the Scottish private schools (some people become sick of the words "Watson's" and "Heriot's" within days) generally dominate the big sports clubs and their socials
-the rich Europeans put on most of the other main events like Oktoberfest and the GIG events

Friday night at the union is a fairly good melting pot though, as is the lizard on a non-sports night.

I love it though. Most people do. I'm sure you will too.