University of St Andrews

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St Andrews University: A Warning

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OP: i've applied for med here ... i dont mind the fact that the place is practically dead but as far as education and teaching styles is the uni all THAAATTT bad??

University of St Andrews

Reply 101

Purplestardust

Sharkky You WILL mind it, trust me- the teaching is O.K, but they base tons of it on lecture slideshows which you have to print out and basically learn word for word in order to pass ( this is coming from my Medic friends)...also they hav very long class hours and seminars, so a lot of time in-class but i thinmk thats standard for most Medical students if thats a style of teaching you're comfortable with, you'll be fine.....but like I said, other aspects of the place matter as well. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Reply 102

Mike_P

Thanks, OP.

Come here instead, to Durham.
Have you considered doing a uni switch? I guess it's a bit late now since applications closed, but anyways?

Reply 103

Guy Secretan

what city do you come from? Also you do sound arrogant looking down on their nights out

Reply 104

hasilegend

OP's post made me LOL so much! Sounds like a Ghost Town tbh.. tough break man! but yeah you should have alteast visited the place before commiting yourself for 3/4 years

Reply 105

lolimemma

lauram992

Is Dundee actually good? I know this is going a little off topic but I saw you mentioned Dundee. I visited there for an IV and was really impressed by the uni, but like you said, I noticed the city is pretty small and it was a bit bleak on first impressions. Does anyone have any comment about Dundee that would help me make a decision (provided I get an offer? :P)

I'm in Dundee at the moment. PM me with any questions so I don't end up taking the thread off topic!

This is all opinion obviously but I enjoy it here. The city is actually fairly big but I'd agree with the city centre (and the west end which is predominantly students) being fairly small. It still isn't tiny though.

What do you mean by bleak? When did you visit?

Reply 106

westie_98

I think the OP has a valid point to make, and it's unfair to accuse her of not 'reading the prospectus' or anything along those lines. I don't think anyone going to St. Andrews expects a wild and huge city-life - applicants know it's a small place. That being said, I think it's easy to underestimate just how confining a small place can be before you actually live your life there, and I think the OP is trying to share this.

Personally, I'm from Edinburgh but have visited St. Andrews many times. I like 'quaint and quiet' places (read: castles and bunnies). However, I definately find St. Andrews very very small. I have many friends who went there, some liked it, some didn't. I remember the first time I visited St Andrews on a day trip I ran out of things to do by lunch. Some people may really like this. But many others may not.

I think the OP is providing a valuable warning for anyone who is considering applying: make sure you know what you're getting into, and really make sure you can handle a place that tiny, otherwise you will simply be miserable - no matter what the reputation.

Reply 107

Ebenia

Why is it so hard to accept that OP has felt this way and has a right to an opinion? If someone chooses not to choose St. Andrews by only reading one negative report on TSR, then s/he is likely to be an idiot, not OP, who tries to give the other point of view.

People experience things in a different way and it is always an issue when someone is unhappy and no-one can tell them that "you have no right to be unhappy because you did not read the prospectus clearly enough". The truth is that every university wants students to come there and prospectus are clearly one marketing act and it is really hard to know which is true and which isn't before you actually go into a uni. That is one serious issue that people need to be concerned about and I think OP agrees as well that this is one thing to really consider before making desicions about "THE UNI".

Reply 108

Sambo2

sharkky

OP: i've applied for med here ... i dont mind the fact that the place is practically dead but as far as education and teaching styles is the uni all THAAATTT bad??

no - it's world class don't worry...

(and nor is it 'quiet and dead' lol)

Reply 109

El Gennaro

xelarose

Mental note: DO NOT GO TO ST. ANDREWS :p:

Definitely :P

It's more of a golfing place that old people would enjoy.

Reply 110

Higgy90

Slumpy

No idea about the uni.
As a place, who cares about the lack of shops? There's plenty for everything I need, certainly. And the beach is useable year round...
Also, if you think the clubs in Dundee are good, you're clearly quite confused.

this x 1000000

Reply 111

FrancesO

Don't most places use PhD students for tutors/supervisions? It's their only source of income. :p:

Reply 112

ChemistBoy

Umiisadorable

I had a great education and made the mistake of basing my decision on University rankings alone.

To be fair, if you did that, then you reap what you sow. No offence but that is a school-boy error and not one that requires a complete trashing of the place you are studying. St Andrews has done nothing wrong it is you who have made the mistake. So please, less of calling other people bitter, I suggest you take the plank out of your own eye.

As for the thing about there being lots of restaurants and cafes - well, there are, compared to other towns of its size. It also, thanks to the students, has a much more lively cultural scene than most towns of its size. That's why people make a point of it. You have decided to read an implication into that statement that is not intended. If you like clubbing then St Andrews isn't for you (and I should think that a single visit to the place would have told you that loud and clear), not everyone likes clubbing and that doesn't make them boring. If you like golf, this place is a mecca.

St Andrews occupies a niche and clearly that isn't for everyone, I don't think it tries to be anything else though.

Reply 113

ChemistBoy

FrancesO

Don't most places use PhD students for tutors/supervisions? It's their only source of income.

For arts and social sciences this seems to very much be the case outside Oxbridge. The OP seems to think this is something unique to St Andrews, which is clearly wrong.

Reply 114

FrancesO

ChemistBoy

For arts and social sciences this seems to very much be the case outside Oxbridge. The OP seems to think this is something unique to St Andrews, which is clearly wrong.

I'm not sure it's not the case in Oxbridge actually. I was looking (far too much in advance) at PhDs, and Cambridge, at least, states that you can work doing undergraduate supervisions. Of course, that's computer science rather than arts/social sciences.

Reply 115

M_E_X

Muddy91

say whaa?! :lolwut:

What? St Andrews was ranked 3rd and 4th in the league tables this year, in the Guardian and Times respectively. We've been ranked highly in the past; this is nothing particularly surprising.

OP - if you read the prospectus you'd see it does not portray the town as a large lively town but as a small quaint one - which it is. I find it hard to believe that if you read the prospectus you really were dissapointed when there were no clubs and no "large shopping centre" (eg the Trafford Centre?) which you moaned about in your OP.
As such - combined with the fact you didn't even visit, I find it hard to have any sympathy with you at all.

Reply 116

cloudengel

If you want to go shopping you should take a trip to Aberdeen~
They have like 5 shopping malls there and every shop you could think of twice. When I was there, people had come from Edinburgh and Glasgow for the sales and shopping just because the shopping there is so much better~~

Reply 117

halfoflessthan50p

Umiisadorable

....

I went to university in London, and ironically, had a lot of the same problems as you:

You get bad lecturers and tutors at every university. Even Oxbridge. Its because theyre primarily researchers not trained teachers like at school.

It takes far longer than 25 minutes to get anywhere in London and the taxis are more expensive. We generally had to travel for an hour on the tube to get to our favourite clubs

I often felt bitter that I wasnt getting the real university experience aswell. I wanted to live in a small campus town where there were lots of students all living close to each other and where there was a sense of community.

Castles, rabbits, house parties and beach parties sounds like heaven to me. Which just goes to prove what everyone has been saying - each to their own and go to the bloody open day before you agree to spend 3 years of your life living somewhere!

Reply 118

M_E_X

halfoflessthan50p

Great post tbh (Y). Sums it up perfectly; different unis suit different people. Visit before you go to know if uni x suits you.
That's the real lesson from this thread.

Reply 119

TheNorth

Umiisadorable

You people are so bitter its pathetic.

Sorry Dear, but I'm afraid you seem like the most bitter person in this thread, bitter you made a 'mistake' by coming to a first class Uni and expecting the world of a small coastal town..