How competitive is St Andrews?

ive been told by many ppl that applying here was a mistake cos its in the middle of nowhere, whats it like for sport, is the climbing wall at the sports centre any good?

This is true. The fact is that there are no cars - only horse-drawn carriages and penny farthings - and the town has a term-time population of only about 22 point something people. St Andrews is a very quiet medieval village in Scotland. When entering please mind the swordsman.

Not anymore, I hear he died in October. Damn freshers.

Hi I`m holding an unconditional offer for St Andy´s postgrad entrance 2010 and I`m wondering if I have to accept/decline within a certain time (I think KCL requires an answer within 3 weeks after the offer letter)??? The offer letter does not state anything...

thanks

I got 7 A*s 2 As and a B at GCSE, and AAB at AS level... would i stand a chance with my B at AS Level??

I got 7 A*s 2 As and a B at GCSE, and AAB at AS level... would i stand a chance with my B at AS Level??

The applicant to place ratio this year was 13 for physics. I got a B in AS maths and As in physics, chemistry, geology, german and gen. studies and they said I was rejected on the grounds of my personal statement (I got 6A*s, 4As and a B at GCSE), which I don't buy into, but that's the reason they gave. There were something like 50 places on the course, and 100 applicants already had the grades to meet their minimum offer.

On Thursday, I got A*s in maths and physics (the important ones for a physics degree) and As in chemistry and gen. studies. I obliterated their standard offer (or exceeded it ), yet they didn't offer me a place. It's competitive no doubt.

Could somebody studying at St. Andrews please track down their physics admissions staff and kindly ask them to go and **** themselves? Cheers.

You don't buy it? They obviously had better personal statements from other applicants, what's so hard to believe?

gosh that really sounds scary :/ I am applying for 2012 entry (for physics as well) and this really makes me worry well good luck with your other applications then

I was rejected from Durham as well, if you're interested. I'm not sure what their application/place ratio was but I'm guessing it was high, as their offer is A*AA this year.
I reckon my B at AS level let me down. I had a bad exam day and I sat Cores 1 and 2 on the same day (neither was a resit either) straight after each other. I just felt like I was on damage limitation for those three hours.
If anything it shows that their admissions systems (or the exam system?) are flawed because I got A*s in cores 3 and four (one sat in Feb and one sat in July thank god!). I got an A* in physics too. I don't think they could realistically ask much more from a candidate without holding interviews or conducting external exams (which neither do). I'm sure many others who applied and many who were rejected also exceeded the offer. Even if you have the capability, it's still going to be hard.
My advice would be to forget about St. Andrews, unless you have your heart set on it. It's not worth the risk to be honest. I'd apply for somewhere less competitive or I'd go for somewhere like Imperial or Oxford -chances are lower that you'll get in there, but you get to argue your case in an interview and they're more prestigious, which makes it worthwhile given that St. Andrews is similarly risky.
Although to be honest, any top 20/russel group university will have a good physics course -they're all accredited by the Institute of Physics (which means they need to cover certain topics to a certain level of detail), so really it'll boil down to finding an offer you can meet and finding somewhere you will be happy.
For Physics, Birmingham, ICL, Oxbridge, Warwick, Lancaster, Durham, St. Andrews, Bristol and Southampton all tend to be the recognised "top ten", but to be honest, the top 20 or so are all very close.
I'd recommend Lancaster, because it has a fantastic physics department (home to the coldest place in the universe!) and I know people who missed their offer for Lancaster and got in. There's no guarantee they'll be lenient next year, but it's an indication at least. I think Southampton might have had clearing spaces this year, but I can't remember.
Loughborough, York, Liverpool and Cardiff and Royal Holloway were all also in clearing this year. There were loads more in clearing the year before, including Lancaster (I checked the list last year to choose insurance choices, which worked because York was accepting people for their BSc with BBB in clearing this year), so you might get an easy place at a good department if the rise in applications this year was just a pre-tuition fee surge.
Thanks for wishing me luck but I got into Warwick's physics department, so I'm happy! Good luck with your UCAS application and make sure you choose somewhere you know you can get into for your insurance -the unis in clearing (above) will more likely be lenient with you if you mess up badly.

That my B in AS mathematics let me down? I'd have thought that carried more weight than the PS.
It's not a sour grapes thing. I realised I didn't have a hope in hell once I saw the applicant/place ratio. To be honest, I wasn't sure I would want to go to somewhere so isolated, but the department was good so I'd see if I liked it if my offer came through. I'm very happy to be going to Warwick.
No, the thing that annoys me is that I was rejected despite being good enough. They asked for AAA and I exceeded it. I suppose I should have done a bit more research on how competitive it actually is but if they'd have made that clear by asking for higher grades then I wouldn't have wasted a UCAS choice.

I don't really see what your point is? How is a system where they look at evidence of your ability and interest in the subject (as and ps) and then do a further check (your offer) flawed? I can understand you being miffed that you feel good enough but the reality is there are plenty of people good enough to go to any of the top unis but not all can get in. Also, most people exceed their offer who get in. The average ucas points of a physics entrant is something like 500

To people who might be scared to apply - don't be Just so long as you know what they look for! (oh and the uni puts a lot of emphasis on the personal statement so it's not surprising that that might be why they reject someone)