Any Americans at St Andrews willing to answer a few questions?

Hey all,

I'm an American student who was recently admitted into St. Andrews to study IR and Film Studies. I have wanted to attend this school for a very long time (I was rejected out of high school, I reapplied as a transfer my freshman year in college and got in) but I had a few questions about the school for any americans that go there.

I assume there's no thanksgiving break or any other break in mid / november. Does this ever make you feel distanced from your friends or family back home?

what do you think of St Andrews method of teaching and does it seem as effective as the teaching methods in the US?

I hear American's are able to get in to the school having lower grades than their UK/European counterparts. Does this give them a bad rep at the school with their fellow peers?

Thanks for any help guys!

Reply 1

ImperceptibleNinja

13

I'm afraid I'm not American and can't answer everything, but there are a couple of things which might be relevant.

Firstly, each year I usually hear about students organising Thanksgiving meals, usually they ask each person to bring a dish along. In my first year some students organised a meal in hall for those who wanted to participate, and I think people are keen to celebrate even if they're living in a flat. So this might help compensate a bit for not being able to go home.

Secondly, I don't think entry requirements affect what people would think of you. I will repeat myself in saying that as long as you are a fairly nice and reasonable person, you shouldn't struggle with people pre-judging you for any reason. If you sit in lectures going 'derp-derp duurr-hurr', then your peers might not be too impressed, but I'd imagine you'd probably not do that :biggrin:

Reply 2

Real Deep

If you've got the money, you can go home for thanksgiving.

Reply 3

kiss_me_now9

16

Most universities will have an American society which you can use to socialize with others in the same boat and do Thanksgiving, Independence Day and what other holidays you find to celebrate with :smile:

Reply 4

VickyS83

3

I'm not American either but when I was in my second yr at St Andrews I lived with an American girl and she had a Thanksgiving party and the majority of the Americam students throw/ attend something like that. There are many American students at St A and no one noticed or mentioned anything about lower entry grades.

Reply 5

marlowe92

craycoolz

Hey all,

I'm an American student who was recently admitted into St. Andrews to study IR and Film Studies. I have wanted to attend this school for a very long time (I was rejected out of high school, I reapplied as a transfer my freshman year in college and got in) but I had a few questions about the school for any americans that go there.

I assume there's no thanksgiving break or any other break in mid / november. Does this ever make you feel distanced from your friends or family back home?

what do you think of St Andrews method of teaching and does it seem as effective as the teaching methods in the US?

I hear American's are able to get in to the school having lower grades than their UK/European counterparts. Does this give them a bad rep at the school with their fellow peers?

Thanks for any help guys!

I'm an American who will be attending St A's next year, so I can't answer all of your question, but I don't think the entry grades are that much lower for Americans. UK students are evaluated based on A-Level performance, standardized exams where they take what are presumably their best 3 subjects and 20% of all test takers get an "A". The US, in contrast, goes by your transcript- your performance in every single subject taken since freshman year, often adding up to as many as 28 grades! It is therefore arguably much easier to achieve straight A's under the UK system than the US, and I don't think the fact that Americans may have a mix of A's and B's is an indication of intellectual inferiority. St. Andrews also takes into account AP's and most, it seems, get "5"s (A equivalent) on the subjects relevant to their area of focus in uni. Then again, this is all speculation, so any current St. A's student who is a bit more knowledgeable about this is welcome to correct any wrong assumptions.

Any Americans at St Andrews willing to answer a few questions?

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