St Andrews University: A Warning

I'm not one for clubbing, drinking or shopping anyway. I do however love castles and rabbits. As long as there are clubs (read: societies e.g. debating) I'd be very happy lounging about in a quiet, cosy town.

I'm basically going to Uni so I can read and think in peace for 4 years. London is a brilliant city (the best in the world in my mind) but I'd like to take a break.

But I definitely see why some people would hate that.

The problem with a place like St Andrews is, if you don't make a good group of friends quickly, you are going to feel very lonely. University can be very cliquey, with the usual good looking girls and boys or idiots getting all the attention, and the sensible lot being labelled as boring.

O.K, I'm writing this because I wished someone had done the same for me when I was applying to University, and been honest about what its REALLY like at St Andrews. I am a Second year student at the University, and wanted to make a formal warning to people wanting to apply to this University, because I don't want others to be duped the way that I was and then arrive here and realise what a colossal mistake they have made.

O.K, academically, the university has a very strong reputation which in my opinion, isn't entirely justified; having been to a private school since the age of 12, I have actually been relatively unimpressed by some of the teaching standards here at St Andrews especially in the first two years which do not actually count towards the rest of the degree. So essentially, two out of the four years you'll spend here, unless you are actually studing medicine are a complete waste and count for nothing, and some of the tutors in the Arts honours degree are simply postgraduate students whose tutorial sessions are completely redundant and useless and essentially function as a means of checking that you've simply read the pointless articles and snippets set. The point is that St Andrews has a strong reputation primarily because it is an OLD university- the oldest in Scotland in fact, which is why its regarded so highly- so don't be fooled as I was into believe that it is truly anything special.

Now, to the most significant part of my article- the place itself is hopeless. Its like a tiny, picturesque little prison with no clubs, and a very limited amount of shops and NO SHOPPING CENTRE whatsoever. People really skim over that fact when talking about this place as if it doesn’t matter, but its important because it becomes maddening- even for people who claim to adore the place, the fact that the highstreet has basically very few shops is a drag, as is the standard and quality of the so-called 'nightlife'. As I stated there are NO CLUBS just tiny crowded pubs with embarrassingly little space that attempt to mould themselves into clubs, but have 'dancefloors' the size of a small bedroom and play awful music. Students BEHAVE as though they are enjoying themselves thoroughly, getting dressed up to stand around in grotty pubs and drink, but they’re either very sad or pretending, honestly, because there's never any space and ALL VENUES SHUT AT ONE O CLOCk in the morning. I'm not kidding. So people leave their little dorms at 11 to come back two hours later drunk and say they've had a great night. It’s very, very sad. If leaving the Union at 1 in the morning after spending your time in there listening to the same terrible music in a tiny box of a room sounds fun then perhaps not, but people behave as if they're SO excited for absolutely no reason at all because there is nothing to get excited about. I love going out, but going out here is not what i call going out because all you're doing is going to one of the pubs next to Tesco to the Union which are all five minutes away from each other because the place is so ridiculously, pathetically small.
It is a beautiful place if you like castles and rabbits, and there is a gorgeous beahc although its only really ‘usable’ for one moth over the two Semesters and the fact that it is as small as it is ruins things, because instead of being able as you should in a city or a larger town, to escape to the centre for an afternoon just to relax or go somewhere a little different with friends- here there is no 'centre' to escape to, and So little to do its incredibly claustrophobic.

The centre of town consists of three streets with tiny little shops and a few banks, like the bare minimum you would expect from an underdeveloped borough in London. There’s Dundee to go to which is 25 minutes away on a bus, but that in itself is actually a very dismal place with a few half decent shops although it does have a few clubs, which are the only saving grace of the place- I’ve been a few times and the clubs are actually good there which is a plus, but the cab fare to get there and back is 60 pounds- you know why? Because of the terrible transport system which means that there are no such thing as night buses here and so you HAVE to take a cab if going out to Dundee later than midnight- it’s things like that which bother me, because even ATTEMPTING to have fun is hard work here.

Its also very difficult to find decent work here because of the lack of opportunities because of the lack of shops, and the \university’s Career Centre is completely hopeless, and basically has no reason for existing, because all the vacancy details could just be sent by e-mail to students, but they refuse to do that and instaead obligate you to go there in person and look up a vacancy located in a single file, which yu then have to que for half and hour to get access to. I am NOT joking.
Most significantly, I have spoken to three people from London, two of whom are my friends and one who has now left because he hated the place so much, and they all say the same thing about it. I had to write this because since I came I have contemplated leaving several times, so if you’re from a decent, fun city, be prepared for the hugest disappointment of your life.

This is an excellent place for social climbers who live in Wellingtons and wear Ray Bans and tweed in December and actually consider drunkenly stumbling around in someone’s lounge or the crowded rooms in the Union until only 1 in the morning to be a fun night out. My experience here has illustrated the extent of people's capacity for self deception and delusion because sincerely, the place is pathetic. One of the most boring places I have ever lived, and a regretful and frustrating experience. If you want a real taste of University life, do not come to St Andrews- almost everyone I’ve spoken to since coming here has expressed that they dislike the place for the very same reasons I have stated here. Obviously, as I expect, people will disagree with me, but this needs to be said, because I have seen hints of others stating negative things about the place but no-one so far I have read has really given the place the dressing down it deserves.

The way the original writer described it sounds perfect for me! I hate clubbing, and don't like staying up all night. Don't like very industialised large concrete centres, love castles and nature. Shame i've already applied to different unis now.

why are you wasting time slagging your uni off? just transfer to a different one..

Warning others not to fall into the same trap she did

Warning others not to fall into the same trap she did

theres a difference between warning others and slagging a uni off..she sounds melodramatic to be quite frank

On the plus side, the 'complaint' is pretty well written

so her good use of wording and grammar justifies her slagging off st andrews? just because she wasn't a fan? makes perfect sense

I don't think it's a problem. If someone has an issue about a university and they want to warn others to not suffer the same, sites like TSR are perhaps the best places to go to. Obviously it's going to cause controversy but at least people will now be provided with a second thought. I'm also pretty sure that it's not just St Andrews whose experienced this kind of review on student forums. As many know, it has otherwise a very strong reputation.

Don't you think St Andrews are obsessed with chasing the UK league tables? What are they worried about?

This is so weird, since St Andrews has the 3rd best student satisfaction in the UK according to the complete university guide...

I don't trust tripe like that. Student satisfaction is one of the biggest flaws in the national league tables.

Get out yourself, you are wrong, wrong, and wrong again. If you had read my other posts on various threads, I speak highly of Edinburgh, Warwick, UCL, Bath, and not just Nottingham.

When the likes of UEA and Surrey get an average tariff entry of AABB, and enter the World top 100 in any of the 3 major World rankings (QS, THE, ARWU), then we can talk about them being Russell Group material. Until then, stop dissing Nottingham, a World top 100 university, and a top 2 target university for the top 100 graduate employers.

A World top 100 university ? Says who , you ?

Not saying I agree with the original poster, but QS has Nottingham at 70 (http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2015#sorting=rank+region=+country=+faculty=+stars=false+search=nottingham), and they're a pretty well respected World rankings.