Warwick or St Andrews?

So I've received conditional offers from both Warwick and St Andrews, two universities I thought I had little to no chance of getting into The problem is that I've no idea which university I want to go to. St Andrews' offer has higher conditions than Warwick's and I'm not entirely certain I'll be able to meet them.

Also, both of these universities have completely different pros and cons:
First of all, as a EU citizen, I don't have to pay for my tuition at St Andrews'. Furthermore, St Andrews seems like a truly lovely town (and I love its architecture!) and it's a small university, which I think would make me more comfortable there as I'm rather shy and find meeting new people difficult. I love the history, the traditions, everything, but the cheaper accommodation (which is the only one I would be able to afford) is so grim and I've yet to hear anything positive about St Andrews' Economics department. Also, you have to study for four years and have only a few short holidays.

Warwick, on the other hand, seems to offer a higher-quality education and its accommodation seems to be better in general. Though, to be honest, it doesn't seem all that friendly. What with it being such a big and prestigious university, I'm really worried about not making any friends there and generally not fitting in. Also, there's the whole £27,000 loan...

Could anyone help me choose between these two? To me it seems like an impossible choice, I believe that no matter which university I'll choose, I'll regret not choosing the other one - both of them are excellent and utterly different! All opinions are welcome, I'd truly appreciate any help at all.

Why can't you get the expensive accommodation at st Andrews if you're saving £27000 by going there?

It all depends on what's most important to you really.

If you value happiness, feeling more comfortable, and money more choose St Andrews.

If you value a good department and accommodation more, choose Warwick.

If I were you I would definitely choose St Andrews, only because it's definitely more important for me to feel comfortable and happy in a place than to have nice accommodation; as for the academics side, it's ST ANDREWS, it's not going to have a bad economics department - and you'll find that so much of it is independent study anyway. I don't know about you but my grades fall horribly when I'm unhappy in a place, and feeling like I don't fit in makes me unhappy and also unmotivated.

But that's just me.

Because she isn't saving £27,000 directly in the sense that if she went to Warwick, her bank account would be £27k less than if she went to St Andrews, but rather, over 30 years or so, she will pay £27k less in what is essentially taxes. Tuition is basically free at the point of use at both universities.

Because she isn't saving £27,000 directly in the sense that if she went to Warwick, her bank account would be £27k less than if she went to St Andrews, but rather, over 30 years or so, she will pay £27k less in what is essentially taxes. Tuition is basically free at the point of use at both universities.

I know she isn't saving it, but if you are willing to consider taking on the loan/additional tax by going to Warwick then you should be more than willing to spend an extra few thousand pounds over the course of the time you are at university to get better accommodation. So accommodation price shouldn't really come into it too much as fees have a much bigger financial impact in the long-run.

Well, there is always the chance I won't have to pay back the loan, especially if I choose to return to Lithuania after my studies and work there - salaries here are substantially lower compared to the UK, but most things also cost less. I could live here very comfortably without earning 21k annually.

Also, like I said, my parents wouldn't be able to pay for the more expensive accommodation. Part-time jobs are scarce in St Andrews, so there's little chance that I'd be able to contribute towards the costs. I suppose I could always take out a loan, but tuition fee loans have much better conditions than the maintenance ones.

Oh, and I checked out Warwick's and St Andrews' modules for L100 and I found that I strongly prefer Warwick's curriculum as it offers more modules on economic history.

I didn't even think you could get a tuition fee loan as an international student.

I know she isn't saving it, but if you are willing to consider taking on the loan/additional tax by going to Warwick then you should be more than willing to spend an extra few thousand pounds over the course of the time you are at university to get better accommodation. So accommodation price shouldn't really come into it too much as fees have a much bigger financial impact in the long-run.

I don't know why people are bashing St Andrews here.

Warwick is top 5 with Oxbridge, LSE and UCL while St Andrews is the second group with Durham, Bristol etc.

I am not sure whether it's worth paying 27k to go to Warwick in her case as she doesn't even like the campus.

Besides the job prospects are not that different from the 2 universities. Some would mention investment banks for Warwick but clearly that doesn't seem to interest OP.

I guess people who recommend Warwick find it easier to spend the money of the others than theirs.

So I've received conditional offers from both Warwick and St Andrews, two universities I thought I had little to no chance of getting into The problem is that I've no idea which university I want to go to. St Andrews' offer has higher conditions than Warwick's and I'm not entirely certain I'll be able to meet them.

Also, both of these universities have completely different pros and cons:
First of all, as a EU citizen, I don't have to pay for my tuition at St Andrews'. Furthermore, St Andrews seems like a truly lovely town (and I love its architecture!) and it's a small university, which I think would make me more comfortable there as I'm rather shy and find meeting new people difficult. I love the history, the traditions, everything, but the cheaper accommodation (which is the only one I would be able to afford) is so grim and I've yet to hear anything positive about St Andrews' Economics department. Also, you have to study for four years and have only a few short holidays.

Warwick, on the other hand, seems to offer a higher-quality education and its accommodation seems to be better in general. Though, to be honest, it doesn't seem all that friendly. What with it being such a big and prestigious university, I'm really worried about not making any friends there and generally not fitting in. Also, there's the whole £27,000 loan...

Could anyone help me choose between these two? To me it seems like an impossible choice, I believe that no matter which university I'll choose, I'll regret not choosing the other one - both of them are excellent and utterly different! All opinions are welcome, I'd truly appreciate any help at all.

Go for Warwick. You'll get your 27k investment later on when you'll start working. There's a very high chance that you'll get better job offers coming out of Warwick than of St Andrews.

Academically Warwick any day of the week.

But free fee's? I'd go with St Andrews.

I always got the impression that St. Andrews was top 5 and Warwick was the group below? It certainly seems to rank better and has a better international rep (esp. in the USA). St. Andrews outranks Warwick in all of the big domestic league tables (Guardian, Times, SundayTimes & Complete) and also in the international rankings.

Quite frankly the idea that you'll have a better career with a Warwick degree is utter nonsense, if there is a disparity between them it's very close either way. I can't talk in terms of specific degrees, but reputation-wise both are sound.

Ignore the Warwick fanboys - I'd definitely go for St. Andrews, better overall rep, fantastic place to live and no fees! Although if you're seriously worried you wont make the grades choose Warwick. I'm assuming as you applied to both as an international you had to use UCAS, in which case you get an insurance - why not use Warwick for this?

This is the Economics forum, and Warwick is definitely stronger than St Andrews for Economics. Putting rankings aside, I'm not sure the consensus is that St Andrews is top five, usually it would go Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial, LSE and UCL. St Andrews typically goes into the same tier as Warwick. St Andrews does not rank above Warwick across the board in world rankings.. in the QS Warwick is 50th and St Andrews is 97th, while in the THE St Andrews is 85th..not sure where Warwick is but pretty low down



This is pretty much all that matters.



Whilst I agree with you, you're at St Andrews and your post whiffs of the 'fanboy' syndrome Almost everyone on TSR is a fanboy in some form and has a bias to some university, which is what makes this site so unreliable. I would say both universities are equal in terms of reputation, if someone's not receptive of the fact that you've studied at St Andrews, I doubt they'd be any different to a Warwick student and vice versa.