University of St Andrews
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The St Andrews reputation
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Nope, not much.
Employers don't think "oooh, they went to St Andrews!", read no further on the CV, and hire them on the spot.
(sorry if that breaks anyone's dreams
)
At most an employer might think "Hmm, good uni, potentially smart chap" but if they then find out they graduated without honours in philosophy, with the job in question being a senior nuclear engineer, with no experience, a distinct lack of knowledge and people skills, being overtly offensive at interview, etc. I doubt they'll give them the job anyway on strength of the university name
Really, a slight positive note of it is about as much you can hope for, and after your first job out of uni, experience is much more important.
Employers don't think "oooh, they went to St Andrews!", read no further on the CV, and hire them on the spot.
(sorry if that breaks anyone's dreams
)At most an employer might think "Hmm, good uni, potentially smart chap" but if they then find out they graduated without honours in philosophy, with the job in question being a senior nuclear engineer, with no experience, a distinct lack of knowledge and people skills, being overtly offensive at interview, etc. I doubt they'll give them the job anyway on strength of the university name
Really, a slight positive note of it is about as much you can hope for, and after your first job out of uni, experience is much more important.
University of St Andrews
Wait... you mean I can't just wave around my St Andrews degree and become supreme ruler of the universe by general concensus?! Hmmm... and I actually have to be motivated to have stuff to put on my resume other than my pyromaniac and Death Eater tendencies? Whatever is this world coming to?
If it'll swing things your way, St Andrews has a very strong american community, so you'll have plenty of people you can relate to! I'd say about 10-15% of all students here are from the USA or Canada.
Acaila
Nope, not much.
Employers don't think "oooh, they went to St Andrews!", read no further on the CV, and hire them on the spot.
(sorry if that breaks anyone's dreams)
At most an employer might think "Hmm, good uni, potentially smart chap"
Employers don't think "oooh, they went to St Andrews!", read no further on the CV, and hire them on the spot.
(sorry if that breaks anyone's dreams
)At most an employer might think "Hmm, good uni, potentially smart chap"
So are there any British unis that make employers think "oooh, they went to X university"?
nauru
So are there any British unis that make employers think "oooh, they went to X university"?
No...nor should there be any uni in the world where that happens. St Andrews was just used by Acaila as an example
ebonyphoenix
Wait... you mean I can't just wave around my St Andrews degree and become supreme ruler of the universe by general concensus?! Hmmm... and I actually have to be motivated to have stuff to put on my resume other than my pyromaniac and Death Eater tendencies? Whatever is this world coming to?
It's true that many feel that way. But your uni is just a conduit for your higher education. Most employers are experienced enough in the business of hiring to know (first hand, a lot of the time) that going to a great university does not necessarily make the person a good employee.
It's nothing to get worked up over. It's really too bad that people put so much thought into rank and reputation. We'd all get much more meaningful educations if we dropped that out of our thoughts!
It's nothing to get worked up over. It's really too bad that people put so much thought into rank and reputation. We'd all get much more meaningful educations if we dropped that out of our thoughts!
ive got to say though that the type of uni you went to could change how an employer looks at you, say if you were in a city uni and wanted to be working in the city they might think you were better than someone who went to a v small slow life laid back uni they might think you would find it hard to adjust, if say you went from lampeter uni(wales-with noly sheep for hours) and then wanted to work in new york
People obviously have varying opinions, but I'm curious anyway. St A is big in the US; perhaps because the Scottish system, being similar to the US college system, attracts more US students and St A is one of the best unis in Scotland.
Aside from that, in UK/Europe, how does Durham's rep compare to St A?
Aside from that, in UK/Europe, how does Durham's rep compare to St A?
katie14
Aside from that, in UK/Europe, how does Durham's rep compare to St A?
)xkatb15x
ive got to say though that the type of uni you went to could change how an employer looks at you, say if you were in a city uni and wanted to be working in the city they might think you were better than someone who went to a v small slow life laid back uni they might think you would find it hard to adjust, if say you went from lampeter uni(wales-with noly sheep for hours) and then wanted to work in new york
Oh, I disagree heartily. I did my undergrad at a very respected but very rural university which sends a great deal of graduates to work in New York City, Washington DC, Boston, and L.A. Sure, many graduates lounge about for a year or so or go on to graduate school, but the location of the university, in U.S. terms anyway, has very little bearing on an employer's general impression.
I bought into the same lot of name-and-reputation-means-everything B.S. when I was preparing to go into my undergraduate studies but it's really just a lot of hot air.
Maybe if people are concerned they should ask employers in their desired field? I believe you will find that employers care a lot more about experience and work ethic than university name or location. I speak from a largely U.S. background, though, so perhaps what I have to say doesn't hold water in the UK...?
Aglyaya
It's true that many feel that way. But your uni is just a conduit for your higher education. Most employers are experienced enough in the business of hiring to know (first hand, a lot of the time) that going to a great university does not necessarily make the person a good employee.
It's nothing to get worked up over. It's really too bad that people put so much thought into rank and reputation. We'd all get much more meaningful educations if we dropped that out of our thoughts!
It's nothing to get worked up over. It's really too bad that people put so much thought into rank and reputation. We'd all get much more meaningful educations if we dropped that out of our thoughts!
Excellent post! Quoted for emphasis. This is the truth people
nauru
There shouldn't be, but many on TSR would argue that they do indeed exist - hence the stress over uni admissions.
In all honesty, many on TSR are a bunch of kids who don't know what they're talking about and want to look smart
This whole uni reputation thing really winds me up, I so often feel inadequate on TSR for not going to LSE to do Economics or Oxbridge to do a hard core science. At the end of the day, I want to go to St. Andrews so I don't care what anyone else thinks of it. (Another thing that winds me up is when people ask where i am going to uni, and they first thing they say when I mention it is 'ooo isnt it a shame william isnt there anymore' or other references to the prince)
Aglyaya
I believe you will find that employers care a lot more about experience and work ethic than university name or location.
As Acaila said a bit further up:
Acaila
At most an employer might think "Hmm, good uni, potentially smart chap"
If you look on job search websites, you'll see that employers just want a degree. It's not as if they're going to rummage through the 1,000+ applications and throw away all the ones except those from people who studied at Oxford and Cambridge.
Acaila
Nope, not much.
Employers don't think "oooh, they went to St Andrews!", read no further on the CV, and hire them on the spot.
(sorry if that breaks anyone's dreams)
At most an employer might think "Hmm, good uni, potentially smart chap" but if they then find out they graduated without honours in philosophy, with the job in question being a senior nuclear engineer, with no experience, a distinct lack of knowledge and people skills, being overtly offensive at interview, etc. I doubt they'll give them the job anyway on strength of the university name
Really, a slight positive note of it is about as much you can hope for, and after your first job out of uni, experience is much more important.
Employers don't think "oooh, they went to St Andrews!", read no further on the CV, and hire them on the spot.
(sorry if that breaks anyone's dreams
)At most an employer might think "Hmm, good uni, potentially smart chap" but if they then find out they graduated without honours in philosophy, with the job in question being a senior nuclear engineer, with no experience, a distinct lack of knowledge and people skills, being overtly offensive at interview, etc. I doubt they'll give them the job anyway on strength of the university name
Really, a slight positive note of it is about as much you can hope for, and after your first job out of uni, experience is much more important.
oh, come on. do you really think that that is what most people are suggesting?
this will sound rude (but then i'm even a little offended by the suggestion that i would think it possible that an employer would think ' "oooh, they went to St Andrews!", read no further on the CV, and hire them on the spot' despite having 'no experience, a distinct lack of knowledge and people skills, being overtly offensive at interview, etc'), but your post wouldn't seem worth replying to if your opinions didn't seem to hold so much sway here.
what's the point in bringing in ridiculous variables?
that's like saying "well, clearly, having loads of experience is worthless, because if you were incredibly rude in an interview you wouldn't be hired over a friendlier but less experienced candidate!!"
you obviously don't agree, but i think that when choosing between candidates on a reasonably even footing in other respects, university name does make a difference. a first in english literature from cambridge is, in my opinion, considerably more valuable than that same from sunderland university. and i'm told that sunderland has quite a reputation for IT and pharmacy, so your going to be better off having a good degree from there than from certain other unis.
so, that's what i think.
but there's no point in attending a university you hate and will maybe do poorly at just because it has a great reputation.
Dalimyr
As in people knowing the name, St Andrews is much more well-known than Durham.
i'm not entirely sure about europe, but in the uk??
durham is very very well known in the uk and in my experience doesn't draw the blank looks that st andrews does.
Autumn Child
oh, come on. do you really think that that is what most people are suggesting?
this will sound rude (but then i'm even a little offended by the suggestion that i would think it possible that an employer would think ' "oooh, they went to St Andrews!", read no further on the CV, and hire them on the spot' despite having 'no experience, a distinct lack of knowledge and people skills, being overtly offensive at interview, etc'), but your post wouldn't seem worth replying to if your opinions didn't seem to hold so much sway here.
what's the point in bringing in ridiculous variables?
that's like saying "well, clearly, having loads of experience is worthless, because if you were incredibly rude in an interview you wouldn't be hired over a friendlier but less experienced candidate!!"
you obviously don't agree, but i think that when choosing between candidates on a reasonably even footing in other respects, university name does make a difference. a first in english literature from cambridge is, in my opinion, considerably more valuable than that same from sunderland university. and i'm told that sunderland has quite a reputation for IT and pharmacy, so your going to be better off having a good degree from there than from certain other unis.
so, that's what i think.
but there's no point in attending a university you hate and will maybe do poorly at just because it has a great reputation.
this will sound rude (but then i'm even a little offended by the suggestion that i would think it possible that an employer would think ' "oooh, they went to St Andrews!", read no further on the CV, and hire them on the spot' despite having 'no experience, a distinct lack of knowledge and people skills, being overtly offensive at interview, etc'), but your post wouldn't seem worth replying to if your opinions didn't seem to hold so much sway here.
what's the point in bringing in ridiculous variables?
that's like saying "well, clearly, having loads of experience is worthless, because if you were incredibly rude in an interview you wouldn't be hired over a friendlier but less experienced candidate!!"
you obviously don't agree, but i think that when choosing between candidates on a reasonably even footing in other respects, university name does make a difference. a first in english literature from cambridge is, in my opinion, considerably more valuable than that same from sunderland university. and i'm told that sunderland has quite a reputation for IT and pharmacy, so your going to be better off having a good degree from there than from certain other unis.
so, that's what i think.
but there's no point in attending a university you hate and will maybe do poorly at just because it has a great reputation.
You're entitled to your opinion of course, but you aren't exactly a representative of the majority of employers. There are a lot of variables involved in hiring someone for a job, tis true. But where you went to university ranks rather low, quite possibly below what colour of tie you wear to the interview
As Dali said, a degree is a degree, and when it comes to jobs, employers look at very little after the fact that you have a degree and sometimes the subject it is in.mousy - don't ever let anyone make you feel inferior for going to St Andrews!
TSR really is full of prestige obsessed teenagers who're going to get a shock one day And anyone who looks down on someone for going to St. A's is some sort of delusional snob frankly 
On the Durham/ St. Andrews note, I think Durham would probably draw more blank looks. Admittedly I'm from Scotland so I would expect a St. A's bias in what people know, but when I applied to Durham a lot of people didn't really have a clue about it. Whereas they told me to go to St Andrews instead
(apparently "I didn't apply" and "They don't do my course" aren't good enough reasons not to ). They're both excellent unis though, and I certainly would strongly discourage anyone from choosing between them based on reputation.
yeung3939
Why do people look down upon St. Andrews?
Most wouldn't, actually...it is a very prestigious uni
But the likes of people who get into Oxford, Cambridge, most of the big London unis (LSE and so on) - these unis are considered 'better' than others because they're harder to get into (the Oxbridge application process is very nerve-racking for anyone with hopes of being at one of the "best" unis in the country)...it's generally only arrogant people who have somehow managed to get into those unis that look down on St Andrews; they see their successful application to those unis as being such a great achievement that they constantly make a big song and dance about how they got in and other people are inferior to them because they didn't get in, and constantly rub it in other people's faces.
If you look around the world at the top people in top companies and government and the wealthiest people (who've earned it legally and legitimately on their own) you won't see just people from Oxbridge, LSE, and Ivy's. You'll see people from the Univ or Texas in Austin (Micheal Dell), Huddersfield (George Buckley), Minnesota State Univ (Glenn Taylor), Univ of Washington (Donald Bren), North Carolina State (James Goodnight), No college (Ralph Lauren), dropped out of Wentworth Inst of Tech (Thomas Flatley), Middlebury (Loiuis Bacon), Univ or Minnesota (T. Denny Sanford)
Granted, going to Oxbridge or an Ivy will likely give you a step up, but it's only one of many steps. My parents know people from Oxbridge, Ivy's, Stamford, and The Sorbonne who are virtual washouts in terms of success.
Having grown up around alot of wealth and power I've also come to realize how empty it is. Money and power don't buy happiness and in many cases only buy depression and heartache. The happiest people I know are not ubber successful, but are the people doing what they enjoy, not worrying about climbing a corporate or government ladder, and going home at 5p at night instead of working until midnight.
Granted, going to Oxbridge or an Ivy will likely give you a step up, but it's only one of many steps. My parents know people from Oxbridge, Ivy's, Stamford, and The Sorbonne who are virtual washouts in terms of success.
Having grown up around alot of wealth and power I've also come to realize how empty it is. Money and power don't buy happiness and in many cases only buy depression and heartache. The happiest people I know are not ubber successful, but are the people doing what they enjoy, not worrying about climbing a corporate or government ladder, and going home at 5p at night instead of working until midnight.
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