St Andrews - Ask A Current Student Thread [part 2]

between 0 and 10 pounds a year. maybe 5 pound a year is average but plenty are free

Hi! Incoming postgraduate student here with a few questions.

1) I applied for accommodation in March, but I haven’t heard anything since. I’m also not able to log in to my application anymore to view the status. Do they email you to let you known when a decision has been made, or do you have to monitor the application? I really don’t want to miss an offer if I am made one because I can’t afford private accommodation, and it would be hard to find since I will be an international student.

2) I haven’t heard anything from the registry about a university username, email, etc, even though I received and accepted my offer months ago. Do you remember when you set this stuff up? I’m mostly paranoid if I have to have this set up in order to view my accommodation application for whatever reason.

Thanks in advance! I’ve tried to reach out to accommodation office for help but they haven’t given me any clear answers.

Not a postgraduate student but just speaking from my experience

1. I got my offer for accommodation towards the end of July last year (and early August the year before that) and they did email me when a decision has been made.

2. I believe I got my entrant information with computer account information and such quite late last year - some time during the summer (around August the year before that) - you should be able to sign into the accommodation application with your id number assigned?

Hi! Thanks for replying. So originally I was able to sign in with just my id, but that doesn’t work anymore for some reason. It keeps taking me to the SSO afterwards, but since I was never contacted to make an account, it doesn’t work. So not sure what to do unfortunately

At least for undergraduates they started sending out entrant emails around this time of year last year so would just wait for a bit longer for the entrant email (and perhaps email registry if the entrant email doesn't arrive in the next 2 weeks).

Sounds good. Thanks so much for your help!

Another question because I am really getting concerned! So, I recently logged into my student accommodation account just to see... and I found out I had gotten an offer for accommodation. However, I was not emailed or contacted AT ALL to tell me this had happened. I was never contacted by registration to set up a student email account or anything. Has this ever happened to anyone? I am so confused and frustrated, but mostly concerned that I am left off some list. I have been emailing the registry email but have not heard back from them

I really wouldn't worry, you have to remember that the staff there are probably extremely busy at this time of year and September is still a long way off.

The system says you will be successful, so you will get somewhere, but they may not have yet got around to deciding which actual accommodation block/room to offer you. The staff are probably waiting for the the full picture (special needs, requests etc) before they can give you their actual offer.

I would think the time to start worrying would be July or August.

I’ll be going to St. Andrews in September but I’m a bit worried about how expensive everything is...for example, I recently read that the red academic gowns cost over £100, which is a lot more than I can afford. Do first years need to buy these, or is it quite common for people not to bother? I really want to fit in and get involved with all the traditions, but I’m just worried I won’t be able to afford it...

I’ll be going to St. Andrews in September but I’m a bit worried about how expensive everything is...for example, I recently read that the red academic gowns cost over £100, which is a lot more than I can afford. Do first years need to buy these, or is it quite common for people not to bother? I really want to fit in and get involved with all the traditions, but I’m just worried I won’t be able to afford it...

Another question because I am really getting concerned! So, I recently logged into my student accommodation account just to see... and I found out I had gotten an offer for accommodation. However, I was not emailed or contacted AT ALL to tell me this had happened. I was never contacted by registration to set up a student email account or anything. Has this ever happened to anyone? I am so confused and frustrated, but mostly concerned that I am left off some list. I have been emailing the registry email but have not heard back from them

I got my gown for £40 off ebay (it's recommended that if you choose to buy a gown, you buy it second-hand because like you said, the new ones are so expensive) But to be honest you can really get by without having one (people only wear it on special occasions and even so you'll always see some people not wearing one at all) so don't worry about that! In terms of living costs, as long as you don't go around shopping all the time, you really don't have to spend much money at all - with St Andrews being a little town there aren't really that many 'cheap' stores, but I never find myself needing to buy anything so it doesn't really matter to me. If I do need to buy something, I usually either wait until I go back home in between semesters and buy something then, or I buy it off amazon, or I wait until I make a trip to Dundee where there are a lot more affordable high street stores. I get you though, I had this worry before I started as well but it hasn't been too much of a problem for me

I'm applying for Med, and I'm really worried that I'm going to get A*AB A*A*B for my AAA offer, I don't suppose anyone knows the likelihood of being accepted with those grades? Maybe if anyone knows someone who was in a similar situation and did/didn't get in anyway?

A*AB isn't normally accepted as an alternative to AAA. But it might be ok if the A* is in Chem and the B isn't in Biology

That's my problem: The B would be in Chemistry and the A*s in Biology, Computer science (and my EPQ but I don't think SA really care about that). It's starting to look like it's going to be either A*A*B(A*) or A*A*A(A*) and the fact that one of those is 1 grade away from perfect and the other doesn't get me into any of my uni choices just makes me want to actually cry.

This is going to sound really harsh but a medicine degree is on a whole different level to A levels... B Chem students are a lot more likely to struggle I've personally found...