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St Salvators Quad, University of St Andrews
University of St Andrews

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St Andrews - Ask A Current Student Thread

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Original post by Megbert
I got an unconditional for English in December! For accommodation I've been thinking of applying for McIntosh, St Regulus or St Salvator's Halls, since they're the closest halls to the English department. Are you likely to get your first choice of accommodation? Or is it more likely that you will be randomly placed?


Congratulations on your offer :biggrin:


Unfortunately, you don't actually get to apply to individual halls, just different "types" of hall:

catered, standard (ie. no en-suite bathroom)
catered, en-suite
self-catered, standard
self-catered, en-suite

I think you can apply specifically for Andrew Melville and Albany Park as they are the cheapest.

McIntosh, Regs, and Sallies all fall into the first category (I think), so if you were to put that as your first choice, then you'd have a good chance of getting one of them.
St Salvators Quad, University of St Andrews
University of St Andrews
Original post by ispyjonnytriff
Congratulations on your offer :biggrin:


Unfortunately, you don't actually get to apply to individual halls, just different "types" of hall:

catered, standard (ie. no en-suite bathroom)
catered, en-suite
self-catered, standard
self-catered, en-suite

I think you can apply specifically for Andrew Melville and Albany Park as they are the cheapest.

McIntosh, Regs, and Sallies all fall into the first category (I think), so if you were to put that as your first choice, then you'd have a good chance of getting one of them.


Ahh I see, thank you, that helps a lot! Yeah if I accept the offer (still deciding between St Andrews and Edinburgh, leaning mostly towards St Andrews at the moment) I'll be going for the first category, so I'll wait and see what I get!
Standard catered is the most oversubscribed category - this year I think they had 3x the number of applicants for available beds.

So even if it is your first choice, you may not get it... My daughter also wanted standard catered and finally ended up with her third choice, which was totally the opposite, self-catered ensuite!
Hello,

question to current students: When have you received your offer for Theorethical Physics with Mathematics?
Anybody know anything about choral scholarships? The website's a bit confusing..
Oh I didn't know that, thank you for the information! I'll just need to hope that I'm lucky then.

Also, can anyone tell me what the accommodation situation is like in St Andrews? For example, how difficult is it to find a rented flat after first year? I'm sure I read somewhere that since Kate and William went to the university it's become extremely difficult for students to afford accommodation in the town and some are being priced out of living there.
Hiya! This may seem like a weird question but is St.Andrews very upper class? As someone from the working class end of the spectrum I'm a bit worried that if it is I won't fit in. Also, does there tend to be much live music on (like rock bands) in St.Andrews or Dundee?
I've been invited to a Chemistry Saturday visit day but I've yet to receive an offer. Do all Chemistry applicants receive this invitation? The day includes an evening meal and a stay in a B&B. It is quite costly for me to get to the university because I'll have to fly. I suppose what I'm getting at is - does this mean I am likely to receive an offer?
Original post by amelia_jw
I've been invited to a Chemistry Saturday visit day but I've yet to receive an offer. Do all Chemistry applicants receive this invitation? The day includes an evening meal and a stay in a B&B. It is quite costly for me to get to the university because I'll have to fly. I suppose what I'm getting at is - does this mean I am likely to receive an offer?


These things are offered as sweeteners to encourage you to accept an offer, so I expect you will receive something imminently. The chemistry department usually books out Zizzi and gets final year students along for the evening so you can ask them questions. You are lucky, when I came along for that 8 years ago they didn't cover our B+B :P


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Original post by theKTanator
Hiya! This may seem like a weird question but is St.Andrews very upper class? As someone from the working class end of the spectrum I'm a bit worried that if it is I won't fit in. Also, does there tend to be much live music on (like rock bands) in St.Andrews or Dundee?


Technically speaking it is quite posh. It has the second highest proportion of private school students (around 40%), behind Oxford.

However, no-one really cares what class background you came from. People will ask where you're from in terms of the world but no-one really talks about class or anything like that. I don't even know whether my best friends were privately educated or not.

Political views are very diverse in St Andrews. The local seat is SNP, and the university rector is a Labour MP, but there's a lot of Tory supporters as well.

As for live bands, there are occasionally performances on Market Street, but you're probably better off trying out Dundee. The bus link between the two is very efficient, so you should have no problem getting there for concerts/performances, though it generally takes 40 mins to get there.
(edited 8 years ago)
Original post by TimGB
Technically speaking it is quite posh. It has the second highest proportion of private school students (around 40%), behind Oxford.

However, no-one really cares what class background you came from. People will ask where you're from in terms of the world but no-one really talks about class or anything like that. I don't even know whether my best friends were privately educated or not.

Political views are very diverse in St Andrews. The local seat is SNP, and the university rector is a Labour MP, but there's a lot of Tory supporters as well.

As for live bands, there are occasionally performances on Market Street, but you're probably better off trying out Dundee. The bus link between the two is very efficient, so you should have no problem getting there for concerts/performances, though it generally takes 40 mins to get there.


Thanks a lot! I'm privately educated myself but in a very open school with low fees and so diverse economic backgrounds. But, I know of neighbouring schools where your social status is determined by your wealth and that makes me really uncomfortable. I'm not too bothered by the percentage of privately educated students as long as that's not a point of judgement. St.Andrews seems like a very open and friendly place but I thought I'd better check! Thank you for your time anyway.
Original post by amelia_jw
I've been invited to a Chemistry Saturday visit day but I've yet to receive an offer. Do all Chemistry applicants receive this invitation? The day includes an evening meal and a stay in a B&B. It is quite costly for me to get to the university because I'll have to fly. I suppose what I'm getting at is - does this mean I am likely to receive an offer?


The offer to come to an applicants' day is usually a good sign that they're seriously considering you- I received my offer a few days after the day invitation arrived! I found the Saturday visit helped to cement my choice, but youll need to weigh the benefits of a more 'specialised' open day over the cost of transport. I'd say it depends on whether you've made a decision about universities yet :smile:

Spoiler

How likely are you to receive a conditional offer if you apply in 5th year (with the intention of leaving at the end of 5th year)?
(edited 8 years ago)
Hi! St. Andrews is my first choice university, so I've done a lot of research, but I still have a couple questions.

1. How is the undergraduate biology program in relation to other schools?
2. Does the admissions office value IB diploma candidates?
3. What is the acceptance rate?
4. Which accommodations are the best (according to you)? Why?
5. I'm an American student, so I'm a little confused about the student loan process overseas. Do you guys apply for loans through banks too? I know that in some countries you can get loans from the school that you attend.
Original post by Megbert
Oh I didn't know that, thank you for the information! I'll just need to hope that I'm lucky then.

Also, can anyone tell me what the accommodation situation is like in St Andrews? For example, how difficult is it to find a rented flat after first year? I'm sure I read somewhere that since Kate and William went to the university it's become extremely difficult for students to afford accommodation in the town and some are being priced out of living there.




The accommodation situation here definitely is a problem, finding a central flat that is affordable can definitely be a challenge. Having said that though, I don't know of anyone who wanted to find a flat that hasn't yet secured, one - it's just if you're picky regarding location that it can get really expensive.

Most people I know found reasonably (St Andrews reasonably, so 300 - 400 pcm) priced flats/houses by going further out that the main three streets though, so as long as you are willing to hunt a bit it isn't as terrible as it sounds!

The important thing to remember though is that even the areas that count as 'out of the centre of town' where flats are cheaper are very rarely more than 15 minutes from market street!

It's also worth remembering that it is entirely possible to go back into halls after first year, my whole friend group and I are moving back into Sallies next year, and most people that apply to halls tend to get back in.

If anyone has any questions about catered halls/Sallies then feel free to ask :smile:
Original post by Megbert
Also, can anyone tell me what the accommodation situation is like in St Andrews? For example, how difficult is it to find a rented flat after first year? I'm sure I read somewhere that since Kate and William went to the university it's become extremely difficult for students to afford accommodation in the town and some are being priced out of living there.


St Andrews does have an infamous housing crisis, although some people will insist on its non-existence. Prices can be anywhere from £350 pcm per person up to over £900, but most range from £450 to £700 pcm not including utilities. The closer to the town centre you are, the more expensive it typically is. The 'crisis' is definitely blown up by the agencies who of course love the competitiveness since it lets them hike up the prices for less-than-desirable houses, so you have to be ready and organised; but that being said, I've heard of people who get their housing sorted a week before the start of the year, and new things come up all through the year. There are always people looking for an extra person to fill up their flat too, so you wouldn't end up homeless so long as you're open to options. My group was rejected from all the agencies and from halls, but we got an offer today from a private landlord - it always works out in the end, and student services will help you out if you have concerns. Some people commute from Dundee or the smaller neighbouring towns too.

Halls are competitive to get back in to as well (sorry, I'm contradicting Emily above!), although your chances are better if you apply for the same halls again rather than moving to a different one. Nearly everyone I know who reapplied to the same halls got an offer, but nobody I know who wanted to change got one (I'm sure some do though, of course)

Also, for people applying to halls, don't set your sights on one place just because of the location! You'll have three modules to deal with when you get here and the likelihood of all of them being right by your halls isn't very high. Look at the module schedules to see where they were this year - especially in first year, lectures can end up in all sorts of places. Plus, between your labs and/or tutorials, chances are you'll end up all over St Andrews regardless of where you're living c: You don't get to specifically choose many halls anyway so if you don't get the one you want, I assure you it's the people you meet/live with that are the most important part of all, and almost everybody finds a group of people they love before long.
(edited 8 years ago)
Yes, sorry I forgot to add that most people I know who got back into halls applied to the same one, though I haven't personally heard of people having too much trouble!
I don't know if this was mentioned earlier, but what are some good online places to get the red academic robes? I've heard that they can be rather expensive.

Thanks~
Original post by charlesgribben
How likely are you to receive a conditional offer if you apply in 5th year (with the intention of leaving at the end of 5th year)?


Hi Charles! I'm not actually a current student but I'm also in 5th year and received my conditional for Computing Science at the end of January :smile:
I just got an offer for Chemistry, but I applied for Physics and Chemistry; can I just change when I get there to include some physics modules? I really want to do both, not just chem!

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