Should I Insurance St Andrews or York for Ecology?

I really can't decide between these two for my insurance choice (Biological Science at Oxford will be my firm). They're both the same offer requirements, St Andrews is a 4 year Scottish degree and York is a 4 year integrated masters. I think I prefer York as a place but I've not been to St Andrews. I think I prefer York's course, but St Andrews is higher ranked and more importantly I'm an EU student with Scottish/EU fee status so St Andrews is obviously the better option economically.

I'm pretty sure I will make my Oxford offer so this whole decision is pointless, but I need to choose just in case. How should I decide?

Reply 1

Tiger Rag

Original post by TheBirder

Are the courses the same or is there a module in one that you like the sound of more?

Reply 2

999tigger

On the one side I think St Andrews might be more competitive and less likely t take you as an insurance i.e fail to get into Oxford and you may not get into St Andrews either. York might be a bit more lenient?

On the other side £30k saving isnt to be sniffed at. If you cnat visit then do try and talk to some students at St Andrews plus see if there are youtube videos.

Reply 3

TheBirder

Original post by Tiger Rag

Are the courses the same or is there a module in one that you like the sound of more?

Original post by 999tigger

The offers themselves are exactly the same for both unis and I'm quite sure I can make the Oxford offer anyway so if I don't make the Andrews/York offer that would be a very significant drop below my mock exam grades and I'd retake the exams and reapply.

Reply 4

999tigger

Original post by TheBirder

As far as I can tell, they are very similar courses. St Andrews' is called Ecology and Conservation, York's is just Ecology, but they seem to be very similar except that St Andrews has an extra year of broad biology (two years at Andrews, one year at York) before you can choose options and I'm not very keen on doing that which is making me lean towards York.

The offers themselves are exactly the same for both unis and I'm quite sure I can make the Oxford offer anyway so if I don't make the Andrews/York offer that would be a very significant drop below my mock exam grades and I'd retake the exams and reapply.

So it is really moot. Not sure why you asked.

Reply 5

TheBirder

Original post by 999tigger

So it is really moot. Not sure why you asked.

Well I've got to choose something and I really can't decide between the two.

Reply 6

999tigger

Original post by TheBirder

Well I've got to choose something and I really can't decide between the two.

But if you arent going anyway, then surely it makes no difference?

Reply 7

TheBirder

Original post by 999tigger

But if you arent going anyway, then surely it makes no difference?

I would probably consider going to the insurance if something went wrong and I didn't get Oxford, but if I got lower than my Andrews/York offer (36 IB points) then I'd probably retake so I don't really need to consider how lenient they are with people who miss their offers.