Durham and St. Andrews - overrated?

I don't see how they are any better than others in the Russell Group.

I don't mean to knock those universities because I know they are top institutions academically, but I don't really see how their perceived elevations to "almost Oxbridge" territory is really justified,

St Andrews isn't in the Russell Group. And Durham only joined the RG in 2012.

According to whom?

And you care this much because? Did Oxbridge reject you, followed by a Durham rejection?

Yes. I got rejected by Oxbridge, followed by a Durham rejection, and now I have a bruised ego.

I care because I'm interested in why people subconsciously think the way they do about things that are actually pretty subjective, yet pass it on as fact.

I know, but let's just suppose it is.



A lot of people seem to think they are. On TSR there was a bar chart summary from that 'top 5 universities outside Oxbridge' thread. From what I remember, Durham and St Andrews were consistently mentioned above any other multi-faculty university. But the results seemed to be based loosely on league tables and entry standards more than anything else.

I don't understand this, because entry standards often exceed entry requirements. Entry standards don't really tell you anything about the difficulty of getting in. People just uncritically accept it as a shorthand for 'prestige'.

Really i think it's just about the prestige; the names get thrown around a lot thus academic students who receive little help of guidance from their schools or parents apply as they have little else to go on other than debates about which university in better on websites such as this. To be honest I wouldn't take reputation so seriously, i think its more important to choose a course and uni that you love hence I rejected Durham for Warwick despite Durham being named the best uni in the country for my course (although that's just my opinion!)

I'm sorry I don't really consider Durham and St Andrews that prestigious.

After Oxbridge, it's LSE, Imperial, Warwick and UCL, most probably in that order.

Sorry, Warwick only for Economics/Finance/Maths. Otherwise it is a regular high-RG uni

I rejected it predominantly because I hated that the course was, much like Oxford, so focused on medieval literature as I found out at the offer holder days. Also, coming from a small, all-girls school, I found the cities to be extremely daunting. Although they are highly regarded universities, the courses just weren’t for me which is the most important part of uni for me at least.

I think people choose to go to Durham and St. Andrews for the experience rather than the reputation. Generally you go to them if you want to study with like-minded Oxbridge rejects and have an Oxbridge-type experience and social life, without the prestige of Oxbridge. However if you don't care about that and just want to go to a well-established institution then there are other universities which are just as good or arguably even better, despite what league tables say.

I'm sorry I don't really consider Durham and St Andrews that prestigious.

After Oxbridge, it's LSE, Imperial, Warwick and UCL, most probably in that order.

so glad i spent my uni days with cheese & wine instead of vodka shots and gin the whole time

I think people choose to go to Durham and St. Andrews for the experience rather than the reputation. Generally you go to them if you want to study with like-minded Oxbridge rejects and have an Oxbridge-type experience and social life, without the prestige of Oxbridge. However if you don't care about that and just want to go to a well-established institution then there are other universities which are just as good or arguably even better, despite what league tables say.

I'm sorry I don't really consider Durham and St Andrews that prestigious.

After Oxbridge, it's LSE, Imperial, Warwick and UCL, most probably in that order.