St Andrews or Edinburgh for Medicine?

I have just received offers from both Edinburgh and St Andrews for Medicine which I am over the moon about, but I keep changing my mind about which one to firm. I really like the course structure at St Andrews but I'm just worried that the student experience won't be as good as Edinburgh. I quite like how it is a small town and there is a community feel about it, but I'm worried that it will feel quite isolating and that I've picked the wrong choice. If I did end up going to St Andrews, I would hope to go to Edinburgh for the clinical years 4-6. If anyone has any info about the student experience on both unis it would be very much appreciated!!! x

Congrats on your offers, they are both amazing universities! I have an offer from St Andrews and plan on going but the only reason I didn't apply to Edinburgh is because I live here currently haha!

The thing with St Andrews is that basically 99% (give or take haha) of the place is made up of students who are in the same boat. People I know who have gone all say that the students organise lots of things so yes there are fewer clubs but there are so so many pubs that students go to and societies all have lots of socials so actually there are always things to do. As long as they have their wacky traditions and a Tesco that sells Vodka there will always be something to do.

Edinburgh I have more personal experience as I live here. As far as cities go it isn't the most wild city but it does have several big(ish) clubs (ATIK, Garibaldis, WhyNot etc...) There is a good student union as well and most things are pretty central so within walking distance. Also, it is great for daytime things to do because it is a gorgeous historical city so day and night you can be busy.

Hope this helps a bit!

Thank you so much for this! Thankfully I don't need to decide just yet but I am just so torn between the two because they're so different.

Hi!! Yeah I just got a notification about this which is crazy as it’s been a year and so much has happened lol, but I decided to go with St Andrews in the end and it has honestly been one of the best decisions I have ever made - and I don’t think I’m being biased. At first, I was fairly apprehensive about it as it’s much smaller than Edinburgh but this is actually the main reason why I think I’m enjoying my time so much hear. Regardless of coronavirus being a thing, I found it very easy to meet people in accommodation and others from nights out, from joining music groups and also from getting involved with a Church and the CU. It’s such a beautiful place which is just so relaxing especially when studying a medicine degree, and the traditions are great fun to get involved with (inc. pier jump). During coronavirus, I also think that the medical school has been very supportive and are always so fast to reply to my emails if I have questions and need a broader understanding of lectures. The dissection here is really cool and I definitely think my communication skills have improved through being able to speak to actual patients (virtually ofc). I genuinely don’t think I’ve spoken to anyone who doesn’t like St Andrews because it’s just such a special and unique place. After saying all this, I think the best thing to do is to reflect on what you want to get out of University. For me, I realised that the lack of clubs wasn’t actually much of an issue when I realised that although I do like a good night out, I don’t always need to go clubbing to have fun (we have beach parties here so ya know....), and also another main reason was because I‘ve always loved the outdoors and you really do feel in the heart of it here (plenty of opportunities to go sea swimming).I hope this helps, but feel free to ask me any questions about the course, societies, what it’s like during COVID etc.

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply, this was really insightful !. I'm stuck between the two of them because I like the small town feel of St Andrews, but was scared it would get a bit boring or suffocating at times so it's nice to hear that there's still stuff to do. I've heard that the course at St Andrews is very lecture-based and doesn't include as much patient contact in the first few years, does this hold true and is it actually an issue in your opinion. Thanks again for the information.

So I’m in the middle of my second term in first year and yes there are a lot of lectures, but not above what is able to handle. This varies every week, sometimes I only have 5 lectures and other times I have 10, so usually if there is a very dense lecture week, there’s time to rest soon after. We also have 2 hour communication skills workshops every other week (sometimes with patients depending on what we’re doing), 1 hour tutorial workshops every few weeks (like problem based learning), 2 hour dissection and labs usually every week. This year we also had a virtual placement, which would usually be in-person, but this was a great opportunity to talk to patients more. Personally, I think there is a suitable amount of patient contact as I like how the communication workshops prepare you for consultations and history takings before you actually speak to a patient, so you feel more prepared when the time comes. At St Andrews they like to build up the skills over the year which I have found really helpful, rather than being thrown into the deep end from the beginning without much preparation.