The Student Room Group

The St Andrews reputation

yo all...

I've been seriously thinking about st andrews over kcl, but I would like to know how the uni is "seen" by the outside world (both UK and international).

Cause, If i was to rank unis in the UK it seems like it goes like this:

First Place: Oxford, Cambridge
Second Place: London Unis: LSE, UCL, KCL and Imperial
Third Place: Edinburgh, St andrews, durham, warick, bristol
Followed by all the other major towns: birmingham, manchester, liverpool and so on...

Is this a fair assumption?

By this assumption St Andrews is seen highly and has a good "aura".

What you lot think

(please no: ST ANDREWS ROCKS stuff)

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1
to be honest i wouldn't put KCL and UCL in the second group.. and st andrews and edinburgh are bordering with a fourth group...

This said st andrews has a very good reputation abroad... especially in the states..
Reply 2
ST ANDREWS ROCKS


:ninja: Ahem....

Put it this way. If you're talking "Reputation" as in "An employer is looking over my CV and sees that I went to [university]", St Andrews is undoubtedly right up there (as lucho22 said, especially in the US).

As far as actual uni league tables go (which aren't even worth using for toilet paper, they're that rubbish), St Andrews is usually round about tenth in the UK, and is one of the top two in Scotland (along with Edinburgh).

To be honest, reputation means bugger all, but St Andrews is a really good university to study at.

lucho22
and st andrews and edinburgh are bordering with a fourth group...
Bull****. You think they're worse than Bristol?! They're perfectly fine being left on par with Durham and Warwick.
I won't comment on the London unis because I know **** all about them, and quite frankly I don't really care to know.
Reply 3
Oxbridge
LSE/Imperial
Warwick/UCL
Nottm/Bristol
Durham/York/KCL/SOAS/Bath/Edinburgh
Manchester/St.Andrews.
Reply 4
Not really sure how it's seen by the outside world (although it's oddly famous in the USA), but I chose it ahead of Bristol and Edinburgh.

It has pretty high entry standards, at least.
Reply 5
Ah, I see abrp's still talking pish :rolleyes:
Reply 6
I know of a lot of Americans paying quite a bit of money to come here over other great UK unis this semester, so it must be well know and respected in the US. As for here its certainly up there; other than for London Unis (as I also know very little about them) its right behind Oxbridge all the way, just remember it was good enough for a future king of England (if you actually care about that, but it does show how good this place is!)

Plus on another note I go here so you know, that can only make the whole thing better (just be sure to mention it on your CV when you graduate :p: )
Steeeeevo
just remember it was good enough for a future king of England (if you actually care about that, but it does show how good this place is!)


well, the royal family don't have a reputation for being particularly academic though do they?


although i really like the place and can see myself studying at st andrews (and it's supposed to be good for philosophy), i keep worrying how the uni matches up to others and about it's reputation..
i have an offer for bristol where there was a lot of competition for places (27 applications per place) and i worry that maybe i should take that instead...but the idea of bristol doesn't really grab me in any other way..
i know it's not a great idea to put a lot of faith in league tables, but The Times ranked St. Andrews as 109th best university in the world, quite a way ahead of durham, but behind bristol and warwick.

i don't know how it's all calculated, as st andrews has jumped by quite a lot of places since last year, durham has fallen by just as much, but some of them have stayed in roughly the same position. seems a bit odd.

http://www.ugc.ac.in/notices/2006rankings.pdf


EDIT: Looking at a range of studies, many of the UK uni's are in the 200-300 range in the world, but bristol rates very highly. I'm going a bit of topic with all these world rankings, but interesting still...
Reply 9
Hmm... I'd definitely consider Durham to have a better reputation than St A's, but I suppose that's not really what the Times are assessing.

There's certainly going to be no major handicap in attending St A's anyway.
There are other factors that make league tables worthless.

Class ratio for example has nothing to do with how well a uni is "seen" by the world.
Reply 11
like you i was debating between kcl and st andrews, and I have gone for st andrews without much hesitation. In terms of reputation, I think KCL isn't considered as good as some of the other london unis (ucl, lse, imperial) but its still up there. But then again, league tables are so erratic, I haven't placed much weighting on them. I could have waited to see if warwick would give me an offer, as they are supposedly better than kcl and st andrews, but I like st andrews so much that I withdrew from warwick. St. Andrews is a traditional, old uni that has a very good reputation, both in the uk and abroad so you have nothing to worry about :smile:
Dalimyr
Ah, I see abrp's still talking pish :rolleyes:


sorry it was a typo.

i meant:

Oxbridge
St.Andrews/Edinburgh
LSE/Imperial
Warwick/UCL
Nottm/Bristol
Durham/York/KCL/SOAS/Bath
Manchester/etc

:rolleyes:

not to say that St.Andrews is a bad Uni though...id
prefer to go there over York,Bath,Manchester and such Unis.
Reply 13
I'm thinking of moving abroad to america/canada when i've finished my degree which will be in computer science though it looks like i can keep my options open at st andrews (coursewise.)
Out of these uni's which would give me the best employment prospects internationally (especially america/canada) for computer science?

York, Warwick, St andrews, Bath and Durham?
The decision is difficult because York offers a 5 year masters with a year in industry hmrg.
Reply 14
Hoi, I'm Canadian and wondering the same thing as you, paulssss.

One thing to be careful of with York is that there is a very large university in Toronto called York University - a so-so school with low entrance standards for most courses. It is certainly not considered an excellent institution, nowhere near the calibre of the University of York. But when Canadians see that you went to York, they will automatically think of York University in Toronto since graduates from York U are so common anyway.

Coincidentally, the compsci department at York University is apparently pretty decent, so maybe the misunderstanding wouldn't be as detrimental for you in your jobsearch as someone with a different degree programme.
Reply 15
abrp, you haven't been at StA, you're clearly clueless about it, and judging from your warning history, it's not the first time you've slagged off other unis. So how about you toddle your arse out of this thread, out of this forum and into some place where your pointless ramblings will be met by the laughter (at you, not with you) of similarly simple-minded folks? I hear the Chat forum's running out of users to take the piss out of :wink:
I don't know for sure, but I've heard that one of the reasons that St. Andrews is so popular among Americans who haven't spent time here in the UK is a campaign to market the uni in the US. Also, it's ancient and very beautiful in a windswept sort of way- has that visibly historical cachet which some Americans are drawn to.

Also, I'm not sure how important a factor Prince W's former attendance is...I think that reason is fading out.

About the St. Andrew's marketing campaign- the 4 college fairs I went to two and three years ago didn't have many UK unis represented, maybe 5 to 8 as I remember, but Edinburgh was at all of them, which you'd expect, because it's big, but St Andrews was also at all of them.
my "warning" history was me getting 2 warnings for
busting one person who was praising chechen terrorists and
the other 2 were because i made a joke about a Uni where
i had actually applied to.

and im sorry..i never realised that i had to visit + study
at each university to gauge its reputation.

im not rambling anything just giving my view...sorry if it
didnt coincide with yours...and i find your posts very
inappropriate considering that you are a mod.
I'm convinced a lot of problems in the world would be solved if we weren't so hell bent into getting into the university with the best reputation (which assuredly will change). Why is it so hard for people to think for themselves and learn for learnings sake?
ebonyphoenix
Why is it so hard for people to think for themselves and learn for learnings sake?


i'll be studying at university for the sake of learning and my own personal development, but i have to decide between universities.

if i'll be able to persue my interests at any of the universities that i have offers for, what's wrong with wanting to make the best of my oppertunities by choosing the university with the best reputation which might improve my job prospects upon graduation as an added bonus?

your post seemed a little condescending