St Andrews v. York

Hiya,

So I'm applying for English and History and have received offers from both York and St Andrews but I don't know which one I prefer. Has anyone got any advice for which one I should pick with regards to both course and university?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance

How do the courses compare?

The courses are relatively similar. St Andrews has, however, offered me a masters course whcih takes 4 years, which means tuition and accomodation fees for another year. However, it does mean that I get a masters and also the first year gives the opportunity to study another area outside of English and History which I would certainly be interested in.

York however offers study abroad opportunites for 15% of the normal tuition fees at the moment as well as the oppotunity to work for a year to then be integrated into my degree. At the moment I would like to convert my degree to law but it would be good to be able to compare the two because I am also considering continuing into academia in either English or History.

The university locations themselves are very different, York is much bigger and near a city and St Andrews is in a smaller town made up of students. This means that I'll get smaller class sizes at St Andrews which is both a good and bad thing because it means its possible to get more time with professors and discussion time but not as many ideas because there is less people there.

The courses are relatively similar. St Andrews has, however, offered me a masters course whcih takes 4 years, which means tuition and accomodation fees for another year. However, it does mean that I get a masters and also the first year gives the opportunity to study another area outside of English and History which I would certainly be interested in.

York however offers study abroad opportunites for 15% of the normal tuition fees at the moment as well as the oppotunity to work for a year to then be integrated into my degree. At the moment I would like to convert my degree to law but it would be good to be able to compare the two because I am also considering continuing into academia in either English or History.

The university locations themselves are very different, York is much bigger and near a city and St Andrews is in a smaller town made up of students. This means that I'll get smaller class sizes at St Andrews which is both a good and bad thing because it means its possible to get more time with professors and discussion time but not as many ideas because there is less people there.

I wouldn't worry about class sizes as they will vary by module and year on year, also by the type of teaching. You can always do some law modules in your first year at St. Andrews or would you rather work or go abroad?

The only problem with doing law modules in Scotland is that it will be Scottish law and cannot be used in England. That being said, the experience would be good to have. Both universities offer a study abroad program so it is just the working at York that is the main difference.

You're right that Scottish universities almost exclusively offer only Scottish Law degrees.

Your real problem with St Andrew's, however, is that it doesn't have a Law school

I think you'll find that the St Andrew's 'masters' is just a normal undergraduate degree - it's not a proper masters - all Scottish BAs are called MAs so that's not a factor to consider at all.

The only problem with doing law modules in Scotland is that it will be Scottish law and cannot be used in England. That being said, the experience would be good to have. Both universities offer a study abroad program so it is just the working at York that is the main difference.

Law in the uk is an academic degree anyway so it doesn’t matter. The degree doesn’t train you to be a lawyer.

Unfortunately, as it has been suggested, St Andrews does not offer law at all.

And as I’m trying to explain to you it doesn’t matter because you don’t need to study law to become a lawyer.

I understand that. However, the act of studying law would provide me with an insight into law that not studying it at all would. Regardless, St Andrews doesn't offer this opportunity whatsoever, whereas at York I could do a work placement related to law.

You can just as easily read around the subject on your own. I would double check about doing a placement that isn’t part of your degree. The other things to bear in mind are that league tables don’t really matter and you may not be able to just convert your degree unless you start again or do a law conversation after you graduate. You don’t need a directly relevant degree to convert. Anyway i think you’ve got the info you need. Good luck!