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St Salvators Quad, University of St Andrews
University of St Andrews

University prestige: Time for a change?

Should we now use the term "St Oxbridge" rather than just "Oxbridge"?

St Andrews has been in the top 3 for a number of years, and it is after all the 3rd oldest university in the English-speaking world.

Currently, St Andrews is placed 2nd in the UK (Guardian)just above Oxford, and 3rd in other rankings. Educationalists, and newspaper columnists believe St Andrews is just as good as Oxbridge.
no lmfao
St Salvators Quad, University of St Andrews
University of St Andrews
Reply 2
P.S. Give reasons
Original post by Anonymous
Should we now use the term "St Oxbridge" rather than just "Oxbridge"?

St Andrews has been in the top 3 for a number of years, and it is after all the 3rd oldest university in the English-speaking world.

Currently, St Andrews is placed 2nd in the UK (Guardian)just above Oxford, and 3rd in other rankings. Educationalists, and newspaper columnists believe St Andrews is just as good as Oxbridge.

Not this again - are you working for them or something?

And given the constant fan-girling over Andys, why are you Anonymous? Surely you'd be Out and Proud about it? Or has that particular stone stopped rolling?
Original post by Anonymous
Should we now use the term "St Oxbridge" rather than just "Oxbridge"?

St Andrews has been in the top 3 for a number of years, and it is after all the 3rd oldest university in the English-speaking world.

Currently, St Andrews is placed 2nd in the UK (Guardian)just above Oxford, and 3rd in other rankings. Educationalists, and newspaper columnists believe St Andrews is just as good as Oxbridge.


Does it really matter? It’s just a name. Doesn’t mean much - I think people just over-hype Oxbridge.
Reply 5
Original post by Reality Check
Not this again - are you working for them or something?

And given the constant fan-girling over Andys, why are you Anonymous? Surely you'd be Out and Proud about it? Or has that particular stone stopped rolling?

Haha. No, I'm not working for them :smile:

I actually go to a university (not a very good one) where students talk crap about St Andrews Oxbridge, and Durham students. But to be honest, I think they talk negatively about these students because they are jealous or something.
Original post by Anonymous
Haha. No, I'm not working for them :smile:

I actually go to a university (not a very good one) where students talk crap about St Andrews Oxbridge, and Durham students. But to be honest, I think they talk negatively about these students because they are jealous or something.

You are undoubtedly right about those students feeling a degree of unresolved jealousy. It's always the way. I'm not a huge fan of Durham, but it seems well-regarded.
Original post by Anonymous
P.S. Give reasons

national league tables are fickle, especially the guardian.

university of edinburgh is better than st andrews, but i wouldn't suggest edoxbridge ought to be a thing.
League tables are pretty meaningless - they all score under different criteria and are scored by different means. And a university that’s ‘top’ for one subject area might well be pretty dire for another. Eg imperial is pretty good for science/computing/medicine but not so great for drama (well depending on which group chats you’re in 😂)
Reply 9
Original post by Reality Check
You are undoubtedly right about those students feeling a degree of unresolved jealousy. It's always the way. I'm not a huge fan of Durham, but it seems well-regarded.

I really think students who attend my uni (my friends included) should really get over that unresolved jealousy. They should just admit that those who got into St Andrews and Oxbridge are the brightest in the country.

Why aren't you a huge fan of Durham? I think Durham is overrated in my opinion.
Oxford and Cambridge are grouped together partly because of the teaching style of tutorials/ supervisions, where you have a class with just you and the tutor, or maybe a 2-3 students and a tutor. Nowhere else does this regularly afaik, therefore it doesn't makes sense to say St Oxbridge, or Edoxbridge, or Oxbridgham
Original post by Anonymous
I really think students who attend my uni (my friends included) should really get over that unresolved jealousy. They should just admit that those who got into St Andrews and Oxbridge are the brightest in the country.

Why aren't you a huge fan of Durham? I think Durham is overrated in my opinion.

I'm not sure I 100% agree with you on 'the brightest in the country' thing. There's plenty of very bright students at other universities, and Oxbridge can only take a very small number of students each year - it's inevitable that very bright people are turned away each year. Also, the teaching system at Oxbridge doesn't suit everyone, so it's perfectly feasible that you could be super-bright, but not thrive at Oxbridge.

Durham - it does seem to be a bit of a poor man's Oxbridge, but I'm biased due to personally knowing some proper ********s who failed to get into Oxbridge, ended up at Durham and really lived that stereotype :laugh:

Generally speaking, jealously over others at different universities isn't to be encouraged, be that jealousy about Oxbridge or anywhere.
(edited 3 years ago)
StOxbridge.. i like it! come on though let's not start getting like those Durham students...
Original post by Anonymous
Should we now use the term "St Oxbridge" rather than just "Oxbridge"?

St Andrews has been in the top 3 for a number of years, and it is after all the 3rd oldest university in the English-speaking world.

Currently, St Andrews is placed 2nd in the UK (Guardian)just above Oxford, and 3rd in other rankings. Educationalists, and newspaper columnists believe St Andrews is just as good as Oxbridge.


No Oxbridge are top 10 in WORLD RANKINGS. St. Andrews may be 3rd in the UK, but its like 80th-100th in World Rankings. Oxbridge has its prestige from being one of the best in the world, not because its one of the best in UK only.
let me guess, you go to st andrews
This anon user has been creating several threads recently regarding St Andrews and then using another account to also go anon and answer their own thread by citing the same statistics and reviews regarding St Andrews. In one thread, they said they were a current undergraduate and then in another they said they were doing DPhil at Oxford and that they and their colleagues have extremely serious and fervent discussions regarding university rankings and St Andrews... :facepalm:

And, how do I know it's the same user? Identical rhythm, word choice, style etc within their writing.
Original post by Quick-use
This anon user has been creating several threads recently regarding St Andrews and then using another account to also go anon and answer their own thread by citing the same statistics and reviews regarding St Andrews. In one thread, they said they were a current undergraduate and then in another they said they were doing DPhil at Oxford and that they and their colleagues have extremely serious and fervent discussions regarding university rankings and St Andrews... :facepalm:

And, how do I know it's the same user? Identical rhythm, word choice, style etc within their writing.

trying to guess who this is lol. i wonder if the username begins with a T
Reply 17
I’ve seen this mentioned in this thread- not every smart or academically gifted person goes to Oxbridge and that’s simply because certain unis are better specialised in specific subjects. For example, RVC is ranked higher than Cambridge for vet medicine and it’s not even a Russel (forgive me if that’s not how you spell it) group university

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