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Our son wants to study political science and he's starting to look at pursuing an undergraduate degree in the United Kingdom. He's currently focused on programs offered by King's College London, LSE, Oxford, and St. Andrews. I did some research and found that St. Andrews has the highest entry standards, followed by Oxford, King's College London, and LSE.
I'm hoping someone with firsthand (or even secondhand) experience with these programs can answer a few questions: 1) Is the caliber of student at St. Andrews noticeably higher than at the other universities? 2) Do competitive applicants applying to St. Andrews consider some of the other programs safety options, or are they all viewed as highly competitive? 3) Outside these four programs, which ones do strong applicants typically consider to be good safety options in the United Kingdom?
I'm hoping someone with firsthand (or even secondhand) experience with these programs can answer a few questions: 1) Is the caliber of student at St. Andrews noticeably higher than at the other universities? 2) Do competitive applicants applying to St. Andrews consider some of the other programs safety options, or are they all viewed as highly competitive? 3) Outside these four programs, which ones do strong applicants typically consider to be good safety options in the United Kingdom?
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(Original post by lbenson88)
Oxford is no one’s safety option 😂
Oxford is no one’s safety option 😂
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#4
In all seriousness Oxford is probably the highest calibre in that list but they’re all top tier.
Oxford is probably top then the rest I’d group together as top tier uni’s of the good uni but also posh uni variety.
Oxford is probably top then the rest I’d group together as top tier uni’s of the good uni but also posh uni variety.
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(Original post by lbenson88)
In all seriousness Oxford is probably the highest calibre in that list but they’re all top tier.
Oxford is probably top then the rest I’d group together as top tier uni’s of the good uni but also posh uni variety.
In all seriousness Oxford is probably the highest calibre in that list but they’re all top tier.
Oxford is probably top then the rest I’d group together as top tier uni’s of the good uni but also posh uni variety.
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#6
Kings and st Andrew’s defo have the posh vibe reputation, people with very rich parents who can’t get their kids into Oxford or Cambridge will go to certain university’s.
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#7
(Original post by American Parent)
Are you talking about the caliber of the programs or the students? St. Andrews has the strongest students.
Are you talking about the caliber of the programs or the students? St. Andrews has the strongest students.
A lot of very wealthy kids go to schools where they have so much extra tuition they’re guaranteed super higher grades.
Which is why a lot of uni’s have started looking at other things.
Also % of applications getting in is very skewed if you’re looking at that. Lots of the small uni’s look super selective compared to the larger uni’s.
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(Original post by lbenson88)
Kings and st Andrew’s defo have the posh vibe reputation, people with very rich parents who can’t get their kids into Oxford or Cambridge will go to certain university’s.
Kings and st Andrew’s defo have the posh vibe reputation, people with very rich parents who can’t get their kids into Oxford or Cambridge will go to certain university’s.
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#9
(Original post by American Parent)
Are you talking about the caliber of the programs or the students? St. Andrews has the strongest students.
Are you talking about the caliber of the programs or the students? St. Andrews has the strongest students.
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(Original post by Possibly this)
It's not quite that simple, the makeup of the systems used to define the abilities of students is not completely synced up across the many nations from which the students come. A typical student could get more UCAS points doing IB or Scottish Highers/Advanced Highers than those who do the traditional British A-levels. The metric you're talking about looks at UCAS points only and for the reason I've shown above is highly limited and it should not be viewed as the be-all and end-all.
It's not quite that simple, the makeup of the systems used to define the abilities of students is not completely synced up across the many nations from which the students come. A typical student could get more UCAS points doing IB or Scottish Highers/Advanced Highers than those who do the traditional British A-levels. The metric you're talking about looks at UCAS points only and for the reason I've shown above is highly limited and it should not be viewed as the be-all and end-all.
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#11
Yeah also st Andrew’s has different admissions vs the English uni’s as well. Because Scottish and EU students get treated differently than English students at Scottish university’s.
The whole Scottish school system is different to England’s and it makes comparisons off.
The whole Scottish school system is different to England’s and it makes comparisons off.
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#12
(Original post by Possibly this)
It's not quite that simple, the makeup of the systems used to define the abilities of students is not completely synced up across the many nations from which the students come. A typical student could get more UCAS points doing IB or Scottish Highers/Advanced Highers than those who do the traditional British A-levels. The metric you're talking about looks at UCAS points only and for the reason I've shown above is highly limited and it should not be viewed as the be-all and end-all.
It's not quite that simple, the makeup of the systems used to define the abilities of students is not completely synced up across the many nations from which the students come. A typical student could get more UCAS points doing IB or Scottish Highers/Advanced Highers than those who do the traditional British A-levels. The metric you're talking about looks at UCAS points only and for the reason I've shown above is highly limited and it should not be viewed as the be-all and end-all.
Last edited by lbenson88; 1 month ago
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(Original post by lbenson88)
Yeah also st Andrew’s has different admissions vs the English uni’s as well. Because Scottish and EU students get treated differently than English students at Scottish university’s.
The whole Scottish school system is different to England’s and it makes comparisons off.
Yeah also st Andrew’s has different admissions vs the English uni’s as well. Because Scottish and EU students get treated differently than English students at Scottish university’s.
The whole Scottish school system is different to England’s and it makes comparisons off.
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#14
As for alternative courses, I would suggest places like Bath, UCL, Warwick and Durham. They're all very strong universities, many of them as strong as some of the ones you mentioned that you're already considering. I'm applying to Politics and Politics and Economics courses this year and I've applied to Cambridge, St Andrews, Bath, Warwick and I'm deciding between King's College London and Nottingham for my final choice, any of these universities I'd be very happy to be accepted to as they have a very strong reputation in Politics and/or Economics. So I'd just say to your son that if you're talking about UK universities, keep your options more open because the top players are all on a relatively level playing field, so really it's not simply about the best university, it's about the best university for him.
If your son wants any help from me in terms of potential courses he'd be interested, he can message me via direct messaging on here as I've been researching competitive courses in this subject for over a year now and I'd be happy to help in anyway I can in helping him find the best university for him because I know there's a lot to consider.
If your son wants any help from me in terms of potential courses he'd be interested, he can message me via direct messaging on here as I've been researching competitive courses in this subject for over a year now and I'd be happy to help in anyway I can in helping him find the best university for him because I know there's a lot to consider.
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#15
(Original post by American Parent)
So why to university rankings use admission standards as a criterion?
So why to university rankings use admission standards as a criterion?
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(Original post by Possibly this)
As for alternative courses, I would suggest places like Bath, UCL, Warwick and Durham. They're all very strong universities, many of them as strong as some of the ones you mentioned that you're already considering. I'm applying to Politics and Politics and Economics courses this year and I've applied to Cambridge, St Andrews, Bath, Warwick and I'm deciding between King's College London and Nottingham for my final choice, any of these universities I'd be very happy to be accepted to as they have a very strong reputation in Politics and/or Economics. So I'd just say to your son that if you're talking about UK universities, keep your options more open because the top players are all on a relatively level playing field, so really it's not simply about the best university, it's about the best university for him.
If your son wants any help from me in terms of potential courses he'd be interested, he can message me via direct messaging on here as I've been researching competitive courses in this subject for over a year now and I'd be happy to help in anyway I can in helping him find the best university for him because I know there's a lot to consider.
As for alternative courses, I would suggest places like Bath, UCL, Warwick and Durham. They're all very strong universities, many of them as strong as some of the ones you mentioned that you're already considering. I'm applying to Politics and Politics and Economics courses this year and I've applied to Cambridge, St Andrews, Bath, Warwick and I'm deciding between King's College London and Nottingham for my final choice, any of these universities I'd be very happy to be accepted to as they have a very strong reputation in Politics and/or Economics. So I'd just say to your son that if you're talking about UK universities, keep your options more open because the top players are all on a relatively level playing field, so really it's not simply about the best university, it's about the best university for him.
If your son wants any help from me in terms of potential courses he'd be interested, he can message me via direct messaging on here as I've been researching competitive courses in this subject for over a year now and I'd be happy to help in anyway I can in helping him find the best university for him because I know there's a lot to consider.
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#17
(Original post by American Parent)
I think we just posted past each other. In the students, it seems that students at St. Andrews have stronger credentials than those at Oxford, albeit not by much.
I think we just posted past each other. In the students, it seems that students at St. Andrews have stronger credentials than those at Oxford, albeit not by much.
If you were a super super smart English student and you know you can go anywhere. You’re unlikely to pick St Andrew’s over Oxford or Cambridge, (unless you have a very specific reason)
But between the two, for generic English students- Oxford is higher
(For a Scottish student it’s completely different, St. Andrews is free tuition, Oxford is the full fees...)
Last edited by lbenson88; 1 month ago
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(Original post by lbenson88)
St Andrew’s is a prestigious Scottish uni, but a normal English student probably wouldn’t apply unless the course is specific to what they’re looking for, or they’re posh.
If you were a super super English smart student and you know you can go anywhere. You’re unlikely to pick St Andrew’s over Oxford or Cambridge, (unless you have a very specific reason)
But between the two, for generic English students- Oxford is higher
(For a Scottish student it’s completely different, St. Andrews is free tuition, Oxford is the full fees...)
St Andrew’s is a prestigious Scottish uni, but a normal English student probably wouldn’t apply unless the course is specific to what they’re looking for, or they’re posh.
If you were a super super English smart student and you know you can go anywhere. You’re unlikely to pick St Andrew’s over Oxford or Cambridge, (unless you have a very specific reason)
But between the two, for generic English students- Oxford is higher
(For a Scottish student it’s completely different, St. Andrews is free tuition, Oxford is the full fees...)
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#19
(Original post by American Parent)
That's interesting. I would assume there are plenty of posh, which I read as "preppy," people at all of these universities. I read that St. Andrews has far more English students than Scottish students. Are these English students more posh than those at the other universities?
That's interesting. I would assume there are plenty of posh, which I read as "preppy," people at all of these universities. I read that St. Andrews has far more English students than Scottish students. Are these English students more posh than those at the other universities?
Also given the difference in population size I would assume there are heavily more Scots than English students - relative to populations. Given there are 10 times more people living in England than Scotland. There will be (roughly) 10 times more English students applying to uni’s every year. I doubt there is a 10:1 ratio of English to Scottish students getting into St. Andrews every year.
(Also feel I need to clarify it’s not like any of these are bad uni’s, they’re all amazing. It’s the differences between great that we’re taking about here!) ie what makes the uni’s slightly different to each other
Last edited by lbenson88; 1 month ago
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#20
(Original post by American Parent)
Our son wants to study political science and he's starting to look at pursuing an undergraduate degree in the United Kingdom. He's currently focused on programs offered by King's College London, LSE, Oxford, and St. Andrews. I did some research and found that St. Andrews has the highest entry standards, followed by Oxford, King's College London, and LSE.
I'm hoping someone with firsthand (or even secondhand) experience with these programs can answer a few questions: 1) Is the caliber of student at St. Andrews noticeably higher than at the other universities? 2) Do competitive applicants applying to St. Andrews consider some of the other programs safety options, or are they all viewed as highly competitive? 3) Outside these four programs, which ones do strong applicants typically consider to be good safety options in the United Kingdom?
Our son wants to study political science and he's starting to look at pursuing an undergraduate degree in the United Kingdom. He's currently focused on programs offered by King's College London, LSE, Oxford, and St. Andrews. I did some research and found that St. Andrews has the highest entry standards, followed by Oxford, King's College London, and LSE.
I'm hoping someone with firsthand (or even secondhand) experience with these programs can answer a few questions: 1) Is the caliber of student at St. Andrews noticeably higher than at the other universities? 2) Do competitive applicants applying to St. Andrews consider some of the other programs safety options, or are they all viewed as highly competitive? 3) Outside these four programs, which ones do strong applicants typically consider to be good safety options in the United Kingdom?
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