English at St Andrews

Could anyone who is currently studying English at St Andrews/or know of please give me your thoughts on: (or who just goes to this uni at all)
The course itself, what the workload is like, how independent it is, do you have lectures on weekends? ect
I do have a few wider concerns...
As to what the town itself is like, how easy is it to get to Edinburgh?
Apparently private accommodation is very expensive.
I've also seen it's split into 2 semesters with 1 week vacations- do people chose to go home during these or do most people travel or stay in St Andrews?
How strict is the uni itself in terms of flexibility and visiting home during term time? Would it hurt to miss a couple of lectures?
Do most exams at the end of the first semester finish by mid December, (on their website apparently they finish as late as around the 20th which could potentially be problematic),could you take an online exam at home because of travel arrangements ?
I've also noticed how early the year ends in May! A 4 month long summer seems a long time to spend at home away from all your uni friends, do most people just go home for the entirety of that or choose to travel ect.
As you can probably tell I am quite particular, and (indecisive) about firming or not.
Any info on any of the above would be much appreciated :smile:

Reply 1

sporty12480

hello, I shall try to answer these questions to the best of my ability. I go to St Andrews, i don't study english but my best friend does

1) english course i think seems chill you get a lot of time in tutorials and stuff. no one has lectures/class on weekends
2) easy to get to edinburgh - around 2 hours by bus and bus travel is free in scotland for under 22s, very convenient
3) yes fairly expensive and hard to find/competitive - many people have to live in Dundee for example. i pay roughly 600 per month for house on the outskirts of town
4) depends, if it's easy to go home many people do, I usually do. note that many students are international so its easiest for them to stay, however many people take that time off to travel with friends yes. but this is no big deal
5) varies by course for most (english included i think) lecture attendance is not mandatory. also if you can give an excuse you can miss classes but really its up to you, if you're going home every week it might affect your independent study time. consider time/cost to go home often if you want to do that
6) they say you should stay in st andrews during your exams even if they're online, but you can go home if its online if you want no ones checking. different story if in person exam obvs
7) yes its a fat summer... many people stay in town for some/all of summer, you can travel with uni friends or visit them in their home towns or something. but if you make good friends you will keep in touch over summer so not a deal breaker i think...

hoipe this helps

University of St Andrews