St Andrews Ranking

Hi all! I have an offer for St. Andrews, but I'm just confused about its ranking. Why is it sometimes in the top 10, and sometimes at like 300? Does anyone have any ideas/theories for this? Also, does anyone know about its rankings for international relations specifically? Thank you!

Hi all! I have an offer for St. Andrews, but I'm just confused about its ranking. Why is it sometimes in the top 10, and sometimes at like 300? Does anyone have any ideas/theories for this? Also, does anyone know about its rankings for international relations specifically? Thank you!

Hi all! I have an offer for St. Andrews, but I'm just confused about its ranking. Why is it sometimes in the top 10, and sometimes at like 300? Does anyone have any ideas/theories for this? Also, does anyone know about its rankings for international relations specifically? Thank you!

i’ve applied for the same course at St andrews, can i ask what your grades were? and if it was a conditional or unconditional?

Honestly ranking generally are pretty useless. All of these different websites judge Unis on different aspects. They'll have different categories it's assessing and they'll be judging on different samples. For example take 'student satisfaction', one website could ask 200 students, and another could ask a different set of 200, likelihood is you'll have some different answers.
They also look at all the subjects a Uni does and how well their students 'prospects' are after graduating (salary, time to get a job etc.). But really what does that mean? One student could apply to London and get a super high paying job whilst another could apply to a more rural area which may have less pay. Or some students may take months tirelessly applying to jobs, whilst others will take a break for months and then apply and get one immediately.
I don't think these sites really take in all of those factors to be honest. So it's just a bunch of opinions and statistics without much context, which they then rank in a list.
However, some unis do have more of a reputation than others. I'm also an offer holder and so haven't applied to any graduate jobs, but the general impression I've seen online is that no one employing you is going to go on these sites and see where the Uni ranks.
But generally St Andrews is very prestigious. It is well known in the UK and abroad. In recent years some of these sites have suggested changing the term 'Oxbridge' to include St Andrews. So I think you will have great quality teaching and a good rep in the future

Haha who has given you the idea that St Andrews is near Oxbridge

Haha who has given you the idea that St Andrews is near Oxbridge

Perhaps this counts for something? https://thetab.com/2024/09/10/these-are-the-hardest-uk-unis-to-get-into-right-now-based-on-how-many-ucas-points-you-need

Haha who has given you the idea that St Andrews is near Oxbridge

St Andrew’s is ranked top in the UK for IR. It is incredibly competitive to get into for Scottish and Rest of the UK students. My daughter applied for German and IR and got offered straight German despite having a very competitive Personal Statement. We went to Offer Holder Day on Saturday and went to the IR talk. The Professor, from Canada, was wonderfully engaging for this old mother… It seems a very innovative department at the forefront of research and has many fantastic connections. The university itself is small (10,000 students) but very supportive and has a wonderful family feel to it. You are also able to take two other unconnected subjects in first and year as the degree is flexible with its modular system. You can even change your degree as long as the other subjects you take meet the requirements for honours. It is far more flexible than universities in the rest of the UK.