The Student Room Group

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!

Reply 1

Original post
by Anonymous
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!

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

Reply 2

Original post
by Anonymous
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!


Hey! From what I’ve read, because it’s a super small uni, it has a very small research output compared to larger unis such as UCL, Imperial, Oxbridge and Russel group unis like Manchester. Which doesn’t seem very fair, because the research quality is very high, there’s just little of it compared to the big unis, warping its position on most league tables. (When this isn’t taken into account, it often seems to overtake or be on a par with Oxbridge, being in the top 10 like you said :smile: )

Reply 3

Original post
by Anonymous
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?

Reply 4

Original post
by fabulousQ
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?

Hi! I applied with IB predicted 43/45, with HL 777. The offer was conditional with an IB 38. Just for context, I'm living in the US but not a citizen, I don't have the American nationality. My counselor explained that they give conditional acceptances to most non-American applicants, but that all the American citizens receive an unconditional offer based on citizenship.

Reply 5

Original post
by study23!
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

Reply 6

Original post
by Anonymous
Haha who has given you the idea that St Andrews is near Oxbridge

I can’t say it’s of the same level, or if Oxbridge is necessarily the best in all subject. If you look at news articles from the past few years there are numerous ones claiming St Andrews is at the same level or higher, that it outranks Oxbridge in different leagues etc. That being said I think those leagues and rankings generally are quite pointless as they all seem subjective.

Nonetheless it has a high reputation in Scotland at least

Reply 7

Original post
by Anonymous
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

Reply 8


Hi my point is I'm not denying that St Andrews is a great school - it is - but it's reputation is not near Oxbridge. If going by your standard, Stirling and Strathclyde should be really prestigious schools too.

Reply 9

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.

Reply 10

Original post
by Anonymous
Haha who has given you the idea that St Andrews is near Oxbridge


It's widely recognised to be as successful and prestigious as Oxbridge just a lot smaller.

Reply 11

Original post
by Anonymous
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.


I agree. We were there on Saturday and much preferred it to Cambridge/oxford.

Reply 12

Go where you are happy. If you love the area, the life you'll live and the course that's all that matters. Jobs don't fall in your lap from any uni, you need connections, work experience and drive.

Quick Reply

How The Student Room is moderated

To keep The Student Room safe for everyone, we moderate posts that are added to the site.