Is St.Andrews considered one of the top universities in the United Kingdom?

I am a international students who want to apply A100(Medicine) in St.Andrews, however its QS/USNews ranking seems modest (lower than 100th), therefore I want to ask students who are studying in Grammar/Public schools is this school considered one of the top universities there? And what university rankings do you (or your parents/ teachers)look?

Reply 1

marcus.0

Rankings are pretty flimsy metrics for measuring the quality of a university since they weigh different factors differently. Not everyone cares about research output or the amount of greenery in a campus, for example.
St. Andrews is a great institution. While I wouldn't consider it as a top 5 university in the UK, it would probably be in the top 10.

FYI the UK has a set cap on the number of international medicine students per institution. That means there will probably be thousands of applications competing for 30-40 places.

Reply 2

SomehowAMedic

Universities Forum Helper

Original post

by username7925762

Hiya
As another has stated, university rankings are very flimsy here and there isnt really a top 5 list to really go for. A lot of the lists honestly based on who sponsors who for money. It is a lot less league table-esque than the USA.
And it is all very subjective and they often favour older universities and those who place a larger emphasis on research (which St Andrews ticks those boxes).
E.g. in The Guardian St Ands is 2nd, but in The Complete University Guide it is 4th.

But it does have a TEF Gold rating which is a little more objective.