Current St. A students w/ Oxbridge rejection - did you get over it OK?

I’m not out to kick up a fussy debate over this, OR IN ANY WAY TO KNOCK ST. A’s! I thought St. Andrews was utterly beautiful, with rich traditions, and if I make the grade this year I’ll be proud to have a place there.

But for reasons I won’t go into, I missed my chance to apply to Oxford, and as I’d had my heart set on it, I’m taking it pretty hard. It’s a certain experience; it has so much tradition about it.

My question is for people who ended up at St. Andrews after being knocked back from Oxbridge—but who really had their heart set on Oxbridge. Did you find that after a year or so, St. Andrew’s really filled up that expectation?

St andrews doesn't really touch oxbridge, especially for a subject like classics. I would reapply for oxford or cambridge next year, as you will get in to st andrews again.

Believe me, many people have inferiority complexes about where they ended up going, adn it stays with them the rest of their lives. Oxbridge is the best, and to be honest, i would say st andrews isnt even in the second tier of top universities.

St andrews doesn't really touch oxbridge, especially for a subject like classics. I would reapply for oxford or cambridge next year, as you will get in to st andrews again.

Believe me, many people have inferiority complexes about where they ended up going, adn it stays with them the rest of their lives. Oxbridge is the best, and to be honest, i would say st andrews isnt even in the second tier of top universities.

St andrews doesn't really touch oxbridge, especially for a subject like classics. I would reapply for oxford or cambridge next year, as you will get in to st andrews again.

Believe me, many people have inferiority complexes about where they ended up going, adn it stays with them the rest of their lives. Oxbridge is the best, and to be honest, i would say st andrews isnt even in the second tier of top universities.

Based on your profile youre not even going to St Andrews
I dont know why people are always generalizing St Andrews reputation.
St A may not meet Oxford for several subjects (I dont know about Classics) but its certainly at the same level for some subjects like IR and chemestry.
You could tell us where you are studying before critizising other universties without a reason.
And btw cambridge is absolutely not the nonplusultra, just look at their politics course SPS which is almost always not even ranked in the top 3.
I guess youre one of those people with inferiority complexes

I guess your using the league tables again. If so, you might like to look back over the last 10 years of league tables, rather than year to year, which varies incredibly.

The fact is, for subjects like medicine, st andrews is the worst in scotland, forcing students to leave the town as it cannot provide the resources. IR is all very well, but in terms of the practical career at the end of it? With any degree from oxbridge (as long as it is a 2:1 or better) you can happily receive employment in any institution. With st andrews, that prestige just isnt there.

I guess your using the league tables again. If so, you might like to look back over the last 10 years of league tables, rather than year to year, which varies incredibly.

The fact is, for subjects like medicine, st andrews is the worst in scotland, forcing students to leave the town as it cannot provide the resources. IR is all very well, but in terms of the practical career at the end of it? With any degree from oxbridge (as long as it is a 2:1 or better) you can happily receive employment in any institution. With st andrews, that prestige just isnt there.

...in the next few years I think you will be able to do the entire medical degree in St Andrews. And anyway, just because you can't do your entire medicins degree here doesn't mean it's the worst... it just means that St Andrews medicine graduates should have a better clinical (is that right) background knowledge, and also get to experience another university where they finish their degree. It's just different!

And err how?! St Andrews is classed as a top University worldwide... many people abroad have heard of it, and it is considered one of the top universities in the UK, actually in the top 3 to be precise.

I guess your using the league tables again. If so, you might like to look back over the last 10 years of league tables, rather than year to year, which varies incredibly.

The fact is, for subjects like medicine, st andrews is the worst in scotland, forcing students to leave the town as it cannot provide the resources. IR is all very well, but in terms of the practical career at the end of it? With any degree from oxbridge (as long as it is a 2:1 or better) you can happily receive employment in any institution. With st andrews, that prestige just isnt there.

I have put 2 parts of your post in bold. The first part says it isnt the worst in scotland for medicine, yet your last part says its in the top 3 in the uk. Im guessing your referring to the guardian league tables. Well, if your going ot take their overall rating, then you should take their medical rating too, which puts st andrews 11/30, behind all the other scottish medical schools:glagow,aberdeen, dundee and edinburgh (in that order - with edinburgh being rated best in scotland). So i dont really think it is in the top or even second tier of universities for medicine.

I'm not saying you can't have you're personal opinion, and not like St Andrews, but you cannot claim it is not a good university. Ok, so maybe it's not the top medical school in scotland, probably because it can't get a score for what it doesn't teach... but it cannot be claimed that what it does teach, it isn't good at. You said Edinburgh is the top in Scotland... why would the top medical school in Scotland be the only one that takes on the St Andrews medicine "graduates" for their final years. Surely if St Andrews medicine was so bad, they wouldn't give them entry?

Plus, I am not too up on medicine, and I don't recall you specifying that you didn't think St Andrews was in the top or second tier of unis for medicine. If I remember rightly, it was in general that you thought that, which just isn't correct.

Your misunderstanding of the whole system clearly shows you "not too up on medicine". Entry for st andrews graduates into medicine at edinburgh is incredibly tough, and very few actually get in for the clinical years. A majority go to glasgow university. The only reason this happens is because the government enforces this quota on the universities - they are forced to take a certain number of st andrews graduates.

Are you arguing that you think that st andrews is the best medical school in scotland? Because your first paragraph suggests that, but your source (guardian league table ) disagrees.

Your misunderstanding of the whole system clearly shows you "not too up on medicine". Entry for st andrews graduates into medicine at edinburgh is incredibly tough, and very few actually get in for the clinical years. A majority go to glasgow university. The only reason this happens is because the government enforces this quota on the universities - they are forced to take a certain number of st andrews graduates.

Are you arguing that you think that st andrews is the best medical school in scotland? Because your first paragraph suggests that, but your source (guardian league table ) disagrees.

Are you studying medicine? If so, where?
Where did you apply?

James

Im studying at UCL. I was going to considering st andrews and edinburgh from scotland, but i decided against st andrews after seeing the medical facilities, and realising taht it wasnt respected at all in the medical world. Edinburgh was my back-up, as i think it is a nicer place than st andrews, and it has a much better course.

i was rejected by cambridge.

Alright, so for you, St. Andrews was not the best choice for your program? Perfectly understandable. Someone like myself though, who has never even considered medicine, and would therefor not care if St. Andrews had the worst program in the world... it just means that what it lacks in financing it's medical facilities all goes towards its other majors which it does appear to excel in.

Knock the medical school there, that is fine. But do not say it is not even a second tier university just because it does not care about your major... sounds to me like you just think medicine the only thing that matters and are pissed off because it does not appear that St. Andrews agrees with you.

Im studying at UCL. I was going to considering st andrews and edinburgh from scotland, but i decided against st andrews after seeing the medical facilities, and realising taht it wasnt respected at all in the medical world. Edinburgh was my back-up, as i think it is a nicer place than st andrews, and it has a much better course.

i was rejected by cambridge.