For the first time in a long time, St. Andrews has been named the best university in the UK. Beating out Oxford and Cambridge is no small feat for any university, especially one that doesn’t have “London” in its name (Looking at you LSE, UCL, Imperial, and KCL!).
St. Andrews is already famous in its own right, and by our informal (but still pretty tuned-in) count, the most popular UK university for Americans. For the right student, it is an incredible place to study, but it’s not for everyone.
In a Nutshell
St. Andrews was founded in 1413, making it one of the oldest universities in the world. It’s located in St. Andrews, a town in Fife, a region of Scotland that is northeast of Edinburgh. They have some of the top programs in the world, and because you can study multiple fields your first two years, it’s really popular with students who aren’t 100% sure about what they want to study.
However, it’s isolated, and a large chunk of the student population tends towards cliquishness. If you’re up for the British version of UVA or another preppy school, however, it’s a great place to be.
Degrees
Two things, beyond just their general awesomeness, make St. Andrews degrees stand out. First, and by far the most inconsequential, is that because of history, graduates get a Master of Arts degree upon graduation. This dates back to medieval universities giving graduates a Magister degree, which meant that they were qualified to teach the liberal arts, so not law, medicine, or theology. A number of other Scottish universities do this.
More importantly, at least for those of us who aren’t trying to one-up a cousin at a holiday dinner table, is the fact that there are sub-honours, single honours, and joint honours degrees. They all take four years, which is in stark contrast to English universities, but there’s a lot more flexibility.
Let’s start with sub-honours. This is the term used for your first two years of study. With some limits, you can study broadly across the university. You should take courses within your degree, but you can take two or three other subjects as well.
After your first two years, you enter the honours portion of your degree. If you study single honours, you study one subject. If you study joint honours, you study two fields. Some combinations of triple honours, typically with two languages, are possible, but quite rare.
Programs of Note
St. Andrews is good at everything it teaches.
Seriously.
Famously, there is no law school, but its medicine program is top notch, and available to undergraduates. Its history, foreign language, and physics programs are among the best in the UK, if not the world. Shockingly, its Persian language department is second to only SOAS, the specialist university in the UK for non-Western studies, and in some places eclipses it.
As long as you lean towards the nerdishness in your field of choice, you’ll find academic fulfillment at St. Andrews.
Cost
St. Andrews is one of the most expensive options in the UK, because it is a four year degree. However, if you’re looking at paying full tuition at most private or out of state schools in the US, you may come out ahead going to St. Andrews.
According to St. Andrew’s own site, they have an estimated cost of attendance of around $60,000 per year. This is inflated intentionally to prevent exchange rate fluctuations from messing with loan amounts, but if you’re looking at a transfer at what the current rate is now (September 2021), it’s about $55,000 per year.
Bear in mind that is the cost of attendance; not tuition. That includes travel, room, board, fees, and everything else. Also, St. Andrews insists that most families don’t end up borrowing that much in bold on the same site.
And yes, St. Andrews is happy to accept 529 plan funds at no penalty.
Location
Outside of the occasional cliquishness of St. Andrews (which is, depending on you, either a good thing or a bad thing), the worst part about it is its location. St. Andrews is an hour train ride from Edinburgh, and the university and the golf club (which is kind of a big deal) are the only things there. If you’re looking for a vibrant nightlife scene, St. Andrews isn’t it. If you’re looking for a place where you can disappear off in order to contemplate the world, there are few better places.
Application
Even though St. Andrews is on the Common App, we strongly stress that you shouldn’t apply to St. Andrews using it. Instead, use UCAS. It’s what St. Andrews is used to receiving and offers no penalty for applying as late as January 15 (26 this year, but usually 15). The Common App, and even St. Andrews’ own direct application, don’t have this flexibility.
Of course, if you don’t have strong test scores (especially APs), then you may want to reconsider and use the Common App. This is something we routinely answer for people we work with.
Regardless of if you’re interested in St. Andrews, or if the mere fact of reading this makes you want the busy streets of LSE, An Education Abroad is ready to help you make the most of your overseas university applications.