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University of St Andrews

58 reviews
3.96 / 5 based on 58 reviews
Useful  |  0
Lola M
,
Industrial Relations and Personnel Management, Undergraduate, Erasmus
Student life
Describe host city:
Student life dominates the city
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Activities: Takes place mostly within the university/student environment
Nightlife, Travel: Takes place mostly outside the university/student environment
Personal social experience
Activities
Nightlife
Travel
Overall
Personal comments
The balls are decent
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Useful  |  17
Lola M
,
Industrial Relations and Personnel Management, Undergraduate, Erasmus
Housing
Type of housing: On campus
Arranged by: Host university
If returning, I would choose: Dont come here
Why?
No
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Personal assessment
Cost
Facilities
Location
Cleanliness
Space
Personal comments
Overall Rating You will read everywhere that this school is the best for IR and the third best in the UK after Oxbridge. The Prince and Middleton met here and a handful of other personalities have passed through this school. You are thinking how can I refuse St Andrews? Be careful this school is not the image it sells. The facilities are quite terrible and in most cases are below what one see in an American local university ( after visiting friends that chose to study in the US I came to the sad conclusion that my school may be prestigious but it lacks restaurants, gyms, swimming pools and libraries). The library here is ridiculous there are about 3000 students studying IR and some books have only a single copy which is probably in the hands of some graduate student that will and can keep it for the duration of his program. The gym only works odd hours and my high school's gym was better equipped and bigger ( and here you pay 100 pounds per year). There are quite a number of lunatics also walking around. A boy I know was blinded as another put antifreezer in his drink http://news.stv.tv/scotland/tayside/244168-st-andrews-student-blinded-after-drink-spiked-with-anti-freeze/. My friend's best friend was also sexually assaulted check the link to the story http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-12603609. Another boy was kicked out of the dorms because he was threating to kill fellow students and knives were found in his room. Besides of course the high number of people that end up going to rehab or came straight from rehab to St Andrews. In all honestly this have been an amazing and ecstatic year ( not) and I cant wait to go home and never return to this University. Dorms are awful as well. Anyone can enter the building as there is ZERO security. The water in the showers don?t ever get warm in the freezing winter which means you shower with cold water. The internet connection in the dorms is also very bad as it only works when it wants. Yes,read other comments the city life is absolutely terrible. There is a single supermarket to supply food for the entire town ( which btw consists of 3 streets). When the snow was heavy in November, the supermarket and most of the other establishments were closed so you must had to stock up on food. Even halls/ dorms didnt have food to serve the students. EVERYTHING CLOSES AT 5 O'CLOCK!!! The supermarket at 12 and one coffee place at 10 ( when it opens or is not an exclusive to certain society night). There is no city life, the closest thing is Dundee ( which is not that great but at least they have a Primark, Urban Outfitters) and are open till 6. Edinburgh is the best city nearby and its only 1 hour away by train. Students are very cliquy as most of them came from private single-sexed boarding schools. Anything related to village life is also present here, you see...
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Useful  |  0
Lola M
,
Industrial Relations and Personnel Management, Undergraduate, Erasmus
Languages
Language of instruction: English
Was learning English a key decision factor?
No, it wasn't.
Language difficulties
Social
Educational
Administrative / Institutional
Overall
Personal comments
They have a different accent and sometimes even the English people dont understand them.
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Useful  |  11
Lola M
,
Industrial Relations and Personnel Management, Undergraduate, Erasmus
Overall
I wish I had known...
The place has 3 streets.
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In my opinion:
Stay home.
Important factors in my choice
(1) Unimportant – (4) Very important
Academic reasons
4
Culture
1
Costs
1
Activities
1
Campus life
1
Party / people
2
Weather / location
1
Personal recommendation
Dont waste your time here.
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During my experience abroad, I ...
(1) Never – (4) A lot
Became familiar with another culture
4
Traveled
3
Improved language skills
3
Met people from other countries
3
Became more independent
3
Partied a lot
1
Experienced a change in life
2
Advanced my studies & career
2
Final comments
Do not waste your time here at all You will read everywhere that this school is the best for IR and the third best in the UK after Oxbridge. The Prince and Middleton met here and a handful of other personalities have passed through this school. You are thinking how can I refuse St Andrews? Be careful this school is not the image it sells. The facilities are quite terrible and in most cases are below what one see in an American local university ( after visiting friends that chose to study in the US I came to the sad conclusion that my school may be prestigious but it lacks restaurants, gyms, swimming pools and libraries). The library here is ridiculous there are about 3000 students studying IR and some books have only a single copy which is probably in the hands of some graduate student that will and can keep it for the duration of his program. The gym only works odd hours and my high school's gym was better equipped and bigger ( and here you pay 100 pounds per year). There are quite a number of lunatics also walking around. A boy I know was blinded as another put antifreezer in his drink http://news.stv.tv/scotland/tayside/244168-st-andrews-student-blinded-after-drink-spiked-with-anti-freeze/. My friend's best friend was also sexually assaulted check the link to the story http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-12603609. Another boy was kicked out of the dorms because he was threating to kill fellow students and knives were found in his room. Besides of course the high number of people that end up going to rehab or came straight from rehab to St Andrews. In all honestly this have been an amazing and ecstatic year ( not) and I cant wait to go home and never return to this University. Dorms are awful as well. Anyone can enter the building as there is ZERO security. The water in the showers don?t ever get warm in the freezing winter which means you shower with cold water. The internet connection in the dorms is also very bad as it only works when it wants. Yes,read other comments the city life is absolutely terrible. There is a single supermarket to supply food for the entire town ( which btw consists of 3 streets). When the snow was heavy in November, the supermarket and most of the other establishments were closed so you must had to stock up on food. Even halls/ dorms didnt have food to serve the students. EVERYTHING CLOSES AT 5 O'CLOCK!!! The supermarket at 12 and one coffee place at 10 ( when it opens or is not an exclusive to certain society night). There is no city life, the closest thing is Dundee ( which is not that great but at least they have a Primark, Urban Outfitters) and are open till 6. Edinburgh is the best city nearby and its only 1 hour away by train. Students are very cliquy as most of them came from private single-sexed boarding schools. Anything related to village life is also present here, you see the same people everywhere and everybody knows everybody?s business. People will literally come up to you and tell you they know you because you friends with their ex?s or just because they saw your pic at some random?s person album. There are almost no classes and they are constantly cancelled. The organization of the school is also quite terrible, you must email them a million times to get a single thing done. Red tape is everywhere. Lecturers are NEVER AVAILABLE and tutorials are taught by Grad Students. Nighlife is non existant and people can be seem disgustingly drunk on a daily basis after 6 pm on the streets. Drinking here is part of the daily life.
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Useful  |  0
Lola M
,
Industrial Relations and Personnel Management, Undergraduate, Erasmus
Expenses
Main source of funding:
Family
Other sources of funding:
none
Work opportunities:
I didn't want/need to work
Personal spending habits
MORE
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Housing, Telephone, Food, Overall:
was more expensive than at home.
Travel:
was the same price as at home.
Nightlife:
was less expensive than at home.
Accessibility of student needs
Second-hand text books
Second-hand household items
Computers / Internet
Administrative
Money from home
Personal comments
n/
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Useful  |  0
Lola M
,
Industrial Relations and Personnel Management, Undergraduate, Erasmus
Academic
Course recommendations
The courses are great at graduate level but quite terrible in the undergraduate
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My academic experiences
Quality of courses
Variety of courses
Access to resources
Interaction with teachers
Interaction with international students
Interaction with local students
Personal comments
There should be more than 2 hours of class per week.
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My opinion of the university assessment
Exams at end of course
Exams throughout the course
Essays and/or projects at the end of course
Essays and/or projects throughout the course
Overall