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St. Andrew's socio-economic info?

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St. Andrew's socio-economic info?

Postby Sean on Sun Dec 07, 2003 3:00 pm

Hello, I was just wondering about the student body at St. Andrew's. (I just sent in my application yesterday) What percentage of the students are scottish? english? irish? american? european? other? I'm not really looking for cold, hard facts, just generalizations. Also, what would you say is the distribution of students amoung economic classes? How many nights a week would you say that students go out and party on average? Do many people smoke weed or do harder drugs? Would you say that people are generally more or less attractive than other people in the same age group? What percentage of the students are catholic? protestant? jewish? Are there very many black students? hispanic? asian? Thanks!! I will really appreciate it if anyone answers! -Sean
Sean
 

Re:

Postby Kibet on Sun Dec 07, 2003 7:25 pm

well if you have came looking for sweeping generalisations then this is the right place :p
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Re:

Postby Setsuna on Sun Dec 07, 2003 8:27 pm

Well, i would say the majority of students are english, followed by either scottish/american, northern irish, european, chinese etc.. I heard a rumour (so not strictly true) that around 13% of students are scottish (altho that could have been 30%) which aint a lot, but i dont really have any evidence for that as rumours here are like chinese whispers.

There are a LOT of american students. Not a bad thing, but probably the highest proportion of americans outside america in a university. Feels like it anyway.

Nights a week drinking... for me, currently too many :$ There is always somewhere that will have promos on on a particular night, so if you have enough cash to do that then good for you. Altho a lot of people tend to come to uni to learn stuff, but everyones usually out on a friday... if u wanna go clubbing theres always dundee, glasgow or edinburgh. Depends on how much money u have tho, a taxi home from dundee can cost £20, so the more of you, the better. Edinburgh is only good if you have a floor to sleep on and glasgow = my home, so i much prefer it there.

I remember in first year, my friends roommate exclaimed that she was 'used to a much larger drug scene in new york', which still makes me laugh to this day. Millions of people live in new york, 16,000 people live in st andrews. However, again, its not something you should look for in a uni and yr access to 'hard drugs' may be somewhat limited and i doubt that anyone will really appreciate it either. But in a town full of students, herbal methods may be a common way to relax :P

If you are a maaaan, then there are about 900 more females than males at this uni and it shows. Lots of beautiful young ladies, but a drought of good looking guys.

And so on and so on. Is that sweepingly general enough?
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Re:

Postby immunodiffusion on Sun Dec 07, 2003 9:01 pm

Some statistics on the university and its students are given here: http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/publication ... tics.shtml

There are 2305 male undergraduates, and 3203 female undergraduates.

44% of students at the start of their first year are under 18 years old, and 36% are 18-21 at the start of their first year.

83% of students are from the UK, 17% from the rest of the world. I cannot find any accurate statistics on the number of people from different parts of the UK, but when I was applying (quite a few years ago), I read that the proportions were approximately 40% English; 40% Scottish and 20% Overseas. There are also quite a few people from Northern Ireland, and a few from Wales, but I don't know how many exactly.

The principal said in his graduation address that "The student body this year comes from 92 countries. 25% of our students are from abroad" (see http://calvin.st-andrews.ac.uk/external ... erence=576)

However, all these statistics apply to the broad picture of students over the whole university. You will find that within different halls, courses, etc, the proportions will be slightly different. For example, most people I know are Scottish, with a few English people, and I know very few international students. But this is just coincidence - there are plenty of English and international students here, it just happens that I don't know that many of them. There are enough people at the university that most groups you can think of are represented.
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Re:

Postby Guest on Mon Dec 08, 2003 1:02 am

Just to answer some of your points.

There is about, I would say 25% Scottish students, 40% English, 5% Irish, 1% Welsh (i have never heard a Welsh accent in St Andrews), and about 29% International.

Weed is smoked and other drugs are widely available. One just needs to know where to go, and who to speak to. In a small place like this, this is fairly easy to do.

Looking socially at the breakdown of students it works out something like this. Working Class (15-20%), Middle Class (40-50%), Upper Class (25-30%)

There is also more females to males. 40% Male to 60% Female, approximately.

These are only my assumpsions and do not reflect the statistics of this fine university.
Guest
 

Thanks for the info!

Postby Sean on Mon Dec 08, 2003 1:03 am

Thanks for the info, its things like this that aren't easily found on college webpages and its kind of hard to find out about since 95% of the people I know don't even know St. Andrew's exists. Just to clarify i'm definately NOT into hard drugs, i was just curious. (I just saw Trainspotting the other day for the first time and it got me wondering if drugs were more widely available there, even though I know the movie has absolutely nothing to do with St. Andrew's other than being in the same country) The girl-guy ratio is very interesting (even though I've never really needed the scales tipped in my favor haha) Thanks for the info -Sean
Sean
 

Cliquish?

Postby Sean on Mon Dec 08, 2003 1:04 am

Are there lots of cliquish groups there? You mentioned that most all of your friends are scottish, do different nationalities tend to stick together? How many people would you say come to school already having friends there?
Sean
 

Re:

Postby immunodiffusion on Mon Dec 08, 2003 12:12 pm

[s]Unregisted User Sean wrote on 21:27, 7th Dec 2003:
Are there lots of cliquish groups there? You mentioned that most all of your friends are scottish, do different nationalities tend to stick together?


No, that is not what I meant at all. I myself am English, but many of my friends are Scottish, just because it happens that I have mainly met Scottish people by chance. I was just using it as an example that although the university statistics say one thing, this doesn't mean that this will be representative of every group you meet.

I would say that people's nationality is not a big issue in St Andrews. People form friendships based on common interests and so on, rather than where they are from.

I think there is a tendency for people to overestimate the number of people who are different from them. I have found that a lot of Scottish students say that a majority of students here are English, whilst English students will often claim the reverse. British students claim there are a lot of Americans whilst Americans claim there are hardly any. I think this is because when you come here, there are less people of your nationality than there are at your home, so there is a tendency to think there are very few people of your nationality, when in fact there are plenty, just less than what you're used to.

Also, if for example I hear an American accent in the street, I'll notice that and think "ah, they're American", whereas if I hear a British accent I won't really notice it because I am used to British accents. There is then a tendency to think there are more Americans than there actually are, because I have noticed more American accents, and the same kind of logic would also apply to other groups.

I think the number of Scottish students is sometimes slightly under-estimated because a greater proportion of Scottish students go home at weekends (because it is more practical for them than for English students) and so they are not always here.

However, as I said before, I don't actually think its actually that important to most people. As St Andrews is quite small, and relatively far from anywhere, you tend to find that many students come here without knowing anyone else, and most students are only person from their school who has come to St Andrews.

You will occasionally find there are groups of friends from particular schools who have all applied to St Andrews (especially amongst students from relatively local Scottish schools) however, where this does happen, the students are generally wanting to meet new people too and are very friendly towards other people, at least in my experience. However, the fact that there is only a small population of people who live close to St Andrews means that this probably happens less than would happen at other universities.

Also, the fact that very few students live at home with their parents (as this is generally too far away to be practical for most students) means there is much more mixing of the "local" students and those from further afield than would occur at some universities in cities with a larger population.
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Re:

Postby Guest on Mon Dec 08, 2003 2:21 pm

[s]immunodiffusion wrote on 21:01, 7th Dec 2003:
44% of students at the start of their first year are under 18 years old


Presumably these students who are under 18 at the start of their first year are Scottish, as English/Welsh/Northern Irish/American students are usually 18 before they start here, because of the different school systems there. Therefore, the proportion of Scottish students is approximately 44%.
Guest
 

Re:

Postby tintin on Mon Dec 08, 2003 2:48 pm

"Upper Class (25-30%)" - where do you come by this figure? - it implies that nearly 2000 students are from the Upper Classes; a little high I feel.
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Re:

Postby Sean on Tue Dec 09, 2003 1:53 am

Thanks, immunodiffusion, that makes perfect sense what you were saying about other groups of students seeming larger because they are more noticeable to you. The same thing happened to me at my high school. I knew very few jewish people before I went but then met alot of them and thought that they mush have made up at least half of the student body. Later on I found out they were only 25%... But anyways, thank you for all of your comments, they have been very helpful! I can't wait to find out whether or not i've been accepted!
Sean
 

Re:

Postby Pussycat on Tue Dec 09, 2003 2:42 am

[s]Unregisted User wrote on 12:19, 8th Dec 2003:
[s]immunodiffusion wrote on 21:01, 7th Dec 2003:[i]
44% of students at the start of their first year are under 18 years old


Presumably these students who are under 18 at the start of their first year are Scottish, as English/Welsh/Northern Irish/American students are usually 18 before they start here, because of the different school systems there. Therefore, the proportion of Scottish students is approximately 44%.
[/i]

That's assuming that all Scottish students are under 18 when they start at uni, which is not the case.

As far as I am aware, in all those countries there is no more or less chance of a fresher being under 18 than in any other. The main factor in how old you are when starting uni is not what country you are from but when your birthday is.

Scottish students though could of course be 16 when starting uni, unlike many other countries, which may be where you are getting confused.
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Re:

Postby Kibet on Tue Dec 09, 2003 11:54 am

[s]Pussycat wrote on 02:42, 9th Dec 2003:
[s]Unregisted User wrote on 12:19, 8th Dec 2003:[i]
[s]immunodiffusion wrote on 21:01, 7th Dec 2003:[i]
44% of students at the start of their first year are under 18 years old


Presumably these students who are under 18 at the start of their first year are Scottish, as English/Welsh/Northern Irish/American students are usually 18 before they start here, because of the different school systems there.
[/i]

That's assuming that all Scottish students are under 18 when they start at uni, which is not the case.


Scottish students though could of course be 16 when starting uni, unlike many other countries, which may be where you are getting confused.
[/i]

i think what they were meaning that if a scottish person waits until the last possible moment to leave at school (sixth year) and comes to university. since our age category is from 1st march where as other countries are 1st august/september then only 6 months of students would make up the over eighteens in scotland and the rest would be 17. or if they come in through clearing after fifth year then 17 and 16 respectively. where as i think in england coming up here tend to be a year older due to their system.
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Re:

Postby Sean on Tue Dec 09, 2003 2:58 pm

You can be 16 and starting college?!?! Thats soooo young! Not to be a pervert or anything but what are the statutory laws in Scotland? Does that ever cause problems? Wow, I just can't imagine going to school at 16...
Sean
 

Re:

Postby Pussycat on Tue Dec 09, 2003 3:43 pm

[s]Kibet wrote on 11:54, 9th Dec 2003:
i think what they were meaning that if a scottish person waits until the last possible moment to leave at school (sixth year) and comes to university. since our age category is from 1st march where as other countries are 1st august/september then only 6 months of students would make up the over eighteens in scotland and the rest would be 17. or if they come in through clearing after fifth year then 17 and 16 respectively. where as i think in england coming up here tend to be a year older due to their system.


Except of course that many students take a year out before uni if they consider themselves to young or for other reasons. Even though it is taken from 1st March it is still up to the parents to decide when their youngster starts school and as a result there are usually quite a few people who have their birthday well before everyone else. My brother for example has his birthday this month making him by far the oldest in his class but there are others with their birthday in the next couple of months too.

For the same reasons this is the same in quite a few other countries, so it would be grossly incorrect to assume that those 44% are entirely Scottish and the only Scottish students at the university.

[s]Unregisted User Sean wrote on 14:10, 9th Dec 2003:
You can be 16 and starting college?!?! Thats soooo young! Not to be a pervert or anything but what are the statutory laws in Scotland? Does that ever cause problems? Wow, I just can't imagine going to school at 16...


In Scotland you become a legal adult at the age of 16, same as England, with the exception I think that you are seen as an adult in the eyes of a court - ie you would be tried as an adult, you are allowed to marry without your parents permission, you can own a house or land, sign legal contracts etc.

But I'm not sure how different that is to the rest of the UK.
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Re:

Postby Pender Native on Tue Dec 09, 2003 4:04 pm

or if they come in through clearing after fifth year then 17 and 16 respectively.

You can go through the UCAS process in 5th year, although obviously you will only receive a conditional offer, depending on your higher exams at the end of the year- you don't have to take your chances with clearing. It's because Highers are the manin exams that get you into Uni in Scotland and they are done in 5th year whereas they are A levels in England which are done in 6th year

[/i]
"I have seen flowers come in stony places
And kind things done by men with ugly faces,
And the gold cup won by the worst horse at the races,
So I trust, too."
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Re:

Postby Pussycat on Tue Dec 09, 2003 5:20 pm

[s]Pender Native wrote on 16:04, 9th Dec 2003:
or if they come in through clearing after fifth year then 17 and 16 respectively.

You can go through the UCAS process in 5th year, although obviously you will only receive a conditional offer, depending on your higher exams at the end of the year- you don't have to take your chances with clearing. It's because Highers are the manin exams that get you into Uni in Scotland and they are done in 5th year whereas they are A levels in England which are done in 6th year


Although at the schools I know of it is very uncommon to do so, with the vast majority of students staying on til 6th year or taking a gap year etc.
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Re:

Postby Wandering on Tue Dec 09, 2003 11:05 pm

I'm American but I started college at 16, it's not as big of a deal as you would think. 18 now and looking to transfer... which is a bigger deal than the starting early...

Wandering
 

Re:

Postby immunodiffusion on Wed Dec 10, 2003 12:55 pm

[s]Pender Native wrote on 16:04, 9th Dec 2003:
A levels in England which are done in 6th year


In England/Wales, in order to go to university you have to have passed your A-levels, which due to the completely different educational system in England/Wales from Scotland, you do when you are 18. Therefore almost all English/Welsh students are 18 or above when they start university.

Upper 6th (the year you do your A levels) is not directly equivalent to 6th year in Scotland, because the cut-off for each year is 1st September, rather than March. Also, Upper 6th is the 7th year of most English secondary schools, whereas 6th Year is the 6th year of a Scottish secondary school. This means there are some Scottish 17 year olds who come here who are 18 within the first 6 months of their degree. However this doesn't happen with English/Scottish students who are 18 when they arrive.

I realise that not all Scottish students are 17 when they come here, but many of them are. However students from outside Scotland are only very rarely below 18 when they start (this would only happen if you had been put forward a year at school). Therefore, the 44% of under-18 first years are going to mainly be Scottish, giving some kind of indication of the number of Scottish students here. It is not a precise number, but given that no other statistics on the number of Scottish students exist, it gives a rough estimate.

In England, you do not legally become an adult until age 18 - you cannot do such things as vote, buy most types of alcoholic drinks, own property before then, and if you want to get married or join the army before you are 18 you need to have your parents consent. However the situation is different in Scotland.
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Re:

Postby Setsuna on Wed Dec 10, 2003 5:15 pm

except we cant buy alcohol until we're 18 :'(

it can be pretty hard when u start uni at 17 on the drinking front... not only was a terrified of getting id'ed in front of all the big boys and girls, i got made an example of in the union for drinking underage which is one of the most embarrassing moments of my life...


but those days are over now. woohoo.
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