Too many Americans?

[Kate]

Hi! I am a student from the US trying to decide about St. Andrews for uni. I was just wondering, is the place overflowing with Americans? As an American student, would it be possible to have lots of English and Scottish friends? Are there more Americans than Scottish or English students? Thank you so much for your help!

[DrAlex]

This subject line is going to really egg on the trolls, so I'll get in there quick...

There are a lot of Americans here, so you are all but guaranteed to become friends with some when you come. However, in most places I've been, they/we tend to build little colonies and live in a little bubble with each other, and here I don't often see that. You get it sometimes in the year abroad students who, for whatever reason, are just happier that way. You can meet people from just about anywhere in the world here: I have friends from the US and Canada, but most are English, Scotish and from the Continent.

If you have any more questions, feel free to browse through the New Students! First Years! board.

[hr]

"Listen to DrAlex."-Polli
http://standrews.facebook.com/profile.php?id=37100343

[samthehaggis]

Well, that depends on what groups you join. Some American students come here and make all American friends because they join groups almost entirely populated by Americans. I'm an American student, and I can confidently say that I have very few American friends, so that should tell you that there are plenty of British people to befriend. Either that, or that I don't have many friends...

[Lodestone]

About 30% of St Andrews students are internationl students, the majority of whom are American. Of the rest, most are English, but there's still a good number of Scots. It's a pretty good mixed demographic, apart from the overwhelming white majority, which sometimes irks.

You'll have no problem whatsoever mixing with English and Scottish students, as long as you don't let yourself get sucked into solely American circles.

[holden caulfield]

It genuinely perplexes me that so many JYAs/JSAs come half way across the world only to mix almost exclusively with other JYAs/JASs.

Before anyone takes this the wrong way, I know there are many who do NOT do this, its just my expereince that a large number do. I always thought the point of a year abraod was to meet different people and experience a different culture?

[Orcas]

I'm American and out of my friends only a few are Americans and they are not my close friends at all. In some ways I think this is/was better for me because I could quickly jump into the culture and had people who could inform me about holidays, TV shows and the like that's not in the US. If I had only had American friends I don't think that I would have fit in as comfortably as I have.

The close ones are English and Scottish, and are the ones I'm living with next year, and visit during holidays.

Other Americans are okay, to me though, it seems that it's an odd group that ends up over here, so I'm happier with other people. Plus, they teach me how to spell and speak properly (according to them anyway!) It's also nice that you often get to know their family and siblings and can have the feeling of a second family over here.

[AR]

I'm American and all my flatmates are British. If you want British friends it's easy to make them. Just don't be part of the groups of Americans who can't seem to seperate.

[hr]

"Well la de dah... la de dah"
--annie hall

[DrAlex]

Quoting holden caulfield from 10:50, 24th Apr 2006
It genuinely perplexes me that so many JYAs/JSAs come half way across the world only to mix almost exclusively with other JYAs/JASs.

I guess I can understand if it combats soem homesickness, but it does kind of defeat the purpose.

[hr]

"Listen to DrAlex."-Polli
http://standrews.facebook.com/profile.php?id=37100343

[inshaala]

most of the problem eminates from the fact that most people form if not their future friendship group - but at least a substantial part of it through the pre-freshers week activities put on by the overseas society where all the overseas students (mainly americans) are here before anyone else. I had a JSA roommate who's friends consisted soley of americans who participated in that pre-freshers week thing.

If you are going to participate in that (and it is a good idea to get to know the place a bit better rather than be thrown in a deeper end than the british contingent of freshers) then do keep an open mind about friends, you will meet a LOT of people here.

[hr]

Ich will dass ihr mich versteht

[Grandpa]

This place was a quiet backwater until the 90s, then the university started recruiting more from the US because it needed more money as it wasn't making enough.

Now the place is teaming with American and many other 'international' students who mostly sound American because that's the sort of accent you pick up in most 'international' schools these days.

Sadly, I fear, the time when St Andrews was a predominantly Scottish university has gone and the town is destined to be a mini-US enclave in rural Fife which is about as far from anything American as you could get...obviosly I'm not including the likes of Mongolia of Siberia here, as that would be plainly biased (mwahaha).

[hr]

We are gentlemen that neither in our hearts nor outward eyes envy the great nor shall the low despise.

[DrAlex]

Grandpa, in my mind you're a man who's far stuffier than his years would cause, and enjoy sitting by the fire in a smoking jacket and slippers, sipping brandy and smoking a pipe while perusing many a volume of forgotten lore.

Where can I get a nice smoking jacket like yours?

[hr]

"Listen to DrAlex."-Polli
http://standrews.facebook.com/profile.php?id=37100343

[novium]

you may find yourself huddled in groups with other americans for the first week or so, kind of a support group while you all go through 'culture shock', but I didn't have a problem with that becoming a permanent thing. I eventually pretty much stopped having much contact with most of that group as we became more acclimated and realized we didn't have all that much in common, other than being american students.

[hr]

sed tamen ira procul absit, cum qua nihil recte fieri, nihil considerate potest.

[novium]

I think it must. I don't think many people come half way around the world with that in mind, though. I think it just happens.

Quoting DrAlex from 13:27, 24th Apr 2006

Quoting holden caulfield from 10:50, 24th Apr 2006
It genuinely perplexes me that so many JYAs/JSAs come half way across the world only to mix almost exclusively with other JYAs/JASs.

I guess I can understand if it combats soem homesickness, but it does kind of defeat the purpose.

[hr]

"Listen to DrAlex."-Polli
http://standrews.facebook.com/profile.php?id=37100343

[hr]

sed tamen ira procul absit, cum qua nihil recte fieri, nihil considerate potest.

[Al]

Oh Grandpa, will you ever be right?

[exnihilo]

Grandpa will also find that the University had been recruiting American students long before the 90s and they were already a very well established group here by then. As for being a predominantly Scottish university, that really hasn't been the case for many, many decades, and even as a Scot I'm glad of it - one of the things I enjoyed most about St Andrews was the diversity of the student population, I now have friends all over the world thanks to it.

If you went to Glasgow, on the other hand, something in the order of 3/4 of the people you meet will not only be from Scotland but from Glasgow and environs, and it suffers because of it. Other universities are enormously jealous of St Andrews' overseas recruiting success. Oh, and we don't just do it for money; for the umpteenth time, the fees paid by an overseas student are roughly equal to the fees paid by a home student plus the money paid by central government on each student's behalf. In other words, all students generate the same level of income for the university.

So stop saying that!

[scratter]

You can't deny that there are an awful lot of americans everywhere in st a's.

[Icarus]

Quoting scratter from 19:45, 24th Apr 2006
You can't deny that there are an awful lot of americans everywhere in st a's.

And that most of them are in fact very cheery and lots of fun

[James]

No matter how hard you try, Kate, you'll find it hard not to be friends with at least one American, but there are nowhere near enough to preclude you meeting Brits. Obviously, you'd do well to steer clear of Yanksoc, or whatever they have, but it should be easy enough to find someone to teach you to spell -- learn that, and it'll be a labour sure to find favour. I don't know what all the fuss is about anyway -- some of my best friends know people who met an American once.

[hr]

Irony: it's like goldy and bronzy, only it's made of iron -- Baldrick, Blackadder II

[novium]

perhaps, and I have always wondered about this- does the government attach certain strings to how the money it gives the school for the students is spent?

Quoting exnihilo from 18:39, 24th Apr 2006
Grandpa will also find that the University had been recruiting American students long before the 90s and they were already a very well established group here by then. As for being a predominantly Scottish university, that really hasn't been the case for many, many decades, and even as a Scot I'm glad of it - one of the things I enjoyed most about St Andrews was the diversity of the student population, I now have friends all over the world thanks to it.

If you went to Glasgow, on the other hand, something in the order of 3/4 of the people you meet will not only be from Scotland but from Glasgow and environs, and it suffers because of it. Other universities are enormously jealous of St Andrews' overseas recruiting success. Oh, and we don't just do it for money; for the umpteenth time, the fees paid by an overseas student are roughly equal to the fees paid by a home student plus the money paid by central government on each student's behalf. In other words, all students generate the same level of income for the university.

So stop saying that!

[hr]

sed tamen ira procul absit, cum qua nihil recte fieri, nihil considerate potest.

[exnihilo]

In what respect? Money given for teaching is spent on teaching, certainly, likewise research grants are for research, but some of both goes to paying staff. There are limits on how many overseas students an institution can have, but that's about it.