Abroad101: Study Abroad Reviews

St Andrews - It's like W&M, just in Scotland Past Review

By (The College of William and Mary) - abroad from 01/29/2012 to 05/26/2012 with

University of St. Andrews: St. Andrews - Direct Enrollment & Exchange

What did you gain/learn from your experience abroad? Was it worthwhile?
It was definitely worthwhile - I think the most significant thing I gained was a greater perspective on my field. I'm an English major, and having four months to explore and study the UK in person, physically visiting locales from stories I read, added a new layer to my perception I didn't have before.

Personal Information

How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? None

Review Your Program

* Overall educational experience

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

St Andrews is a wonderful school, but it is less rigorous than William & Mary. The University Library, which is a much more vital institution to student life at St A than Swem is to W&M, is much, much less effective at doing its job than Swem is. The library is consistently overcrowded and the collection is relatively weak - not good when you do history and English like me.

* Host Country Program Administration

On-site administration of your program

They really took care of us.

* Housing:

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

If you can get one of the smaller halls (ie, St Regulus, McIntosh), do that. The halls get a really close community, the resources are very nice, the rooms are cleaned weekly, and there are a lot of singles.

* Food:

It's British food. It's not bad, it's not particularly good, but it is definitely consistently mediocre. But, it'll keep body and soul together. Plus, eating all your meals with your hall is a great way to bond.

* Social & Cultural Integration:

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

The nice thing about being a white English speaker going to a town in Scotland populated with nearly as many English and American students as Scottish people is that it's effortless to integrate yourself. Don't expect a significant adjustment period.

* Health Care:

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

You register with the NHS and from there, everything is sorted for you if you get ill.

* Safety:

I never felt unsafe, even walking through town alone at night. St Andrews is probably safer than Williamsburg.

If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? Yes

Finances

* Money: How easily were you able to live on a student's budget?

(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost)

The UK is expensive. The pound is basically 1.5 dollars. If you plan on doing any travel at all, you will need a rail card to save money and it's a good idea to save up before going. You could, conceivably, live there for what you pay in a W&M semester, but you'd likely miss out on so many great travel opportunities as to be wasting the time abroad.

* Was housing included in your program cost? Yes
* Was food included in your program cost? Yes
Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? It depended on how much travel I did in the week. If I was in St A all week, probably around $80 or so, but if I traveled, a fair bit more than that.

Language

* Did your program have a foreign language component? No

Direct Enrollment/Exchange

* Did you study abroad through an exchange program or did you directly enroll in the foreign university? Exchange

Other Program Information

* Where did you live?

Select all that apply

  • Dorm
* Who did you live with?

Select all that apply

  • Local Students
  • Americans
  • International Students
* Who did you take classes with?

Select all that apply

  • Local Students
  • Americans
  • International Students
About how many local friends did you make that you will likely keep in touch with?

A Look Back

* What did you like most about the program?
  • The copious free time allowing for travel
  • St Andrews' setting - you couldn't ask for a more beautiful town
* What could be improved?
  • The food.
* What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? I wish I had had a better sense of the time for the program before going so I could schedule out everywhere I wanted to go before getting there. I ended up missing out on several places I wanted to see because of poor planning.