OK, the University of St Andrews–UP!
Bit of a limited review since we only did a self-guided tour, but the big thing has been the town and setting. Some people have described it as a bit small, isolated, and so on, which may be true by London or even Edinburgh standards. But in person it seems like a really hopping town, obviously lots of visitors (even in March, I actually assumed it would be a lot quieter, but we have needed dinner reservations and such), lots of students out and about (including pretty late–we are in an apartment close in and can hear some students going by at night), and lots of thriving pubs, restaurants, and shops. I note you can really feel the international nature of the school. Like, the young adults we are seeing around town have all sorts of accents and such.
The physical setting is then just amazing, with the beaches and cliffs and views, and then all sorts of cool historic ruins and such. We’ve had pretty good weather so that helps. The university is then mostly integrated into the town but it still feels sort of campusy too–there is a big concentration of buildings in one area, another smaller cluster a couple blocks away, and then like 15 minutes walk on the outskirts of town the North Haugh campus with a lot of STEM buildings, athletic facilities, and residences. Obviously there are the sorts of cool old buildings US colleges can only imitate, but also many more modern, particularly in North Haugh.
S24 has some leads on friends of friends who are US students attending St Andrews, so we’re going to see if he can talk to some (maybe not now but when we get back) about the actual student experience. But it certainly did not disappoint for a place to visit!