St Andrews is a very good school academically, and it is possible to get internships in London during breaks- but to get those internships you have to go for interviews, and London is far: nearly 7 hours by train, and nearly 6 if you fly (b/c you have to get to Edinburgh by train first, then connect to the flight).
But, don’t gallop by @MYOS1634’s points: remember that you will be living there for 3 years. It is a small town, in a remote area. From late autumn to early spring it is only light from after 9am to about 3pm. It’s easy to laugh that off, but there is another CC poster who couldn’t wait to get there- and part way into first year is now looking to transfer out asap b/c it’s too small/remote/dark for that city girl.
You don’t need to decide this now- wait to see what your options are.
ps, just saw [url=<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1855759-need-to-transfer-to-the-us-from-st-andrews-uk.html%5Dthis%5B/url”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1855759-need-to-transfer-to-the-us-from-st-andrews-uk.html]this[/url] from another poster going the other way.
@collegemom3717 and @ everyone else who mentioned location-my first choice in the RD round is actually Dartmouth, which is pretty remote and isolated compared to what i’m used to here. not sure if that changes things.
If you like beautiful but rugged nature, the Scottish highlands are hard to beat. And you can’t compare “small towns” in America with “small towns” in Europe – they’re completely different (the latter being a better experience, IMO). And Edinburgh is a great town and not far away. But yeah, if you want an “urban” feel, go to NJ. You won’t get that in Scotland.
PS: no future King of England is going to have studied at Rutgers
Small town Europe will have more history and St Andrews mostly is a college town. ON the other had, there’s much more to do on th Dartmouth campus. At Saint Andrews, students are expected to find their own fun. You can golf and go fly fishing.
Edinburgh isn’t close though - coach+ train. But by coach you can travel around.
You CAN get an urban feel in Scotland, Edinburgh and Glasgow are both two different facets of European city life.
@teenagecrime I think that most of the posters here agree that StAU would be far preferable over Rutgers for a number of reasons. However, you need to wait now and see if Dartmouth, NYU, etc come in before you make any X vs. Y choices now.
US tends to be more structures with HW/Quizzes/Exams and UK puts more burden on you to study and may only have one final. Are you self-motivated and won’t get distracted by the freedom?
Also, where do you want to work when you graduate? In NYC? Then maybe having internships available there when you are at Rutgers might be better. Internaionally? Maybe St Andrews might be better.
agreeing with @bopper, and reminding you that your course choices in the UK will be much more limited than in the US. For some people that is the joy of it, for others (esp if they work out that they don’t like the subject as much as they thought they would) that is a negative.
my daughter is in her final year at StA and is dreading the day she has to leave. She’s from a big city as are two of her roommates and they all love it.
FYI - you get a two week spring break. She has been to Paris, Greece, Amsterdam, London, Brussels, Monaco, etc. etc. for spring break.
The academics are very challenging as well. The school is very international and she has made many freinds for all over.
