We spent yesterday in St Andrews for the University offer holder day. This is a day for students who have received offers from St Andrews and who are either trying to decide which offer to accept or who have already decided and want to learn more about the course and accommodation. Daniel has accepted his offer to study computer science so it was an opportunity for him to familiarise himself with the place.
St Andrews is around 1.5 hours’ drive south from Aberdeen on good motorways. The only slow/complicated bit is through Dundee where there are lots of traffic lights and sometimes traffic. It’s best to park just outside St Andrews and then walk as it’s easily walkable and if you drive you’ll get caught in traffic. We parked at the Petheram Bridge carpark which is a 10-minute walk from the centre. You can also catch the train and bus from Aberdeen but it’s more expensive especially if five of you are going as was the case for us.
Daniel, Elizabeth and Ben went to the talks (Elizabeth is now keen to go to St Andrews too once she finishes school – she has a couple of years to go). Mum and I went exploring. We met up for lunch and then all visited one of the halls of residences. There are multiple halls for students but you don’t get to pick which one you attend. You apply for a category – catered, non-catered, shared, single, ensuite etc – and they assign you based on your preferences which are not guaranteed. We visited McIntosh Hall which was open for tours. It’s a magnificent Victorian building with a curved front that wraps around a small urban green with grass and trees.
It was originally built as the Chattan Hotel and then acquired by the university in 1921. Mum took this photo of us at the entrance.
About half the rooms in McIntosh are single and half shared. We saw one single room which was a good size with a basin. There are shared bathroom facilities on every floor, a massive common room with ping pong table and foosball, quiet study rooms – one of which has a fantastic view of the beach and sea (see below), and a large dining hall.
The view from one of the study rooms.
Every hall runs events and has its own culture with students from each hall thinking theirs is the best which is a good sign. It would have been nice to see some others just for interest but we didn’t have time and it doesn’t really matter given you can’t choose.
One of the talks Daniel, Ben and Elizabeth attended was a sample computer science lecture on constraints in programming. They all said it was very good.
Mum and I had a look at St Salvator’s Chapel which is late gothic architecture founded in 1450 by Bishop Kennedy.
This is Bishop Kennedy’s tomb inside the chapel.
There are magnificent buildings all over St Andrews and if you like shopping it’s a shopper’s heaven with a thriving high street. It doesn’t seem to have been impacted by covid and online shopping as other places have but one reason for this is surely that the town planners didn’t make the mistake of building a soulless, ugly shopping centre on the outskirts of town that saps the life out of the centre as most other towns and villages have.
This is St Salvator’s Hall where William and Kate lived for a time when they studied at St Andrews.
This is The Quad which is a quadrangle of the original university buildings including St Salvator’s Chapel.
We also visited the Wardlaw Museum which is very good, has nice toilets, and a terrace at the back with views of the sea.
I thought it might be a lot of driving there and back in one day but it was easily doable so I can see us making this journey many times in the coming years.
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