St Andrews University

The only thing I found that was good there was Professor Arment whom they fired because he would not conform to the pressure. I found out from the student that caused the problem that her mother threatened to sue the university if he did not change her grade because he caught her cheating and gave her a zero. He would not give in. They fired he and his wife and then changed the student's grade so she could go on in her classes and graduate. She failed out of grad school. The school itself is a crock of hypocritical blowhards. From Dr. A, I had a great education with many challenges that prepared me for graduate school...I hope he reads this someday

4th Year Female -- Class 2003

Education Quality: A+, Friendliness: F

Alumnus Male -- Class 2000

People like to make the comment that certain schools are either "liked or hated." As cliche as that is, I'm inclined to label this school as an either/or institution.

The school was listed in a book, "Colleges That Change Lives." Since I was getting pretty bored with my past life, I thought I'd give it a try. The experiences I've had are both good and bad (go figure).

First, and probably most important, the faculty here is very supportive and will help you in your studies, and you will get a damn good education if you go to class and do your work (maybe even if you don't all the time). I have very few complaints about any of the professors here. However, since it's such a small institution, the options for classes are very limited, and you're likely to get stuck with a couple that you probably aren't too excited about.

The student body here is a real mixed bag. You could describe the situation as "diverse," but that implies that the students interact between groups, something which rarely occurs. The sports players rarely hang out with anybody but people who are on their team (bad news for anyone who's attending for academic purposes). Also, as "Yankee" as it may seem, I'm shocked by the unspoken status of racial segregation that occur amongst the students; for the most part, you will not see groups of black students comingling with groups of white students. . . But hey, it's the deep south. The school is very clique-ish, so you'll have to make friends whenever and however you can.

A couple of notes on the characteristics I attributed to the students here: I think afraid/violent go hand in hand; I've never seen so many guys talk so much shit over nothing, and it seems to me they wouldn't get so pissed off if they weren't insecure. Since a good majority of the 1st-year students here play sports, however, I suppose things are competitive. I also consider most of the students to be arrogant, because, once you meet them, most of them will start thinking of reasons they're better than you (insecurity again). Nowhere is this more obvious than the reviews on this site, where the majority of the responding students consider themselves to be "quite bright" or "super brilliant. . ." These people must be hiding somewhere very secret, because I have yet to meet anyone that fits that description. I described the students a being "broken-spirited" because most of the upperclassmen are either deluded about where they're going from here, or are depressingly resigned to staying here, regardless of superior alternatives.

Athletics, however, are pretty good. There are a number of different sports and all of them have decent coaching and are reasonably--sometimes impressively--competitive for a college of this size. And, on the plus side, the administration will bend over backwards to accomodate sports players in any sticky situations (academic or social).

The campus events are pretty lame, which is unfortunate because the town is absolute shit. Maybe 1 weekend a month, there will be something halfway decent on campus, but the rest of the time, it'll be a pretty standard routine. Bored during the week, drunk on the weekend. That's about it. Unless you're an alcoholic-then you'll just be drunk all the time, which admittedly makes it easier to stomach the stifling environment.Summarily, if you're involved in sports or equestrian stuff, there's a good chance you'll enjoy yourself at this school. The faculty IS good, and the school has a lot of good things to offer those in either program. Otherwise, I highly recommend something bigger and more well-known.

1st Year Male -- Class 2009

Faculty Accessibility: A, Surrounding City: F