Coming from North America?

St Mary's College is steeped in history lying, as it does, close to an ancient site of Christian worship and pilgrimage. In more tumultous times martyrs (both Roman Catholic and Protestant) embraced death with faith in their Lord not far from the entrance to the College Quad. Buildings dating from the 16th century remain in use on a daily basis for classes and study spaces.

To come to St Andrews is to tread the same streets as famous forebears and to study the content, history and immediate contemporary relevance of the Christian faith through intelligent inquiry.

Coming from the North American continent you will find that we have ways of approaching undergraduate education than might differ from that with which are familiar.

Teaching Styles

In your first two years you will have three or four hours of lectures every week for each of your three classes. You will also have a weekly small group tutorial in which you will be expected to discuss materials set in advance by the class teacher. These tutorials give you the opportunity to air your own views, interact with others and discuss aspects of the lectures that you either haven't fully understood or that have prompted new questions for you.

Assessment

For each module (class) at subhonours (your first and second years) you will normally write one essay of approximately 2,500 words and then sit and examination lasting usually 2 hours. The examination will often involve writing three or four essays that will enable you to demonstrate that you have understood the class work and further reading. The short essays you write in examinations are designed to get you thinking often about how different parts of a module content relate to one another.

In your honours years (years three and four) you will normally write one essay of approximately 5, 000 words (although in some cases two shorter pieces of work will be set) and sit a 3 hour examination.

In writing essays you gain the valuable skills of communicating knowledge and understanding that are prized by employers who look for people who can write reports that not only present information but can also offer critical discussion of the important points. Our methods of assessment contribute directly to key transferable skills that you will later bring to the workplace.

These skills become particularly important when, in your fourth year, you write a 12,000 word dissertation on a topic of your choice (in agreement with an academic supervisor). You have one-on-one meetings with your supervisor who helps to steer you to scholarly materials and get you thinking deeply about your subject.

Format

'Classes' are known here as modules. But modules have classes (i.e. lectures and tutorials during each week). You don't take 'credit' - you take three modules in each semester of your first two years; that means six modules in first year and another six in second year. In your honours years (years three and four) you take only two modules in each semester - that means a total of four each year. This pattern means that you really get to grips with each subject and through additional reading outside of class you dig into the important aspects.

You will normally complete your honours degree in four years.

Like most British universities, St Andrews does not operate a G.P.A. system. In your first two years you normally need to gain scores of at least 11 out of 20 for each module in order to take its next stage module at honours level (years three and four). Honours degrees are classified into (in descending order): First Class, 2:1, 2:2 and Third Class. Students looking to go on to postgraduate study would generally need at least a 2:1 honours degree and often a First is required for entry, particularly to PhD programmes.

St Mary's College

In your honours classes you might have anything from three to 23 fellow-students (depending on the particular module). This means that with a Faculty of approximately 15 members of academic staff we get to know each other quite well over the years. This not only helps your learning but when the time comes for us to write references (perhaps for a prospective employer or other institution) we can talk about you. Your are not an anonymous cog in a machine but someone whom the academic staff have encouraged for four years.

As a public university, the School of Divinity has no denominational allegiances although most staff and many students are part of a Christian denomination. There are no expectations on students or staff to attend acts of Christian worship but the College Student Society organises non-denominational services and we have close links with the University's Chapel and Chaplains.

Language

All our classes are taught in English but there can be a few quirks that need explaining. Despite jokes to the contrary, the Scottish dialect that you might hear around the campus and in the city of St Andrews is not very different at all from standard English.

As is common in most British universities, the designation 'Professor' is reserved for senior members of the Faculty. Most academics are either Lecturers or Senior Lecturers. You may also come across some Readers - these are more senior than Senior Lecturers but less senior than Professors. Other than Professors, you would normally address a member of the academic staff as 'Dr'.