Hi,

I have just accepted a studentship at St Andrews, however my girlfriend is coming with me and needs a job for a year before doing her PGCE. Jobs will be hard to come by in St Andrews as its small..

i was wondering how many people commute and over what distances they travel? There are obviously down sides but how bad are they?

I will be doing molecular work,and am unsure how much time i will spend in the lab?

Thanks

I'm originally from St Andrews and jobs are to be had depending on what your girlfriend wants...the University is a big employer. Dundee is also only 30min from StAndrews and is much bigger. As I'm studying in London, I can't live close to the lab so have a 40min commute each day although in London it's normal to commute. Commuting can give you a chance to catch up on reading etc but it can feel like wasted time. St Andrews is 1hr from Edinburgh so could you live halfway between there and St Andrews? You'd probably need a car then though as public transport is a bit rubbish.

Thanks, i was thinking about Dundee seems like the best option regarding jobs, but im just not sure what Dundee is like? i have heard mixed things.

I commute 23 miles by train to central London every day, a round trip of 46 miles taking approx 3 hours (Don't we all LOVE the rail network!) It is tough sometimes, standing in the p**sing rain while another train gets cancelled. But not impossible. Depends what you want: convenience or somewhere affordable to live in my case!

Will you be doing molecular biology or some such? If so you may have (very) long hours in the lab - and they may also be irregular depending on the systems (especially biological systems eg bacterial cultures or cell lines). You might want to think about that aspect of your project because those would be a nightmare with a long commute to factor in.

Really depends on what type of work you are doing - the main thing is that it can be long (antisocial hours sometimes)

The easier it is for you to get to work the better - but in most labs working hours are flexible - its not really a 9-5 job so you could either start early or finish late or both

As smilodon says if you are working on cultures (cell or bacterial) they require weekend and evening visits and being able to get in at any time saves you ruining experiments just so you can work it round monday to Friday.
St andrew will always be held in higher regard - but there is some good research going on in Dundee too

Hi

I'm originally from Dundee. It's not that bad. *grin* If your girlfriend is planning on doing a PGCE, there are plenty of schools in Dundee and she could do worse than seek out a teaching assistant post. The uni in Dundee is also big, as it will be in St Andrews. There are also a few schools around St Andrews and elsewhere in Fife. I don't think commuting to Edinburgh is your best option if you're both going to be students.

Dundee to St Andrews is quick if you have a car. If you have to get the bus, it might be a bit of a nuisance. There are options, anyway. Be aware, though, that salaries aren't all that high in the North-East of Scotland. It would be good if your girlfriend could get a job at the university. Other than that, she could look at some of the other smaller towns in Fife for an office job, I guess. Best of luck. St Andrew's is a nice place to go to study.