An Ancient Uni with a Laid-Back Personality: What is the University of Aberdeen Like?
- Originally published
- Last updated on October 23rd, 2023 at 02:42 pm
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The University of Aberdeen is somewhat of an enigma as a uni. What is the University of Aberdeen like?
When we looked up “Is Aberdeen safe?” we found big “yes!” answers and emphatic “no!” answers.
When we looked into rankings and prestige? You guessed it? The same. Though it was founded in 1495 and is designated an ancient university, its rankings trail other schools with a centuries-long history.
And of course, when we asked about student accommodation the same mixed reviews made us wonder, is there any middle ground at Aberdeen? What is the University of Aberdeen actually like?
So we talked to students to get the inside scoop, asking specifically about all the things that were confusing to us online, so you can make a better decision about the “real” experience of being a student in this charming, seaside city that’s a quiet alternative to Edinburgh or Glasgow. Aberdeen is one of the best universities in the world for students who can appreciate its charms and strengths.
Is that you?
Let’s take a look at our online university guide for the University of Aberdeen.
Aberdeen Basics
Degrees: MA, BSc, MSci, BEng, MEng, MChem, BA, ISS, DipHE, BDS, BD, Bus, LLB, MBChB, Bth
Majors: In total, there are 409 undergraduate offerings here, but many represent joint major programs (for example, anthropology as a single subject, along with anthropology plus another subject account for 19 total undergraduate degrees, when really, it’s just one department and some “double majors” are available). Aberdeen’s notable majors reflect its unique position in Scotland and the UK: energy and petroleum engineering, marine and fisheries science, and history and Scottish/Celtic Studies stand out.
Location: Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Scotland
Cost for out-of-EU: £20,800 for social sciences and humanities fields, £24,800 in biomedical sciences, engineering, computer science, lab sciences, and math. Medicine tuition fees are £50,100.
On-campus housing cost: From £99 per week (£3,663 per school year) in a single, self-catered room with a shared bathroom to £168 per week (£6,216 per year) for a self-catered single with an en suite bathroom. You can pay a pound less per week for meals instead of a bathroom, but you won’t get both. All but one dorm at Aberdeen are self-catered.
FAFSA Funds: Yes
Abroad from abroad: Yes, you can study abroad for a summer or winter break, a semester, or a full academic year. There’s even a chance to take a year-long research trip, working with a university, field site, museum, or archive. Country limits by field of study apply. For example, you’ll only get the chance to study in Singapore as a real estate or engineering student, so if you have your heart, or your field of study, set on something, look at partnerships ahead of time.
Student body: 14,000 with 4,200 international students from 130 countries.
Five adjectives: Compact, Traditional, Chill, Supportive, Reputable
The City of Aberdeen
When the sun peeks out, its many buildings of ancient grey granite glisten, giving the city its nickname, “Silver City.” That doesn’t happen often. Northeast Scotland is known for its dreary, cold days. The beach here doesn’t welcome many sunbathers, and the water temperature here doesn’t top 60 degrees even in the middle of July.
While it’s not known for its balmy beach culture, Aberdeen is known for its people’s perpetual silver lining approach to life: Aberdonians are known as friendly, optimistic, and outgoing. Add the city’s affordable cost compared to many other large UK cities, and you’ll find Aberdeen one of the most livable college “towns” in Scotland. In Aberdeen, students spend about 22% less on housing than they will in Edinburgh.
What Aberdeen students lose is the proximity to other large cities and the rest of the UK. They’re 120 miles north of Edinburgh, and getting to transportation hubs can take a lot more work than students in larger, more southern cities. They’ll also get a more laid-back life in a town about a third the size of Edinburgh on the stunning Angus coast. Bigger than a town, but still cozy, Aberdeen is the kind of place where clubs shut down at midnight, but students can typically find the basics.
There’s free bus service for anyone under age 22, so that’s convenient. But you don’t really need to travel far or use the bus or a vehicle to get around just fine in Aberdeen.
Safety in Aberdeen
Scotland’s third city, with a population of over 200,000 people, has alternatively been called “very safe” and “one of Scotland’s most dangerous cities,” ranking #5 unsafest overall in Scotland in 2023. The good news? Aberdeen’s violent crime has declined 6% over the last year, and with a total of 6 murders, 98 rapes and attempted rapes, and 114 robberies, it ranks among “average cities” its size in the US for its murder rate. Students say they feel safe on campus and in popular shopping areas in the central city.
Campus resources include a security team on duty 24/7, CCTV coverage, an app to both report incidents and call for help anytime, a program allowing students to leave their student IDs with a taxi driver and get home safely a pinch, and campus-based victim support services. Nevertheless, a recent poll found that 90% of women feel unsafe out in Aberdeen.
LGBTQIA+ and Student Life in Aberdeen
Looking for a safe spot to check out Aberdeen’s LGBTQIA+ scene? The local community center boasts a café with board games and internet. And students say that while there are gay clubs in this mid-size city, like upbeat Cheerz, they also feel welcome at all the best-known pubs and clubs.
Make sure you do things like having a whisky tasting, visiting the nearby Cairngorms National Park, taking a train to the highlands, going to some of the isles. There’s so much to do that’s more authentically Scottish in and around Aberdeen.
No one is safe from Aberdeen’s predatory seagulls, unfortunately. Like petty criminals, they seem to socialize in large, intimidating gangs, and they will snatch up your lunch if you dare try to catch a meal in a park before class.
The best way to deal with them?
Embrace your new seaside home. Hide your fries, but don’t be shy about venturing just north of campus to check out the coastline. In particular, try to go explore the adorable fishing village of Footdee. If you’ve remembered to rent a low-cost bike for the semester from beCyCle, you’ll only be 15 minutes away. There are also tons of food trucks down by the beach. But again, try to enjoy your picnic there and it’ll be you against the seagulls (you’ll lose).
There’s plenty to do in Aberdeen. You’ll find study-friendly cafés like Foodstory and Kilau for vegan nosh and to-go lunches. When shopping on Union Street chills you to the bone, hit Union Square, a gorgeous indoor shopping center adjacent to the city’s train station. Or catch a Flixbus deal and head to Glasgow or Edinburgh. The variable-price tickets fluctuate with demand, so you can often find a deal under £10 for the trip.
The University of Aberdeen Campus
In 1495, Aberdeen became the third university in Scotland. As one of the four ancients, students can expect some historical charm. Most of the historical vibe is on the Old Aberdeen campus, a 30-minute walk north of the city center. But you’ll also find modern monuments here, too. The Sir Duncan Rice Library is one of the best. It’s your 3:00 a.m. go-to, with inner cinnamon-roll levels full of the one million volumes you’ll get in order to write your next perfect paper. There’s the pay-to-play Aberdeen Sports Village, so you can keep up your 10K times between classes.
There’s also the westside Foresterhill campus, next to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, where you’ll find medical and dental resources, including the medical library. This gives the medical campus, near a hospital, some distance from the buzz of other student activity.
Students back at Old Aberdeen enjoy a quintessential “campus” university that will feel familiar to Americans. It’s made for students who want everything within walking distance, although a direct bus line to the center city from the Student Village will whisk you to town for food and shopping. It’s a selling point for many students who say they are happy they can get around with the power of their feet.
Student Accommodation
The student village where you’ll find most university accommodation is tucked away in a crook of the River Don, down a long, green park path from the heart of the University of Aberdeen campus. It’s less convenient for medical students: the Foresterhill campus is a 50-minute walk away, though a 20-minute shuttle can get you there on weekdays.
The student accommodation village is separated from the main campus by a stunning park. The small housing development includes multiple dorms all next to one another, with student services like the laundromat nearby, so students are never far away from their classmates in another dorm. There’s not a lot of variation in price and quality in Aberdeen housing, which is refreshing, as dorms here have less of a reputation than those at the University of Edinburgh, as homes for upper-class “posh” students or not.
Hillhead Student Village boasts a student bar where with cozy eating and hang-out spaces and is a freshman hub.
However, it’s off the beaten track and across the notoriously dark Seaton Park at night. On the bright side, there are many types of rooms from which to choose and you’re never far from the action, including from the student store or communal kitchens. Student events happen at Hillhead, so it frequently hosts students from other nearby accommodations. In other words: it’s where you’ll meet people and make friends.
Looking for a quieter first year? Each year, one dorm has dedicated alcohol-free and quiet blocks by request.
Most students say they prefer self-catering since they can cook with flatmates (dorms are grouped into rooms with a shared kitchen) and because they can hit the food court whenever they like, where there are inviting student spaces and plenty of meal choices.
UoA provides students with accommodation their first year, so there’s no need to worry you’ll have to scramble for your own place.
Private Accommodation Alternatives
Private student housing is sprinkled throughout the area, sometimes closer to classrooms than student housing. Rooms are similar to dorms, with lockable single rooms grouped in “flats” with a communal kitchen and living area. Like university housing, private student housing takes care of student utilities and WiFi, as well as security.
It’s a popular choice in the UK that has little American equivalent. Even in U.S. student apartments, you’ll find a more adult lifestyle: students apply with their credit histories or parents co-sign, students pay utilities, hook up their WiFi or cable, and follow the same move-out procedures as regular apartment-dwellers. But here you’ll also find something more equivalent to dorms: students can apply and get placed with unknown roommates in “flats” which are large apartments with a common kitchen and living room, already furnished.
There’s also a thriving private rental market in town. Yet it feels like privately managed student housing is more popular here than in other Scottish universities. Students told us the companies are easy to find and use, close to campus, and can offer a simple, affordable housing option for all four years.
Clubs and Activities at Aberdeen University for International Students
With 100 clubs and societies, Aberdeen holds its own with larger universities in offering a broad range of opportunities for students to get out and meet each other, try new things, and thrive. Boxing? Polo? Filmmaking? Give it a try.
The resources are plentiful. Aberdeen is not an overwhelmingly large school but the staff are passionate about helping students with everything they need. One thing I really think is valuable is the Nightline you can call for any reason. You can just have someone on the phone with you while walking through the park. It makes you feel like someone has your back.
You won’t find an American student society, but the campus international center hosts both language groups and events for International students. Meanwhile, strong offerings in student support get high ratings from students, who almost all felt that Aberdeen was a supportive partner in their educations, from accessing disability services to supporting their mental health alongside academic achievement.
Sports Clubs at Aberdeen
What about sports clubs? At Aberdeen, the university offers a wide range of sports clubs so students can try their hand. Students have access to professional training facilities at the Students Sports Village. It’s there to support students at the club level all the way up to the Commonwealth Games, where some students show off their talents.
Of course, you don’t have to be an international competitor to take advantage of 50+ sports clubs. Try quintessentially Scottish shinty if you’ve ever enjoyed American field hockey. Join the climbing club and enjoy use of a university-run bothy (a responsible-use stone mountain cabin traditional to the highlands) to explore Lock Muick.
Though Scotland’s slopes won’t wow West Coast and Rocky Mountain Americans, the ski and snowboard club at Aberdeen sees more snow than comparable clubs in the UK, so bring your boots and get your turns in. If your friends have a car, Glenshee Ski Resort is just 65 miles away.
Study at the University of Aberdeen
Ranking the University of Aberdeen
Outsiders find the University of Aberdeen academically confusing. For one, it’s an ancient university, but doesn’t rank as highly as the others, which seem to have a monopoly on prestige. Rated #192 globally by the Times, Aberdeen ranks behind non-ancients like the University of Bristol, founded almost 400 years later.
It’s not even part of the Russell Group, the UK university classification that distinguishes universities by research, with most of the top universities making the cut. That means Aberdeen doesn’t carry the academic caché of comparable ancients.
Yet Aberdeen is the fifth oldest university in the English-speaking world. That naturally means that its academic legacy is strong and that students can expect a reputable education, albeit with a less competitive vibe to other unis.
One thing to note is that Aberdeen students ranks sky-high for student satisfaction — tenth in the UK (2nd among Scottish, Welsh, and Northern Irish universities). So their approach is popular with students who find a lot to appreciate about the style of teaching here.
First and second years are relaxed. That’s because the University of Aberdeen is a four-year program. I learned to cook for myself. I figured things out what was wanted of me. I joined societies. I found it was good for me to have those first years be less academically focused.
Teaching and Learning at Aberdeen
Students say Aberdeen does a good job of walking the line between outstanding teaching and research — and managing to feel both ancient and modern. Most students say they are very satisfied with the quality of their programs because they get outstanding personal attention rather than getting the brush-off from professors that are too busy to engage with lowly undergrads.
As a first year, my tutorials are held with lecturers, not students, and that’s been an advantage compared to other universities. I’ve been able to ask questions of experts and get personal guidance.
Like St. Andrews, diminutive Aberdeen can be difficult to pin down as an academic powerhouse because its small student body and limited offerings mean there are fewer standout faculty contributing to its research glory. There’s no doubt Aberdeen stands out in petroleum industry fields. And US News ranks it in the world’s top 150 for ecology and microbiology. However, it lags in top-cited research, number of publications, and global research reputation. For would-be star researchers, you’ll have to consider whether you want to be taught by the best from the very beginning versus benefiting from their reputations later in your undergraduate career.
Ultimately, UoA boasts highly engaged students. They say their coursework is challenging and worthwhile. But they also say that they have found a place to belong, not just a place to win the rat race.
How to Apply to this UK University
As of 2023, “test-optional” admissions still apply to inbound students from the USA. But should you want to submit scores, or apply later on, the university looks for an SAT of 1250 (essay optional) or an ACT of 26.
Basic requirements include a high school GPA of 3.0 and three AP test scores of 3 or above.
Future scientists and engineers should have one of these AP scores in a relevant subject like calculus, biology, chemistry, or physics. Law students will need three AP scores of 4 or above.
Future doctors will have more stringent entry requirements: they’ll need to submit a 3.5 GPA, SAT I score over 700 in each section, plus three AP test scores of 5, 5, and 4, including chemistry, plus either biology, physics, or mathematics. All applicants must also submit a UCAT (University Clinical Aptitude Test) score. It’s computer-based.
Apply on the UCAS website or the American Common App. Make your decision based on whether most of your other choices are in North America or the UK. You’ll also submit a personal statement and an academic reference letter.
Learn More from University of Aberdeen Reviews
Are you a student? Review Aberdeen and let new students know what you wish you knew before attending. Tell them what it’s really like at the third oldest university in Scotland, what it’s like living in an oil and gas capital in times of alternative fuel, what the student union is like — you get the picture.
And if you’re not sure how you’re going to choose a Scottish university, look into the differences between Scotland and the UK. Then investigate the cheapest universities in Scotland to make sure you’re not overspending.
What’s Aberdeen really like? It’s an outdoor hub for students who want an ancient university like St. Andrews, with a larger, more vibrant nightlife, and without the cost and hubbub of Edinburgh or Glasgow. That in-between-ness likely suits a lot of students! The city and university are large enough to find your niche, but small enough to feel you belong to something special. With all Aberdeen offers, it’s easy to choose the university and put it on your shortlist.
Still looking for the perfect fit? Check out the University of St. Andrews for an ancient with even more tradition and make sure you understand the basics about what it’s like attending college in Scotland.
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Jessica Share
Jessica is the writer, Ph.D., and mom-of-an-abroad-student-in-the-UK at the helm of College Abroad Guides. When she's not asking college students where the coolest place to hang out in their city is, she's figuring out how she can make $60 imported Greek oregano potato chips and £50 British bacon potato chips appear on her doorstep for the cost of a local bag of Lay's.
