Urban Cozy: What is Queen Margaret University Like?

One of the smallest (at just over 6,000 students) universities in Scotland with high student satisfaction and happiness scores, Queen Margaret can get overlooked. It doesn’t have the name recognition of the University of Edinburgh, for example. There aren’t world-class Olympic-training sports facilities, either (like the University of Stirling). But Queen Margaret does have something other universities don’t: a unique small-town and small-school vibe on the doorstep of Scotland’s gorgeous capital city. So what is Queen Margaret University like?

We dug into forums and YouTubes, slid into Instagram DMs of students, and gathered interviews and student quotes to tell you what it’s like to be an undergrad here, particularly if you’re new to Scotland.

Queen Margaret University is the cheapest university in Scotland (so that’s awesome). But it’s not the only one. Find the best universities in Scotland for international students and explore more school guides from the University of Dundee to the University of St. Andrews.

Queen Margaret University Basics

Degrees: BA, BA (Hons), BSc, HEDip, and integrated master’s degrees alongside these undergraduate degree options

Majors: 39 total undergraduate degrees, some with significant overlap, like Business Administration with and without a graduate apprenticeship, with digital marketing, or combined with related topics like analytics, finance, or human resources management. In addition to the loads of business degrees, you’ll find tons of health-related specialties as well. Career-minded students at QMU can focus on paramedic science, radiography, sports rehabilitation, nursing, and nutrition. Arts-focused students can concentrate on theatre and film, film and media, performance, or drama. Though the specialties are few (and quite unrelated — Queen Margaret is neither a business school, nor a health sciences school, nor a theater school), QMU brings depth and multiple perspectives to each of its three primary focus areas. The university is divided into 4 primary areas: business; media, communications, and performance; psychology, sociology, and education; and multiple divisions within the school of health sciences.

Location: Musselburgh, about 5 miles east of the city of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Scotland

Cost for out-of-EU: £8,000 for acting and performance, business management, education studies, events management, food science, nutrition, and communication. Medical specialties with a science component, like paramedic science, physiotherapy, podiatry, and speech and language pathology are £15,500 annually.

On-campus housing cost: £5,054 for standard rooms and £6080 for premium for a 38-week contract. All rooms come with en suite shower and toilet — premium rooms include a double bed.

FAFSA Funds: Yes

Abroad from abroad: Yes, exchange semesters and study-abroad with partner universities, including numerous Erasmus universities in Europe, and partners around the world. Programs are limited by major, language of instruction, and opportunities for study at the partner university and the field is slim, so look before applying if you have your heart set on a particular destination.

Student body: 6,500 students (80% female), with 25% coming from 80 countries around the world.

Five adjectives: Supportive, tight-knit, vocational, new, connected

What is Queen Margaret University like in Musselburgh?

Musselburgh is an expanse of endless green that’s well-connected to the center of Edinburgh while feeling miles away. Students looking for the city life won’t find it here, but for those who want the convenience of a 7-minute train ride (just one stop away) with the luxury of uninterrupted sleep on weekend nights will appreciate this close-in suburban campus. Students wanting to live in Edinburgh have a few bus routes to choose, and buses go right onto campus. However, the bus system can be much more frustrating than the train, as it can take up to an hour for city-lovers to get to campus if they choose to live in the heart of Scotland’s capital or further afield from the train station.

Musselburgh is much more relaxed and affordable compared to Edinburgh. There’s no competition or judgment here. Students can be themselves because it’s such a small, inclusive community.

So, while some students are incredibly close to the city, Edinburgh fades into the background from the sleepy hamlet of Musselburgh, where QMU is located. Musselburgh is an outpost on the Firth of Forth whose shoreline is coated in, you guessed it, mollusk shells. Romans invaded here in the 1st century, and history buffs can still stroll over the Roman Bridge on the River Esk while soaking up the historic atmosphere. For instance, the city’s church is built on a hill that was once a Roman fort. Recent excavations demonstrated that after Roman occupation, a medieval town center emerged at the south end of the High Street.

Today, it’s still going strong. The bustling commercial center of Musselburgh befits this town of 21,000, with a few main thoroughfares to find coffee, pubs, pizza, and kabobs.

My biggest complaint about Musselburgh is that it isn’t Edinburgh. If you come here thinking you’ll be in a city center, you won’t enjoy the QMU campus. On the bright side, if you’re in Musselburgh, you’ll definitely run into someone you know. This isn’t a place where you can get lost in the crowd.

Near campus, there’s a Musselburgh Museum, beaches and fields, and a quaintness that you won’t feel in Edinburgh. Some students told us they specifically chose QMU because it had access to both worlds: large and small, quaint and urban. 

Edinburgh Life

Nearby Edinburgh is home to Edinburgh-Napier University, the University of Edinburgh, and  Edinburgh College, and Heriot-Watt University. Because of the large student population, there are many options (albeit the market is tight) for accommodation in the city, including private flats made for students, with furniture included and shared common spaces with roommates. That means that city-minded students can conduct their studies from Edinburgh for their entire course if they like.

Unfortunately, they’ll miss out on some of the best that Edinburgh has to offer. For example, Edinburgh’s many world-class festivals happen in summer, when international students are likely back at home. New Year’s Eve, of Hogmanay, is a uniquely Scottish party that also falls smack in the middle of a student break. The Edinburgh Fringe, a gargantuan arts and performance festival, takes over town in August. And sadly, for film and performance students from Queen Margaret, the Edinburgh International Film Festival should be a world-class draw, but takes place during the last weeks of August just before students are on campus.

However, Scotland’s capital is not just a big and convenient neighbor where students go for clubbing and shopping. It’s also one of the best cities in Europe to visit, one of the most beautiful cities on earth, and one of the best cities for quality of life on earth (they must not be talking about the weather).

What is Queen Margaret University like for Campus Life?

Queen Margaret has come a long way since it was founded as a cookery school in 1875, dedicated to improving prospects for the largely impoverished working-class women of Victorian Edinburgh. 

In fact, back then, the university had no permanent campus at all. Lecturers wandered from auditorium to auditorium all over the country, demonstrating the art of healthy meal-making wherever it was needed.

Times have certainly changed. Today, Queen Margaret is a new university with a shiny new campus. The campus was officially opened when Queen Margaret’s facilities were moved to Musselburgh in 2008 after multiple consolidations over the years with other small institutions in Edinburgh (which accounts for QMU’s eclectic degree offerings). Billed as an “academic village,” the campus features high-tech over historical buildings. They’re light, bright, and efficient. The campus’ flat expanse of green boasts some of the best facilities in Scotland, all glistening with cutting-edge technology mixed with outdoor sports fields, the learning resource center, accommodation, and green spaces.

There’s one thing that’s stayed the same: the university stays true to its original mission, focused on improving lives by making everything it does student-centered, including the campus facilities.

The Scottish Center for Food Tasting is outstanding. All the facilities are brand new and that elevates the level of many of the programs. Though the university is new so it’s hard to compare student outcomes, but it means the facilities are phenomenal.

Eats and Hangouts on Campus

Campus is pretty straightforward: there’s student accommodation, and the main academic lecture and department building, and the student union and sports center. In the student union, you’ll find Maggie’s Bar and Café, where students can hang out without venturing more than 500 steps from their rooms. Watch the World Rugby Cup or ante up for a karaoke contest. It’s cheaper than in Edinburgh, where many students congregate when they’re sick of student offerings on campus. However, if you’re looking for great student theater, you won’t have to go quite so far. Check out the Cobweb Theater Company, which supports truly stellar student productions.

In 1875 in the learning resource center, you can get truly cheap eats. There’s fruit, salad, yogurt, fresh-made deli sandwiches, and hot food ready-made to fuel afternoon classes. The selection is outstanding for a university this size.

Accommodation

Accommodation, like the rest of campus, is sparkly and new. Rooms are large and overflowing with storage, and students pick from two similar choices, both underpriced for what they offer compared to other Scottish schools. Splurge on a premium room and get even more storage, along with a double bed. There’s even a reslife team that runs events, day trips, and movie nights, a support that not all UK universities take to heart. 

QMU also has a helpful and all-inclusive residential life office for problems in halls. While you’d think that’s barely worth mentioning, it’s not. A central place outside of a reception desk for basic accommodation needs is rare, helpful, and makes the student experience at QMU delightfully frustration-free. Have a problem? Get it solved at an office that’s 100 steps from your room, and where staff actually answer your questions. Students told us this was the norm, and we rarely hear that. In the UK, residential assistants and on-site accommodation help aren’t the norm. Having a helpful office where students can swing by (rather than scan a QR code and wait…and wait…) earns QMU massive accommodation points.

There are only two types of rooms, and the standard rooms are not that much smaller. Both types are small, but the large bed in premium rooms is really special. You can pay all at once or monthly, which was also helpful as that was most helpful to me.

In short: you won’t find wacky or unique accommodations at QMU. What you will find is a uniquely outstanding student experience in halls. 

Academics at QMU

Rankings and Stand-Out Programs

Queen Margaret is respected in its niches. For instance, the Guardian ranks it #1 in Scotland for drama and the undergraduate acting degree comes with an unheard-of 100% student satisfaction rate. But overall, the university lands in the middle of the global pack. That may make it an ideal university for students looking to excel in a field like acting, or those who are happier without the pressure cooker vibes of higher-ranked universities.

Leadership and Support

In a small community, students find academic leadership is a core strength of career-focused QMU. Students can make change, lead societies, and shape the direction of their own experience over the course of their degrees. There are plenty of clubs and the student-led student union can help you start your own if you don’t find the society of your dreams. 

You’ll also get assigned a “PAT,” a personal academic tutor who acts as an academic advisor. This point of contact can help explain expectations, guide you through course selection, and make sure your schedule is on track. It’s a system that’s common in UK universities, but in smaller universities, the experience can be especially helpful as students here say that it’s impossible to get lost in the crowd. They always feel supported by their tutors and heard when they seek help on campus. There’s an international services team to help with the speed bumps of landing in a new country, too.

You’re not an anonymous student here. Your tutor knows you. You see people you know whenever you go out in town and everywhere on campus. That feels extremely supportive.

Student Services and Post-Graduate Employment

Student services include wellbeing and counseling to add another dimension to academic tutoring and international support services, for wraparound support that the university touts and that students say is outstanding, though ultimately, job placement rankings vary. The university touts a 2017 rate of 98.2% employment within 6 months while a local publisher, The Independent, claims a post-graduate employment rate of 69.4%.

We have great faculty who really care about the subject and their students, and are very knowledgable. They’ve got a lot of experience in their fields and they’re also very accessible to students. They have really helped make connections for me to work in the field because it’s such a small and nurturing community.

Queen Margaret University’s “person-centered” academics and student support are a unique part of its program — while other universities have all these services, the way in which Queen Margaret folds them into its core values and mission is unique, and students’ complete lack of calling them out for student-support lip service is also unique. Instead, students find the approach sincere and inclusive.

Business & Local Engagement at QMU

Queen Margaret’s other claim to fame is its vocational focus. Students come here with questions about job placement and a real desire to be working (typically in health sciences or education) at the end of their course. The joint undergraduate and master’s degrees in medical specialties are a related draw. 

Local entrepreneurs (including students) can seek help from business college experts in one-on-one sessions that further connect the campus and its community. The Business Gateway can give advice on websites, marketing, branding, and other ways to launch your project. The boost may be helping with the level of unemployment in Scotland — currently near a record low — which makes for a vibrant college culture of innovation and partnership across research and private business. Expect the excitement and success to last: the university has plans for an innovation park to bring more business services to the university community.

Sports and Societies

As is par for the course at QMU, the Sports Center is brand-new and state-of-the-art. Membership isn’t free (as is the norm in the UK), but for a student-friendly price, you can become a member and find an endless lineup of classes, from group running sessions to yoga. The floodlit, all-weather outdoor pitch is particularly cool. Want to compete? Basketball is standout, and Queen Margaret supports multiple competitive and recreational sports societies, from badminton to basketball, cheerleading, dance, soccer, Gaelic football, women’s hockey, rugby, and volleyball. Want a new sport? You’ll need to find 9 friends (plus you) and dig into the resources that QMU will provide your new endeavor.

Society life is similar. QMU offers 39 recreational sports and societies. That’s meager compared to other Scottish universities, but so is the student population at QMU. You’re likely to find societies related to your course of study here, since so many students find common interests in the few course topics offered. But if you’re looking for niche pursuits and unique friends, you’ll find a small pool.

Identities, Acceptance, and Inclusion at QMU

LGBTQIA+ life is similarly small. Edinburgh, after all, just opened its first lesbian bar in 2021. While there’s a society for LGBTQIA+ students, there’s scant information on how welcoming the campus is. One gay student told us he felt complete acceptance here, as might be expected from a large, western city in a progressive country.

I don’t feel like I think about being gay much here, which is strange to me, but refreshing. It speaks to how open the campus community is. I haven’t had any problems being out and gay here.

However, the quiet sleepiness that pervades Musselburgh extends to smaller factions of the campus community and can make student societies that serve students feel insular.

Other identity societies suffer from quiet socials, too. A woman who identifies as neurodiverse says, “support at QMU for all types of people is high. But that can feel like lip service or tokenism because there aren’t subcultures of people that can help you navigate services and provide friendship.” 

Overall, if you don’t need support, or seek community, QMU provides an inclusive atmosphere where you can thrive. But if you crave a bigger community, this small school may not be able to offer it.

Apply

Apply via the UK undergraduate portal, UCAS, before January 25. You’ll need one of the following:

• An SAT I combined score of 1200+
• SAT II individual scores of 600+
• 2 AP tests of 3 or higher
• ACT score of 26+
• IB score of 26+

As part of the UCAS application process, you’ll also submit a letter of recommendation, high school transcripts, and a personal essay. Applications are processed holistically; not all qualifying students will get a spot. Nursing students should also expect coursework requirements in math and science, plus an interview for 4-year integrated master’s programs.

Want More? Go to the 2023 Student Reviews and Rankings for International Students

So what is Queen Margaret University like? It’s a small and inclusive campus community for students who want to live on the edge of a cultural juggernaut, but not in it. Students here relish their laid-back campus, its new and mod look, and the personalized attention they get from professors. Review Queen Margaret here and check out its scores for international students.

That may not be your dream school. Check out other Scottish universities, review your own, and scroll some Scottish school stats that can help you find the perfect place for you. And don’t forget to check out longer guides for Edinburgh schools like the University of Edinburgh to compare your top picks.