‘It’s like the Scottish Upper East Side’: shame and snobbery as American students blamed for St Andrews classism

Online comments reflect class tensions at Scottish university between those from lower-income families and wealthier US undergraduates

When Sophie Rose Jenkins announced she would not return to St Andrews University this academic year because of her experiences of classism on campus, she did not expect much of a response. But in the two weeks since she published her story on LinkedIn, it has resonated with hundreds of others.

“Working-class students have been made to feel ashamed of their home life at university,” the former comparative literature and classical studies student wrote in a lengthy post. “Arriving at a university ranked first in the UK at the time from a background like mine, I thought I was doing everything right.