My alma mater is in the news again and once more I will climb atop my pedestal to do what I set out to accomplish through this blog, that is, try to represent the student's point of view.

As a graduate let me talk about how St Andrews University is being 'demonised for failing to widen access' and why, for the sake of students' mental wellbeing, we should not lower entry requirements to inflate the number of students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Has anyone who argues for the lowering of university entrance requirements thought about how the student with grades below par will cope in the lecture theatre or the exam hall? You might well think that allowing exceptions to the rule will help poorer students, give them a helping hand up the socio-economic ladder.

You might also be sending them like lambs to the slaughter.

Going into university and particularly into the exam hall is like marching into war. You need the best possible equipment to come out safely at the other end. Sending someone there who has the basic equipment but who doesn't know how to work it is not fair and with fewer than 3 As at Higher level I doubt you'll be able to keep afloat in St Andrews.

I cried through first year studying English and French. I went from being at the top of my English class at school to the very bottom of the 150 or more students studying olde English and The Waste Land. My knowledge of the written past historic tense in French was abysmal and listening to all lectures and classes being taught solely in French was a novelty. It took me four years to turn the marks around.

The funny thing is I was at St Andrews because I got 5 As; I suppose I should have been able to cope confidently with the next step in higher education.

I huddled together with a couple of people I knew from school and we all worried about what we were missing that would help us understand what was expected of us, what had our teachers kept from us? Did we blame the university for the standard it asked of students every year who came from a wide variety of different curriculums? No, we looked behind us and blamed our school for not preparing us properly.

I suggest commentators on education issues also look behind university and discover what goes wrong with students from poorer backgrounds way before they sit the exams that will determine their path in life.

Of course, I think St Andrews should be a university open to all and not a playground for the tweed-clad offspring of the upper crust. I've been there, done that when it comes to being the only Scot in a St Andrews tutorial, the only person who doesn't  go on ski holidays or that student with an accent that betrays my roots when everyone else speaks with the one true voice of the southern counties.

But I do not think we should address the balance of an overly affluent student body through grade deflation.

Politics aside, there are practical reasons why students from disadvantaged backgrounds do not go to St Andrews. Student rent is ridiculously high for example, it ranks in the top three most expensive university towns to live in. Neither does it offer itself well to commuting, it is after all, in a tiny corner of Fife.

Why not make sure the students who need grants for accommodation get the money they need? Hassle St Andrews for this if nothing else.

The first few months, if not the entire first year, at St Andrews involves getting used to living away from home, meeting people from all over the world who all have unique experiences, realising that a tux or ball gown are essential attire for the many balls that prop up the social calendar and coming to terms with what is expected of you intellectually.

If you add to all of this the weight of knowing you are there as an exception and not the norm, with less academic prowess than your roommate, then it could be a recipe for dropping out, deep unhappiness, or worse.

I know people who left because they couldn't hack St Andrews and I know people who went to extreme lengths to deal with depression brought on by heavy loads of coursework and complicated personal situations.

Before anyone throws another stone at St Andrews calling it an enforcer of the social class divide, and asking it to lower entrance requirements for students from disadvantaged backgrounds, please consider how those students from poorer backgrounds are going to cope. They will be the ones answering the questions in the exams. 

Is St Andrews University still an ivory tower?