University Open Days - views/insights/opinions etc.

LeapingOverTheWall I've got a disability and went to uni - I started looking just before easter in year 12, it can definitely be done. One thing I will say is if DD would need support at open day it's worth checking the set up in advance - I use a wheelchair and at one they did "prospective students go off here and parents go here" which is a nightmare when you need a wheelchair pusher. And another had students giving the tour, planned route had no access and we lost them.

Is anyone encouraging their DCs to go to a uni near home to save on accomodation costs? We live in central London. My DD hated the one college in London which does her course. She will only get the minimal maintenance grant which doesn't even cover the cost of accomodation if she moves away from home. Her course is 5 years and at least the first two could be spent in London. I know it is about the whole experience but the costs plus DD2 close behind will cause me some sleepless nights.

DD2 is struggling with the idea of having to make plans for the future, so is strongly resisting visiting uni towns this summer (she starts Y12 in September). On one hand I agree with her that it's pretty early to be starting to think about what she might do, but on the other hand, if she can weed out some places she doesn't want to go to, that will help in the which subject/course decisions.

Also it's going to be a lot harder for her anyway as she has a medical condition which will need support from the disability teams, so we need to speak to them at each possible place as well. If only she would agree that a gap year would be a good idea [sigh].

Echo positive comments about Nottingham. We went to see the Sutton Bonington campus earlier this year. What really came across was the strong emphasis on pastoral care.

DS is at Nottingham: campus is beautiful; the halls, generally, are good and he has had a very positive first year. Two DDs went to Exeter- excellent uni with the campus very close to town. Another DD went to Sussex- Brighton is a great place to study, though she did not get great value from her course/ personal tutor.

Thanks Horsemadmom that is incredibly nice of you!

Back from Nott'm. We were looking at Jubilee Campus which is very nice, small and compact.

Accommodation on Jubilee is fully catered. We also saw 2 self catering blocks about 5 mins walk from campus. Loads of uni accommodation off campus, between the main University Park campus and Jubilee. All rooms were a very good standard.

Great staff and students.

Message me HPparent. I might be able to help with arranging equine work experience.

Just back from Surrey particularly to look at the vet school. Lovely campus and fantastic sports ground.

Unfortunately DD found out today she has lost her equine work experience over the summer (3 weeks so a big gap) and her large animal vet work experience was cancelled with no explanation - she is gutted.

Just back from B'ham, which I loved! It's a beautiful campus with gorgeous buildings. It is my first one though, so I have nothing to compare it to. I could have quite happily signed up myself though

Lots of coffee/food places on campus. Students very well catered for imo.

We saw several rooms in The Vale Village. Some with shared facilities and some en suite. Fantastic location not far from the campus or the city centre. Very scenic overlooking the lake.

All the students we spoke to were very happy and enjoying their time there.

Off to Nottingham tomorrow!

Mine said he wasn't keen on the accommodation at M'cr because 'there were marks on the wall'

Think he's expecting 5* palatial!

DC4 is currently looking at Uni's and its going BADLY! DC1, DC2 and DC3 are all currently at Uni so you would think we would have got the hang of this by now . The problem is that each child is so, so different that our previous experiences aren't as useful as you might imagine.
Poor DC4 doesn't know what she wants to study and she is not too sure what her grades will be, this makes going to Uni Open Days seem a bit aimless. She looks like she is a borderline A/B student which isn't that helpful just yet as there is such a huge difference between Uni's that typically ask AAA and those that ask BBB. I think it might be best to wait until she gets her AS grades before going to too many open days.

My other DCs all knew what they wanted to do which made things a 100x easier. They could sign up for taster days, work experience and book targeted open days.

Chemenger it was a pre application open day.

I'm sure it's extremely difficult to handle the numbers interested, you have my sympathy.

Each department's sessions were repeated in the afternoon and the more centralised talks on finance, accommodation, etc ran repeatedly throughout the day, which meant we could build a day that suited us.
I also liked the fact we could "self guide" around areas like the library, some of the accommodation, and seek people out in open Q&A rather than sit through a more formal presentation if we chose. The added flexibility meant we could squeeze more in and have lunch when it was less busy too.

Need to let your child decide. As they will need to feel happy at uni to succeed. Daughter knew she hated Oxford brookes soon as she went to open day.She now at northumbria uni and felt at home straight away. She three hours from home by car ir train. Other daughter went to aber and has loved it. It was a toss between Bangor or aber.i said you came back really excited from aber even though you were car sick on the open day. She got the train most of time. That three hours by car. Just doable as a day trip. Son just start as level in sept he would like to go but will need a small campus not large uni. Depends going out type or not.

Petrasmumma, can I ask if that was a general university open day or a post-application visit? For our university open days we generally have several hundred potential students registered so what you describe would be challenging! Most people want to attend the talks on finance, applications, sports facilities, accommodation visits etc as well as seeing more than one subject area so fitting in the enhancements you describe would be difficult, it's hard enough to shoehorn in 40 minute tours! I do agree than giving the idea of a welcoming atmosphere is very important. Maybe we could run a parallel programme with the main open day for people who are committed to our subject and aren't as interested in the other parts of the day.

Chemenger The best open day we had last year was definitely a cut above the others. They went beyond "talks" into at mini taster sessions both in classrooms and labs, with hands-on activities as appropriate. They also hosted an informal refreshment session where we could chat with admissions staff and postgrads, and seemed genuinely warm towards the open day visitors. We must have spent 4 hours in that department alone and DD was sold. It was so much more than the talk, tour and (impersonal) tea I was expecting.

Most seemed to have parents with them and I appreciated the fact that the department and univ made us feel welcome as well.

From parental experience and as a 6th form tutor I would strongly suggest that you need to be aware of the smallest details when visiting/reading the literature.For example some will have small print regarding payments due before loan date for halls, distance from cheap shops, ease of travel to and from home etc. I have known past students who weren't aware prior to them starting about how much this affects their lives and a couple have left due to these types of issues even when the course was brilliant

From parental experience and as a 6th form tutor I would strongly suggest that you need to be aware of the smallest details when visiting/reading the literature.For example some will have small print regarding payments due before loan date for halls, distance from cheap shops, ease of travel to and from home etc. I have known past students who weren't aware prior to them starting about how much this affects their lives and a couple have left due to these types of issues even when the course was brilliant

I have no strong feelings about parents coming along, except that it makes the day much more difficult to manage in terms of numbers. Its easy to talk to a group of 10 people in a lab, when you double that for one parent each it is more difficult to physically fit them in and have them hear everything. I have found that even suggesting that only one parent per applicant comes on a lab tour, so that I can take more potential students, causes outrage.

Going back to when DS was looking around unis, the person looking after the group is SO important to the success of the visit. What we found useful was combining visits to four unis during Autumn half term, with a family week away. Although I know some people feel it isn't necessary, most prospective students seemed to have parents with them.

We are going to look at Chichester in Nov

I'm currently having battles with DS who will NOT read any of the literature that is sent.

He wants to go to uni but is very lazy and expects us to do all the arranging for him! Both DH & I are refusing to do the leg work and leaving it to him, but is is soooooo frustrating.

Thanks Haffdonga and hellsbells99, that's really useful. I think we assume that everybody reads all the bits of paper we give them so we should talk about something else, but I think that is not as true as it was in my day (early middle ages to today's students). I try very hard to deliver information rather than a sales pitch and I try to avoid comparisons with other universities because a) I don't know enough about them to be confident I am giving a true story and b) we have been subject to outrageous hatchet jobs from other universities in the past and I don't even want to give an appearance of doing down other places. For me the important thing is to get students who will be happy here as well as fill the course, and you only do that by giving them as much realistic information as we can. It isn't all about a sales pitch.

Hello chemenger
I've asked ds your question. He said he found most interesting the info about that areas the subject covered, where it's going and careers leading from it. He wanted details on things like how the course is structured in general e.g. if there is a year in industry, how it's managed. He also wanted to know stuff like what he would actually spend his time doing. e.g. amount of contact time, amount of lectures and seminars.

What neither of us found helpful was the sales job of the city/ university (we already know where manchester is on a map, thanks, and number of bars is not ds's priority yet). What we both felt we didn't get enough of was exactly what made this course different from other university's equivalents. E.g. if ds did chemistry at Manchester, what would be different and better (or worse) about Manchester's course than studying chemistry at Birmingham or Leeds. What are the specialist research areas that the department has? What are the current areas that post grads are researching etc.

Having listened to a few of these now, I think that it really helps when the speaker explains what studying this or that means. E.g. the chemistry guy at Manch brushed briefly over the first and second years all study 'core chemistry'. For an AS student only in his first year of A level chemistry, it is hard to envisage what 'core chemistry' actually covers. What do you actually do in the lab?

And as a non-scientist, I can say that an engaging speaker makes all the difference.