Open days - does and don'ts

[balzamico]

So we're starting to think about visiting unis for application next year.
How do we get the most out of our visit?

Just to return to the thread. We went to Liverpool today & had a fantastic visit. Despite my encouraging dd to decide where to go, who to talk to, what to see - she hadn't planned any of it and was a bit clueless (which didn't surprise me) so we worked it out together, talked to ambassadors together and to department staff, she got a huge amount from it and we had a great day.
In the 80's my parents had no input whatsoever but that did mean that I felt quite unsupported as they had no knowledge or means to help me. That's not great frankly so I try not to helicopter but to offer the support that my 17 year old still needs.

Adjustment doesn’t exist any more, it’s been merged with clearing. Do many unis have open days in the month before starting Aug - early Sep?

Rarely. We’re doing Open Days at my place in June, but August is about the only time academics can take holidays and early September we’re at research conferences and gearing up for the new academic year.

But remember, universities are generally pretty open places. If you want to gets feel of the campus you can just go there and wander around. You won’t necessarily get to see academic staff and there won’t be tours of accommodation but you can still look around, at the libraries and student common spaces, see departmental buildings (if they’re not swipe card protected) and I’d say if you went to a university sports centre and asked if you could have a peek, they wouldn’t mind.

Together with a deep dive into the department website, I’d say you could get some sort of idea of what it’d be like to live at a place for 3 years.

Many universities do have open days during the Clearing period, especially those that get a large proportion of their students through Clearing. I took my daughter to her insurance choice for a Clearing open day when she didn't make the conditions for her firm choice. She hadn't really found out as much as she needed to know about it because she had been focused on her firm. The Clearing open day was very useful.

I would say well you will be going on your on soon !

My brother went in 1983, he was given £400 as his grant.

My mother got a bit of a shock, I remember her calling whatever it was then and the person answering the phone said, "well you actually are quite high earners" to which my mum responded, "yes we are also high spenders" as if this would entitle my brother to more grant.

By all means take them then go for coffee and leave them to the Uni tour/course questions. Let them have the confidence to get the info they need. They are/ will be adults. Wild you sit in a job interview with them???

Parents are very much part of the open days now. Some unis even have separate tours and lectures for parents.

What did surprise me though was giving a lift to a friends son to localish uni for enrolment and I said to my friend I would give them both a lift but she couldn't go to the actual enrolment with him.

But lots of parents were with their children enrolling.

Don't fill your day with subject/welcome/finance formal "talk" sessions. They suck your time, and you just get stressed going from one to the other in time, get stuck in lecture theatres, and don't have time to soak in the surroundings/atmosphere etc. Just do 1 or 2 and spend the rest of the day touring the accommodation options, get a tour of the campus, go to the department itself and see if you can get a tour (there are usually tours of science labs etc if that's your course). Most importantly, talk to existing students, there are always loads around, giving tours, standing at info spots, giving directions, etc and they're usually happy to chat and answer questions! (obviously only the ones wearing the "welcome" t shirts etc - not the ones who aren't participating in the open days and just going to the library or whatever!)

Accommodation tours are important as standard/size/layout varies a lot between Unis and even within the Uni. Our DS's first choice Uni had very old/tatty/small accommodation which put him right off. He ended up at the Uni with the most modern/larger accommodation which was actually cheaper than the other! Of course, if your DS/DD is happy to sleep/live anywhere, then it's different, but it was important to our DS!

Once you've done a few, you'll see that the "talks" are very similar, so don't keep doing them at different Unis - they're mostly the same format, and tend not to give as much detailed information as on the Uni's website. Pointless to waste valuable/short open day time on detail that your DS/DD can research for themselves on the website - far better to spend the time talking to real people, touring the Uni/Accommodation, looking at the departments, etc - things that can't be done so well on line!

Our first was at our nearest Uni, which DS was "OK" about out, but we then we to several others and his preference changed with every one he went to, and ironically, his final decision was the closest, the one he went to first, as he decided none of the others were better overall even though all had pros and cons.

But lots of parents were with their children enrolling

When we dropped DD off at her halls we stayed long enough to make her bed and stock her kitchen shelf and fridge shelf then went. She didn't want us hanging around, and we didn't want to hang around.

This was the child who wanted me to attend open days with her.

Some of you would be horrified (as I am) at some of the posts on the WIWIKAU Facebook page. Now there are some excessively clingy parents.

Oh god, I think I must stay away from that FaceBook page then, @RampantIvy Thanks for the heads up 😂😎

They need to be engaged, interactive and proactive. I eventually to an open day and was offered a conditional place on the course there and then.

No university is allowed to do that in the uk. It’s not fair competition is it?

We didn’t look at accommodation. It was not a deal breaker. The university itself was more important. Potential students should not be crowded out of talks by parents. Or not be able to get near subject stands due to parents hogging all the space.

I haven't seen students unable to get in a room because it was full of parents. The Unis seem to hold their talks in rooms big enough to accommodate everyone.

One Uni did a parents-only talk which really focused on practical stuff. Since nearly all the courses were either 3yrs+1 year abroad or 3 years+year placement in industry: how to get a visa in which EU country (varies a lot, set expections for lots of admin !), accommodation policy (who is prioritised & how), scholarships, pastoral care. I think DC attend a talk about course content, atmosphere, extrac-currics, department strengths, at same time. Would have been too much for DC to take all that in on same day & remember it all.

DH and DS are currently on a tour. There were too many people wanting to do the tour so parents were asked to step out if possible to let more prospective students in. So DH is wandering round the campus whilst DS is on the course tour

@Ragged. We did. At Exeter. Parents were asked to leave as young people booked in could not get in the room. Some protested! There are parents who are far too invested and cannot trust their DC. Other unis screen parents out. Only DC allowed by pre booking.,

We went to 6 open days and it was only Warwick where there were too many people for the talks. Plenty of room for everyone at Durham, York, Leeds, Lancaster, and Newcastle. The thing with Warwick was that it was just one of each talk per day whereas the others were doing the same talk 2 or 3 times per day.

@user1497207191
Yes. That’s definitely an issue. Many parents didn’t seem to have the good grace to butt out.

DD and I went to her first tour this weekend gone and I think it was a good thing I was there as she’d got confused with the booking process and booked a couple of irrelevant things that only really came to light when we got there.

I also think it was a good thing as I attended the parents stuff and finances talks so we have a better idea of how it all works (I didn’t go to uni so had no real idea). I pushed her to ask questions and didn’t get involved other than that. She’s all about the science so it’s not like I could ask the questions anyway!

We’ve got another one booked for next weekend, I’m still going but she will be able to ask the right questions now so will be less stressed. I’m also going to the next two in Sep/Oct as they are far enough away that we are going to book a hotel and spend time in the area - quite looking forward to that!

Oh and the worst bit for her? The SU and societies. I don’t know what she was expecting, but she certainly wasn’t expecting a “Fetish Soc” or “Free Sex Soc” 😱

So it didn’t occur to you that they may want a sounding board of second opinion?

Completely personal choice but going with them doesn’t automatically mean coddling. DD wants me there, including in the lectures, as she said “you may notice things I don’t”. Doesn’t mean she wants or needs me to do all or any of the talking, she’s in charge. We’ve been to two together so far and it’s been a nice bonding experience to travel together, see a new town, enjoy the excitement of her potential future and transition into a more ‘supportive adult friend’ rather than strictly parent-to-child role.

Having said that, DD is autistic so would find train and bus travel to places she’s never been before stressful on her own. But I think the above would apply even if she wasn’t.

Open Days are very different nowadays. Even have lectures for parents. Nothing like that when I went to university. One of my open days even had an overnight stay in student accommodation

I work on open day stalls every year (I'm a lecturer). The questions we answer are nearly always answerable by looking through the (admittedly massive & complicated) uni website. I think that what you get out of an open day which is extra, is a sense of place and a sense of how open and friendly staff and students will be. Then if you have specific questions that you can't find the answer to you should be able to find someone who can answer it.

On the stalls our implied purpose is to sell the course and the uni, but most of the lowly minions like myself aren't that invested in selling and will be able to answer questions very honestly.

Lots of students these days come with their parents, but ultimately it's their lives and for them to get a good idea of the fit of the place I think they'd be better off if they spent at least part of the day exploring on their own. It's also worth trying to get a sense of the city or campus if it's a campus uni. Is it somewhere they'd enjoy or will it be overwhelming? Can they imagine themselves there?

Good luck to your DC hope they have a lovely university experience

@MakkaPakkas

The questions we answer are nearly always answerable by looking through the (admittedly massive & complicated) uni website.

You can say that about anything these days. Your students could probably "google" enough to teach themselves your subject and get their degrees without attending your lectures! But that's not the point.

Someone looking at their own website from within (or in your case, your Uni's) already has a lot of background information/knowledge, so knows exactly where to look, can read between the lines, knows what may not be clearly written etc. Someone looking for the first time, maybe their first Uni website, with basically a zero background knowledge can spend hours researching, but still not find the information they're looking for, maybe because it's in an unexpected place, or maybe because it's simply not on the website at all (i.e. falling in the "it's bleeding obvious so we've not bothered to write it" category).

We helped our DS spend a lot of time researching Unis, comparing different courses, comparing different unis, etc via their websites. We were VERY well prepared when attending open days, but we still had a lot of unanswered questions that went far beyond the "feel" of the place. The Uni he finally chose wasn't one of his top three based on prior research, and that was because of information he gained from talking to staff/students, not because of the feel of the place.

@user1497207191 absolutely.

@user1497207191

Neither DDs nor me did that much research. I only attended a subject talk IF all prospective students could be accommodated. I would not have noticed anything of vital importance. DDs didn’t spend much time looking at more than 5 unis and DD2 wanted London. DD1 was more flexible but had her favourites. As she was laid back about content we really didn’t need a spreadsheet approach. A general feel was good enough. So much can change anyway. Getting fixated on one aspect really can lead to disappointment. Lecturer goes off to write a book/ goes on maternity leave/ leaves the university etc. New people come along who might have equally exciting modules. Trying to dot every i etc is really hard work.

We found the subject talks pretty pointless/useless actually. They were very generic and superficial. Different Unis were basically giving the same subject talk (there must be a common format/template that they use, or they just copy & paste each others). The slides are usually online anyway so you can see what the talk covered even if you don't attend them! They usually take a lot of finding on the websites though - few are well linked within the website so a bit of digging is needed.

What were REALLY useful were tours. We had a brilliant tour of the Physics dept in Leeds for example, where one of the lecturers conducted the tour, and we saw the labs with experiments set out, and also went into a research lab where we saw some pretty cutting edge metallurgy work. Another stand out tour was to the astronomy observatory at York. Accommodation tours are also usually pretty enlightening where the student guides often talk about the realities of the accommodation rather than the official brochure sanitised wording! Lecturers and staff are also quite "talkative" when doing tours.

After the first couple of visits, we stopped doing the formal lecture theatre talks (subject talks, accommodation talks, finance talks, etc) and just concentrated our time on talking to staff and students at stands/in departments etc.