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Further education

You'll find discussions about A Levels and universities on our Further Education forum.

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Original poster

DS starting 6th form in September when would he go to university open days?

20 replies

2anddone · 13/06/2022 20:11

As the thread title. Ds starts 6th form in September and thinks he would like to go to university after year 13 when should he start looking at open days to attend? I didn't do university after my a levels so completely out of the loop on this...plus was 10,000 years ago

OP posts:

hockeygrass · 13/06/2022 20:16

Next Summer - 2023

MolliciousIntent · 13/06/2022 20:18

he should go in his first year of a levels.

Fere · 13/06/2022 20:20

Some Unis, like Warwick, if I remember well, have only one, maybe 2 Open Days a year. Worth checking for those and there's no harm going twice. First couple of them were working our head round the marketing speak to get to the bottom of what were differences between various courses and Unis.
What is he planning to study?

ItsReallyOnlyMe · 13/06/2022 20:29

I've done this with two children now.

I would recommend that he researches now what subject and ideally a couple of favourite universities he would like to go to.

I would check the autumn dates for open days for his current 'favourites'. I would attend at least one open day (particularly important for universities which only have two a year, as there can be clashes between universities next summer). Choose the nearest university to you if necessary.

I think just doing the above will help him rule in or out subjects and universities so you can target the right ones next summer.

He may change his mind based on these visits, or he may decide that's the right choice for him. I don't think it will be time wasted.

easyday · 13/06/2022 20:29

My daughter is in lower sixth and everyone started visiting universities after Easter. Many have open days in June/July. Our first was in May.
If your son is thinking of unis quite far apart you want to be able to spread the visits too, and as pp says some only do a couple open days. I think waiting til the Autumn of their Y13 to do them is cutting it fine as the deadline is January (and Oxbridge deadline is October).

tiredanddangerous · 13/06/2022 20:40

Summer term in year 12.

lljkk · 13/06/2022 20:44

DD went ( by herself or with mates) at end of lower 6th. DS didn't attend (all with me) in person until he had offer days.

Newgirls · 13/06/2022 20:47

We looked at a few when we were in the area rather than official visits. Else you can travel miles. Dd did a couple on her own via train with friends too.

Original poster

2anddone · 13/06/2022 22:07

Thanks so much, he is currently undecided what he would like to study, will see if he has a clearer idea once GCSE’s are out the way and he has had his 6th form taster day. I don’t want him (or me if he would like me to attend) to be traipsing all over the country to look at unis until he has a bit more of a clearer idea!

OP posts:

JusticeForWanda · 14/06/2022 09:26

If he’s got no clear ideas, it can be a really good idea to go to a local uni open day in autumn of Y12. Even if he wouldn’t consider it, it can make the whole thing seem a lot more real and help him focus on what he might want/not want as part of his HE experience - so campus or not, large uni or small etc.

Comefromaway · 14/06/2022 09:40

I'd start now and spread it out a bit.

Things can get a bit hectic during the end of Year 12/start of Year 13. You can end up going to a different open day every weekend, they all clash & it becomes a chore. There were a few places that ds didn't get to see as he ran out of time. Bear in mind that although most places applications don't have to be in until January of Year 13 you usually start the process and some subjects it is best to apply earlier. Some subjects may require portfolios etc that you want to really get out of the way before A level mocks/btec assessments kick in.

We were scuppered by Covid but ds went to an open day as soon as they were allowed and it really focussed his mind on the end goal.

SkadoodleLou · 16/06/2022 12:30

The research bit can be started this summer. Cast the net wide, choose a few subjects he wouldn't rule out, google the top universities for that subject and start looking at what grades they want for A level and whether they want any specific subjects. Ask the sixth form what grades students get for the subject and what GCSE grades they came in on.

There is a lot of information about universities, courses, a day in life etc on youtube from official channels from the uni but also a lot of students themselves.

The other thing is do you know what maintenance loan he is entitled to? To prepare you for the parental contribution bit , information here www.savethestudent.org/student-finance/maintenance-loans.html

Summer of year 12 can be spent engaging in stuff that he can put on his personal statement relevant to his subject. Ds had to have his skeleton personal statement in to college by July of year 12 as an early entry applicant ie medicine, dental, Oxbridge etc which is the October deadline.

averythinline · 16/06/2022 12:41

We went to first one autumn yr12 ...it was quite local and did lots of courses ....it was really useful as dc decided definitely didn't want to go there! Helped starting thanking about city/campus .... since then hes been to 2 others ...1 because we were not far away on holiday...other as we had friends in the city so could combine..
Went to a ucas expo through school in march ..
Going to one in the summer holidays...

One he fancies we maydo but its really far so am going to make him go through the courses in detail ..

We will do a couple more this autumn

His school are getting them to start filling in their forms now

Its hard to work out courses if your not looking specialist ..
Dc into politics/philosophy/american studies/ International relations so really wide...only thing ix sure as wants campus plus year abroad!

Comefromaway · 16/06/2022 13:00

We were lucky in a way as when ds was in year 11 I saw a course at a university less than an hour away from us that looked to be exactly what ds wanted at the time. However it was a department with a less than 40% applicant/offer rate so we started to look to see if other places offered a similar type course. Over the course of the next 6 month ds decided he wanted to do the same subject but a slightly different specialism. He did an online open day during the lockdown summer of Year 11. It really focussed his mind as to what cold be on offer for him if he worked hard.

We then visited the original university once allowed who also offered the new specialism with a crossover of modules as well as visiting other universities, most of whom he rejected for various reasons. He did run out of time to visit places in the end.

As it turned out that original university has become his insurance choice.

RainingYetAgain · 16/06/2022 13:25

Both of my DS visited a local University in the Autumn open days when they were in year 12. It was largely for them and us ( with DS1) to get a feel of what was on offer. It gave us an idea of finances and the hard sell. It meant that we had a clearer idea of where we wanted to focus on visits to Unis that were of greater interest. Serious visiting was in the Spring and Summer of year 12
In our day, Uni open days were not a thing.

hellsbells99 · 16/06/2022 13:35

We visited one in a city quite close to us just after GCSEs. It gave DD an idea what university was and helped when finalising A level choices.

abc5432 · 29/06/2022 18:53

Autumn of the Lower Sixth....i.e October/November 2022....

MarchingFrogs · 30/06/2022 07:01

www.ucas.com/explore/search/events

He could start with one of the 'Always On' virtual events? I got as far as Gloucestershire and UEA (DS2 has just finished his first year there and loves it), but there are probably more listed.

Chisquared · 30/06/2022 07:59

Definitely start thinking about it earlier rather than later. Lots of open days clash in the summer season. If your ds wants to think about medicine or Oxford/Cambridge then there are events/exams to be prepped for which happen in Spring of Y12 (e.g. Oxbridge taster days, prep for UCAT or BMAT). Admissions tests also happen in either summer of Y12 or early into Y13.
My ds started research in the autumn of Y12, visited a couple to get a 'feel', applied for taster days at Oxford and Cambridge then had just a few to do in Summer of Y12. He had his firm list by the start of Y13.

Sarahcoggles · 03/07/2022 16:32

My DS is in year 12, and we've been going to open days for the past few weeks. But I wish I'd started looking sooner, because they seemed to begin in early June and we missed some. There are another round of them in October as far as I can see, but life is going to busy then for other reasons, and school work will ramp up.
My advice would be to start thinking about it after Christmas and get your name down to be notified of the summer open days.

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