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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

Open Days

12 replies

ColumboOnTheCase · 12/06/2023 21:03

DS is in year 12 and unsure what he wants to do post 18.

We are trying to explore all options. His interest was sparked having recently visited a local university and at last he is showing some enthusiasm.

However there appears to be a clash with the open days for the four universities he is interested in. They have open days on the same day ie two on his 18th birthday 😕 and the other two both on 1Jul and yet another is full already. Typically the ones on the same days are far apart in distance and cannot be done in one day.

How did your DC choose the universities they wanted to apply for? Did they visit all of them? How did they choose their course? my DS is interested in both CS and Geography and not 💯 sure which subject he wishes to study further.

Thanks for reading.

OP posts:

mondaytosunday · 12/06/2023 22:25

Dd is Y13 but doing an Art Foundation next Year so we've only been to open days for that, though a couple talked about their degree program.
Unfortunately two open days were smack in the middle of A levels so we couldn't go, we are going to two once her exams are over. Then we are not going to make one at all - it's 8 hours away so involves two overnights (to make the 10am start), but they do run one to one campus tours during the summer so may make a trip then.
The rest will be in the Autumn, which is when many kids go.
I know some kids don't manage to visit before applying then go to offer holder days. I think try and get to as many as possible- one we went to was very informative and she crossed that straight off her list as the course did not do what she was interested in, though looking at the course modules you couldn't tell.

Original poster

ColumboOnTheCase · 12/06/2023 23:46

Thank you for your reply. I'll look into campus tours. The visit to the local university was such a positive experience that I was hoping a visit to the ones he was interested in would help him make some decisions. Exams during the open days has also been our experience.

OP posts:

UsingChangeofName · 13/06/2023 00:11

Remember there will be more open days in early Autumn too.

We went to those we could, and for one that one of ours was interested in but we couldn't make any of the open days, we went and stayed overnight nearby and contacted the University who kindly not only had the admissions tutor meet us for a chat but they had also arranged for a student to show us round campus.
Now, I'm not saying all will be able to manage that for everyone, but it is worth getting in touch and finding out.

TizerorFizz · 13/06/2023 15:25

He will need to decide on a subject though. If they do a private visit it’s difficult being undecided. There’s a huge difference between CS and Geography! In the holidays, can you visit the cities? Also look at open days in the autumn. Plus look at every detail on line! Everything. Open days can be a scrum and not very enlightening. Getting a feel for a city often helps. A campus would be open too at any time.

My DDs could not visit everywhere. Reserved a couple for offer days. Shame he cannot go out on another day for his 18th.

Original poster

ColumboOnTheCase · 13/06/2023 22:15

Hi thanks for your replies.

He was leaning towards geography until the recent visit to the local university, so I was hoping that visits to the other universities might help him decide between the two. The open days on his birthday are in the autumn but there appears to be no other dates available for any of the 5 he has shortlisted so far. Do more dates get released closer to autumn? If not he has said he would be happy to go to one of the open days on his birthday. But as it's his 18th and it falls on a Saturday I'm not sure he won't change his mind closer to the time 🤔.

Did your DC go to the open day of the university they eventually went to?

OP posts:

TizerorFizz · 13/06/2023 22:40

Yes. Both of mine did end up where they visited. But several were on the UCAS form that they hadn’t visited. Offer days help with making a final decision. They visited top choices only. Are all 5 on his birthday? I would narrow the list down and at least try and visit the cities in the summer. Have a nose around. DC rarely love all 5 and rank them equality anyway. You would be looking at attainable and slightly lower tariff for UCAS. We left out the 4 th snd 5th ranked by DDs for open days. DD1 didn’t visit one top choice on an open day. We got in touch privately. A previous top choice was discarded after visiting.

Not being funny, but has he A levels for both these degrees? They really are very different. He needs to look in detail at what each course offers and expects. At each uni.

Lightsabre · 13/06/2023 22:47

@ColumboOnTheCase , we have a year 12 thread going on the Further Education board. Lots of discussion re; open days at the moment on there. Lots of uni's have virtual open days - obviously not as good as the real thing but will still give a feel for the courses. CS can be very competitive depending on where you apply. Many universities also have 'offer holders days' once offers are in.

Notagardener · 13/06/2023 22:55

DC has done a combination of things. Visited 4 touristy places as a tourist and also walked around the campus.
Went on 2 open days (one was local uni, just to have an idea what open days are like, to have something to compare with), and have 2 more open days booked.
Has currently 7 uni on shortlist after looking online as well.

Dc1 went on 3 open days, ended up in one of them.

mondaytosunday · 13/06/2023 23:00

Just to add - agree with @TizerorFizz open days can be tricky - we found talking to an actual student (even though they are there to promote the uni the ones we spoke to were quite forthcoming), and someone from the faculty. We spoke to one course leader and he was very very informative. My daughter is quite shy but after I asked the first question she engaged and asked about things particular to her subject I don't know about.
But getting the general 'vibe' counts for a lot too.
You can find out so much online - the modules for each year, etc, plus YouTube has quite a lot of 'moving to X university' 'my first year at X' and so on. Even if not about his subject particularly, it might give an idea about student life there.

lljkk · 13/06/2023 23:02

I said "within 4 hours drive & not London."
Then there grades predicted to consider.
DS only visited after he got offers.

DD only wanted London, were 4 main Unis to consider.

Original poster

ColumboOnTheCase · 14/06/2023 00:01

Thank you all for your replies. I'll have a look at the year 12 thread as suggested.

To answer some of your questions, they don't all fall on his birthday only two of his choice, I think he will pick the closer of the two to visit, as it is more attainable.

We have booked one of the open days which falls on 1st July, however this one is very competitive and he will need to achieve his predicted grades to get an offer and it's quite a distance from us.

He has a lot of thinking to do, and as suggested by pp he needs to choose a subject (he is doing a levels in both) then if he hasn't visited already perhaps we can approach the university he'd most like to attend.

Thanks again.

OP posts:

TizerorFizz · 14/06/2023 11:58

@ColumboOnTheCase I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but doesn’t CS usually require maths A level? Is he doing maths? If not, look very closely at entry requirements and he may have a more limited choice.

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