Not sure when to go on university open days? year 12 or wait til year 13?

[Ladyemem]

Im in year 12, theres an open day in june at uni. do uni's only have 1 open day a year?

Can anyone go or is it only for year 13's wanting to go to uni sept 2013.

most will have a few each year - check on their website for the details or give them a ring. Go in year 12, you will need to complete your UCAS form in the autumn term in yr 13 so the earlier you do the visits the better. You need to look at the course, how they teach it, facilities available at the uni, transport links, how long is their resource centre open etc

Most universities have a couple of full open days a year and also subject specific days and offer days where you can go along once you get your offer. You have to make some decisions quite early on in year 13 so yes, if you can get along to some open days over the summer then I'd go for it

Good luck!

sorry also meant to say - go and speak to your careers adviser in school, they will be able to help.

They have several per year. DS visited 2 in June of last year, one in Oct and one just a couple fo weeks ago (he starts this Sept).

Its definitely better to go as early as you can, as then you can visit as many of the universities that you are interested in as possible. Personally, I visited 4 and completely crossed two both with very good reputations, but their Spanish departments were like mouldy old broom cupboards off my list of choices. I also visited the one I went to, and loved it.

Both of mine had Universities that sounded good on paper but that they didn't fancy when they saw it in RL. DD saw hers in Y12 so didn't bother putting on her list. DS saw his in Y13 i.e. after he had put it down on UCAS - so it turned out to be a wasted choice.
It's never too early: some do it after GCSEs, before firming their A Level choices.

Can anyone go or is it only for year 13's wanting to go to uni sept 2013.

Application for 2013 entry had to be in by Jan 2013 so it's a bit late for them! Those are having Offer-Holders Days at the moment, to help whittle their five choices down to only two.

ds1 did them all in Y12 as his ucas form had to be in to school for the Oct half term of Y13. He only went to one place in the autumn of Y12, the rest were in the summer after the AS exams. Like senua's ds, ds1 also went to one place which on paper looked perfect but in RL he hated the place and we left after an hour and a half - fortunately he hadn't put down as one of his choices at that point.

Great. will look at booking myself in for open day this summer.
Hoping to do Marketing/business degree :-)

It's definitely a good idea to go to some open days in the summer term of yr12. Then once you have your AS results in August and have a better idea of where you're at you can look at some more in the autumn as you are doing your personal statement etc ready for your application. Good luck!

You sound ideal for Business which is, basically, all about looking forward, planning a strategy and then executing it!

Anyone can go on an open day, regardless of age.

Most open days seem to be clustered around the summer (end of Y12 / beginning of Y13), and I would suggest visiting before sending in your UCAS application, so that you can cross of the ones that looked nice in the prospectus but turned out to not be what you wanted.

You go in Y12. You have to do your UCAS form early in Y13.