How many open days?

[Horsemad]

DS1 has selected 11, ELEVEN! open days. How many did yours/are yours going to?

My son went to 8 and went to open days of all unis on the ucas form

We didn't go to any with him, he didn't want parents taking over and stopping him going to the bits he wanted to go to/ deciding other things were more "worthy". Some of them were during the week and as we both work we didn't insist on going. The only 1 down in England I travelled down with him and did something else during the day but that was a subject masterclass so fairly structured but pretty much an open day for that subject. 2 were with the school, 2 with friends, the other 3 he googled public transport options and went alone with 1 of us picking him up if convenient.

My DC did two each, the rest was just scoping things out on the internet. It's worked fine so far. School only allows for two visits in any event and most open days are in school tem time.

I think we did about 6-10 for each DC plus visited about 4 campuses on non-open days. It took them ages to narrow it down and sometimes we discovered other courses later on hence went and looked at the campuses.
But DC were both doing 'awkward' courses. DS was applying for a very competitive course and needed to find the right places - often you'd only find out exactly what they were looking for on the application or at interview by going to the open day. DD was applying very specialist courses which varied tremendously depending which uni she went to so needed to really know about the course content, teaching style, career prospects of each course.
DC loved some courses/unis on paper but got there and hated an aspect so it is worth going. It is a very big decision. It is also useful to see accommodation and hear recommendations from friends or older students you know at the unis, from our experience first year accommodation choice can make or break uni.
Both DC asked me to come as most go with parents or friends to open days and two eyes is useful. Often I would spot something DC wouldn't and vice versa. I think open days could be very lonely on your own.
I second what BeckAndCall said you can tie in two unis on one day or visiting a city/campus on the way to another uni, we did this a lot. Also second the advice on the final decisions coming down to gut feelings.
Good luck- it was a long process but important one and worth spending time on. Both of mine are just finishing (one finished her finals yesterday!!) and have had great times at uni.

Horsemad. The course cannot possibly be the same at each Uni because different people will be teaching it! They will have different approaches to the subject. What subject does your DS wasn't to study?

Is he a city boy or would he thrive on a campus miles from anywhere, or a town miles from anywhere? Do you know where other people have gone from his school to do the same subject? What are the leading universities in his subject? Which ones would he realistically get into? Is he into Northern culture (Newcastle is extremely popular) or a quieter life? Would he be happy with lots of people like him, or would he be happy with people from all walks of life? You can look at which universities take most independent school educated students and conversely those that do not. Think about the culture of the university, it's location and what it has to offer in addition to academics. Does he like live music, so are these venues important? Is the student union likely to be important, or would he prefer a university where entertainment is found in the city, not on site? His personality will start to tell you where to discount and where seems likely. London Halls of Residence are more expensive than elsewhere. Would this matter? Some university cities are cheaper to live in, some are more expensive. Where are his friends going? You may find there are autumn term open days, but you need to get moving to book them.

Hi Milly - he's booked qute a few now, so I think he's starting to look at it seriously.

I think he'll prefer a campus but we're going to several city ones also so he'll be able to see both.

Realistically he's capable of going anywhere if he keeps working - predicted As but could get A* if he really made the effort.

Forgot to say, he wants to study Computer Science.