Durham

[mrsrhodgilbert]

I'd love to hear from anyone with recent experience of Durham through their dc. Dd2 loved it at the open day. As a fairly local state school pupil she is on their Insight programme. We are in Yorkshire. This is designed to help/encourage such students to apply not just there but to other 'good' universities. Her school, state but high achieving, think she is a suitable candidate and have a number who go each year, so have some experience.

I have looked through old threads and whilst there isn't a lot of information I am getting the impression that it is very public school. Presumably Durham think this themselves, hence the Insight programme. I think I saw statistics that quoted roughly 50:50 state/public entry.

So my questions, exactly what form does this public school influence take, I've read the term 'rah' and if you have a state educated child did they feel happy there? Similarly if you have a public school educated child, did they choose Durham to be among their peers?

Obviously the choice is hers, I've just heard some negative stuff and would hate her to feel excluded.

i was state educated and went to Durham
the colleges vary enormously
Hild & Bede, Hatfield mostly public school and not just any independent day school but the top public boarding schools

the hill colleges are better and more mixed intake. (i am ex-collingwood and very biased!)

it is a fantastic university. loved it.

I think people down at Stockton have a good time. A lot of the sport has moved there now I think to unify the campuses a bit. But really they are quite separate. From what I remember of a friend from school who did medicine (which is joint with Newcastle so you sort of start off at Durham and then by the end are Newcastle unless it has changed) they had just as much fun on their Campus. Their colleges have their own bars etc too.

The challenge has always been to try to do a full college bar crawl including stockton. Not that I ever did that one. I have done a few full college bar crawls through Durham though .

Stockton courses were much less in demand with lower entry requirements in the early 00s, but I think they're turning this around.

They're known for offering more of the human science based courses that are unavailable in Durham City.

I was at Durham City for 6 years and went to Stockton twice - both times as part of my job!

Thank you tess for that bit of info about Hild Bede. Having looked at a map it also appears to be very far away from the other colleges, the other end of the city entirely. I think she needs a good long think about this. I think she is a bit worried about sharing a room and that is heavily influencing her choices.

It's not that far away from the other Colleges - the perspective is just skewed because Durham is so tiny, and most other Colleges are on top of each other!

It's about an 8 min walk to town (if that) and the closest College would be Castle or Hatfield, about 15 mins walk away.

I had an awful time with my roommate, but most people have a positive experience.

i was worried about sharing a room too, i think that's actually why i chose collingwood. all single rooms. The new block are all ensuite. nice ;-)

bear in mind my comments re the colleges are from the 1990s!

hild & Bede is quite close to the education dept IIRC and very close to the boatclubs. it isn't really that much out of the way.
The hill colleges are great for the science faculty, geography, the university library.
You get great thighs living in durham, up and down the hills. [remembers longingly]
it's a small town, you can get from one end to the other, hill fitness levels withstanding, really quite quickly.

Oh I was a twiglet in Durham. Went up last year as I was speaking at one of my old societies and hot damn I was exhausted.

I had a roommate in my first term; I love her to pieces and we were bridesmaids for each other.

What is your daughter wanting to study? Because arguably you are better off applying to a Bailey college for science and a Hill for arts because everyone wants to live near their lectures, ergo less competition! Or at least that worked for me - I was on the Hill doing Theology and DH was on the Bailey doing Computer Science. For the record, Van Mildert to Palace Green (ie the cathedral) is about 15-20 minutes' walk. It's not a big city.

OP, please don't let distance or perceived public-school bias put your daughter off Hild Bede - honestly, neither are an issue at all!

I was at HB for 4 years and whilst it has its fair share of rahs, I really wouldn't have thought it's any higher than average, and it's such a friendly place. Also, public school background isn't necessarily automatically a bad thing...some of my best friends went to public school ;)

It's also the biggest college and to my mind, feels less claustrophobic than some of the others (St Johns, for example, only has about seven people in and is the size of my living room...practically...)

HB is also v convenient for the centre of town (a lovely stroll along the river) and Klute! It's true though - nowhere in Durham is far from anywhere really.

did i read further up thread that you don't apply to specific colleges anymore? that you are allocated by random ballot?

Sorry tess I seemed to have misled everyone about that! What I meant is that students still apply to a college but in the event of the college being over subscribed the places are allocated by ballot - college tutors are no longer allowed to pick the best rugby players/singers/rowers as (apparently) was the case before.

oh that's good, i think it would be a real shame if you couldn't choose a college.

Freshers weekend! Was quite amused by the banners proclaiming that I was "Almost Home" and that I should have gone to Hilde Bede on my way home from work tonight

Can anyone explain Formals to me please? If gowned do you have to be very dressed up underneath? If not gowned do you have to dress very formally? If at a college with regular black tie dinners do you need an endless collection of posh frocks? I'm thinking student budget and a background where fancy dinners do not play a part.

At Formals, they recommend smart dress (e.g. cocktail dress) but in reality you can pretty much wear anything except denim.

Black-tie formals are cocktail-dress and smarter.

I built up a very nice collection of cheap cocktail dresses because I liked to make an effort at Formals, and went every week but really, any skirt and top will do.

just think dress!
black tie formals = little black dress type thing.

mine certainly weren't expensive.

i don't think we had gowns at collingwood. no we definitely didn't, just hired one for graduation.

Just something smart for our formals with gown. loved formal

Nothing pale (spillages galore) nor expensive.

Formals were the best nights of the week! I miss them so much :(

Formals vary massively - at HB they were only twice a term and you had to apply for a table, and pay in advance. They were A Big Deal and everyone went to the bop (disco) and then Klute after. Dress code was cocktail dresses for girls and suits or black tie for boys. They weren't as formal as balls though.

At HB no one wore gowns for Formals - we just hired them for graduation.

Aidans formals were twice a term followed by a bop too- but my boyfriend went to Hatfield who had gowned formals every Friday so I too built up a nice selection of dresses. I used to make my own.

Formats were sometimes themed too, I remember a Harry Potter themed one during the filming of the first Harry potter film as they were filming in Palace Green.