Still waiting to hear from Durham

[ryansbeat]

Would anyone like to join me in the wait to hear from Durham....feeling so stressed on DDs behalf as she is convinced that she won't get an offer (having been rejected by Oxford). I think that if she doesn't get an offer there she's going to take a year out and reapply....she says she'll be more upset to get rejected by Durham than Oxford. Just wish they would make a decision either way so she can plan ahead. Anyone else waiting to hear....why do they take so long?

I was under the impression that a university couldn't see where a prospective student had placed it on their application form, maybe I'm wrong. I understand that an early application may suggest that the student is also applying to Oxbridge, but is this always the case?

As someone has already mentioned, there is the option of writing a separate statement specifically for Durham. My understanding is that this option is available to all students, not just Oxbridge ones. My dd decided not to do this, she wrote just one statement but it emphasised, apart from the academic stuff, extra interests which she thought would appeal. She did not apply to Oxbridge, although school suggested she would be a worthy applicant. It's just not for everyone, Durham is her genuine first choice, there are many reasons for that. I hope she gets an offer, but if she doesn't, life will go on and she will no doubt be successful wherever she ends up.

RojoGato Your comments read as very bad and very outdated advice.

Did your DD get their 'Merry Christmas' email? Part here. I imagine things will start moving soon....

'As you will be aware, the closing date for the majority of our courses is 15 th January 2015. Because our programmes are very popular and we receive such high quality applications, this means that we can only issue a proportion of all the available offers between October and January in order that all applications which are submitted to UCAS by the deadline are given equal consideration.

An academic selector carefully considers each and every application we receive to ensure we select the very best students who have the most merit and potential to succeed on our programmes at Durham University.

We also need to strictly manage our offers to preserve our unique collegiate experience for our future students and this all means we may take a little longer than other institutions in reaching a decision.

This can mean that applicants who apply early in the cycle may have a wait of a few months before they receive a response from us....

Once we have received all applications which were submitted to UCAS by 15 th January, we will allocate the remaining offers we have available, with many of these decisions being made between mid-January and the end of March'

No, I don't think DD got an email like that Merrylegs....oh dear, but still, I must remain positive!

Ha well I read it as a 'don't call us' mail, but is useful to see their time scale and explains a bit about the process. Fingers crossed!

I agree that RojoGato's advice seems odd. For whatever reason this time last year I seemed to get an avalanche of emails from LSE alumni relations asking for donations. I was very tempted to reply saying that they would get their donation if they were to process their applications a bit faster and offer DS a place, though knew that unlike America there is no such thing as legacy applications and this would get him nowhere. (Now he has a place, I get LSE Friends and Family donation requests on top of the Alumni ones. Perhaps I need to write saying that if they give him a first I will get my cheque book out)

The fact that DS was kept waiting until mid/late March by three Universities suggests he was pretty close to the standard required at all three, and presumably by this stage the differences between candidates are small. (Just as well he did not apply to Durham as his fifth option.) His PS included the fact that he reguarly attended public lectures at the LSE. No idea whether on the margins his, checkable, interest in that institution gave him the edge there but not elsewhere.

Don't be silly Roja it's not threatening in the least, because obviously I have no standing!

mrsrhodgilbert no, the 'substitute statement' facility is only open to Oxbridge applicants, or those applying for a fifth course where the other four choices are medicine, or those applying for different courses at different universities.

Last year molio a substitute statement could be written for any subject I think. The suggestion that it would help a candidate who had written a very academic PS and might want to elaborate on his/her other interests for Durham was obviously directed at oxbridge candidates but could be used by anyone.
Obviously in most cases, including that of my DD, the student is so fed up with the whole idea of PS writing and character counts the extra statement is not written.

On the other hand DD's subject at Oxford ( more or less unique to Oxford) offered applicants the chance to write an additional 100 word statement about their interest in the course. Which she did do.

Re Durham offers....I'm a bit like molio in that all three DCs applied there and received offers, DD1 heard for English in January but turned them down post A levels to reapply for Oxford and decided that there was little point in putting Durham down again, DS1 applied after A levels with three A*s in the bag and didn't hear until about a week before the offer holders day, so early March ( he accepted) and DD2 heard in late November in the 2014 cycle and then asked to defer her place and will start in October 2015. She said not a word about sporting or musical prowess!

The only people I know who are at Durham currently both applied to Oxbridge (and in fact both also applied to conservatoires, which also have an early application date - earlier than the medicine/oxbridge cut off. You don't have to do your CUKAS and UCAS form at the same time, but for many people it makes sense to do that because once it's all done it's all done). No problems with Durham being non first choice there (in one person's case, Durham was about 6th choice because their preference was conservatoires first, then Oxford, and only then Durham).

Tantalisingduck I suppose I'm using Oxbridge as a shorthand for 'those who have been required to write a very academic personal statement for another choice', but it's absolutely clear which applicants they mean. They monitor these statements closely: the admissions admin team judge whether or not a substitute statement will be allowed to go through to the department. They measure it against their criteria and are the sole arbiters of what's ok and what's not. There's no appeal.

There's a flaw in this idea that Durham has to be 'first choice' anyhow, even if Durham did adopt this really odd policy: for many of those rejected by Oxford and Cambridge it becomes their first choice and in my experience most people who go there go and enjoy it and don't really look back. I don't think DS3 had a strong preference for Oxford over Durham - he's been dead keen on Durham for two or three years, since he and his brothers visited. The whole 'having to like it best' thing is daft.

Yes, I guess you're right Molio re the Durham substitute statement. At my son's school which tends to have a lot of pupils applying everyone had to send in their application by 15th October (or whatever the equivalent date was) whether or not they were applying for Oxbridge. Some parents, with children not applying for Oxbridge, argued that they were concerned that the 'other" universities would think their child was an Oxbridge candidate too to which the school argued "Well that's all to the good"....

One thing I keep meaning to say to Molio is that having lurked for many years and only occasionally raised my head above the posting parapet I am in absolute awe of the Molio gene pool which must have Oxford stamped through it like Blackpool in a stick of rock. You must be so very proud of all your DC achievements - is this DS the last to go through the process? And I have to ask, did none of them ever want to go to Cambridge instead?!

I think DS would say that he would like to go to Durham despite both his parents going there rather than because of it!

Ryansbeat, for what its worth last year DS1's offer from Durham did not come through until mid-March. They do like to take their time - in some subjects at least. Plus unlike for most Oxbridge subjects they will be making way more offers than they have places. Hope that your DD can stay positive and that she gets good new from Durham eventually. :)

Dn hit an offer for Durham last year, much later than her other offers. She's just started her second term there and loving it.

I do hope all your DDs and DSs get their offers from Durham. I went there in the 90s and it still holds a very special place in my heart. I go back very few years and drag my children round on a nostalgic tour

They will have a fab time, both academically and socially

duck thank you very much indeed :) Yes the reality is that I am incredibly proud but quite shocked and without explanation as to how so many have come through - there's never been a game plan and I'm relatively very hands off. I think perhaps the younger ones now have an unfair advantage with the older ones offering advice? But I would say that Oxford doesn't hold the answer to the meaning of life. The science DS contemplated Cambridge instead, but went for Oxford in the end - not sure why, perhaps my heavy hints about logistical convenience/ petrol costs etc. There are actually two more - the next one down has heretical tendencies and has no idea what he wants to do and the last is too young (12)to be thinking at all. But thanks :)

Hi everyone my dd is also still waiting for durham, got offers from york, bristol and kings college london but rejected from cambridge, it's comforting
to know that durham is slow in making offers, she really had her hopes on cambridge and was devastated but I think durham would be her second, keeping fingers crossed!

Hi DD waiting to hear from Durham too. I think she is resigned to having a long wait.

I think they must look at applications very carefully for those they are interested in. One of my DSs applied for languages and they emailed several times to check issues which weren't obvious from the UCAS form. Then they rejected him.

DD still waiting here too.

DS waited until April for a no from Durham last year, but his friend got offered a place with in a few days of his application. Suspect DS was borderline predictions were slightly under the normal offer, whereas his friend was spot on.

Hi everyone DD received a offer from durham uni yesterday! It states that colleges and accommodation will be notified in February, she's hoping for university college which I have heard is very competitive, fingers crossed again, good luck to everyone

DS's friend has just had an offer (AAB at that -- nice!). DS is still waiting and worrying.

Hi can I ask what subjects the offers were for please ?
Thanks