Has DD scuppered her chances of getting a offer at this uni??

[Curlysuzzie]

Ok where do I start, DD was suppose to go to open day visit at a Russell group uni about 2 weeks ago she booked it and everything, however we went on a last minute holiday, DD was given the choice to either stay and go to the open day and email the uni to say she can't go, DD forgot to email the uni to say she couldn't attend. We got back today, DD got a stern email asking why she did not turn up. I was a bit shocked but I can understand why they would be peeved off having a no show who couldn't at least email them to cancel. The problem is DD is wanting to apply to them, will she be black marked because of this? DD has emailed them back to say she is sorry and that she went on holiday at short notice.

Absolutely, NeedMoreSleep.

DSS2 is far more into the "university experience" at UCL than DSS1 at Bristol. They have different personalities (DSS2 is highly extrovert, DSS1 much more introverted and single-minded) and each seems to have found what they needed.

Actually my point was that the Durham offer holders' day added nothing either way to DS3's attitude towards the offer because he knew very well the strength and reputation of the university as a whole and the history department in particular but the lectures supposed to be put on didn't materialize and the whole departmental bit was a damp squib. Not liking the atmosphere or vibe of a place is something well worth finding out at an offer holders' day - it's obviously useful to confirm the negative as well as the positive - but it's slightly more irritating to find a department just can't be fagged to turn up when students have, and many from hundreds of miles away. Which was why I queried Pease's statement that these offer holders' days are something students should definitely go to. Not unless they add something I shouldn't have thought.

Molio - it's a bloody nerve exceptionally ill-mannered of a university department to invite applicants to go to the expense and inconvenience of travelling to a post-offer day and then not bother to put on the proper show.

Yes indeed Bobo unless of course (being uncharacteristically charitable here) a gaggle of lecturers all came down ill on the day.

Mind you I do recall waiting for a history lecture at Durham in my first year when the janitor announced the lecturer had 'flu and regrettably couldn't attend. So we repaired to the local bar where the (married) lecturer was nursing his bug by way of being in a warm embrace with a second year. So there is form.... .

There ought to be contingency plans for all eventualities. No excuses!

Regarding the cost of travelling by train to Open Days nowadays compared to the past: I'm not sure how far back people want to go, but in the very dim and distant past when I was called for interview and had to take the train from London to Manchester in 1977, the ticket cost was huge. However, I seem to remember either the school or the LEA (or some body or other) heavily subsidising the cost. There's no way my parents (docker and part-time shop assistant) could have financed it. I seem to remember they would subsidise the cost of transport to three interviews (although I can't recall the exact detail).

That's one of the reasons interviews died out, of course. When I applied in the early 1980s to five places now in the RG, I think two interviewed, two offered blind, and one suggested an interview but then later offered anyway when I declined the interview.

Open days then arose later, I think. I have a memory that the Open Day I stewarded for in about 1985 was the first time the university had run one at scale as a whole-university exercise, but I could be wrong.

I went to open days at Bristol, Birmingham (these two were for medicine before I went off that idea) and Oxford I think, in 1987/88. Only had two interviews, at Kings and Oxford. (Lived in London, so neither too expensive.) Can't actually remember where else I applied!

The main reason is the sheer volume of numbers applying these days isn't it Ricardian?

Financial help is available but only for those in the FSM income band usually or in some cases very slightly above, which ignores a mass of people for whom even one PS100 return ticket is a real push, let alone several such tickets and that's before you even get on to siblings needing the same.

Does the increasing randomness of achieved grades over predicted grades have the effect of equalizing the standard of students at the higher Unis? It must make it really hard for admissions staff and surely the the accuracy of predicted grades are only going to get worse with less AS's being taken.

Another vote for attending offer holder days.
DS1 had visited all of his five offers on pre-application open days.
He went back to two of them for the offer holder days in order to decide on his insurance choice.

The obvious and sensible choice was the one with the slightly easier offer (Durham). Their offer holder day was an overnight in the college. Clearly a huge amount of investment on the part of the university. He loathed it with a passion and chose the other one. Ironically, BoboChic the other one was Warwick!

Alas poor Warwick ... I'll get me coat.

We do both Open Days and Applicant Days: ADs are to allow those with offers to make their mind up whether the university is for them. My department splits up the parents and prospective students: ps have a sort of interactivey lecture/event/workshop thing to give them an idea both about the subject and how it will be taught. Parents have an overview lecture and more info from us about the pastoral side of things, and so they can ask us the questions their kids might be embarrassed if they asked when everyone was there. ODs are just the generic subject etc talks

Molio, the lack of enthusiasm from the Durham lecturers might give your son an insight into the potential quality of his future interactions with them - and the level of commitment he can expect if he encounters difficulties in the future. I too was a Durham undergrad, and that experience was integral in deciding that I most certainly wanted to work in a post-92 institution, because I remember being devastated, at 18, when I realised that these lecturers didn't want to share their knowledge and expertise with us in order to nurture the next generation, but thought of us as a waste of time and interference with their "proper" work of research... To be fair, though, rumour has it that History at Durham has had a few issues in recent years, so it may be more indicative of that than the wider departmental culture.

hefzi one of my RG uni lecturers was quite upfront that she couldn't wait for the students to leave for the holidays so that she could get on with her "proper work". That was in the mid 1980s before the RG was even a twinkle in vice chancellors' eyes.

Ricardian I remember going to open days in 1983 / 84 (I distinctly remember being put off Manchester by one of the students showing us round gleefully telling us of students being regularly mugged), although I don't recall if interviews were involved or not. Back in those days, nobody seemed to take their parents, I used to take the train into London, then tube, then train again and probably a bus or two to get to the uni.