Which college(s) should we visit at Durham Uni open day tomorrow?

[Mykingdomforanickname]

Off to open day at Durham University with DS tomorrow. DS does not know yet which university will be first choice and obviously we don't know yet which universities will want him! But working on the basis that he might end up at Durham, it seems sensible to look at colleges that he might end up applying to if he does decide he'd like to go there. (I believe tours of St Hild and St Bede are already fully booked, so can rule that one out for visit tomorrow.) If he does go to Durham, DS quite fancies the idea of a college with older buildings rather than all very modern! Beyond that he doesn't have strong views. Anyone have any recommendations? If he does go there, it will be to do a modern languages degree. In terms of interests, DS is quite an "all rounder" - likes playing guitar, acting in school plays, sports (on casual basis). Anyone know Durham Uni and have any thoughts?

My experience (admittedly 15yrs ago) was that the bailey colleges were nice from the outside but terrible accommodation and lots of sharing on inside. I shared a room on the Bailey in cuths. In our house there were 16 people to one shower. I hope things have improved! I regretted not choosing a hill college as the people seemed to be generally a lot more down to earth.

Dd applied to and got an offer for St Cuthbert's last year, she loved the feel of the place.

DS applied to and got an offer for University college the year before, when we visited there was a friendly Master's student who was very enthusiastic and welcoming to DS.
I'm not sure what percentage get the college they want, but in our house it was 100%!
They both went on to choose different universities because they felt Durham was just too far.

Stealth

I really liked the collegiate system at Durham, and the little community you get within your college. Not to mention the bar! Many happy nights doing a crawl of the Hill Bars, or the Bailey bars, or both if it was a big night!

We've been today and it is absolutely charming! We looked at st chads and st Cuthbert s but we really doesn't want to share a room at uni when she has to at home. I can see why they have to share as there is nowhere to expand but I think they will try hard to match people and there are libraries in the college if you want somwwhere quiet to work i thought the roons were nice.

The maps found here: www.dur.ac.uk/map/ may be helpful. Most MLaC (modern languages and cultures) lectures will probably be in Elvet Riverside (but double check tomorrow). That's v close to the city centre. There is now a lot more happening around lower Mountjoy, close to the library etc and there will be new buildings in that area too, so lectures and other facilities may move more towards that area. The closest colleges to that area are the hill colleges. Different colleges suit different students. The Durham admission process is different to Oxford and Cambridge. You receive your offer from the institution rather than the college. It's also worth keeping in mind that, unlike Oxford and Cambridge, students are taught in University wide faculties. So your son/daughter would be taught alongside students from all colleges, as opposed to O & C where teaching is college based. Therefore it takes some of the pressure away from choosing the perfect college. Saying that, the college is important to life at Durham, but at least it's one less stress. Happy to try and answer any questions if I can. Enjoy the open day tomorrow!

DD applied for MFL and, as she’s a choral singer, she applied to Castle on the advice of her music teacher who was a Durham grad. She was offered Van Mildert which is quite a trek out of the centre and she didn’t confirm their offer. A few years ago the accommodation offer was made at the same time as the offer of a place. She boarded at school and many boarders put up with dodgy university accommodation and are used to sharing. That’s why they are in certain halls. State school kids want better!

I think JB is also a trek?

My daughter did MFL at Durham. She chose St Cuthberts which is a Bailey college, but because she did not want to share a room she chose to live at their Parsons Green site. This was ideal for her as it’s very close to Elvet Riverside where the Modern Languages department is based.

Quite a trek? Hill colleges to town are a 15 minute walk. And there are buses.

It would have been more convenient for me in terms of where my course department was to be in a Bailey college, but one of the things I'm most nostalgic for now is the walk into the centre on a crisp autumn morning. I certainly never bothered getting the bus - it wasn't that far!

God, I walked from Collingwood to Education department up at HildBede at least twice a week as I took optional modules up there. Now THAT was a walk. Worse was HildBede to psychology, involving walking up cardiac hill.

Collingwood to Education department up at HildBede at least twice a week as I took optional modules up there

Same for me but from Grey. I wonder if we were trekking at the same time!

Back in my day you were much less likely to share a room at the hill colleges and if you did it was just for one term. It was actually my favourite term as my roommate was (and remains) amazing and lovely.

Old buildings weren’t important to me but a reasonable state school/private school mix was (my 18 year old self thought everyone at private school was so posh I wouldn’t know what to say to them- I have since realised this is nonsense but I still think a mix is good) a good bar and lots of fun stuff going on was.

The only college that was really very non-party when I was there was John’s for relatively obvious reasons. Cuths was probably the most heavy drinking as their bar was open all day- certainly in summer. So much bad stuff happened in their garden

"Different colleges suit different students"

Sounds interesting - are any particularly known for eg sport, music, CU, Dr Who etc? (to name but a few characteristics - obviously would be interested to know about any others as well!).

Where would you head if interested in neither sport nor alcohol, or does it not really matter?

Quite a trek Ha ha. One of DC's many reasons for rejecting Durham was the hills!

You will find a complete mix of activities and people in all the colleges. Some like mine have very strong sporting traditions but there are lots of people there who don’t like sport and never get involved in it. If you share they look really carefully at who they put together because, as my college staff friends said, they don’t want to be inundated with people who hate their roommates, asking for room swaps, so they try to get it right first time

www.dur.ac.uk/resources/collegiate.office/2016_preference.pdf

This is the latest on the website I think. If you combine that and the map it could be useful.

No loss not getting the HildBede tour.

Well DD felt Van Mildert was isolated and not where she wanted to be. She played the accommodation lottery and lost. Her decision and it made no difference to her eventual career anyway.

A good friend's daughter went to Josephine Butler because the self-catering appealed. She's quiet to the point of near-silence, but was put into a shared floor with 4-5 similarly quiet girls with similar interests, several of whom then moved out together into a (probably deathly silent) shared house for the second year. Maybe other floors were the party venues!

She loved the shared kitchen and I got to have a nosy round the room set-up when we visited with our lot. She always seemed (quietly) content there.

I did languages at Mildert (15 years ago). I made an open application as I wasn't too fussed where I ended up. I only lived in college for a year as second years have to rent a house/flat in the city and my third year was abroad. Fourth year I'd met DH (also a Mildertian) and we were living together in a house. Terms are so short it's really not worth getting worked up about the walking distance between the hill colleges and Elvet Riverside.

We went yesterday and looked at St Cuthbert's as DS thought he'd like an old college but then decided he didn't. We looked at Josephine Butler too which he preferred. (But will be asking for Collingwood if he decides to apply). He is in two minds, as am I, but I can't put my finger on why.

Collingwood rocks. I might be biased there, but I really believe it was the best college when I was there. Very egalitarian and lots going on.

No loss not getting the HildBede tour

Care to elaborate? We went on Saturday and loved it.

Purely personal in terms of finding the architecture super grim TonTonMacoute. But also, when I was at Durham HildBede was very insular, I suppose a product of being isolated in relation to the two other groups of colleges. I'm sure you'll find it's defenders, even champions!, but all my DC have applied to Durham except one (who didn't want to apply because the medical course was down in Stockton), and I've always steered them away from HildBede in a way I haven't with any other college.

Thanks for the feedback, stranger.

DS is actually starting there next week. It is a strange (and very long) story, as he started at another university last year, and it went disastrously wrong, and we are still dealing with the consequences.
Anyway, he left and applied to Durham and got in. We hadn’t had the chance to visit, so he chose Hild Bede because a school friend was there and loved it.

We only went to Durham to visit on Saturday as it coincided with a trip we had to make to Scotland, and had no idea it was an Open Day. We popped in just to look, but ended up with a personal guided tour! DS was delighted.

I can see why it’s not for everyone, but I think its slight isolation will be a benefit for DS, after last year’s trauma.

TonTon obviously I don’t know any of the background but a lot of people find the college thing to be really supportive especially in the first month or so, so I hope your DS has a much better time this year. I absolutely loved Durham and most of my year seemed to settle in really fast. College (whichever one!) is really conducive to making friends fast and there is a lot of extra support available when things don’t go so well.

So fingers crossed for next week.

Oh dear, I'm so sorry to hear that TonTon. Ignore what I said on the negative side. I think the reality is that it's very hard to go wrong in Durham. The gloomy architecture of HildBede was my main objection and he's clearly already past that - or even embraces it! The very best of luck this time around.