Anyone still waiting to hear from Durham?

[PortusCale]

Just wondered if anyone else is waiting to hear from Durham for an offer for 2019 entry?

See that offer holder day bookings are now open and I understand college allocation has begun.

DS still waiting here, DS application went through in November.....does this mean a rejection will likely be on its way?

It is such a pity that nearly every higher ed thread on MN gets hijacked by MariaNovella who clearly has a chip on her shoulder about Oxbridge. It detracts from the actual thread and basically kills it off.

A bit harsh..

Maria has an interesting but genuine perspective. My experience is that any poster who dares questions the MN narrative that Oxbridge/Bristol are infinitely superior gets chased down. The board would be better if a range of contributions were accepted. There is rarely a right and wrong and the real strength is that we all have different experiences.

(Runs of to retrieve the tin hat....)

All MN Higher Ed threads get hijacked. I must revert to my former policy of not biting.

Oxbridge does not have the same mystique in the popular imagination beyond the shores of the British isles, OKBobble. There are some excellent degrees at both universities but it is useful to know that subject rather than institution and masters rather than undergraduate degrees are “what count” in many international career contexts. I realise that can quite devastating for the British ego

This is a thread about Durham offers though not on the worth of an Oxbridge degree - just saying.

Conversations move on.

Taking this back to Durham - ds is more than likely to reject his Durham offer for other RG universities. So unimpressed with Durham and their treatment of students. Much better universities out there with better courses, better work prep skills and better accommodation and student life.

And just finally, I am not saying that I think that Oxbridge is superior for every student in every subject. I've seen many students who turned down one or other of them because they did not think it would suit. However, just as I respect Harvard and MIT I do respect Oxford and Cambridge and wonder what other UK universities could achieve with their level of resource.

Indeed they do but I do wonder why every one that you join you bring it round to Oxbridge?

Just popped back to check on Durham....😆
But whilst you’re going on about high class degrees from Oxbridge etc then going into finance....

My husband is in finance. He is from a poor working class background (didn’t even have a home phone or central heating growing up) and left without A Levels. He worked his way up. He has taken many finance qualifications over the years - he has a photographic memory so hardly ever revised - and has just taken the lastest (Level 7) qualifications relevant to his specialism. However, it has just been announced that the PI cover will go up (across the country) by up to 500% for his specialism. So it really isn’t worth doing his specialism. He has never has so much as a sniff of a complaint against him but he has to bail out the flashy ‘big boys’ who recruit from these universities. So excuse me whilst I squirm when you talk about how much money you can get from a finance job if you have an Oxbridge degree.
Another example of not needing a degree to work in finance was my experience of going to a posh public school. You had to get a certain number of GCSEs to get into 6th form. Unless you were aristocracy (lord-to-be particularly). Then you could get whatever you wanted, flunk your A Levels and then swan off to ‘The City’ to work in finance. Which they did.

Talking about devastated British egos, I have spoken to quite a few British diplomats and civil servants at Brexit events in the past year or so. Among them were several young (under 30) diplomats who wanted out and to secure a job in the private sector in Paris/Brussels before Brexit, which seemed like a pretty wise move. Except they all, with no exception, discovered that their qualifications (Oxbridge degrees, mostly, in History, PPE, MFL) couldn’t get them a single interview. Not a chance without some sort of vocational Masters, and even then

It does seem that Durham has been getting steadily worse in their treatment of applicants over the time I've been on here. My own university used to feature on here for the same type of problem (late offers, poor communication). I used to despair because I knew it didn't reflect how the students would be treated once they came. Our admissions were handled centrally and it took a few cycles for the central admissions staff to get up to speed with treating the applicants like people rather than numbers. It looks as though this is a process Durham is not quite getting right. Rejecting a university because of the admissions department that you will never deal with again may be shortsighted.

I agree, chemenger. Poor management of the admissions process is poor PR for the university as a whole even though it may not be any reflection of the reality of management of the rest of the university.

So are there any thread regulars still waiting for Durham offers or are they all out now whether offer or rejection and it's just a case of deciding whether to firm, insure or not use at all now?

It might be short sighted, but I guess that if that's the only experience you've had so far of the institution, and others have been more positive, I guess it's hard not to take a view?

LSE can often be a long Admissions process but they do send quite long standardized update emails just to keep you feeling as if they care.

I couldn’t disagree more - the admissions team will be picking up on the ethos of the university.

At my university I am fairly sure the admissions team is a law unto itself.

I believe one or possibly both of coleoptera's DT's didn't even get an acknowledgement 'we've got your application' email.

At my university I am fairly sure the admissions team is a law unto itself.

Yes, I can believe it!

All their marketing people need to do to get a level of feedback and a sense of reputation damage is lurk on The Student Room.

Sensible Universities seem to task someone to monitor and to post occasionally, including correcting some of the dafter theories that can start gaining circulation when there is an information vacuum.

DS’s sixth form are not complimentary about Durham.

What do they not like about Durham, Bowchica?

I think it’s based on experiences reported back to them by their students. I should add that my relative went there too and I don’t think they were overwhelmed by the experience. Having said that doors have swung open for them since graduating.

I assume some of the problems have their roots in the massive increase in worldwide demand for places at top US Universities. Both Asian and European students will be tempted to hedge their bets but applying to Universities in the QS top 50 in other countries, and then making a late decision based on what they were offered. As Maria has suggested to a large extent this decision then becomes an investment decision based on the international reputation of the University and course.

So we know students who have pondered over: Brown/LSE, Kings/HongKongU, Harvard/Cambridge, TrinityDublin/FrenchUni and so on. Because of different application processes and wait lists, it is likely that many of these applicants will hang onto UK places until the very last minute.

Application numbers will have risen for top Universities because worldwide demand has risen, but perhaps also because these students are applying to more places. Managing numbers (75% of LSE students are non UK - and I assume there are similar ratios on at least some courses at other top Universities) and keeping UK students on board is tricky, which is why the LSE emails which aim to tell you where your application is but in fact tell you nothing, have gained a level of notoriety.

Perhaps time for Durham to start trying to see things from an applicants perspective.