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 was a response to your patronising of other posters Maria, not an offensive.

On the basis of those young people I know at McKinseys through my DC, then the answer would be no particular qualifications required. Hence my question. 'Strategy consultancy' is a very broad church of course....

I’m no fan of strategy consulting - been there, done that, seen its limitations and the devastating consequences of getting young and ignorant people to collectively take nation changing decisions. My opinion is that the Big Three (and I worked at one of them) recruit very clever people but only hold on to those that aren’t quite clever enough to see through the BS!

Coleoptera, glad to hear that your DT2 had a good time at Durham. He will be absolutely shattered this weekend, after three such long days. Hope the visits help him decide on his firm and insurance choices soon.

BBC radio 2 Jeremy Vine - talking about unconditional offers.

Am out and about but thought it might be interesting - I’ll listen to it later.

Apologies, that was likely of not much interest to this Durham thread so have reposted this under another thread that someone has set up about the same subject. It was interesting though!

Coleoptera Glad the weather didn’t put your son off, up there today and it was lovely.

However he would be in the position of having grades in hand so even if he goes the gap year route if he were to reapply his gcses would be of less significance. Although it's great that he has his first choice college.

He liked what he saw and has been allocated a college which ticks the boxes for him - I think my advice would have the phrase 'bird in the hand...' in it, were I to be advising one of ours in this situation. And investigating the possibility of postgraduate study at Oxford / Cambridge, if they still really fancied going there once rhey had got into their undergraduate studies.

Coleoptera I would tell him to go for Durham too. In the nicest way, there will be lots of Oxbridge rejects there - he can have a laugh about it with everyone. There seems too many if/buts and a potentially wasted year otherwise. Durham is in a gorgeous area of the country too.

@Coleoptera my concern would be that even with top grades he might not get an oxford offer next year and may not necessarily get his choice of Durham either.

Tricky decision, good luck to him.

Glad to hear he enjoyed Durham . Hope he gets the grades for it . Only problem with going for Oxbridge again is of course going through the whole palaver and as others have pointed out even with the grades there’s no guarantee of a place . That said if he’s one of those people who considers its worth another go and will always be thinking ‘ what if ‘ if they don’t then go ahead . Good luck .

In my mind, this would be too much of a risk, I fear.

According to some high academic profile rejections and the bizarre manner of student selection this year, he may have been 'lucky' to receive an offer with his academic profile. He may not be so 'lucky' next year, especially with his college allocation.

I agree - there is a real risk that he gets offers from neither Oxford nor Durham if he reapplies. Obviously he might also get offers from both, or one of the two only

A vote for gap year here! An extra years maturity, plus some useful life experiences and some work experience does not do anyone any harm.

Has other DT decided between Exeter and Warwick?

There's potential for enormous harm Needmoresleep, if DT2 misses Oxford again (and his GCSEs will still be scored at Oxford) and then Durham rejects him a second time round, which can and does happen. Put that into the mix with his first choice college and an offer from a really exceptionally good department then it seems almost a no brainer.
It's a real shame he can't let the idea of Oxford go.

Coleoptera I think DT2 has too rosy an idea of Oxford and also doesn't get quite how similar an experience he'll have at Durham. Oxford isn't a different creature. It would worry me greatly as a parent that he was so fixated on it - although how you demystify Oxford I really don't know. All I can say is that this seems to be a really good offer for him and given the wobbliness of the admissions decisions at Durham this year he may be unlucky next. It's a gamble I wouldn't encourage any of mine to take, although of course ultimately it's their life etc etc.

Stranger. How would you know. All your DCs went to Oxford. There may not be a big difference but a lot of people believe there is.

Yes there is a risk, but I belive it is worth taking if the alternative is a lifetime of regret. I am also convinced the gap year and the extra years maturity really helps. Many DC we knew also slightly changed their ideas of what they wanted to study. Not least some who had ruled out UCL first time round were much more open second.

DDs course claimed not to allow deferrals so she is probably the only one who did, though others came in after reapplying. She has no regrets at all that she had a year out to do non academic things. It is worth considering.

But as always will bow to the MN guris and accept there is a risk of "enormous harm".

In our family, all three children applied to Durham as one of their choices.
DC1 applied in year 13, including Oxford and Durham. Rejected from Oxford, accepted offer from Durham, but then decided to take gap year and try again for Oxford with grades in hand. This of course required a second round of UCAS, Durham was again put down as a choice. She was successful this time round at Oxford (despite her achieved grades being less stellar than her predictions!), but Durham rejected her. Went to Oxford.

DC2 applied in year 13, including Oxford, Durham and Warwick. Rejected from former two, accepted offer from Warwick. Decided to take gap year to reapply to all three. Rejected again from Oxford, and from Warwick....offer from Durham in March. Went to Durham.

DC3 applied in year 13, including Oxford and Durham. Pulled out of Oxford when invited for interview due to ongoing chronic health issue. Offer from Durham accepted. After A2s wrote to Durham to ask to defer a year to try to resolve health issues. They were entirely happy to do so. Went to Durham after gap year, health issues flared back up very early on, Durham happy to defer entry for another year, no need to reapply again, even though she was able to make another application through UCAS to universities closer to home. Got offers from all of them. In May decided to accept a London option and reject Durham.

Point of all that was to show that there is absolutely no certainty from one year to the next as to whether you will get an offer and that the TantalisingDuck family is a glutton for punishment with UCAS - 6 applications between 3 children! Don't think any of them regretted their year off, it variously enabled much more non-curricular reading and prep for the Oxford applications, involved learning a language, travel and work and a breather from health issues.....

My concern, specific to coleoptera's DS, which I hope she doesn't mind me saying, and based on her posts over the months, is how her DT would manage another rejection. I think his character might be to fixate on something and then struggle to process a negative outcome. Please accept my apologies of course if this is not the case.

So yes, deferring may well be a positive option for some - would it be the case in this specific circumstance?

Justanothermile yes, that was why I suggested that there might be potential for real harm . This is not about the merits or otherwise of gap years generally - and where there's a deferred offer a young person is happy to accept (as with Needmoresleep's DD), then there's no additional re-application stress - but all about DT2. Coleoptera has written a good deal about DT2 and his nature and how he currently feels which is possibly why he's endeared to a fair number of people on these threads, and why I'd worry for him in the event of a second rejection and no Durham offer as back up. tantalisingduck's DC1 was one of those student's one hears about where Durham offered in Y13 but rejected subsequently. It happens. That would be a really bad situation for DT2.

‘he had this lifelong, normal desire for a 'child' to follow in his parent's footsteps’

Lol. I did everything not to follow in my parents’ footsteps. My Dds are the same. It is lovely that he wants to.