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Higher education

Talk to other parents whose children are preparing for university on our Higher Education forum.

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Original poster

To fall in love with the first university you visit on open day!

48 replies

Parsley65 · 29/09/2019 18:34

Just started doing the open day rounds with Dd. She's in L6. We visited Cardiff a couple of weeks ago and she fell in love! We stayed a couple of nights to get a flavour of the place and she absolutely wants to go there. No bad thing, as I'm hoping it will motivate her to work hard. She led the day, asked the questions, set the timetable. We walked over 10 miles and she didn't complain! I was impressed (and exhausted!)
Last week we went to Loughborough and it was like taking a different person. When asked what she didn't like I got 'it's not Cardiff.'
I'm hoping for something different this weekend when we go to Sussex. After that we'll have a break and see what predicted grades she gets - she wants to do psychology with a placement.
Funnily enough Ds also fell in love on his first visit too (Bath). Is this a thing?

OP posts:

Teenangels · 29/09/2019 18:44

My son hated Loughborough and I mean hated it, we left early. He liked Bath, Exeter and was so/so about Bristol!
The uni he loved is the one he is at, and they also offered him a bursary which sealed it for him.
It’s a Thing

choirmumoftwo · 29/09/2019 19:38

DS loved Cardiff which was his first visit, then wavered when he went to Sheffield on his last visit, then chose Cardiff after all and is just starting second year. He loves it and it's a great student city. Relatively cheap as well!
DD loved St Andrews but then Lancaster blew that out of the water and Glasgow a close second. She hated Edinburgh on sight with a passion!

schoolcook · 29/09/2019 19:47

We also went to Cardiff and totally fell in love !
We've lived in Wales and DS was born there but somehow never been to Cardiff.
I'm all ready to go with him but I have other kids and wider family where I live now 🤣
Bournemouth and Surrey are next on the list but they're both insurance choices for DS.

RedHelenB · 29/09/2019 20:01

No dd2 hated Nottingham which was the first one we visited. I do think you get a feel for the " one" though, which is why I woujd always say visit as many as you can.

derekthe1adyhamster · 29/09/2019 20:04

Yep, DS loved the Falmouth campus of Exeter university. He never visited another one and started there 2 weeks ago.

olympicfan · 29/09/2019 20:06

DS fell in love with Reading University but mainly the course when we visited. So he is putting all his eggs in one basket and applying for just one course on his UCAS - BSc Meteorology at Reading. It has the only meteorology dept in the country and luckily, at open day they said everyone applying gets an offer. He just has to meet that offer!

tommyshaircut · 29/09/2019 20:09

Ds hated Liverpool and Leeds. He couldn't say why, it just didn't feel right. Lancaster was the first we looked at and he moved in to halls there yesterday.

oneteen · 29/09/2019 20:23

I do think DC's get a gut feeling for a Uni...My DD did a lab day at Warwick in Yr12 (most DC who did the Lab day were Yr13) ...she loved the experience but was very open-minded about Uni options. Yr13 and she were fairly certain that Edinburgh was a major consideration...but we went to an open day at Warwick and the flame was relit ...DD had a shortlist but it seemed that she knew what she was looking for and some Uni's we visited were discounted very quickly and I actually could see the reasoning very quickly too.

It's far easier (less stressful) to have a firm achievable choice ...cuts down costs of looking around and the DC have a firm goal!

AnotherNightWatering · 29/09/2019 21:04

Funnily enough Ds also fell in love on his first visit too (Bath).
Exactly the same happened to me at Bath 30 years ago!

Ginfordinner · 29/09/2019 21:08

Our first university visit was Warwick, and DD hated it. The second visit was Newcastle and DD loved it. She hated York and Bristol, was meh about Nottingham and Manchester. Liked Leicester and thought Lancaster was OK.

She started at Newcastle last week.

HappyParent2000 · 29/09/2019 21:08

I remember falling in love with Liverpool the moment I got there.

All others after that were pointless, but I still went to see them. Everything was “it’s not Liverpool after that.

Met my partner there and it’s been a destination for many a city break.

BubblesBuddy · 29/09/2019 21:58

I think if you like a city university, Loughborough might not float your boat. It’s quite out in the wilds! I do think it’s worth doing a for and against for all universities visited but often knowing where you will fit in tends to be “that feeling” on the initial visit.

Sussex is on the outskirts of Brighton. So essentially campus with a lively town on the doorstep.

I would ask all the universities how many grads actually go on to train as Pschyologists. If she really, really, wants this work, that’s the key stat. Many just don’t achieve this.

AtiaoftheJulii · 29/09/2019 22:55

Ds wasn't interested in open days, but when he said he'd seen a prospectus and the Manchester course looked good, I signed us up for the open day - he lived it there, and would have been happy not to look at anywhere else! I basically made him go to one other with his sister, and he did apply to 5 places, but he wasn't interested in the rest of them and has just started at Manchester.

My older girls - no, they both chose a favourite after visiting a few.

crazycrofter · 01/10/2019 00:18

Parsley65 My dd has already decided she wants to do Psychology at Cardiff and she’s only in year 11! She’s never even visited the uni or studied psychology

Ginfordinner · 01/10/2019 06:14

DD really wanted to do psychology A level, having never studied the subject before.

She hated it, and dropped it after AS levels.

Fifthtimelucky · 01/10/2019 07:05

The first university I went to visit with my younger daughter was Cardiff. She loved it. However a week later we went to Exeter, at which point she decided that she definitely wanted a campus university. Then went to Birmingham and she was torn between that and Exeter. Wasn't interested in going to see anywhere else, and we didn't even go to look at what became her reserve option. Went back to Birmingham and Exeter though and she finally plumped for Exeter which is where she is now.

The older one loved the look of the Manchester course. We went to visit and the course sounded great, but she hated it. I know other people there who love it.

Just as well all our children like different things!

Fisharesexierthanme · 01/10/2019 07:08

olympicfan my ds is doing the met degree at Reading. It's good. It's a tiny department with very few undergrads but is phenomenally funded as it's the biggest meteorology research dept the country and therefore has a very high staff to student ratio. I haven't heard any negatives about the teaching staff either. Your ds could look at Leeds and UEA as they also do meteorology undergrad degrees as does Glasgow I believe.

Shimy · 01/10/2019 13:39

The first university DS visited was Sussex. He loved it and after that he visited, Nottingham & Loughborough, didn't like any o f them. He was determined to go to Sussex. Then at the last minute we decided to add Cardiff to his choices but not in time for him to do a visit. Come applicant day and well went to Cardiff together. He fell in love and never mentioned Sussex again. He is now at Cardiff.

HoldMyLobster · 01/10/2019 15:02

Exactly the same happened to me at Bath 30 years ago!

And me :-)

I remember driving down from the motorway, coming over the hill and seeing the city spread below.

AnotherNightWatering · 01/10/2019 19:04

Ginfordinner · 01/10/2019 19:51

DD didn't like Manchester either Fifthtimelucky

Shimy · 03/10/2019 09:28

@Ginfordinner
What is it your DD didn’t like about Manchester? (It seems a bit of a marmitish uni).

Ginfordinner · 03/10/2019 09:48

Too big. The need to use public transport. She prefers more compact cities that you can walk around easily. We live in a village and she wanted to be within walking distance of everywhere.

Shimy · 03/10/2019 10:44

I too found Manchester a little overwhelming when I visited for a family friend’s graduation. It felt stifling, the area bit crowded, easy to get lost in even though I’m comfortable and very familiar with London. Just couldn’t quite put finger on what I didn’t like about it.

ifonly4 · 03/10/2019 11:00

It's still early days. She may love Cardiff but in reality she knows there's a possibility she won't get in. Also, she can apply for up to five unis and if there are suitable courses, it makes sense to take advantage. Visit Sussex and then talk about options in the New Year. In reality you might not be able to get to all the option days (DD applied to one blind and two we just did a talk and walk/stayed overnight) but the more she sees the more she'll have a feel for wha she doesn/doesn't want.

The uni DD chose for her firm, she initially said she wasn't sure about the area, but with some thinking time the course and uni reputition took over.

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