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

[Parsley65]

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?

Mine visited Oxford first with school, then Cambridge. Loved Oxford, found Cambridge a bit too small and crowded, so that made the decision of which of the two to apply for. Other uni trips - DH went with him to Durham, which he unequivocally hated, and Edinburgh, which he loved, and we both went to Exeter, which he felt blah about (particularly about the course he wanted to study). He also had Cardiff as one of his five choices (which were largely determined by offering the combined honours course he wanted to do), but we didn't have time to visit.

He firmed Oxford and had Edinburgh as insurance. He is about to start at Oxford on Monday. Fingers crossed he likes it as much as he did on visits and interviews. So, to answer the question, yes - love at first sight!

All three of mine knew 'the one' as soon as they saw it. They also rejected others for no other reason than disliking the general feel and atmosphere of the place, quite apart from course details etc. I liken it to buying a house - you just know when something is right/wrong.

I always think that it’s a bit like house buying, there’s one that is the one. Many moons ago I looked at Southampton, then Sussex then Cardiff. It wasn’t very long after walker my into the Psychology building in Cardiff that I knew I was going to go there.

That was supposed to say ‘walking into’

Are people already going to open days if only just started A levels??

Yes, DS2 is. Leeds the Saturday just gone, UEA booked for the 20th, leaving the Saturday afternoon free for a good rummage around Norwich's secondhand and charity shops. We missed out on those in Leeds, but did find a Thai cafe where the Massaman curry met with his approval. He loved the university, too. It may give UEA and Norwich (previously visited and fallen in love with on DD's applicant day back in February) a run for their money.

(Pre-empting the obvious comments - yes, he is actually considering the course content as well...).

@Parsley65 My DD also loved Cardiff which was our first open day. It ticked a lot of boxes for her - a city university which somehow manages to have a campus feel (so best of both worlds), a proper city (much bigger than Exeter) but not too big (more charming than Leeds), easy access to coast and countryside (for days out). We visited on a lovely sunny day and Cardiff looked fab. Nowhere else really measured up after that - dd didn’t even want to get out of the car when we arrived at Warwick (middle of nowhere), she also rejected Bath as too far out of town. I think it’s no bad thing to visit a place and get a feel for it - we live abroad so DD can’t easily pop home for the weekend. It’s also good to visit lots of places so you can satisfy yourself that your feeling it’s right. DD started at Cardiff two weeks ago and it’s going well - apart from the fact that it rains all the time A more pleasant surprise (for us!) has been how affordable it is (£5,000 a year in halls - and there are cheaper - compared with £8,000 for a friend down the road in Bristol).

@HoldMyLobster I had exactly the same experience! I had three very happy years at Bath and plan to move back there in a few years. Nothing beats that moment of driving down into the city ... except maybe when you come in on the train from London and see the view of the Abbey open up on your right just as you come out of a tunnel!

Both Cardiff and Loughborough are lovely, but very different in feel and situation. I think you need to get her to look at both and work out exactly what she liked and disliked, because, even if Cardiff is the one, she still needs an insurance and 3 others.

Maybe she didn't like the campus feel of Loughborough and wants a city uni? Cardiff is right next to the city centre and is a nice leafy campus, the city is quite compact. So she could look at other city centre universities in other medium sized cities like Leeds or Newcastle? Or a campus uni that is also close to a city, like York or Oxford Brooks? Or were there specific things she liked about the department or facilities at Cardiff that you can look for elsewhere?

Even if it's just that Cardiff felt right, there must be some specifics that she could look for in other universities.

Daffodil I always planned to move back, but haven't managed it yet. Maybe we'll retire there. I still get the same thrill when we drop our son off!

Oh I'd love to move back to Bath. I absolutely loved living there!

I'd be happy to go to Warwick if I could live in one of the beautiful houses on Stoneleigh Road. My son has had two athletics meets there this year, so we've had a chance to look at the campus (both in the winter months, when it did look a bit grim, and on a Sunday, too). I think it's ok, but I would (and did) prefer a city uni. I like Cardiff - I studied there. Liverpool and Leeds are fantastic, too. I know Exeter quite well and it has a lot going for it, as does York (also spent a year there). Reading has a nice campus, I hadn't realised it was quite such a short walk to the centre but it's a bit close to where we live.

DS had another athletics meet in Swansea in the summer (staying for two nights, so had a decent chance to look round) and ruled it out as a possible uni option.

As for it raining in Cardiff all the time, I don't disagree! But the amazing thing was, in my first year, I forgot to take a brolly with me when I returned after Christmas. I didn't need it for EIGHT weeks!

DS is at Cardiff and we live in Newcastle. The weather is ALWAYS better in Cardiff, and certainly warmer!!

@derekthe1adyhamster

Just read this thread. Snap! The minute DD set foot on the Penryn campus, she knew the search was over. Hope your DS has had a decent half term.

DD is 2nd year and feels that the smaller lecture/ seminar groups compared with Exeter/other bigger unis is a huge plus.

The beach also contributes to the experience!

DD is year 13 and hated Cardiff (also for Psychology) but is looking for a campus uni. She loved Birmingham, immediately but my eldest had been there some years before so she was a bit familiar with it. She liked Nottingham (hopefully will be her insurance) and quite liked Exeter and Southampton. UCAS application to go in soon but I think if she didn't get an offer from Birmingham, Exeter or Nottingham then she just won't go to uni this year.

@zzzzzzzx your daughter's choices sound very similar to my daughter's. She is in her 2nd year at Exeter (psychology) and had Nottingham as her reserve option. She also applied to Birmingham, Southampton and Leeds.

My DD wouldn't apply to Leeds as we are in Wiltshire (Nottingham is the cut off), doesn't want to go to London and doesn't want to go too far (but further than Bristol and Bath). She still needs a fifth choice though, so considering either Warwick or Exeter again for the Psychology degree course with a year placement. Is your DD enjoying it? Is she doing the degree with placement or the 3 year course and did she get the standard AAA offers from Exeter and Birmingham?

She got the standard AAA offers from Birmingham, Exeter and Leeds and the standard AAB offers from Nottingham and Southampton. Couldn't decide for ages between Birmingham and Exeter, so we went back to both for the offer holders' open day in Feb.

Just before the Exeter visit, they reduced the offer to AAB. Lots of things went wrong at the Birmingham open day (one of the talks wasn't in the room they said it would be and none of the staff could find it) whereas the Exeter day went very smoothly. She was impressed with what they said about how they could support her dyslexia. And the weather was beautiful so she got to see the campus at its best. She also knew that lots of girls from her school had unconditional offers from Birmingham and she didn't want to go somewhere with lots of people from school, as she wanted a new start.

All those things combined into giving her a preference for Exeter so she made that her firm choice. That meant there was less pressure for her A levels, but she had no meaningful reserve option.

She is doing the standard 3 year course and is very happy. There are options to change course midway through. She loves the area and being able to get a short train journey to Dawlish or Teignmouth.

LllianGish: at least give correct info about universities. If you had taken a moment to look at accommodation costs at the University of Bristol you would have found there is accommodation at £5000 pa and under! There is precious little at £8000 pa. Most sits in between the two price points. Giving the impression that the gap is £3000 is unfair and not accurate.

Thank you. That's interesting that they lowered her offe after for Exeter. I didn't know that eve happened! DD is quite set on Birmingham but hopefully she will get offers from Birmingham, Nottingham and Exeter and we will revisit them open minded. I am a bit anti Exeter as my dad lived close to Exeter and we spend a week at Exeter hospital earlier this year when he was suddenly diagnosed with cancer and died within a 10 day period. The whole experience was obviously like a nightmare and I feel like I never want to see Exeter again! However, I may just have to get over that and I'm sure I will.

@HoldMyLobster same here. I'd been to 4 big industrial cities for interviews, which I thought I wanted, then stepped off the train in Bath on a frosty, sunny day, and sat on the little bus that goes up Bathwick Hill thinking how absolutely stunning it was and just knew that was where I wanted to be.

@zzzzzzzx I understand entirely your feeling about Exeter. I never want to go back to Gloucester for a similar reason.

DS fell in love with Leeds, the city, the lecturers he met, was lukewarm about the others. Cardiff is a lovely city.