Durham University

[NotEnoughTime]

Hello.

How many of us are waiting for their DC to hear back from Durham? My DS applied back in October last year and is getting very down now he knows that others who have received offers are being informed that they will be told soon re college allocations.

I am usually a 'no news is good news' type of person but even I am finding it hard to be upbeat as I too am fed up

I wish they would just let him me know soon if he is going to get an offer or a rejection and then he can get on with his life and his A Level revision without this hanging over him.

@MarchingFrogs Thanks so much for that link! What a relief!

Message from the Vice-Chancellor, Monday 20 April
Some recent news reports, including in Palatinate and The Times, have suggested that Durham’s plans to enhance online teaching imply an ambition to scrap tutorials and abandon live lectures here in Durham. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Over the past year we have opened a wonderful new Teaching and Learning Centre on South Road and a state of the art Sport and Well-being Park at Maiden Castle. We have also revamped our Assembly Rooms student theatre. Later this year we will open two new Colleges at Mount Oswald and a very large new home for Mathematics and Computer Science at Upper Mountjoy. We haven’t made these investments with a view to walking away from our Collegiate residential model.

The University is already looking forward to welcoming our new students to Durham for induction week on 28 September 2020 and to beginning face to face teaching on 5 October, the first day of our Michaelmas Term. We are particularly excited about meeting those who will join South College, Durham's seventeenth college and the first addition to our collegiate family since 2006. Freshers and returning students from increasingly diverse backgrounds will enjoy the world class teaching and superb wider student experience that make Durham such a tremendous place to learn, grow and make friends for life.

Of course, we are also working hard to ensure that our high quality teaching offer is ready to go ‘online’ in the event that lockdown continues throughout 2020. And we are keen to embrace excellence in pedagogy in all its forms. However, our diligent preparation for a worst case scenario should not be mistaken for pessimism. We cherish Durham's distinctive blend of academic excellence and outstanding sport, music, theatre, enterprise and volunteering just as much as you do. We call it the Durham Difference and we would not surrender any of it voluntarily.

Stuart Corbridge
Vice-Chancellor and Warden

There's a 'virtual offer holders' day' on Thursday. DS did the Manchester one yesterday and was really enthused!

Has anyone else’s DC received an invitation to join a Facebook group for their new college? DS doesn’t want to start getting to know people just in case his grades go pear shaped...

Hello everyone , have had a month off mumsnet as I was finding it all very stressful . Still stressed but decided to come back where at least others understand the stress . Ds pretty much decided to firm Durham and insure St Andrews , still wondering though if St Andrews might be the better choice in the current circumstances .

Welcome back Pease! I am planting and nurturing a lot of seeds as an investment in the future! Definitely stress-squashing.

Hi Peaseblossom, why do you think St Andrew's might be a better choice in the current circumstances?

DS2 has firmed Durham with York for insurance.

I don’t know really , smaller , has a good reputation for looking after it’s students . Also if year 1 is a disaster or online there are still another three plus a broader degree which might make you more agile .

All good points. And free golf, of course.

Inclined to agree Pease. Might be even smaller if a number of overseas students stay away.

Sounds good.

Is there anyone here who’s dc has applied to study Management @Durham? Have DN who’s in a quandary over wether Durham or St Andrews is best.

HappyBdayCaptnTom love your user name :)
Is your DN on TSR (The Student Room) website? If not I suggest s/he might have some luck on there talking to students who are currently taking the Management course at Durham or St. Andrews.
My own DS is (hopefully) starting at Durham this September (not studying Management though) and is very much looking forward to it. Durham has an excellent reputation. I don't know much about St. Andrews but it is supposed to be excellent too.
Best of luck to your DN with their decision.

Thanks , i'll get her to ask on there, i don't know wether she's on there already or not. Just noticed my typo of who's instead of whose.
Good luck to your DS, great university.

@HappyBdayCaptnTom not management but my Ds is struggling with the same decision.

Thank you Happy

It's a tough one Pease but both fab places to study so I'm sure the decision made will be a great one regardless

Apparently, the course at Durham is 3 yrs with a placement, the same course at St Andrews is 4yrs with no placement, yet Andrews is no.1 for her course. I'm was hoping there might be some Mners in the exact same position so I told her i'll ask.

@PosyRosie just to update, my dd has, after a lot of research and thinking time, finally firmed her offer for Theology & Religion at Durham. She never heard anything back from the Philosophy department as to why she got rejected and got a referral from Theology, but to be honest, she's been pretty impressed by the Theology department, they have been very communicative, helpful, and persuasive! So she's going for it, firmed Durham, insurance is Uni of Birmingham.

@nipersvest That’s great for her, I’m glad that they have been so friendly and helpful and that she is happy with her choice, my DD was impressed with them at Open Day. Unfortunately she won’t be coursemates with my DD as she has gone totally the other way and decided she wasn’t happy with the road she was heading down. She has a real passion for languages but after starting back in sixth form at her school they weren’t able to offer Spanish A level, which she had originally enrolled on, due to low numbers. She learns Spanish and Czech in her spare time and I think lockdown just made her think more about what she really wants. Anyway, she took a chance and emailed a couple of modern languages departments who stated on their websites that they would consider candidates without a language A level, and Sheffield University said yes to her. She then had to be released from Durham and her insurance Edinburgh, enter UCAS Extra and now has a place at Sheffield to study Philosophy and Modern Languages!! It’s been a really stressful couple of weeks, she missed out on choosing accommodation at Sheffield so will end up with whatever she can get with clearing applicants, which is unsettling, but I think she has done the right thing for her. It seems crazy that after all of the writing and rewriting of personal statements, she could just send an email and that was it!

Good luck to everyone going to Durham, it seems like such a great place full of so many opportunities, just for DD it turned out the opportunity that she is seeking lies elsewhere.

Did anyone's child avoid a college due to the possibility of sharing a room in your first year with a complete stranger?

How willing do you have to be to share? It is making Ds worried about not being given the option.

I shared at uni in second year but I knew the person by then!

When I went (around a decade ago) you filled out a form to match you up with a roommate, so you need to be as honest as possible on that. On that form it asked how much to you want a shared room, and you put 1 to 5 depending on if you did or didn't (5 being yes definitely, 1 being not at all). I personally had a doctor note to back up my vote of not wanting to share, but out of all the people I know, no one who indicated they didn't want to share ended up sharing.

In my college at least there were many who were used to sharing at boarding school so didn't mind/wanted to, and there are also people who like the idea and want to try something new, they like the idea of having an immediate companion, someone to go to meals with etc.

So my advice is don't let it put you off. If you do have to share, and there are issues, there are ways of sorting it out - I know of people who switched, etc.

Obviously that's just my experience, and the method may have changed now/other colleges may do things differently, but I think it would be a huge shame to miss out on Durham for this one possibility!

That was for @EnidsCrochetCorner, forgot to tag!

@blosstree thank you for that. I am glad it asks you.

Ds has never shared a room unless we are on holiday. He is introvert and likes his own space (away from extrovert Ds2 ) and solitude. He needs time "in his head" so sharing may prove to be difficult with a stranger. Obviously by 2nd year he may feel differently.

I hadn't considered boarders who may be used to it or want it. I shared with my sister so I was desperate to have my own space and privacy for getting changed etc.

@EnidsCrochetCorner no worries! It's just my experience but hopefully helpful. In second year you generally move out into a student house, though I do know a few people who lived in college all three years.

Quite a few people move back into college for their final year - I did.

Again, this is just my experience of my college, but I don't think it differs too much across the uni. I was at a traditional college.

@EnidsCrochetCorner Hi there. My DD is at Durham and was allocated a shared room despite stating that she wasn’t willing to share. She contacted the relevant people expressing her disappointment and was moved to a single room. It was a definite no no for her. They do try to please everyone and those that shared got to change later anyway if they wanted to. This year it probably won’t be an issue as no international students so more room available.