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Higher education

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

Original poster

Durham University

998 replies

NotEnoughTime · 04/02/2020 14:18

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 Confused

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.

OP posts:
MarchingFrogs · 23/10/2020 19:21

DD got the impression that Collingwood was the most aggressively sporty college.

The home of the university lacrosse team?

KingscoteStaff · 23/10/2020 20:12

They’re pretty darn aggressive.

Revengeofthepangolins · 23/10/2020 20:14

I too find the Durham college stereotyping thing puzzling, given the new (as opposed to my day, croaks methuselah, when candidates applied to the college, not the university) system, particularly given the impression I got last spring (DS1 applying this year, so I was lurking for tips) that loads of people didn’t get the college they applied to. Is this actually that common, or is that one only hears about the people who are reallocated?

Revengeofthepangolins · 23/10/2020 20:16

And isn’t one of the biggest drivers the sharing rooms question?

bigTillyMint · 23/10/2020 21:34

@Revengeofthepangolins (great name!) I don’t get the impression that there are all that many shared rooms over all. But I may be completely wrong!

goodbyestranger · 23/10/2020 21:57

Collingwood is without any shadow of a doubt the most successful college in sporting terms, and therefore 'sporty' - it was miles ahead of all other colleges in the last round of intercollegiate competitions.

goodbyestranger · 23/10/2020 21:59

bigTillyMint there aren't that many shared rooms for first years at Collingwood but there really are quite a few at some of the other older colleges.

goodbyestranger · 23/10/2020 22:00

By older, I mean relatively older, so established before 1980 or so.

bigTillyMint · 24/10/2020 11:36

Ah, ok!

janinlondon · 24/10/2020 13:42

@bigTillyMint the breakdown of shared rooms etc is on this page - comparing all the colleges. If you want Bailey original site rooms in first year they are most likely to be shared.

Baytreemum · 24/10/2020 14:34

Castle and Hatfield have lots of single rooms in “newer” buildings as well as shared ones in the old parts so there are loads of first years who get their own (small!) space too. Not sure about Johns or Chads. Cuths has a lot of self-catering flats somewhere near Maiden Castle as well as some Bailey accommodation. It’s an amazing experience living on the Bailey, old or new, but extremely noisy, so there are advantages of living out of the centre. Also the hill and no doubt the newer colleges have more spacious facilities I think. Certainly Mary’s has a nice big dining hall.

janinlondon · 24/10/2020 16:45

Mary's dining hall is lovely!

janinlondon · 24/10/2020 16:45

And a view to die for....

Baytreemum · 24/10/2020 17:14

And Mildert has a nice lake?!!!

999caz · 24/10/2020 22:52

Can we get over the nonsense of ‘college with the best academic reputation’. Colleges in Durham are purely for living, socialising and being part of wider social community. They have no bearing of academia as teaching is through the university faculties. My son was originally given his ‘preferred’ college but reallocated as he put Durham as his insurance choice to study maths. He had an offer for Cambridge but narrowly missed one of his STEP grades (far exceeded the other). He has 12 grade 9’s at GCSE and 4 A stars at A level but as he didn’t ‘firm’ Durham he is in what some would consider a less aspirational college. He doesn’t care, as he knows those who view it in this way are the ones completely missing the point!

999caz · 24/10/2020 23:00

I should have said, his original choice was ‘Collingwood’ not because of its academic reputation (As that is not how the college system works in Durham) but because it had a great bar, pool tables and an Astro football pitch!

KingscoteStaff · 24/10/2020 23:35

@999caz you are absolutely right. The one thing I have heard from every 2nd or 3rd year is that a) their college is the best and b) their college suits them down to the ground. Many of our D.C. will have picked Durham because of the inclusive and welcoming nature of the collegiate system, so it’s good to see it working!

Jano69 · 24/10/2020 23:40

@999caz Our DS's have something in common - mine also had Durham as his insurance and narrowly missed out on his Cambridge offer.

The head of the college in question gave a speech at the open day saying their college had the best academic results, probably a load of rubbish but he was obviously taken in by it!

As Durham was his insurance choice, he took a place at a college he wouldn't have chosen but has been truly happy there and wouldn't want it any other way.

goodbyestranger · 25/10/2020 08:07

Can we get over the nonsense of ‘college with the best academic reputation’

Did anyone post anything about academic reputation? I've flicked back over the last page or two but can't see any discussion or confusion about it. The posts just seem to be about rahs and sport.

goodbyestranger · 25/10/2020 08:13

Also the current system isn't truly random. It only becomes random after a first preference is missed/ the allocations for the department in question are full. Thus if kids still believe Castle is rah, and like rah, then Castle will still fill up it's first tank of petrol with those rah leaning kids (etc).

Jano69 · 25/10/2020 08:14

It was me @goodbyestranger.

There was a discussion about why people choose certain colleges. DS was drawn to a very beautiful bailey college where the head of college said they had some of the best academic results. The college's website confirms 98.1% of students get firsts and 2:1s.

While this was a driver for DS putting this as his first choice, there were many other factors.

As you know, he narrowly missed his Cambridge offer and ended up at a college he's never even heard of! BUT very happy there and made wonderful friendships.

goodbyestranger · 25/10/2020 08:16

(Assuming that once the barrel of Castle first preferences is shaken up by the computer, the top layer consists mostly of rah leaning kids - but that may well be quite likely. Ditto Hatfield. Ditto sporty kids for Collingwood (etc)).

goodbyestranger · 25/10/2020 08:21

Oh ok Jano69! I didn't persevere hard enough then :) To be fair to the head of the college in question, I would expect the statistics these days to show a very, very high percentage of students get firsts and 2.1s at every college. The percentage getting firsts would be more of a test. But as the pp said, that has nothing to do with the college itself. Although if a peculiarly high number of firsts was a well known feature of any college, it might be self-perpetuating in the same qualified way as described above. Although I can't myself see why it would be an attraction in the way sport might be....

goodbyestranger · 25/10/2020 08:24

Very glad to hear your DS is so settled. This is an especially beautiful time of year in Durham. This and then May with the bluebells and wild garlic.

Jano69 · 25/10/2020 08:26

@goodbyestranger I agree. A few days ago I mentioned Stevo gets a great mix of students because most people who end up there didn't get their first choice, say 1 "rah", 1 sporty, 1 chorister, 1 who wants to go to the college where 98.1% get top degrees, and they find themselves in a melting pot where they find they all get on famously.