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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:
par05 · 03/02/2021 23:32

Thank you @Beetlesand x

Chilldonaldchill · 04/02/2021 07:32

DD had the email and has not even had an offer. I think they must be sending it to everyone in batches.

MargaretThursday · 04/02/2021 09:51

@chopc

In previous years were Durham at all flexible with their offers on results day?
@chopc DD got in (2 years ago) missing her further maths A* by 2 marks. (it was put up on appeal-they'd missed marking a question)

The other thing is that they are renowned for being slow to decide. DD was lucky. She woke up to see she'd been accepted. But they'd only made that decision about 9pm the night before. Others (there was one on here I think) Durham hadn't made the decision in the morning, which leaves you in a worse mess than being rejected in a lot of ways because you can't go looking at clearing, sorting insurance accommodation out etc.

chopc · 04/02/2021 13:43

@MargaretThursday thanks for the input

chopc · 04/02/2021 14:16

For the current Durham parents - do your DC feel a sense of belonging to a college after the first year when they are no longer living in the college

SeasonFinale · 04/02/2021 18:38

Ok - brace yourself - I have mentioned this on the general 2021 thread but I have Durham offers coming through for NatSci

janinlondon · 05/02/2021 08:12

@chopc In answer to your questions about belonging to the college after first year, I think the overwhelming answer would be yes, but it will of course depend to some extent on how involved they were in first year. I think this may be considerably diminished in the time of covid. There is also the question of self catering or catered, and some of the newer colleges may not have the same emphasis on the collegiate identity? DD was a human stash advertisement for her college in first year, and still is as a finalist. All of her friends from other colleges were similarly branded up. I think DD will be a fierce Castlewoman till she dies. The Durham brand itself is also fairly influential and so that is worth considering...I leave you with this statistic: 72% of students from Durham University marry one another — a higher rate than at any other British university, which is typically around 18–20% (Independent, 2013)..

chopc · 05/02/2021 09:51

Thank you @janinlondon . You know that's what I thought when he got rejected from Cambridge - maybe he is supposed to meet his wife at Durham ☺️

Terfterfterf · 05/02/2021 17:08

@janinlondon that's fascinating! My in laws met at Durham...

Terfterfterf · 05/02/2021 17:19

I just told DS this statistic - his theory is that it's southerners in their own little enclaves who feel a bit out of place in the outside world in Durham and so make stronger bonds with other students than they might in other cities where there's a bigger mix of backgrounds.

Anyway, he's in a house share with 3 girls and 2 other boys next year so who knows what might happen! (To date, he has not yet kissed a girl...)

ChildOfFriday · 05/02/2021 21:40

@Terfterfterf

I just told DS this statistic - his theory is that it's southerners in their own little enclaves who feel a bit out of place in the outside world in Durham and so make stronger bonds with other students than they might in other cities where there's a bigger mix of backgrounds.

Anyway, he's in a house share with 3 girls and 2 other boys next year so who knows what might happen! (To date, he has not yet kissed a girl...)

I must be the exception to that then as a working class midlander who met my DH at Durham Wink
alterego2 · 06/02/2021 18:18

@chopc

Thank you *@janinlondon* . You know that's what I thought when he got rejected from Cambridge - maybe he is supposed to meet his wife at Durham ☺️
Well @chopc, my DH was rejected from Cambridge and we met at university, so you never can tell ...

(Should say - not Durham so one of the 18-20%)

Chilldonaldchill · 06/02/2021 19:07

Same happened to us - DH rejected from Cambridge but we met at uni (again not Durham).

chopc · 07/02/2021 15:10

Does anyone know if you can specify catered accommodation if choosing St. Cuth's?

Beetlesand · 07/02/2021 18:23

Dd is under the impression that once the college is assigned, you choose the type of accommodation (shared etc) /catered or self- catered (if applicable) later chopc. She may have got the wrong end of the stick though!

Crikeyblimey · 07/02/2021 19:13

@Beetlesand not sure you can ‘choose’ exactly but rather express a preference. Apparently they ask for a ‘pen picture’ of each student to try to align their accommodation type with their likes and dislikes etc.

Beetlesand · 07/02/2021 19:22

Ah ok.. useful to know .. thank you !Smile

KingscoteStaff · 07/02/2021 21:16

BEWARE KLAXON BEWARE
DS’s friend was desperate to avoid a shared room, so filled his ‘pen portrait’ with details of his love of trombone practice and his lack of tidiness. The accommodation office helpfully (or nemisisly) paired him up with a french horn player who did not make his bed for the whole of the first term...

Crikeyblimey · 07/02/2021 21:27

🤣🤣🤣 brilliant!

KingscoteStaff · 07/02/2021 21:38

...nem e sisly...

chopc · 07/02/2021 23:16

Thanks all. There was no option in the form DS had to fill for which St Cuth's site - in any case that's low down on his preferences so hopefully he will get allocated one above. Plus the fact he has chosen all catered for Halls would hopefully let the allocators know that he would like to be in a catered Hall

janinlondon · 08/02/2021 08:34

The forms for declaring a dedication to thrash metal, tendency not to sleep during hours of darkness, or penchant for naturism come, as I recall, after offers day. A lot of people seem to pay little attention to these and send off something quickly, but they are read (see @KingscoteStaff) very carefully indeed, and if you are good at it, you can basically specify the room you want to be allocated.

KingscoteStaff · 08/02/2021 08:59

Yes, jan is right - the room preference form came in August/September.

WinterRobin · 08/02/2021 14:38

@chopc the accommodation form comes after results day. My dd isn’t in Cuthberts, but another Bailey college . Hopefully it won’t be such a mess this year. My dd accepted her offer on results day and filled in the accommodation form, a questionnaire with likes and preferences. Her college guaranteed catered accommodation for all who met their offers on results day. However when the accommodation offer came through she had been placed in her colleges “overflow” accommodation which was normally reserved for post graduates and is uncatered about 12 minute walk from her college . She had to go on a waiting list for catered accommodation .
I think they were so overwhelmed this year by the CAGS mess up.

chopc · 08/02/2021 15:03

Thank you @WinterRobin . I don't know if they are doing things differently this year because of last year's experience