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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:
KevinBaconHoofDressing · 14/02/2020 21:28

DD’s offer came two days ago. We’d just about forgotten about Durham to be honest!

oneteen · 14/02/2020 21:35

@strawberrieshortcake Not sure exactly what course but Gov/Politics - and Durham state in their contextual blurb that they look at: Your current or most recently attended school is classified as a UK state school - when making contextual offers.

Hoghgyni · 14/02/2020 21:40

^To be eligible for an offer under this scheme you must meet at least two of the three following criteria:

Your home address postcode is classified as Quintile 1 of POLAR4 LPN
Your home address postcode is classified as ACORN 4 or 5
Your current or most recently attended school is classified as a UK state school^

So not just based on attending a state school.

oneteen · 14/02/2020 21:45

I really do not have a clue how Durham makes their contextual offers because DD's friend attended an Indie school for GCSE's and now goes to an average at the best 6th form college (which is on all contextual lists). It cant be on postcode because she lives in a Quintile 5 location.

Hoghgyni · 14/02/2020 21:49

DD's friends who have also received reduced offers don't meet at least 2 of these criteria so there do seem to be plenty of reduced offers floating around. DD's offer email doesn't actually say that it's contextual either, so it may or may not have been made out of pity.

Yes, DD is also holding an offer from Oxford, but until she has 5 offers or rejections in hand and has pressed the button on her firm & insurance choices, I can't say for certain what she will do. One thing I have learnt over the past 18 years is to never make assumptions about what she will do.

KingscoteStaff · 14/02/2020 21:50

Misandei, no interview for my DS and although he does loads of extra curricular stuff, he only mentioned it very briefly in his PS. I shouldn’t think his school’s ref wasted many words on it, either.

oneteen · 14/02/2020 21:55

@Hoghgyni - Your DD does, however, qualify for a contextual offer on all three accounts I assume?

goodbyestranger · 14/02/2020 21:59

Misandei Durham doesn't interview on the whole. DD4 does a lot of sport and a lot of other stuff and ticks a lot of the standard boxes that people always say Durham likes but again, two sentences at the end of the personal statement. The school reference did mention a bit of that sort of stuff though.

goodbyestranger · 14/02/2020 22:00

oneteen I think she does, in that she qualified for UNIQ.

goodbyestranger · 14/02/2020 22:02

Although to be fair Durham could give a reduced offer to an applicant who qualified for a contextual offer without it being a contextual offer. But then they want to give out plenty of contextual offers so why not class it as a contextual offer :)

goodbyestranger · 14/02/2020 22:03

I don't see contextual offers as 'pity' offers either.

DietCocoaBreak · 14/02/2020 22:09

@Hoghgyni you sound very angry about this - who (other than you) is talking about 'pity offers'?

It's very easy to lose perspective during this process. Perhaps it's time to remind your DD that she has at least 2 excellent offers on the table that she should be proud of, regardless of the accommodation they come with. She is in a much more privileged position than thousands of others who would be very grateful to have the same opportunities.

Hoghgyni · 14/02/2020 22:32

Actually Goodbye & Oneteen she doesn't.

goodbyestranger · 14/02/2020 22:43

Sorry Hoghgyni it was one teen who said three whereas I thought from your past posts it would be two - which is sufficient of course.

Misandei · 14/02/2020 23:05

@goodbye & @KingscoteStaff DD will be pleased to hear that. We honestly thought nearly everyone had rigorous interviews and piled of extras. It seems they just concentrate on grades. Oh well!

Hoghgyni · 14/02/2020 23:13

I've never been to the university so I don't know what difference being in a hill college makes. That was what she was hoping for, but not self catered, in the same way as some want a campus and others want a city centre university. It's simply made other options she has look more attractive. It will save me a fortune in petrol!

strawberrieshortcake · 14/02/2020 23:14

@oneteen well it is very clear on their website what they offer contextual offers for. If you dd’s friend doesn’t meet those conditions then she didn’t get a contextual offer.

I think it’s easy to mistake all lowered grades as contextual offers when in reality universities can offer lower grades for any reason at all.

She may have got a reduced offer based on high predicted grades or low demand for the course. ( I wouldn’t consider Gov/politics a very competitive course anywhere except for maybe LSE and UCL).

Many of the people my DD know got reduced offers for psychology and geography last year from Durham - not contextual offers but because it seems demand wasn’t high enough for those courses so they lowered grades to entice them.

Hoghgyni · 14/02/2020 23:23

& apologies for sounding short tempered tonight. It's been a very long day dealing with a totally unnecessary major incident at work & I can't snarl at the person who really does deserve it. (Whereas none of you do Flowers.)

oneteen · 15/02/2020 00:25

@strawberrieshortcake - The lower offer certainly wasn't for high predicted grades...she is a part-time carer - so that may have been a factor - she received a very early offer which could have been reduced - although she states its contextual. I've had a quick look at the offer to application rate and it's 48% (Geography/Psychology 84%), so I'd still say it's fairly competitive. My point earlier, was that a contextual offer can be made to a DC who previously attended an Indie school who now attends a State school - admittedly providing they meet the postcode criteria.

goodbyestranger · 15/02/2020 08:11

Misandei it doesn't seem correct to say that Durham relies solely on grades since there are some very odd looking rejections of applicants with very high grades. One of those applicants from our school asked for feedback (in fact the HT asked for feedback) and was told that her personal statement was very bland. the same applicant had been turned down by Oxbridge and the feedback was pretty much the same in relation to the interview. Also, a lot can be said in a sentence or two in relation to extra curricular achievements!

Hoghgyni I completely understand the frustration at not getting catered if that's what she wanted.

strawberrieshortcake · 15/02/2020 08:17

Well @oneteen I wonder why you didn’t mention that she was a carer before? That is clearly a big factor and gives here a disadvantage over others who do not have to care for anyone along side their school work.

I don’t understand what point you are making. There is no university in the UK which will give someone a contextual offer just because of going to a state school. Presumably if switching to a state school for sixth form from an indie was such a great advantage everybody would be doing it. But they don’t because simply going to a state school won’t get you a contextual offer from anywhere unless you also have other contextual factors.

goodbyestranger · 15/02/2020 08:18

one teen my understanding was that all the very early reduced offers from Durham were contextual. Since the offer relates to A level grades if an applicant now attends a state school even if they didn't for GCSE and lives in an area with a low rate of progression to higher education or a depressed area then fair enough I'd have thought.

Tinseltrauma · 15/02/2020 08:31

@Hoghgyni DS started at Durham last September. Though he applied for, and luckily got, a Bailey catered college, I totally agree with @Jano69, once they are there they fall in love with their college very quickly and wouldn't want to be anywhere else. Must admit that when we were repeatedly told this on open day we were a bit sceptical but DS reports that this is true, certainly from the perspective of his new found friends and acquaintances . The only moan any of them seem to have is that it is a further walk on nights out!

Hoghgyni · 15/02/2020 08:31

Hoping today will be a better day than yesterday, but that depends upon whether DD's Easyjet flight stays on track or ends up somewhere like Brussels instead of the UK.

Misandei · 15/02/2020 08:44

Goodbye Yes I agree. I wasn’t meaning to imply a good PS doesn’t count. It’s just dd had thought that Durham’s selection procedure was akin to Oxbridge with additional tests, interviews, tons of extra curriculars I.e head of xyz in 5 different places. She has good content to put on her CV and decent extra curriculars but had thought she wouldn’t stand a chance at all.