University 2020 :8: Use the CAGs, don’t use the CAGs...

[MillicentMartha]

...if you can use the mocks, then use the mocks but not if they're higher than the CAGs.

And hopefully on to university!

Old thread
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/higher_education/3993327-University-2020-7-Results-tombola-roll-up-roll-up-pick-a-prize?pg=39

@TerfTerfTerf have you seen this?

www.dur.ac.uk/study/ug/applicants/

Looks like good news. If your DS isn’t too worried about his college looks like it’ll all be done and dusted by 31st August.

D’oh, wrong link @TerfTerfTerf, should be this one.

www.dur.ac.uk/study/ug/applicants/2020update/

Hi, yes DS got the email today offering him a place this year but at a college and accommodation to be allocated on arrival. Does anyone know about the college-owned rooms outside colleges? @goodbyestranger maybe? He's having a think about it but I suspect he'll go for it (why would you reject a double bed en-suite at Langwith College, York???!) Anyway, his choice of course and I will just be happy with a decision!

Terf A friend said it was college arranged, not necessarily college owned.

Argh I heard "college-owned" - well, I thought I heard!! Oh well, not me that has to live in a hovel! (Hovel? Tha's lucky, we lived in a heap of gravel...etc etc)

My BF had to share a room with 3 others with 2 sets of bunk beds for her first few weeks at uni. Things can only have improved overvtye last 30 years!

I’m getting really anxious as my DD has not heard anything from UCL about the accommodation yet. She doesn’t seem worried at all.

OK, well whatever the size of bed, DS will want a double duvet, so I’m off today to buy duvet, pillows, and 2 x covers. My lovely year 6 parents gave me some John Lewis vouchers, so I can use them. They might even run to a bedside lamp!

I just came across this on FB from our local uni. I thought it was a great simple and clear explanation of how they are planning to respond to changes in Covid levels and I thought it might be of interest as I guess most unis will be doing similar

www.bath.ac.uk/publications/university-operating-levels/attachments/uob-operating-levels.pdf

TerfTerfTerf I don't know about college owned rooms in Durham, only about private lets. I'm not sure that colleges other than those on the Bailey do own rooms outside the main college building, so college arranged seems more likely.

The great thing about Durham is that it's extremely condensed - I'm struggling to think of rooms which would be outside Durham itself, I don't think that will happen. So the chances must be that your DS would be within the City, unlike some horror stories which came in about eg Bristol last year, placing students across the Severn Bridge.

I also have to say that in my experience (probably too ancient to be of much relevance) as well as DS4's (who left this summer), college choice or allocation is supremely unimportant at Durham. Your DS is doing a fun subject and isn't tied to labs etc so plenty of scope to try out new things, assuming the uni doesn't go over the top about restricting activities in the name of keeping young people safe.

I'm very biased (aka enthusiastic) about Durham. I don't think there's any contest between York and Durham, either as a place to be at uni or in terms of PPE (but I'm fairly superficial - I'd go for place over course any day :)).

Good luck to your DS.

My understanding from the accommodation office statement is that Durham uni will be housing students in rooms run by a private student accommodation company such as Unite. (Buildings operated by Unite in Durham are listed on the Unite webpage.)

This is the uni statement:
"Students in College-arranged accommodation will be housed in self-catered rooms in purpose-built student accommodation contracted by the University."

Just been given accommodation for Exeter. It’s 1/2 hr walk from business school in a very basic room & not near the city. Anyone know anything about St David’s? She is absolutely gutted especially as she has a disability. Anyone know how regular the shuttle buses are?

I'd assumed that would all be full ofteninaspin, but good if it's not. The purpose built private student accommodation that I've seen near Gilesgate is in a good position, close enough in to the centre (five mins walk to the Market Square?) and looks flash from the outside. Much smarter than anything my DC have ever been in.

St David's is the railway station area Badgerstmary, it's ok but not ideal.

DD finally got accommodation offered this week. Cheapest rooms, shared bathrooms, old style halls rather than the self contained flat of 6/7. It is also catered (and still cheaper than the newer rooms!)

She has turned them down and will stick to her private rental.

KingscoteStaff

DD will have a single bed but we still got a double duvet anyway. Figured she'd fold it double if warm, plus it'll be fine wherever she lives next year too.

We have bought a coverless duvet - I am a fan of them since buying one for our own bed in March.

DS4 says that's a different building to the Unite one which is apparently near the Viaduct. So that's even more central and in the heart of the student letting area.

@Badgerstmary

Just been given accommodation for Exeter. It’s 1/2 hr walk from business school in a very basic room & not near the city. Anyone know anything about St David’s? She is absolutely gutted especially as she has a disability. Anyone know how regular the shuttle buses are?

Is that at Point Exe? That's where my dd has ended up being placed. It's just along from the train station at St David's. Dd wasn't happy at first but is feeling better about it now after connecting with others on Facebook and a WhatsApp group. Apparently the minibus shuttle runs from the station up to campus from 7.30 or somewhere there each morning.

Ah, I'm guessing maybe you mean the accommodation called St David's.
DD's block is just along the road a little from there.

My friend's godson was at St David's last year and really liked it. It is really not that far from the uni, lots of students live that side of town. When I was there, I lived in a house off the Cowley Bridge Road in my second year. And you are close to the Mill on the Exe which is a nice pub (we used to have lots of parties there when I was there). Fingers crossed your kids will be fine in their accommodation.

not near the city

But only 'not near the city' (centre, the bit with the Cathedral and proper shopping streets etc?), in the same sort of way that the Streatham campus is, really? We stayed in a B&B very near St. David's, walked into the city centre in the evening from there the night before the open day, walked up (and up... and up again...) to Streatham campus in the morning to attend the open day, then walked back into the centre from the campus afterwards to have a mooch around the shops and walked back down to St David's to catch the train. Exeter isn't massive. But it is very hilly.DD decided on somewhere larger and flatter in the end, although it was the course, not the topography, that decided her.

If cycling is a possibility, there is a electric bike docking station on campus, although that would depend on a bike being available at St David's at the right time
www.co-bikes.co.uk/locations/)

Thank you goodbyestranger and ofteninaspin, that's really helpful. He's now heard that it will be for 2020 start, so he's enrolled and ditched York. Hurrah! Progress

Already bought a new duvet - DH took him to IKEA and got a duck down double duvet reduced from £100 to £25 😳 I think he's mad and will be roasting hot but what do I know?!

Currently he's relearning the rules for gin rummy, cribbage and backgammon so he can suggest ice-breaking games if they're not allowed much socialising in big groups.

That’s great news Terf! Now he needs a warm coat to go with the warm duvet!

We had a trip to Ikea today. What was I thinking, going down the M5 to Bristol on a Friday of the Bank Holiday weekend? Lots of queuing today, on the motorway and waiting to get into Ikea. Pretty successful though. Had to get a 7.5 tog quilt as the cheaper 12 tog ones were sold out. We’d got most things already, via Amazon etc during lockdown, in case Ikea didn’t open. A bit frustrating today seeing knives, utensils etc much cheaper in Ikea. Oh well. We got coat hangers, storage bags, a nice lamp, a throw, a cushion etc. His room looks a bit grim TBH, so it needs some nice stuff to cheer it up, but not too much because it’s tiny!

I also discovered today that DS is eligible to get a £750 entrance maths scholarship because of his results. I hope they don’t decide to drop it if too many achieve the grades for it!

Thanks everyone for telling me a bit more about St David’s Exeter. That’s definitely more reassuring. Dd is going to be based at the business centre which is unfortunately the opposite end of campus. She had been so looking forward to being on campus that it just came as another disappointment/struggle this year. My dm died in June, her Raynaud’s has got a lot worse this year & then the grades she originally got were ridiculous. 9 in Physics GCSE, A at AS mock & downgraded to a C. Unfortunately one of the triggers for her Raynauds is stress! Good luck to everyone & their dd/ds.