Durham University

[KingscoteStaff]

A continuation thread for those with DC at Durham, or applying for Durham or alumni or staff! Share your thoughts and questions on colleges, courses, etc.

Assemble! @Baytreemum @WelshDaff @WinterRobin @janinlondon @MarchingFrogs @ChildOfFriday @tava63 @Terfterfterf @TonTonMacoute @Suki2 @Quair @Greyhair59 @bpisok @Jan069 @999caz @nipersvest @mum2eim @witchend @chopc @alterego2

Who have I missed??

@GoTrevs thanks for your input. . Dd not going to Trevs ( she has been allocated castle) but it really helps to hear positive reports about other colleges. We are still hoping to visit at some point before she starts but people’s personal experiences really help . Dd was also worried about sharing at first but now thinks it might be a really good thing.

Do NOT tell DC (for fear of freaking them out...) but going by my generation, their room sharer is very likely to end up as their bridesmaid/best man!

I lost track of the speeches that started 'My heart sank when I walked into my 1st year room and saw this man's ugly mug...'

Haha! @KingscoteStaff I’ll keep that little bit of info to myself!

Back in the day 50 years ago i became very good friends with the girl with whom I shared a room in the first year. (Aidan's Maiden from when there were far fewer colleges, and colleges were single sex.)

A lot of my Durham student friends stayed in Durham after our degrees. Some of us are still here

So pleased to hear something positive about Trevs, my daughter has been allocated it and has felt quite disappointed. She did not include it on her list of six choices, which she carefully crafted looking at the allocation statistics and likelihood of getting at least one of her six. Hopefully the upcoming open day will reassure her that it is a good place to aim for.

@Meery I'm sorry to hear that. Trevs is ace, but when you've put so much effort into an application, it's quite natural to be disappointed when you don't get any of the choices. Hopefully she'll perk up before she has to go.

How are the applications/allocations done these days? Back in the dark ages, I had to apply specifically to Trevs on my UCAS application.

@Beetlesand I didn't go to Castle that much because the Trevs bar was the centre of my universe and any time spent away from it apart from in Klute was time wasted. However, the few occasions we ventured in on a bar crawl, you couldn't fail to be wowed by the history of the place. How lucky she is to be going there. I chose to share in my first term because I was worried I wouldn't find anyone to share with me in subsequent terms (irrational nerves) and having been to boarding school was used to being away from home and sharing. I think we had one case where a re-jig was necessary mid term due to some extraordinary snoring but most people get on just fine and as @KingscoteStaff said, they will often turn out to be you friend forever.

@GoTrevs This year the university implemented a new scheme after the UCAS deadline. On the ucas form you had to either choose a college or go “open”, but then in Feb the uni emailed applicants inviting them to rank college choices in order. This was before receiving the offer it self. About a week after receiving an offer, college allocation was sent out.
Trevs does not read as if there are many shared rooms, think about 20, and it will be for a term max.

@GoTrevs, it is so lovely to read your experiences! Thank you for sharing.
Dd1's first choice was Mary's which a friend of hers did get allocated (but probably won't go as he also has a Cambridge offer) so she felt a tiny bit disappointed because she had been busy visualising herself there. But I think fully on board with Trevs now.
We went to Durham on a quick trip in August and did have a sneaky look around the outside of Trevs whilst visiting the Hill Colleges so she got a bit of a feel for it then but of course it's so hard to tell anything when it's closed and you're wandering around with your parents and little sister .

My ds is going to Trevs in October and I was there 30 years ago. It wasn’t his first choice , his Dads college was but he is happy. Trevs is small but perfectly formed and because it’s quite small you can get involved in things and also it really encourages you to get out and about, the problem with very large colleges is that they can be very insular. He is a little concerned that it’s small but he is musical and into drama as well and I understand Trevs is strong on these new now. He applied last year and deferred so didn’t have the list option and wasn’t given the option to go back in the pool.

Hey @Peaseblossom22 - I'd forgotten that your boy had deferred - I was vaguely wondering what he was up to!

How's his (ho ho) Gap year going?

Hi KingscoteStaff best described as a curates egg I think for all of us actually . He has been on and off furlough with his job that he had been loving but he has been doing lots of reading , generally being far too lazy and annoying at times and helping out with errands for his much loved grandfather who is unwell .

But none of us have regretted his decision for a moment it was definitely the right one for him . He is really quite excited now and talking enthusiastically about what he wants to do when he gets there . I can see for whatever reasons pandemic and otherwise he simply wasn’t ready last year. He is under no illusions that it will be perfect next year but is in a better place to deal with the ups and downs of the new realities I think.

@Peaseblossom22 nice to have an update from you :). I’ve name-changed but we have spoken on the thread before and through pms. My dd is first year English Lit. She is finding the amount of reading she has to do pretty overwhelming so if your son is able to get a head start on that now, that would be an advantage for him. She was okay in the first term but hadn’t bought all her books in advance for this term so she’s finding it difficult to keep on top of it all. She has been at home since December 🙄. Fingers crossed that next year will give a more normal experience.

@LeiatheSchnauzer And this is how things change... Mary's was still all female when I was there so it was very rarely anyone's first choice. It's funny for me to read your DD had it in preference, but I know that's out of date (indeed Trevs too was once all female). A male former colleague of mine was at Mary's and loved it. Took me a while to get my head around it when he talked about it!

Just seen this thread. I have a DD looking at music for 2022. She's ignoring the 'sign up for Oxbridge' at college as she doesn't want the pressure and is convinced she doesn't want to go although I suspect this is more being awkward than anything else

2 questions... does anyone have a DC doing music at Durham? and should I persuade her to sign up for the Oxbridge pathway at college so that she gets extra help/attention with things like her personal statement, push from teachers, etc.?

@ratticus4 DD used the Oxbridge pathway to get the extra help and to get the UCAS application in early. She didn't apply for Oxbridge - like your DD she decided it took too much time from that important last year of secondary. It did allow her to go up to Cambridge to do the early choral scholar auditions day, but once she had those offers in it became apparent that that was really all she wanted to know - that she was good enough for their choirs?? There was one memorable moment when the Oxford and Cambridge leads on the school programme had a stand up ding dong fight over her personal statement, which we dine out on regularly...She is not studying music in Durham (has many friends who are/did) but I'm sure someone will be along soon to address that q. It was worth being part of the Oxbridge pathway to get it all done earlier and with better support.

That is really helpful, thanks @janinlondon. I shall approach it again with her and try and track things down with her college. Frustrating in a way as they do everything through the students' intranet. I do appreciate they should be in charge of their future but particularly at the moment when they have hardly spent any time in college and are potentially feeling a bit bleurgh about university/their future, it would be helpful to be able to be a bit more involved.

@KingscoteStaff - great to hear you got him back and about the testing before entry! My DD has to have 2 tests a week before being allowed access to college.

Very cheerful phone call this morning - another test today and then the Medical Centre are doing his vaccine tomorrow! The sun is shining, the sky is blue and they are playing French cricket in the corridor!

He left in a bit of a hurry on December 3rd when a car lift down south was suddenly offered, and it appears that he left a half-eaten bowl of cereal on his desk...

He left in a bit of a hurry on December 3rd when a car lift down south was suddenly offered, and it appears that he left a half-eaten bowl of cereal on his desk...

Oh yuck! Never mind. It will be a good lesson to clear the place properly. DD was very glad that the last to go last March (or maybe the cleaners) had cleared the fridge when she went back to get her stuff.

Do any of your DC's have their cars in Durham?

@chopc Nope, DD hasn’t got car/license, but has friends who have and some have cars there. However parking very restricted so you ideally need to rent a place with parking/free street parking - but I think that’s quite limited centrally.

DS doesn’t know anyone with a car - walking distance to college/library/sports centre was a major criteria when his group were choosing their house for next year.

Ok thanks for the info about cars

No, re cars - the climb to the train station is student ritual!

DS doesn’t have a car, but one of his housemates has hers in Durham.