Durham University

[KingscoteStaff]

The continuation thread for those with DC at Durham, or applying to Durham, or alumni, or staff!

September 2021 finds us packing, unpacking, meeting old friends and new, and all with our fingers firmly crossed for a positive year!

Just helping DS finalise his College preferences then it is another thing out of the way (yes this is a new thing for 2022 entry and I know things may well change and he may not get his first 5 or 6 choices but going through the motions).

His preference is a hill college and SC as he likes his own space (but has never never shown any interest in cooking but says that is what its all about!!) he would be doing Physics if that helps. So far we have Jo Butler, South, John Snow any others?

Anyone know what Stephenson is like or if anyone could recommend any other Colleges. Also what are the catered colleges like please? DS loves good food is slim but eats loads and really loves his food and big portions?
Thanks

@Fruitygal it does, but they are on a limit so if they have the heating going full blast all the time for example they might go over the limit. In her current house DD goes round turning lights off -quite funny as she used to roll her eyes at DH for doing this at home!

Hope you've had a lovely weekend @Peaseblossum22. Sounds like your DS is settling in just fine.

Would agree that Durham is very pricey. DD's second year house will be £138 pew plus bills. So I guess that works out around £7,500 pa all inclusive.

Stevo is a great college Gizmo. DS didn't choose to go there as students who put Durham as their insurance have to take whatever's available after A Level results day. Nevertheless, DS has been happy there and made some brilliant friends. Have a look at their social media to get a better feel.

https://instagram.com/stephensoncollege?utmmmedium=copylink

How beautiful is this?
mobile.twitter.com/neil_sturgeon/status/1456740573289779209?s=10

Gorgeous photo, we had a lovely weekend, ds tired but happy and trying to make the best of everything Durham has to offer.

For the record we had a really good meal at Shaheens , excellent food and nice atmosphere ; all ages and both students and locals which is quite rare in Durham .

Ds paying about the same @jano69 , honestly money for old rope as my grandfather would say . Would probably have preferred him to go bills included but they are happy and the location is good and as other people have said properties do seem to be going like hot cakes . The whole system is ridiculous .

My DD is at Stephenson and she is loving her time so far , with the exception of her illness. Everyone is friendly, she has she feels made friends for life.
She is happy self catering , people in her flat share a supermarket delivery and then if needed she tops up locally.
It isn’t a college where you need to wear a gown for Matriculation , she does think the gym is small and has had to think about when she goes so it’s not really busy, she also says with all the hills to contend with do you need to go to a gym ?

It sounds like your DD has hit lucky @Bluebellwoods1 which is vey reassuring.

Does anyone know whether you have to complete the college allocation form before they consider your application or in reality does it just need to be done if/when get offer? Appreciate its new this year & may be irrelevant as maybe reallocated but wasnt sure re timing & if they werent looking at application until completed? thanks

If you hunt carefully there are cheaper rents to be had. A friend rents out a house in a viaduct prime location (bills not included) for £95 per week for the double rooms and £85 per week for the single room (which is still very spacious). She chose to go bills not included because she thinks it makes them more careful about using the heating and power which makes sense environmentally. She pays for the yearly TV licence as well.

Has anyone experienced previous strikes at DU?

@chopc would also be interested to know , DD told me today she is required to attend a meeting regarding strikes .

You wonder how long the SS will go on - strikes, Covid, strikes

@nipabc sorry I don’t know but was wondering the same. All DS has done so far is pick his first choice college. Also wondering how many to rank or just rank the first half a dozen? Between school work hotting up, another Uni interview, wondering whether he has an online Oxbridge interview, driving test next week and a couple of 18th birthday parties etc etc its all happening.

Based on last year, it's probably best not to get invested in your chosen college straight way as you may get allocated elsewhere. It all works out in the end!!

Thanks @libbytrois yes we realise this but this year applicants have been asked to pick a first choice college then to rank other colleges.

@Gizmo98765 yes same as last year! I think it even went as far as listing your top 10 colleges at one stage in August. Depends on how popular your chosen colleges are.

Ok thanks.

Yes .. at first we picked just one college on application .. and then ranked later
As @libbytrois says.. it all muddles out in the end

Yes dd has put hatfield as her college choice on the ucas application. I am right in thinking that Durham are late sending offers out?

Have all your DC met their college families yet? My DS parents have been crap and haven't met up with him yet. Yes they are lucky to have such a system and also lucky he has settled in nicely as I thought that was the idea of the college "family"- so they can give a helping hand if you haven't quite found your feet?

@NCTDN DS got his offer in Jan. LSE was the last to offer for him

As for colleges can't remember what he did last year but I do recall around Feb time he put order of preference. However it was all a farce and he didn't know where he would be living until a week before he started (as some people from his college were being accommodated in an annex)

@NCTDN my DD has applied and friends with DCs there in 2nd and 3rd year report late Jan onwards up to March is when offers/rejections come out.

What has DD applied to study? My DD is Biological Sciences.

Luckily DD has applied for some who offer within weeks rather than after Christmas so hoping for an offer or two to get her through the mocks.

BTW @NCTDN once dd has applied you should have got a flurry of emails from Durham and she will need to rank all the colleges on a form and send it back in. This they started this a couple of years ago before that it was only 1 choice on the UCAS like Oxbridge.

@chopc I always thought that the college parents were there for your fresher's week meaning they could tour you round everywhere so you get to know where you are going before lectures start and also tour you round the town. Ds just went ahead and did that with some other students. They were then told to come to the bar to meet your college parents but it was at least 2 weeks after he moved in and he said what is the point now?

@NCTDN offers wise Durham is known for being incredibly late with offers but Ds had his from Durham by mid Nov. It was a contextual offer based on POLAR postcode. Entry grade for his course was A A A they offer a one grade drop for contextual so A A A or A A B but also a put us first and we will offer you A A B! I should say that his predicted grades were A A A A and he achieved A A A A*

The other universities he received offers from were Warwick, Manchester and Leeds and they didn't do a contextual offer just their standard entry grades and they had all also offered before mid November, his other choice was Cambridge but he didn't get an offer from them.

He has booked his 2nd year accommodation, not with anyone but just in a student block with an en-suite and shared kitchen like he has now. All bills in so he knows exactly what he is paying upfront.

@OnTheBenchOfDoom I didn't know that they could state a different offer if you put them first! Interesting!