Durham 2022 applicants

[NinaProudman2022]

New thread for those applying to Durham for 2022. What time of year do Durham usually make offers please and do they interview? DS applied early and we are new to all this but are wondering if he has now missed the deadline for ranking Colleges (unlike most of his friends applying who managed not to miss this and did this early on) as he can’t now see this option in the portal or if he hasn’t missed it then is their a deadline for doing this please? I know in previous years college rankings may have been irrelevant. Thanks

Thank you x

Attended the offer holder day today…. DS really loved it so I think he wants to firm it. It was difficult to see many colleges as the tours took quite a bit of time but Collingwood was the out and out favourite….I have a feeling it will be a lot of people’s favourites too though…

@Igglepigglesblankie it's so interesting how people react differently to the same place. My DD was there yesterday and really didn't like Collingwood. I think they over promised on how good their theatre would be, so her expectations were a bit out of kilter with reality. She liked the toastie bar though.

@goldenruby DS saw it first and really liked the sports facilities and common room areas….he looked at Hatfield second and it was really disappointing by comparison. He also loved Castle, especially the bar! It’s a shame we couldn’t see more colleges…we missed the last St Cuths tour… which ones did you see?

We did full tours of Collingwood, Cuths (Bailey site), and Johns, with brief looks into Mary's, Hatfield and Chads. Didn't have time to get to the top of the hill, so she's been looking at videos on you tube for those. We only went in Johns as the people were so friendly as we walked past, it wasn't on her list at all - but she really liked the atmosphere. Hatfield felt too big, but students friendly. Chads bar was pretty but she was put off by complete disinterest in showing us around from any of the current students, despite hanging around for ages. I was disappointed that she didn't want to look at Castle!

You did well to see all of those. DS went on his own and just looked at his preference the hill colleges. He’s had a long day so shattered but think he’s changed his mind about his order of preference.

My legs ache for walking so much. I went up and down so many of the hills. Our talks was from 10-1. Then we did grey, collingwood, chads, Hatfield. I'm too old and unfit for Durham. But it was so incredibly beautiful. I loved it.

We did castle previously so this time did Snow, Butler, Stevo and South this time - didn’t get to Cuths ….. we have had movement on the preference chart as a result

DS was on his own. He only had time to see 2 hill colleges - Butler and South. He felt the facilities were better at South, but preferred the atmosphere at Butler, which has confirmed his initial preference. He didn’t get to see a room at Butler, but there are loads of room tours online.

@Watsername It is hard to navigate the open day on your own but sometimes there is no choice with work commitments (especially as they do them mid week) - we helped out 2 or 3 kids who were looking lost at various points in the day. I agree with your son South was newer with better facilities but others had a little more atmosphere.

DS has firmed Durham! Not done his college preferences yet though.

Just wondered if anyone still waiting for offer? DC applied for 2 courses at Durham - has offer for one but not other (prob more poular couse)
How long do we wait?!...Thanks

Still waiting here (physics) but not holding out a huge amount of hope. Think it might be as long as May before they make a decision (groan). Hope you hear soon and the news is good

Still waiting here too

Waiting for Pol/IR - seen a number of offers and rejections in the last few days.

Fingers crossed for everyone waiting. DS knows he's been very lucky. No-one else from school has had an offer yet to his knowledge.

Good luck to all, DS was at Durham, change of plan re course and Uni choices after a gap year, with a few older friends suggesting a visit to Durham. Even with results in the bag his offer was slow, I think around March, it the last of those he applied for. He didn't get his college of choice, but he was happy at Durham, he was very involved in rugby and made his friends through DURFC and 5 years later they still meet up regularly. Degree was tough, joint honours, so lots of exams. A few lecturer strikes which almost seem unavoidable, but he missed the covid years just... graduation ceremony was fabulous. He lived in 'Viaduct' in the second year, the area appears to be 90% student and is very sociable and third year in the centre. Beautiful little City.

DD is Collingwood. She’s 3rd year. Absolutely loved the social and sporty vibe and the less formal attitude. Accommodation wasn’t great.

@Benjisprue4 What was not so good about the Collingwood accommodation, if you don't mind me asking?

No don’t mind you asking. DD got allocated a shared room despot filling our the questionnaire to say she didn’t want to share. They changed it when she emailed to say she wasn’t happy. She was Ona floor with 10 others but with only one bathroom! There were two separate toilet cubicles that didn’t have sinks only sanitiser( this was September 2019 so just prepandmic. How is sanitiser a substitute for hand washing after the loo? Anyway, I was more modes than she was and she ended up using the two showers on the floor below and made friends with that floor. They are her housemates now in year 3 and were in year 2 so maybe from adversity, good things grow?

Sorry for typos. Despite filling our that should say not despot. I was more miffed, that should say.

Was it just me but is the accommodation in Durham a bit rubbish considering the price? I don’t have much to compare it to so maybe it’s all pretty bad, although I did see the rooms at Warwick and they seemed much nicer and cheaper. I am sure DS won’t mind but personally I though they looked pretty grim….

Yes I know what you mean. The older colleges like Castle are obviously not up to date. Collingwood is 60s. She was unlucky as other floors had two bathrooms. Luckily they had sinks in their rooms. It annoyed me as the one bathroom was huge and could easily have had a couple of shower cubicles in it but it had a bath with shower over and loads of floor space. On move in day it was taped off and didn’t get opened until day 3!!! DD looks back on all this now and laughs as it was all part of the experience but I was cross that such poor standards were in place especially at over £7k a year!!! It was catered.

Collingwood was great for DD though. The facilities are fab. They have a cheap state of the art gym, the bar area is great and she loved the sports facilities. The food was ok(less choice for her as she’s a vegetarian) but she was glad of it and found it a bonding experience. She’d choose Collingwood again I’m sure.

DS got allocated Trevs, I liked it and it was in the process of a refurb and now completed, but he had very early rugby training most mornings and always missed meals, they would not keep food aside for him or let him heat it up in the microwave for 'health & safety' reasons. He is a prop and the coach was unhappy that he was loosing weight and arranged for breakfast at the sports club and DS often walked to Tesco to buy more food. I wasn't happy that he paid about £7000 but rarely got fed! When he did he had special notes to give him extra large portions... the cook said to him ' and what makes you so special'.... He was mortified but the answer was he became club captain and got a half palitinate for contribution to Uni Sport and charity fund raising! Missed the presentation because the rugby tour coincided with it... so poor communication and admin. on that score - but nevertheless the right Uni for him.