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

My son got his first choice of South - he's firmed Durham already - just the grades to get now... I presume he doesn't need to do anything yet regarding the college allocation. He's not very forthcoming with information 🙄

My dd got her first choice accommodation of st johns. Hoping she gets the full grant tho as it's bloody spendy.

Anything we need to know? Or what kit she will need etc? Presumably nothing as fully catered?

@WhyOhWine all the students who would have been in St Hilde will all be together. I believe the overflow this year was in the very nice expensive Unite halls of residence at Rushford court here Ds's mate is there. It is beautiful. All the colleges feel very separate even those that are on the same site. Durham is small, really small, you can get anywhere in a very short space of time so they are not out in the sticks somewhere. Plus college bar crawls are a thing, especially if they have food items like toasties to scoff.

@Acuppaandcake Ds is at South so any questions just ask. There is a room tour video of John Snow on YouTube but it is the exact same room as South just with different windows. yes the rooms are relatively narrow but storage is very good. Door is locked/unlocked with your Durham ID. No keys.

@Wordlewobble no deposits are required. Payment for the room is 3 direct debits, 1st Dec, 1st Feb and 1st June. Ds found out his flat on the day we arrived. Self catered so kitchen equipment, stuff for the bed such as a duvet, pillow, covers, bathroom items if they are en-suite or something to carry their stuff in if shared, I believe if you share it is only between 2 people. If you want details so you can shop beforehand then ask but I would wait in case there is any sort of reshuffle. You never know.

I'm wrong it wasn't Rushford Court it was Cityblock.

@HighlandCowbag DD got St John's as her first choice too.

Dd says castle are using Rushford court for their SC next year and that HB is having Kepier court instead ( which is neater to HB)

Is she excited? Dd is now even more stressed about getting the grades she needs.

It all looks very swanky on the website. She did her visit with a friend and his family so I didn't get to see it. Have suggested we wait for results then start thinking about buying a couple of formal gowns cheap once prom dresses go on ebay/fb marketplace etc. The formal dinners look good but like they might end up costing a fair bit to kit out for.

Not worth getting anything until August but we tended to put away anything we were replacing at home - so my two older DSs got our old everyday crockery and some old le creuset pans. Then there’s an IKEA shop and a John Lewis shop before uni starts 🤣😂 - so much revision at the moment that uni is being pushed to the back of DDs mind - she’s happy the initial allocation is one she likes but trying to play things down

@HighlandCowbag she is really excited (but is also waiting to hear from St Andrews/ Edinburgh so is not sure if it will be her firm or her insurance). She wasn't originally considering it but looked round it on the offer holder day and really liked it. They don't need really swanky dresses for the weekly formals, just the 'mega formals' apparently. At Johns they don't pay for the ordinary formals, and the laundry is free, so it is slightly better value than some of the other colleges too.

Ah that's good to hear re swank levels. She has her (unworn) y11 prom dress still, and I managed to persuade her at the time (anticipating some kind of restrictions looming) to buy something that is not just a prom dress.

Fingers crossed she gets the grades now, I wasn't that keen on Durham for her. She's very academic and hard working but also has auditory processing disorder so things are a bit more difficult for her and I worry Durham might be too academic. But the college style system should suit her.

Loads of really helpful information on here. Been lurking on TSR too.

My DS had an offer in February, but has just been allocated his 10th choice college! So many of you seem to have got 1st choice, so I don’t know what happened. It’s putting him off now when he was really excited before. Not great for motivation with exams around the corner.

Anyone else in a similar situation?

Thanks for the offer - I may well take you up on it once we know if he's actually going. We did do a South tour on the offer holder day so he's got a feel for the place but I'm sure we'll have questions

That's a shame - I'm sure once they're there, they'll be happy wherever. We did look at some stats which showed the liklihood of getting a place in a certain college when ds was choosing - which may be why he and others have got preferences?

Thanks Acuppaandcake

He didn’t go for the usual Castle and hugely popular Bailey colleges, so we were quite surprised. He even had Grey and Hild Bede ranked higher which don’t tend to be oversubscribed.

I guess he was just unlucky and fell low on the list as a result of the randomising process before the did the allocations.

Bella Vida, DD is the same. She got HB which was about 8th on her list. She actually would have been fine with it in a normal year as she really wanted a catered college (which it usually is), but this year students will be off site at self-catered accomodation due to refurbishment. She is still choosing between Durham and Edinburgh and i think would have gone for Durham apart from this. Her reason for preferring Durham was down to the college system and she is concerned that with the temp set up (and self-catering etc) she wont get the proper college experience, in which case Edinburgh may be better option. I dont think she has too much info on the set up which is not helping, e.g. whether the bar is closed etc, and who knows whether students will bother with the trek into the college bar even if it is open.

I am keen for her to decide by this weekend as her Alevels start at the end of next week. Still 50:50 where she will come out, whereas i would have said 60:40 in favour of Durham before she got her college allocation.

WhyOhWine, it’s just a bit of a surprise for them isn’t it? I don’t know anything about HB other than the accommodation being moved about 20 mins walk away. I guess it depends on if they have to close areas of the site for safety I guess. Can you contact the college directly?

My DS was allocated to VM which is at least catered and fairly near the faculty. Seen a few YouTube videos, but if anyone has any insights on it, that would be great. He decided yesterday that he’ll still get to go to other colleges and Uni societies etc for the full Durham experience, so he’s just going to firm anyway.

My DS got 1st choice: JB BUT out of the blue last night said he may defer a year and go travelling 🤦‍♀️ I don’t want him to but obviously it’s up to him at the end of the day 😞 going to avoid asking or mentioning it again 1) to avoid a row and 2) in the hope he changes his mind

@mich101 does the loan term repayment extension bother him at all? If they go this year it is written off after 30 years, if he starts next year it is 40 years. Does he have the money to go travelling? Will the course be easy to pick up if he has a year of non-study? Is he usually motivated to do college work? Just things for him to consider if he is taking a year out.

@BellaVida Ds's mate from sixth form is at VM, he really likes it, no complaints. I am sure there is a MNetter or two with children in their first year at VM. We are all over on the Durham university thread which is for anyone, applicants, parents of students, alumni. I have found it really helpful especially before Ds went.

@OnTheBenchOfDoom unfortunately not as I tried to throw that at him but because he considers himself as one who will be in a high earning bracket he will probably be better off with new system 🤦‍♀️

@mich101 this is the frustrating part when they hit 18, they make decisions for themselves that stress us out

Help - my Ds has got his first choice. He was over the moon and decided to firm Durham in an instant. Unfortunately he's now breaking out in regular cold sweats because he's realised its highly likely that he'll have to share a room in the first year (he only properly researched the college after the event). I've tried to reassure him with impressions of American's saying, 'Meet my roomy,' but he's not laughing at all. I've never had any comic talent. What's worse is that I feel begrudgingly responsible. I told him it was his choice and as an adult (nearly 18 years old) he should make the decision independently. Any suggestions of how to lift his spirits and improve my future parenting of boys would be welcome.

You are not in any way responsible! I would just find out what drew him to that college and focus on that. From the little I know, it seemed the broad choice was catered and probable room share v self-catering and a single room. He's not going to find out for three months so he needs to park it until after exams. There must be some threads on the TSR about plus points of sharing.

Thank you for your kind words @EwwSprouts He's was just panicking about it when he came home from school. It's hard as a mother to know when to hold back and when to lend a hand. You're right though, he should park it and now concentrate on his exams. He loves everything else about the college so directing his attention to all of these things would be best thing for now. Thanks for the tip re TSR I will have a look.

@lilylouisa At the bottom of this page - www.durham.ac.uk/colleges-and-student-experience/colleges/ - there is a table that shows how many shared rooms there are in each college. None of them is a large number compared to the total number of rooms, so sharing is not a certainty.

Colleges try to match people for sharing, and many (maybe all??) only make you share for maximum of one term. In fact, lots of people seem to like it and continue sharing, though.

@DroopyTulips Thank you so much for this. I am already feeling better about my DS's situation. I think the thought of sharing with a 'party animal' was freaking him out a little. He loves a party but also needs his downtime, and he likes paint as a hobby. The questionnaire will really help. I will encourage him to be really honest on it, so he gets a roommate that's more likely to be compatible with.