Durham University

[KingscoteStaff]

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

January 2022 finds our DC packing their big coats, checking the forecast for snow and wondering when Michaelmas actally is...?

Assemble!
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my DS is going up early for pre season sports next week. Can I ask you whether your DS has brought everything with him or whether he has just brought essentials and you are going to bring the rest of his stuff at the start of fresher day? DS is totally disorganised and I can’t seem to get a straight answer out of him. I know he’ll need bedding, clothing, toiletries etc but not sure whether to cart up all the other stuff he’ll need for when he starts going to lectures? Any advice would be much appreciated….

Currently in dispute! He's been given a room at Stephenson which apparently has been allocated to him for the whole of preseason (until his own is ready). He's coming back this weekend but leaving some stuff in the room.

He seems to have been told that his room (in Collingwood) will be available from the 14th which seems a bit too good to be true but we'll see. They've been offered storage if they want to bring up their stuff before then but I'd rather take it up when his room is ready.

He is reluctant to come back at any point and miss preseason but it's a four hour plus drive so I'd really like him to come back, pack and drive back up.

preseason sports sounds like an added level of stress for mums ……Boys are always a bit trickier to pin down - with organisation and plans after the 2 DSs who were first and trickier the DD is a dream.

She wouldn't talk about or plan for uni after exams and before results as had COVID in the middle of them and she knew it would affect grades and Durham was unlikely to be an option. However now she’s in organising mode - lists of what she’s taking written ✅ sorted uni paperwork, railcard done, worked out rail costs and routes for a couple of trips home plus watching videos from YouTube on various JS rooms from girls showing storage solutions to squeeze everything in. Done shopping list ….

down side is …. She wants to take a lot more stuff ?!?! Plus shopping trip is not just Ikea and John Lewis but includes Oliver Bonas ‘for a couple of essential bits’😂😂

Did start cooking dinner for us after work this week and even made a lovely cake yesterday?! I will miss her and the cooking 😍😢😍

@kingscotestaff that’s good to know thank-you…..that’s what I suspected but I was stressing a bit as we live quite far away so if he forgets something it’s quite a long way to come back.

However now she’s in organising mode - lists of what she’s taking written ✅ sorted uni paperwork, railcard done, worked out rail costs and routes for a couple of trips home plus watching videos from YouTube on various JS rooms from girls showing storage solutions to squeeze everything in. Done shopping list ….

Please can I swap?!

Does anyone know how to get the reading list for the various modules? Are they expected to have read certain key texts before they start?

Is there anyone who hasn't yet heard from their Durham college? My DS hasn't heard anything and someone on a chat has said that anyone who hasn't heard is going to be reallocated.

His provisional college is Collingwood. All he has had so far is an email from the university to look out for his computer system login info which will be coming "soon". Nothing from his faculty and nothing from Collingwood. Is this normal?

@DurhamMumma I think that there's small print somewhere on the general uni website that you're more likely to be reallocated if Durham was an insurance choice, or a student missed the required grades by a hair's breath, but it's still really rare that this happens. Hopefully it's just Collingwood (due to being one of the biggest colleges) taking longer to shuffle rooms around etc. I hope you hear from them soon.

Thanks @lilylouisa - it was his firm, not insurance, and he made the grades. I will have to temper the impatience. It's hard when I see others are choosing modules and submitting room preferences. I'd at least like to get some shopping done, but won't until I know what bed he'll have.

His provisional college is Collingwood. All he has had so far is an email from the university to look out for his computer system login info which will be coming "soon". Nothing from his faculty and nothing from Collingwood. Is this normal?

I think my son had a questionnaire from Collingwood earlier this week which asked about whether you'd be willing to move your stuff in the holidays, an early bird or up late etc. presumably for room allocation purposes.

@DurhamMumma In that case it's highly unlikely it will change. The reason my DS choose Durham was partly because he got offered a college he really wanted. I think he would be very upset if they had changed it at the last minute after he'd fulfilled all the requirements (firm choice, grades etc). I would imagine if (against all the odds) your son was reallocated they would have to give him his next top choice: it wouldn't be at all fair otherwise. I hope you hear something soon.

@hop321 Is he a home student, non-deferred?

Yes

@hop321 - thanks.

@hop321 nope I’m not swapping 😂 had to go through this with DS1 and DS2?!! I have served my time

Urgh. He's literally just received a "we haven't allocated you a college yet" email. 😢

I'm so sorry that your DS faces so much uncertainty @DurhamMumma. It's really tough on him.... and you. But Durham can't predict with any certainty who will and won't meet their offers on results day and who wants a last minute gap year. So regrettably a few students do get shunted about.

If it's any consolation DS wanted Collingwood too but got reallocated to Van Mildert last year (albeit not at this late stage). He's loved being in Van Mildert. There's no such thing as a bad Durham college. Stay positive for him... and remember nearly everyone moves out after the first year anyway.

@MidLifeCrisis007 Thanks. Yes, I understand that it's impossible for Durham to make accurate predictions - and he was always aware that the initial allocation was only provisional. He actually has Mildert as his second choice, and would be very happy to go there. He's now worried though that he won't get anything in his top few choices and will end up with a self-catering option, or on the Bailey, neither of which he wants.

This is very old data, and new colleges now exist - but it does show how unloved colleges like Trevs, Aidans and Mildert are by applicants. But students love them when they are there!

www.dur.ac.uk/resources/ug.admissions/admindocuments/admincycle1516/3-1CollegePreference-TotalApplications.pdf?fbclid=IwAR0fu-84C5RUcTKbnxhk3cJfclEHbJ1wo4snzcxTeEEAu6DwPBElCRI9oYc

This is very old data, and new colleges now exist - but it does show how unloved colleges like Trevs, Aidans and Mildert are by applicants.

I actually chose Aidan's from a slightly strange students' guide to Durham colleges I think I paid £10 for in my keenness. My husband, however, didn't realise you had to pick a college and was given Aidan's (obviously not so popular then either!).

He's not a blueprint for Uni applications though. When he was asked at his Cambridge interview, his answer was that his teacher told him it was the easy course that all rugby players picked. Funnily enough, no offer was forthcoming from Cambridge....

Dd says loads of people have got college reallocation letters and she suspects nothing like that number will be changed

DS is on a Durham group chat and he said the same thing - lots of people have been reallocated to different colleges.

Do you know if its mainly the Bailey Colleges and Collingwood and the catered Colleges that that are affected?

Reallocation is frustrating for the kids who picked their college because it's near their lectures or strong at sport or whatever.

Also not everyone lives out in their second year, I lived in Aidan's all three years (as did my group of friends). Plus all the socialising in college for those that live out. Your college has a big bearing on your time at Durham. As I recollect, Mildert's bar was always the first to open before term started so they all have their merits!

This was a Collingwood group chat so I am assuming it’s kids who were originally allocated Collingwoood. It started out with them not receiving any communications from the college and then out of the blue being told they had been reassigned. People are pretty upset as most assigned to Collingwood had it as a first choice.

DD was allocated a shared room at Collingwood back in 2019. Much stress and angst but after emailing she got switched, still in Collingwood but on a floor with one bathroom between 10! Parents complained, demanded refunds but it all fell on deaf ears. You have to be gratify Durham. Having said that , it bothered DD less than it bothered me and she had a great time. So hang in there and hopefully all will work out.