When to do open day visits?

[CornishGem1975]

Sorry for the dumbass question.

DD is in Year 11 - do you start going to Uni open days in Year 12?

I would start in year 12 if I had the chance again. They apply early yr 13 so need to have an idea by then.Mine wasted 3 choices by not really knowing what he was doing ( didn’t tell me he was applying).
I would also read threads like these and The Student Room for a feel of the Unis. Would a campus or a city Uni suit better and how expensive is the place to live.
Once they have applied and get an offer they get invited to an offer holder day which gives them a tour but is specific to their course.

All of ours started visiting universities during year 12 .And in DS2's case, year 10, as he tagged along on some of DD's visits - which was helpful, since his own schedule was cut short having only got as far as a repeat visit to one he'd seen with her and one of his own - Leeds - mainly booked early on because I fancied another mini city break there. He had also visited Birmingham when DS1 was there.

Neither DS1nor DD wanted to apply to places they hadn't seen, but DS2 was sort of forced into it, having discounted Leeds, or to Exeter (one of his tag-alongs) and KCL (another, didn't offer subject). He did take part in a series of online seminars run by the department at Warwick, though, and I think that it would have been more of a contender for his insurance choice, had he actually visited.

(Likes his concrete, does DS2 - he is now very happy at UEA, which was always going to be his firm, ever since he first set eyes on it😀).

Yes my DS was forced really by only having one good choice which is Warwick. I fortunately DS loves the countryside and something like UEA would have been perfect.
As it is he feels compelled to go to Warwick for reputation whilst the campus is the most dreadful of concrete jungles and the nearest town is pretty grim too.

@lightisnotwhite I actually live not too far away from Warwick Uni. Coventry is indeed pretty grim but there are lots of surrounding towns that are nicer and many students end up living in Kenilworth or Leamington which are nice places. The campus is pretty sprawling but there's a lot going on - the arts centre is a great venue, I go there a lot. Won't be an option for DD though as too close to home and she wants to go away.

ime, they tend to do most their visits in autumn of yr13.

DS refused to attend open days, but we went to 3 applicant-offer days which probably covered same material well enough.

My dd is Y12 and we've started. Especially if you have to go some distance I'd spread them out. We've been to one in April, will go to another in July and another in the Autumn (art foundation so not as wide a search as for a degree program).

Having had two go through uni I always advise friends with children in secondary now to start as soon as possible! If your child already knows what they would like to study in year 11 or what kind of uni they would like (campus/city/sporty etc) there's no harm in doing a visit or two then. Otherwise definitely start in year 12. Once they hit year 13 schools are already having them work on personal statements as soon as they go back in September (if not before). It's also such a busy year - apart from the academics, lots decide they need tutoring or to finish off a music exam or other extra-curricular activity for the PS, everyone is turning 18 (so parties!), they are doing driving lessons, many still have part-time jobs for at least the first term and if two unis have clashing open days it is tricky. If you are going to leave it to year 13 definitely plan the days well in advance - no point in finding you have a clash between unis and that the only other open days from those unis was last June/July.

Summer between year 12 and year 13 is ideal, but many universities do summer schools and taster events for year 11 specifically, so do look out for those!

I would suggest visiting one this year, nearby for ease if you aren't familiar with higher education options today, it means they can then research during year 12 based on knowing what a university is like. I would then shortlist and attend open days in summer of year 12.

Thank you! I need reassurance that my one and only won’t be regretting his “choice”. The students he met on his course were definitely his tribe so he’s excited regardless.
I second the person that said yr 13 is too busy/ late.
Also if you are in the middle of the country it means you’ll be going up and down to look. Which isn’t cheap if you go and see all five possibles.
Good luck. It’s way more fun than choosing schools though!

Do Unis mind if you register for a younger student than the current cycles? We are looking for yr12 child but due to circumstances yr10 child will need to come too. They already have a clear idea of what they want to study (not what their sibling is studying). I am thinking of registering separately and going with them to their favoured courses. They look young for their age.

Many of the potential applicants seem to turn up with several relatives. I suppose I haven't seen anyone younger than about 8yo as part of the family group.

@Unexpecteddrivinginstructor, I am not sure what data you need to supply when you register for an Open Day. You might need to provide something indicating that you are currently an A Level student.

When I was an Admissions tutor we were always delighted for younger siblings to come along. We regarded the opportunity to talk with them as an investment in the future, and it is just the nice thing to do. If your younger child can’t register I would still expect tutors to be happy to chat with them on the day. Preferably not when crowds of A Level students are vying for attention

The ones I have been to so far have not required proof but you do need to state which year you will be applying and it doesn't go that far! I have seen children as young as 4 at open days, all I am thinking is whether I can divide them and take them to a different talk without their older sibling. Probably varies from uni to uni.

@Unexpecteddrivinginstructor
please be very careful about parents and children going to any talks. My DD attended an Exeter open day some years ago and parents were asked to leave. There was not enough room for potential students in the room! It’s really not fair to take up places y12/13 students need. It also causes big queues for coffee etc if big family groups come along. We did just me and DD. I stayed out of subject talks at very busy open days. Some parents seem to have to go to everything. I think a young child doesn’t need to go and shouldn’t go. They really can wait their turn in my view.,

Yes, Exeter subject talks were strictly registered potential applicant only when we went - with entry by scanned barcode, which caused a bit of stress for DD at her first one when she realised that I'd gone off with the relevant document tucked into my diary, but they did let her in). Registration is probably allowed for at least 'current year 12 intending to take a gap year' year of entry, though. And taking a 'guest' reasonably old enough to be giving some consideration to possible universities at least gives them some idea of the place, if not specifically a course. (DS2 really didn't warm to Exeter, although he enjoyed our visit to the Cinema Museum on campus).

Agree about the small children, though - a bit like both mummy and daddy taking a gaggle of bored kids to the supermarket, if both of you can be there, one of you could have stayed at home with them, or at least, be somewhere else with them, doing something more appropriate to their interests.

@MarchingFrogs
Im pleased to see Exeter have learnt how to manage open days. DD didn’t warm to it either. The whole day was a scrum with huge queues.

Agreed that Open Day is not the best place for children too young to be interested in university. I don’t judge a single parent who perhaps doesn’t have other options, but I don’t understand making Open Day a family affair any more than I understand making the weekly shop a family affair. This goes double for Interview Day!

@TizerorFizz, admittedly one of the things which put DS2 off was the weather on the day - very warm and muggy and just totally enervating. We spent a great deal of our time sitting on various walls. 'People watching' was quite interesting - also 'people listening' ... The poor student who got our group on what must have been her twentieth accommodation tour of the day would definitely have had our help, had she decided to throttle one particular Mummy on our visit to a self-catered block. As it was, she limited herself to suggesting that if Mummy's Precious Girl had so many issues with what (perfectly normal) food items her flatmates might want to keep alongside hers in the shared fridges, perhaps catered accommodation would be a better choice for her. (To be fair, some of her requirements might well have got her a mini fridge on health grounds, but the list of things Mummy thought she shouldn't be expected to put up with went quite a way beyond🙄).

Leamington? I've always found it a nice town, lots of Warwick students seem to live there quite happily.

When we did visits we found the Warwick students the most welcoming of all the universities we saw. Royal Holloway was the least friendly.

We did half in summer term of Y12 and half in autumn Y13. Some dates clashed so that worked out best. We had already ‘long listed’ by looking at a range of typical offers, (a couple aspirational, mostly realistic and a few insurance,) distance from home, roughly within 2 hours, cost of accommodation and in our case, whether they qualified for a bursary. That narrowed it down to 8 or 9. Short listing 5 from that 8/9 was then pretty easy.

Really don’t worry about Warwick, DS1 went to there. It was his aspirational choice for maths. He had a fantastic time there. He chose to live in Coventry after first year, Earlsdon is very typical student territory. Leamington is nice, good social life for those who live there. Also a very nice uni to have on your CV, DS1 got lots of job offers.

We didn't start until the summer between years 12 and 13. We had some very busy weekends in June if I recall, including one when we visited three universities in completely parts of the country on three consecutive days!

Going earlier would have been pointless as neither of mine had decided what they wanted to study until the spring of year 12.

With DD (who seemed to be interested in anywhere and everywhere, so it was sort of our holiday for the year, in divided doses), I did Reading and Bristol one weekend and Birmingham and Warwick another (possibly consecutive weekends; tbh, it'sall a bit of a blur now). For Birmingham and Wsrwick, we stayed in a hotel in Coventry, quite near the station - can't remember which chain, but it used to be a bicycle factory, iirc - from the Thursday to the Saturday evening and 'did' Birmingham as a day trip from there on the Friday. We have to travel via London to most places, so it made sense to stay in the nearer city.

@MarchingFrogs
We should have given up when we saw the queue for buses as the dedicated park and ride on the show ground. It took us 1.5 hours to get to the campus and DD missed her first talk at 10.30 am. I had parked the car at 9.15. The day just got worse. We saw loads of family groups and plenty had brought picnics for an outing.