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Higher education

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Original poster

Oxford open day- staying in a college?

6 replies

Prettypussy · 13/06/2022 17:24

Anyone had a prospective student stay over at one of the colleges on open day. DD has been offered free accommodation at Christchurch for the night with dinner included- she's worried she'll just be on her own as others will be in school groups? Anyone got experience of this- we will be staying in a hotel and going out for dinner- should she eat dinner er in the college with other prospective students or better to come out for dinner with me and DH?

OP posts:
saraclara · 13/06/2022 18:51

Everyone stays over. My DD stayed at Cambridge college, and meet a few people that she went to the pub with that evening. She found it absolutely fine, despite being quite shy generally. Her main comment was that everyone was nice and friendly "but they were all well posh and had horses" 😂

saraclara · 13/06/2022 18:56

Ah, sorry. Just saw that it's an open day, not an interview. But even so, I think she should get the full experience. Hopefully the college will put the singletons together and the groups on a different stair.

goodbyestranger · 13/06/2022 22:41

Prettypussy the Open Days are a very different vibe from interviews. It's no big deal if she wants to eat with you. That said, the students helpers (DD4 is one this year and most of my other DC have helped in previous years) do give up their time to try to encourage the Y12s attending, so from their perspective it's a bit meh if the Y12s shoot off to be with their parents. Given that you're going to be in Oxford, I'm a bit puzzled as to why your DD didn't just get a room in the hotel with you rather than take a college room which someone without parents could probably have used (space is limited).

Original poster
Prettypussy · 14/06/2022 07:29

goodbyestranger · 13/06/2022 22:41

Prettypussy the Open Days are a very different vibe from interviews. It's no big deal if she wants to eat with you. That said, the students helpers (DD4 is one this year and most of my other DC have helped in previous years) do give up their time to try to encourage the Y12s attending, so from their perspective it's a bit meh if the Y12s shoot off to be with their parents. Given that you're going to be in Oxford, I'm a bit puzzled as to why your DD didn't just get a room in the hotel with you rather than take a college room which someone without parents could probably have used (space is limited).

Well, it saving us a lot of money- hotel rooms are not cheap and we only applied at the last minute- the night before it closed, so the room was likely to have gone unfilled if we hadn't taken it. In fact I was surprised she got a room! DD thought it would also give her a more real taste of Oxford life to stay in the actual halls as well.

OP posts:
goodbyestranger · 14/06/2022 09:59

Completely fair. Oxford hotels are hugely expensive. On the whole though, if she's in college, I'd tend to say she should use it as much as possible but no-one will notice if she dots out for dinner.

astoundedgoat · 14/06/2022 10:03

She should stay for dinner and get the whole experience. I'm sure she'll have people to sit with and talk to - they'll make sure she isn't on her own, and it's such a cool dining hall that she should take the opportunity to eat there and see what it's like in case she decides on somewhere else for uni and never comes back!

If she doesn't have fun or is on her own, she can make an early exit and find you after dinner.

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