Offer days- how are you doing?

[DinkyDaisy]

Well we have booked 3 so far... Surrey, Bath and Essex for Politics /politics and IR.
Ds predicted grades gone up since ucas form so may try and get University place this year but have option of applying with grades if he wants to after results to a different set of universities. (year out).
Bath cancelled next week due to strikes so Surrey University our first one.
Guess a fair few offer days coming up.
How's it all going?

What is an offer day? Is it something we book once offers have been made or do the universities invite you to attend?

Once you have an offer you should get invited or directed to website.
Check websites of universities that have offered. Should be around open day section but called offer days.

How is everyone getting on this week with the offer holder days? Hopefully productive for all!

DC is on the way back from offer holders day at Hull, went alone as I have younger DC on half term. It's the only one of the 5 not visited because there was a train strike on the day of the open day in the autumn 😡

I'm looking forward to hearing all about it!

Offer days booked for Manchester and Warwick so far; still yet to hear one way or the other from UCL - and York will be the insurance offer whatever...

All went well . Met up with others wandering round that knew where to go 😁. Ds name was down on a list. It was really well set out. Lots of chance to ask questions (without child there to embarrass 😁). DS seemed to love it.

Is an applicant day the same as an offer day?

We haven't been to an offer holder's day yet, first one is on Saturday, but we are hoping for a bit more detail on the course.

Yes, some places call them that.

DC and I did Uni of Nottingham today and I am absolutely knackered. It was DC's favourite on paper (never visited before) but has now realised that a campus uni is not the right fit - reckons it will be a bit stifling and claustrophobic. So was a bit of a wasted choice tbh. Has now got me worrying about Leicester (also campus outside a city) which we due to visit soon. Fortunately, we have Manchester and Newcastle on the table too.

Shows how important it is to visit universities. My ds had heard nothing but wonderful things about 2 universities he was considering but they didn't feel right for him on open days. Conversely, a just-in-case university felt 'right' to him.
Were you impacted at all by strike action at Nottingham @Swiftlyintothenight ?

Thank you! Honestly this sodding application process, every time I think DS is sorted, there is something else to learn. And more time to book off work and money to find for train fares. I feel like I am in some sort of labyrinth that only middle class parents ever complete.

Train fares awful. I seem to be of an age where I pay full price for all journeys.
My DH going to drive to Bath but any savings go into staying overnight. Train for me and ds to Guilford Saturday for Surrey University. Ds still 17 so 50% off for moment with railcard.

Hull offer holders day went well for DC yesterday, they were impressed.

3 out of 5 Unis are in the running now, 2 have been ruled out.

Onwards to Staffs offers holders on 4 March assuming no train stirkes or engineering works 🤞

@DinkyDaisy i hear good things about Surrey. One of our DC1's friend's sister is there in final year i think and picked it over other "bigger names" because it felt right. She had thrived there.

My DC2 is already 18 so 16-25 railcard is less discount 😢 Luckily I didn't go with yesterday so only 1 bum on seat to pay for 😂

@hotmilkytea that is good to hear about Surrey. I think it is likely to remain ds favourite and it is me and others [teachers/family, etc] who need to get in line and not keep pushing the 'bigger names' because of his grade predictions. I am behaving actually as it has to be his decision and he is going to other offer days as well to be sure...

@DinkyDaisy it will all work out for him I'm sure, hopefully the visits will give him the clarity to make whatever decision suits him best.

And a random question to everyone - how far from home are the unis you and your DC are visiting?

Another rookie question, sorry- do parents go to these Offer Days? I will do if I am expected but I don't want to put DS off by tagging along if no one else does. He is fiercely independent but at the same time lacking hugely in confidence and competence!!

3 to 4 hours away our furthest University from home by car/ train.
Ds got one parent on each but I will take a back seat and keep out of the way on offer days if he chats to people / has lecture, etc.

Our furthest is 6.5 hours….

DS still awaiting replies from Durham, Bristol and Edinburgh so starting to look likely that he'll miss their offer holder days and, if he gets offers, we'll have to visit independently, which isn't the best.

Beginning to think that University admissions processes really need some standardisation introducing

I do agree @bguthb90 . It seems poor form to leave decisions so long that there are no further offer days to attend - if that happens. I hope not happening because some universities feel they can be chosen just on name/ RG status etc...

@hotmilkytea our furthest open day was 9 hours (no break). It didn’t make it to the final 5 (thank heavens). But others are between 3 and 5 hours. Nowhere close annoyingly.
@CrapBucket DD rather I went with her. She says I remember and pick up on different things to her. One was an overnighter but I thought I’d have a meander around the city but she preferred me there. Loads of parents present. A handful without but they were with a friend or boy/girlfriend. So whatever works for your DS is fine.
@bguthb90 a lot of universities are still doing offer holder days in May. A bit close to their exams for my liking! Did he go to their open days? DD hasn’t heard from Bath as yet. They did say that applications for her course are read by two reviewers and that she’d likely hear March/April and hopefully prior to 28th April. IF she does get an offer in late April then I doubt she’ll attend the offer holder day as she’ll probs want to revise. She went to an open day so has at least seen the city & Uni. If he’s very undecided or not attended the open days then the offer holders are incredibly useful with sample lectures etc.

@NotDonna we live in NI so, as flight and overnight stay will be needed to visit most English/Scottish unis., we opted for online research and offer holder day visits over open days - little did we know how the process would pan out 😂

It seems Bristol is doing offer days in late April/early May but Durham's last one is 21 March and Edinburgh is 5 April, so clock is ticking for those 2.

Durham’s admissions team need a kick up the arse. They don’t cope with managing the administration of their popular courses. Really puts you off.