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Higher education

Talk to other parents whose children are preparing for university on our Higher Education forum.

Original poster

Do offer holder days give you brownie points?

28 replies

Sarahcoggles · 20/02/2023 23:52

Probably a ridiculous question.

DS is in year 13, has sorted his first and second choices, and we have received emails from both inviting him to offer days.

Neither he nor I particularly want to go. It's a long way, we had a good look around at the open day (including a sample lecture), and he's not planning to change his mind. He'd also have to miss a day of school, as they're on week days.

Initially we agreed he wouldn't go, but I'm suddenly wondering if attendance at offer days is noticed, and shows that you're keen. I'm thinking, if he doesn't quite get the grades he needs, and we're begging the university to take him anyway, will attendance at an offer day improve his chances? Or does no one take any notice?

OP posts:
Justcannot · 20/02/2023 23:56

No one takes any notice of such things. There's a million reasons why someone wouldn't attend an open day, it xant be a factor. The unis leniency on results day will depend on how applicants the course got, how many are holding offers, and how much capacity they have. It can also depend on where the issue is: an engineering student might be forgiven dropping a grade in art, but not in maths.

It's fine!

SpringSparrow · 20/02/2023 23:59

i think it depends on the university. My dd was invited to a scholarship day at one university for an interview and afterwards her offer was made unconditional if she made them her first choice, plus a scholarship payment and first choice of accommodation. They also put on talks for parents and students and gave us lunch. However her top choice university was very oversubscribed and had she not made the grades I think would have swiftly turned her away.

MarchingFrogs · 21/02/2023 07:51

It would at least be polite, perhaps, for your DS actually to reply to say thank you for the invitation, difficulty with taking more time out from school to attend, feel that open day experience was sufficient for him to make a decision etc, rather than just ignore it. But the offer of the place has been made and can't be rescinded unless he doesn't meet the conditions and, as others have said, whether or not he would still be accepted with dropped grades would depend on factors such as relevance of subject(s) affected, whether the course has capacity to consider those who missed their offer - and how he compares to those others who did. The universities receive results almost a week before applicants do, so will have made those decisions by results day.

boys3 · 21/02/2023 10:17

the only caveat I would suggest your DS considers is that the applicant day should offer the opportunity to get under the skin of the uni, department and course. Something trickier to do at the mass marketing events commonly referred to as Open Days.

one of my DS was 100% convinced as to his first and second choices. Two applicant days completely changed that. Ending up at the wrong uni is an expensive mistake to make.

Sadlifter · 21/02/2023 10:21

I doubt it. I'm sure there will be the odd person posting to say that the dept was so impressed with their teen that they offered them all sorts of bribes to go there, but dd2 didn't go to any and got five excellent offers from RG unis.

Worth going if you are in two minds about the uni or course though (she wasn't).

poetryandwine · 21/02/2023 11:21

Former Russell Group admissions tutor here, STEM School. PPs are correct.

Offers are legally binding. If an insufficient number of applicants make their offers, our only concern in August is to pull together the strongest possible cohort. Whether an applicant attended an offer day plays no part in anyone’s thinking.

NoNotHimTheOtherOne · 21/02/2023 12:43

It would at least be polite, perhaps, for your DS actually to reply to say thank you for the invitation...

This isn't how applicant communications work, sadly. The "invitation" will have been an automatically generated message including a link to register for the offer-holder day. There may not be a way of replying. If there is, it's likely to generate a case on the enquiries database which nobody will reply to because it doesn't include a question. Most communications come from the university's central admissions team, not the departments the students have applied to study in.

So1invictus · 21/02/2023 12:50

I'd just add that DD met a lot of people at holder's day and they formed WhatsApp groups etc for the subject. That was in April and the group continues to be active now that many of them are there. Initial friendships were definitely made as a result, so that might be worth bearing in mind.
I wouldn't necessarily have gone to the holder's day, but I'm so glad we did. We came in from abroad too, but it was 100% worth it. We did two on the same weekend and the difference was enormous and also helped her make her final decision.

poetryandwine · 21/02/2023 13:12

I would encourage attendance for the social reasons being discussed above! But attendance will be irrelevant if you don’t get the grades. BTW begging doesn’tt help, either. Admissions tutors have had three days to decide what to do before applicants get their grades.

clary · 21/02/2023 20:33

I would encourage attendance too, not to win brownie points, but just bc they are different from open days. Dd had two subjects she was deciding between (unusual I know) and meeting the other (semi) firm candidates on offer day really crystallised it for her. Also a great chat with the HoD and a exemplar seminar really showed her what she might do.

Maybe your dc has that all sorted, but we found it v helpful and inspiring.

Shinyandnew1 · 21/02/2023 20:36

Mine are both at university now-neither went to offer holder days. I
cant imagine attendance would have made an impact on whether they got in or not.

redspottedmug · 21/02/2023 20:46

Slightly unusual I know, but attending the offer holders day gave DC the opportunity and confidence to ask if it would be possible to change their offer to a completely different subject. The visit confirmed that they loved the uni. They were wavering about the subject, and spoke in person to the head of admissions, who reassured them that it was not unusual and was possible.

Lily999888 · 21/02/2023 20:51

Both my dcs found offer holder days really useful. My ds to confirm that he definitely made the right first choice and for my dd it made her realise that she’s got her choices the wrong way around! Offer holder days let you get a more in depth incite into your course, so I would definitely recommend trying to attend.

MrsS0werberry · 21/02/2023 20:52

There's definitely no need to write a thank you letter! Offer holder days are organised by a central team who will have nothing to do with admissions decisions. Plus, as you say, he already has the offers. Offer holder days are a) to give applicants a better look at the uni (so worth doing for that reason) and b) conversion events, ie to convince your kid to choose that uni as their first choice.

Literally no-one will be looking at lists of names and saying oh dear, Johnny from Marlow didn't come, I guess he's not very keen.

PritiPatelsMaker · 22/02/2023 21:30

We've been to 2 this week. The first one confirmed that DS definitely doesn't want to go to that Uni.

The second confirmed that he did. It was very useful and gave us some tips and information that aren't available on the website.

There weren't many Students on the offer holders day today so we got a good chance to ask questions, see the campus, facilities and accommodation.

Keepfocused · 22/02/2023 21:51

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clary · 22/02/2023 22:00

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@Keepfocused I went with DD as she anted me to. Some DC there without parents for sure. Either is fine. You may find there is a limit of two people n total tho.

DD deffo waited to accept till after offer days, as she wasn't sure about her subject. Presume the offer days are before acceptance deadline?

PritiPatelsMaker · 22/02/2023 22:16

Great advice. Can I ask two questions on this: Do parents go? Also can I ask if people accept offers before they go?. We had planned to wait until after offer holder

Of the group we were with today only one student was on their own, the others had at least one adult with them.

Offer holder days are to help them make up their mind do usually well before they have to "firm".

Daisymay2 · 22/02/2023 22:16

DS2 went to all 5 offer days because he had received a diagnosis of dyslexia after he had done inital visits and wanted to see the Learning Support set ups. He had some really good advice from a couple of Unis and and decided against one Uni because they were really negative.
Our other son went to his 2 favoured ones to decide which one he wanted to make his first choice

So1invictus · 23/02/2023 06:14

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As pp- yes, there were very few students without families when we went last year. Iirc you could ask for up to a certain number of tickets (I'm guessing that was so they knew how many lunches to provide) DD and I were pretty much in a minority of being a group of 2!
Definitely wait till afterwards re the offers. Of the 2 places we went to, DD on paper would have firmed Exeter, but she didn't like it when we visited (and neither did I though I kept schtum till after!) and loved Bath which would have been her insurance. She ended up firming Bath and holding Lancaster as insurance sight unseen (that was how much she didn't like Exeter!)

allotta · 23/02/2023 06:33

Those days are to try and help you choose them, not a test of how much you're interested.

The big benefit would be seeing prospective peers and lecturers and getting a sense of who he could be spending three years with.

Restlessinthenorth · 23/02/2023 06:36

Admissions tutor here. For the poster asking about parents attending, my institution offers a parents programme which runs alongside the one tour DC would engage in.

In contrast to others, my institution does offer a tariff reduction for some attenders, as part of our contextual offer. But we are very big on inclusion and probably different to other places in that respect.

I love doing our offer holder days, however I am not sure non attendees miss out very much by not going from a social perspective. Our cohorts have hundreds on them, students may meet only a handful of those people on the offer holder days. They find their own people when they arrive!

Original poster
Sarahcoggles · 23/02/2023 11:51

Thanks all.
I'm still unsure.
Of the 3 dates, I can only get to one of them (can't get time off work), and it's in May, after DS's A levels have begun. He doesn't want to commit to taking a day out of studying. We've been to an open day there and he liked it (I didn't, but that's another story), and he's already chosen it as his firm choice. I doubt he'll change that because the other places he liked gave him higher offers, and he's being tactical and realistic! He's also got a good friend who's "firmed" the same place and same course, so they're hoping to go together. And we've selected and requested his accommodation. It's also a good university and highly respected for his chosen course. So the chances of him changing his options are very very small.
And he doesn't want to go to the offer day, because it's a long journey and he can't see the point.

But reading these posts makes me think he should go.

OP posts:
PritiPatelsMaker · 23/02/2023 12:18

If he's firmed and chosen accommodation I don't think there is any point in going again personally.

GrassWillBeGreener · 28/02/2023 00:19

Sounds perfectly reasonable to me. My DS went to an offer holders day on Saturday (parents not invited, at least according to him); I was glad he went as when we took him to a couple of open days last year he wasn't ready to think about much more than what's the course about. Now reality of uni is starting to sink in and things like accommodation and finance etc etc are beginning to seem relevant ...