Disappointing offer holders day?

[InMyRoom]

Anyone else been disappointed by the offer holders days? Would you see lack of effort as a red flag?

DS was set on Warwick, course impressive, open day welcoming.

Could not have had a more disappointing experience on the offer holders day. Hardly any reps showing people around, most accommodation closed, barely any students on campus (term time Saturday). The place felt abandoned and frankly depressing. There were no seats or benches on the whole campus, not sure if removed during the pandemic or they never existed.

Compare and contrast to his potential insurance day today. Was buzzing. Student reps everywhere, students all around, accommodation tours. Campus beautifully cared for.

DS is a social beast and reasonably is wobbling that there will be no one around and nothing to do. I think he’d drop it but the course is much higher at Warwick. I just can’t work out why they made such little effort and why no one was around.

This is what happens when you start charging teens 9+k a year

Take your complaint about tuition fees to the government. Universities didn’t implement the fees. They have never covered the full cost of tuition. It was a political manouevre.

As a teacher, the problem with mid-week things was more for Open Days as students wanted to go to lots of them, and we're in a part of the country which takes lots of travel to get anywhere. I hadn't noticed that (nearly) everything is now at weekends, but once you've pointed it out, you're absolutely right of course.

Dd has done all 5 of her offer golder days and I have done two with her. Totally agree with campus universities being a bit dead at weekends. I went tonine myself and I remember the dreary feelings on a Sunday but still loved it overall.

Dd's conclusion was that she would rather be in a vibrant city, Liverpool very much a favourite at thr moment and maybe London. Loved her course at Newcastle but didn't like thr campus or the city, Lancaster too isolated for her, etc..

Liverpool isn't the highest rated of her courses and it is her lowest offer and student satisfaction for her course seemed low but she said she loved the atmosphere, got to speak to the Professors (her words, i wasn't there!) and it is the only one she came.out buzzing from.

I have no skin in the game for Warwick but wanted to put across another viewpoint. My DC go to a completely different uni. However, they were at the Warwick campus last Saturday whilst the open day was on and I dropped them off for a competition. We saw all the parents and young people wandering around so guessed it was an open day of some kind.
if you went in the sports centre, you’d have seen an amazing event happening organised and hosted by 2 existing Warwick students. They put together a climbing competition to which they’d attracted over 200 students from universities across the country from complete beginners up to representatives from national teams. The Warwick climbing club had a strong team there not just people entered but volunteering for judging, scoring and general organising.They’d secured sponsorship and prizes from big national companies.
The point I’m making is that the climbing club is clearly popular, inclusive and with big visions and aspirations. That clearly doesn’t exist in a vacuum so I suspect there are many other clubs like that. Are they on view on an offer holders day? No but if you’d happened to drop by the sports hall during one of the qualication sessions or finals, it would have been buzzing. If you’d talked to one of the Warwick students there as I did at the end, you’d have heard about trips they take together to all over the U.K. and 60+ of them booked to go climbing in Spain at Easter, regular club nights and socials plus training at Warwick sports hall with students from Cambridge and other universities.
My DC is at a city centre university which they love but was very jealous of how buzzy and inclusive the Warwick climbing club was.
If the course is right for your DC, get them to research clubs they are attracted by and see what else is going on. Lots of that sort of stuff is not evident on an open day or might be there but just not in plain sight.

Oh wow! The offer day we went to at York was pretty good. Lots of ‘ambassadors’ showing people around accom and in general. Sample lectures and info. It was quiet but I guess most 1st years are in their flats/library studying, or in town shopping or away for the weekend.

I have one at Warwick. Term has finished! Loads have gone home so it’s going to be quiet. I would also say that the course and education has been challenging and excellent.

Mine started at Warwick this year. I feel your concerns Op. It was the only contender as DS had applied for Uni himself and put poor second choices down. The offer day was ok but the theatre they did the talk in had broken bits and like you felt a bit flat. DS accepted basically because the two student reps seemed like his people.
He’s shy so not joined any clubs. And that’s it. There really isn’t much else for him. He’s made a few friends but no girlfriend, no nights out. Nothing to look at on campus like he’d have in a city. When we went up near to Christmas we struggled to find anywhere open to eat. There was a terrible pub with no staff just off the main campus but no where nice to take your parents.
The Christmas tree said it all. A small poor affair in the main concrete square with a few large white lights. Hard to ruin a tree but you couldn’t get more soulless. Sort of summed it up. I wanted Uni to be a characterful, twinkly experience for my son.

Ds went to Warwick last Saturday and really enjoyed it! He got on well the the tutors and had a great chat with them. He did see some accommodation and thought it looked fine. He didn’t seem to know it wasn’t actually in Warwick though! Saying that it looks like Manchester will just win for his insurance but just because of the huge range of choices in the third year.

If not ‘staying on campus on Saturday’ where have they gone? Do you mean they have gone home or something?

This is an interesting thread. Hopefully OP is getting some helpful additional insight specific to Warwick. Thank you also to those who are academics who have posted as it helps see the perspectives and pressures from the inside.

A major part of the problem is the disconnect between central marketing functions in unis and the academic departments. The 'central messaging' raises expectations that are then difficult to meet, whether about OHDs or, more fundamentally, the implied 'student experience'.

Covid and its aftermath has exposed huge inconsistencies in approach and mindset by unis and the departments within them. This is partly why some students and parents lock onto Open Days and OHDs to give comfort that a good choice has been made; that is a perfectly rational response.

I am of the vintage where the student travelled alone on a weekday to a very modest coffee and biscuits session with staff and students within the department of interest. When my DC have attended Open Days/OHDs, I have encouraged them to focus on that aspect. The rest of the uni experience is largely down to what the individual student makes of it.

That’s a bit of a worry @lightisnotwhite
DS is very outgoing but if no one is around and nothing to go out to it’s a real concern. One of his other offers is the same grade requirement (so he can’t insure) but his view is the course is more highly regarded at Warwick. I suspect it’s a hairs breadth and my other thought is he’ll do well if he’s happy. I think the overall experience will be of equal importance to the academics.

I think OP expected the same kind of "buzz" as a normal open day and was disappointed. We went to 3 offer holder days at different Unis. 2 were on Saturdays and were very low-key affairs with few people around except for a couple of student ambassadors in the main area directing people to the dept buildings and then another couple at the dept building entrance hall doing the meet & greet. They were Lancaster & York. Both campuses were "tumbleweed" outside the 2/3 departmental buildings doing the offer holder days. The 3rd was Leeds which was busy but that was because it was held on a Thursday, a normal day so gave a better picture of a "normal" uni working day. The reality of Uni life is that there's not much going on at Weekends, so other than normal full open days, it's going to be pretty quiet except for the sports centre/gym.

I’ve been to Warwick university campus a few times as I live quite near and have visited for language classes, and visited the theatre there many times. I also studied a postgraduate course there every day for a year. The teaching was good and the campus is pleasant but at that stage I had my own family so didn’t need the social and other opportunities which an undergraduate would typically want.
I know Warwick has a good reputation especially for certain subjects but it wouldn’t fit my ideas about uni for a first degree for most people - it just doesn’t seem as if there’s much going on there. It’s also not that easy to get from the campus to other more buzzy places so lots of time on buses I would think.
Research, research. Maybe the other uni you visited is a better fit. Maybe Warwick is right for the subject/teaching and for activities which are happening you just didn’t see them. Maybe your DC would happily study on campus and go to club eg sport, and be happy not to have to cope with the noisy hectic environment of a big city. Possibly visit again? Another poster also mentioned watching online tutorial. Think about location relative to home.
Are there other campus universities which also have better links to a bigger town/city? Nottingham, Bath, Exeter?

If not ‘staying on campus on Saturday’ where have they gone? Do you mean they have gone home or something?

Thinking back, I was usually away at weekends visiting friends or working in a pub or bar to pay living expenses. Or in the run up to exams, I was revising.

Dniece is into rowing so she's out on the water by 8am most weekends, and then working.

@InMyRoom

I would absolutely see it as a red flag, yes.

DD and I attended 2 last year. The first was Exeter. It was a Thursday. It was shit. Totally. The student showing us round was about to graduate and couldn't wait to leave. Talked about the lack of help from the department for finding placements etc. DD attended a workshop with the department and came out saying that they were basically lectured as to how they were the chosen few and should be thanking the university for seeing they had potential.

Two days later we went to Bath. Totally different. Made to feel welcome. Fun, informative, helpful.

I didn't comment on the 2 nights we spent in hotels. Exeter had been her number 1 and wanted higher grades than Bath. She'd decided not to visit Lancaster from which she also had an offer. On our way home she said, I'm firming Bath and putting Lancaster as my insurance, is that mad? She said on the night after we'd visited Exeter she'd thought "if this is what university is like, then I'm not going".

I often wonder how many of the kids on that holders' day felt the same.

I know lots of people love Exeter, are having the time of their lives etc. But frankly, given the holders' day we went to, it's a wonder any of them went there to start with.

It's certainly coloured my view as a teacher who advises kids every year. I tell them the truth. Maybe it will be different for you. Maybe we got Exeter on a bad day. It really could not have been worse.

PS both our visits were in the Easter break last year, we were able to see accommodation in both and the campuses were quiet, but not deserted. That didn't colour our impression at all tbh. It was all the attitude.

Location of Warwick uni is not that good. Google map it.

not that many pubs or bars for work nearby, how would you get home

He can go back and take a look midweek once they’re back from Easter. Live in London so he’s not really looking for a big city experience. I think if the town was a walk away he’d have felt better about the campus being dead. Google tells us it can take 40 mins by bus to get into Leamington.

Warwick is close to Coventry and Leamington, so plenty of scope for bar work.

The river Avon is close by so presumably that is where the rowing happens.

This^

Honestly, I thinking what I'd have been doing on a normal Saturday during term-time when I was at uni - and I wouldn't have been hanging around the campus. The library is the only place I might possibly have gone, but I was a student in the 90s and so much is online now and all students have laptops that they don't even need to leave their accommodation to access books/papers, etc. I'd expect any uni campus to be pretty deserted at the weekends and most of the buildings closed.

As for the accommodation - students live there and I can't think of anything more invasive than having hundreds of prospective students and their parents traipsing through our housing. If you want to know what the study bedrooms look like I'm sure there are pictures online!

I have a friend with a child at Warwick who has a girlfriend at Newcastle. He’s had a tricky start. His quote was “At Newcastle they go out drinking, at Warwick they go to the library”

Wasn’t expecting open day hoarded, just normal life. Saw that yesterday at a different university and it was buzzing nicely. It just seemed so dreary. Abandoned. Where did they all go? Didn’t even see any students at the many bus stops around campus. Went into Leamington, busy but not with students. Left Leamington around 5pm after a bite. He doesn’t want to be coming home every weekend for something to do.

I think Warwick has a slightly strange vibe as the campus feels in the middle of nowhere. Whereas you get a different feel in Bristol, Edinburgh and Durham being spread across a city.

It has an excellent reputation though and my son's friends are enjoying it there. Possibly a compromise if you're keen on sport and, while Leamington is lovely, it's a bit of a trek.

There is a very recent thread about campus universities, which (to be fair) differ hugely from each other. My DD definitely didn't want a campus experience; for her it's about the atmosphere and architecture rather than clubbing/shopping. She's very happy living in a shared house near the heart of a stunningly beautiful, walkable, city. But, horses for courses!