Durham - deeply disappointed child - any admissions insight

[albertandlilylight]

First choice university by a mile and really really wants to go there and college system would suit very well. 43 (IB) in predicted grades, am told by school very good school reference and personal statement. However, got an offer for a course did not apply for and for which has no interest. Don't understand at all. Worked so hard all the way through school, told hard work rewards and then this. Anyone got any insight to how Durham are offering and is there anything that can be done from here?

I know in the US they look for extracurriculars for several reasons -
Evidence of interests outside of school subjects,
Evidence of ability to manage time and prioritize,
Evidence of being able to work well with others,
Evidence of ability to maintain a sustained interest in something outside of schoolwork, something personal, reflecting your personality or passion.

The big issue with Durham is they make you wait so long so you miss out on accommodation at your other university choices. My niece had to give up waiting to hear from Durham so that she would be in time to apply for accommodation at her 2nd choice. She’s now absolutely panicked as the accommodation choices have become so limited while she waited for Durham. I know someone else who was so keen to go to Durham , he app,ied mid September. He’s still not heard and he’s watching the accommodation at his 2nd choice drain away daily.
I think their application process is a disgrace.

Well yes definetely compared to the offer rate to Overseas students wanting to study Oral Health Sciences at Edinburgh in 2022.

US universities are very different from UK universities. In most cases you apply to become a member of the university rather than to study a particular course. US admissions tutors look to curate a class of students in each admissions cycle that fits the ethos of the university and therefore they select students with a varied range of interests. To be successful in US university admissions one needs a hook that makes ones stand out from the crowd in an area the university is interested in.
Perhaps of note, nearly 50% of Brits studying at Harvard are elite athletes.
At MIT one has to pass a 100 yard swim test to graduate.
At Columbia every undergraduate studies English Literature including for example Othello.
At UC Berkeley PE is a compulsory module.

US universities are very different to UK universities.

If any university is suggesting that students need to make their accomodation choices before the deadline for students to select their firm or insurance choices (8th June this year) then they are in breach of UCAS business rules and should be reported to both UCAS and the Office for Students.

Agreed. No idea why posters seem to think transferring onto the course that has already rejected her is a given. It isn't, there are many factors involved and there are more chances she will graduate in Archaeology than not, so it's not just about whether she likes Durham, it's realistically sitting down and deciding whether she would like to embark on a degree in Archaeology or stick with History and go elsewhere.

It’s a bit like job interviews really. Two candidates can go for the job, both with the qualifications and experience wanted, and only one will get it. You don’t always get everything - that’s why they let you apply to five different schools.

The house prices in a lot of places are ridiculous. Doesn’t make them nice areas. And yes I thought Gilesgate Moor was a hole - coming from someone who has lived in both Byker and Moss Side. Durham sells itself alongside Oxbridge and it really isn’t.

DD rejected Durham. DD had to wait wait until this week for an answer and the offer was identical to Oxbridge. What use is that to DD or more importantly those who really want the Durham offer? She turned it down quickly so hopefully helps someone else.

Interesting… I applied for Durham too (about 10 years ago!) Applied for Philosophy - my whole personal statement, my A Levels, everything I had done was geared towards a philosophy degree. They offered me a place studying psychology. No psychology A-Level, nothing pointing me in that direction. Always wondered why they did it. I didn’t take the place.

No, Gilesgate Moor is not “a hole”. Neither is Pity Me. And I lived in that area for a number of years.

Do you similarly tell aspiring Oxford students to avoid because Blackbird Leys is “a hole”?

What’s the plan after History at Durham though?

At every stage from reading schemes to going private to which 6th form there’s huge parental expectation and angst. There’s thread after thread of not getting into this school or that, The reality is the privately educated top grade student will still end up in outstanding Unis with others who went to comps and colleges. Even Durham which is the most outstandingly biased towards those from private education has a majority who weren’t independently schooled. So it’s not really about how well they achieved at each level but how they meet the criteria for the stage after.
What does she want to do afterwards? If not Durham does that mean her future is hopelessly washed up?

It’s tough when you don’t get the offer (or your child doesn’t) they expected and when they are a high achiever and perfect candidate for the Uni it stings. DS was devastated to not even get an interview at Oxford. He had 9x9’s in his GCSE’s and predicted 3 A*’s which he got (and averaged 97% in his papers so clearly smashed the grade boundaries). It took a few days to sink in and he did come round. He got an offer for everywhere else including St Andrews, but in the end he chose Warwick (for the course) and he’s loving it. I’m sure the Oxford rejection will always sting but once your DD is at the Uni she goes to I’m sure she will be happy with the outcome. It’s ok to feel sad about it

Durham courses are modular based so I'd see what the core modules are for archaeology vs history and how much overlap there may be. It's been 20 years since I life Durham, but a lot of proper chopped and changed once they were in. If the core modules aren't a million miles apart it may even be an option without repeating.

"Money Box" on radio 4 had a phone in about rented accommodation earlier this week. One contributor was a Durham student who, with friends, had had to put a deposit on a house without seeing it, because the rental situation was so dire and they were worried they would end up with nothing. It sounded like a terrible situation and the experts on the programme were shocked. My two are through university now, but I would have been urging them to do their research about the availability of accommodation. Durham sound quite dire.

I went to Durham to study History - hated it, left after a month- then went to St Andrews and had a blast. Might be a lucky escape!

I'd be very cautious about advising dc to attend uni on the proviso they could swap courses. Dd is in 1st year at Durham doing History. She's had a few wobbles and asked in the 2nd week, just after freshers if she could do History and English, or change to English and was told absolutely not.

Also the History module allocation is pretty weird. They get module blocks, early, middle, late and give a preference for a module from that period but they get what they are given basically and 2nd yr is similar so that suggests a lot of students doing straight History and not much wiggle room for arch students.

It's a very different experience to lots off dds friends, and to my own experience with Sheffield (currently yr 2 in eng/phil). Until last week dd hated it and was writing this yr off and applying for a different uni. I would say she's had to be super resilient, cope with never being the brightest in the room, never being the most studious, a ridiculous amount of reading plus a less than supportive pastoral team, tho that has improved significantly since she asked for help with a personal statement for ucas. Oh and accommodation is ridiculously expensive and over subscribed.

Dd would have definitely not even applied with the benefit of hindsight. But she's decided to try until at least the end of the academic year. For balance she is now very in love with Durham itself, just less than thrilled with the course itself.

When I started working at Durham they commissioned a report into their international standing. The main conclusion was that very few people outside the UK had even heard of Durham University and that virtually nobody in Europe, America or Asia thought of it as an elite instution!

....I did write a huge long post about this, but gave up and deleted it. I would say that Durham is in many ways the weakest instution I've ever worked at. Places like UCL, imperial etc are just in a different (and better) league.

However.. league tables are very heavily biased towards student satisfaction and. In general, small cities like durham are much better places to study. Big city Universities can really struggle. Edinbugh is a case in pint. Young people think how fantastic it must be to study in Edinburgh. They then get there and find that its horrendously expensive and that they have to live miles out and commute by bus. Edinburgh struggles with student satisfaction.....

Even places like Lincoln, which is hardly an academic powerhouse, do quite well in league tables, mainly because is a small city with a cathedral that you can get around on foot so a good place to study.

Durham isn’t even that great. It’s just popular with mumsnet because loads of posh people go there. Fur coat, no knickers.

They weren't even in the Russell Group until 2012, randomly.

But I did stay there years ago, visiting a boyfriend's sister and the buildings were lovely. It is a good university. I still think it's worth your DC trying to speak to them on the phone @albertandlilylight .

There are plenty of places people can go, get a good degree and enjoy the experience, though. Lots of red brick unis as good/better than Durham etc.

Edinburgh struggles with student satisfaction.....

From my DC’s experience Edinburgh was a bit shit. Stupidly expensive private accommodation was a factor (it is a capital city and a competitive market after all) but the course itself wasn’t great and access to the necessary research facilities for final year work was non existent.

I agree with those saying that history and archaeology are very different disciplines.

What other offers does she have?

Dd , predicted five a stars, wanted to do
Natural
Science. Cambridge and Durham were her top choices
We went to the open day at Durham and in the presentation the head of department was frankly unpleasant about " students applying with all top grades " saying that they wanted students with a passion for the subject , not hot house swots ( basically !)
Dd was so offended she didn't apply . Her reasoning was that being mocked for being academic wasn't on and that they wouldn't apply that selection to the rugby team. Her passion showed in her predicted grades in her opinion.
Their loss, she went to Cambridge and is now doing a phd in cancer research .

That’s what I meant, if they arrive by the Oxbridge deadline the chances they are applying to Oxbridge as well are very high, but you don’t get to know where their heart is until they select their firm and insurance choices.

They weren't even in the Russell Group until 2012, randomly.

The Russell Group was just a group of universities that agreed to work together, it wasn’t a mark of quality.