University Open Days - what should we know? What do you wish you'd asked?

[Goodenoughisgoodenough]

Hi! I'm taking my son to a few University Open Days next week. Those of you with kids at Uni (or currently students), what do you wish you'd asked? What are the specific things we should make sure we look at? What was most useful to you? Or any big regretst! All tips and advice gratefully received! thanks!

Ask students about their accommodation costs (especially beyond first year), commuting, and cost-of-living generally. It varies hugely from city to city.

Also ask about work placements if that's something relevant to your DS; how many students find them, how much help does the uni provide?

Have a look at DiscoverUni.gov.uk before you go and if there are any red flags about student satisfaction or employment, ask someone about them.

Good luck! Nothing beats seeing a city in real life and getting a feel for the "vibe."

Try to talk to students more than staff. Ask about accommodation - do the students think it's good quality, how fast are repairs done, would they choose to live there again. Ask if they feel the course is good value for money, are the lecturers fair and helpful, are the resources up to date and useful, and would they recommend the course.

I would ask about impact of strike action. Hopefully it will be resolved by the time your child starts, but if teaching for a particular course at a particular university has been disrupted its worth knowing.

I actually see this as supporting the strikes, as university management have more incentive to resolve if there is a perceived potential impact on applications.

Talk to the students about how happy they are with their course and what options you have for individual direction in the later years. You might be able to see this online but it is inspirational to hear an actual student talking about it. Also how happy they are in general.

Accommodation is important but you might not get to see it properly at many universities or indeed even at all, accommodation viewing might be on a different day.

An open day can completely change your mind about the uni you thought you wanted to go to so definitely go to as many as you can!

Go to the subject talk for the course your DC is interested in - you will probably need to book onto this in advance.
Visit the relevant department and speak to current students about their experiences. If relevant you should be able to visit specialist facilities - labs, studios, research etc.
I haven't been to an open day where you haven't been able to view some accommodation -except immediately post covid. I think it's good to get a feel for what's available, but remember first year accommodation is often luck of the draw, and subsequent years is usually private rental. Have a good chat to students in accommodation or giving tours of the campus about uni life - they often speak more freely than those in departments with lecturers nearby.
Have a look at areas particularly important to your DC eg sports facilities, music provision etc.

I would seriously ask about accommodation costs and percentage of students in Hall. I would also ask about whether online tutorials and lectures are the norm. Hugely disappointed with my DS’s university as he has had all his lectures online since starting in 2020.

Let your young adult lead the process

I found most accommodation info available on the website.
We looked at: facilities and the local area.
Fellow open day attendees and current students - did they seem like they were people your child would like? For example my daughter was put off UAL as all the students seemed to be competing as to how many piercings and hair colours and how 'weird and arty' they could look. Shallow, yes, but it was the first thing she mentioned afterwards.
Do the faculty look happy to be there and enthusiastic when talking about the uni and their course?
Do the student ambassadors look happy to be there? Definitely try and talk one on one with a couple from the course and ask why they chose that uni, what they like and don't like, what are their future plans and what does the uni do to help with that?

Who is doing this degree? The only question you should be asking is "what time do you want picking up from the station?" Your nearly adult son is responsible for the rest.

Check out how many decent clubs there are in town and whether that have a good line up.

Ask what gigs and ents are booked for the year ahead.

Check the walk to lectures isn’t too long when the student has a 9.00am and has been out clubbing the night before.

I'd ask academic staff about quantity and quality of face to face teaching and check that all extras are up and running normally now - face to face tutorials, seminar groups, workshops, study groups, site and field trips, years abroad or industry sandwich years, lectures, office hours, library opening hours, expected turnaround for marking.

If unis insist on working to a business model then their 'clients' have a right to demand what they are paying for. (Full sympathy to striking teaching staff btw - their pay and work conditions are beyond reprehensible. It's the unis I hold accountable, not the lecturers.)

Also check with students about quality of accommodation, support services, clubs and societies, workload, local nightlife and job availability.

And check the feel of the place. DC both visited prospective unis and got a stronger feel for some than others. It's important they can 'see' themselves living and working there.

Really? When parents now pay so much towards the cost of uni?

Most "factual" questions can be answered by looking at their websites or googling such as the content/structure of courses, percentage of foreign students, employment x years after graduation, links with industry, costs/ranges of accommodation, etc., so perhaps best to research those areas in advance.

On the day itself, concentrate on things you can't get from the web, such as talking to students about the reality of student life, whether they've used the pastoral/MH support services, helpfulness of staff, quality of accommodation (cleaning, repairs, standard of beds etc), how much "in person" teaching time, whether there are small group/individual tutorials, etc. When talking to teaching staff, concentrate on content of the course or if you're undecided, ask about course options/alternatives, etc.

Pointless spending valuable/short time asking things that could be answered by googling!

Definitely ask about the amount of "online" still happening and for an honest answer, ask the students, not the teaching staff.

My DS is the same and bitterly disappointed at how little "in person" there has been over the past 3 years. Bad enough they were lied to back in Summer 2020 when they were told it'd be "blended learning" but ended up that there was no "in person" at all for the entire 20/21 academic year. But then over half his modules in 21/22 were also 100% online and the others were partly "in person", and partly "online", and even in the 22/23 year just ended, he still had 2 modules that were fully online.

Not only that, but he's never met his "personal tutor" in person throughout the 3 years. What little contact there has been was online as the guy has never been on campus for the full 3 years - he seems to be permanently WFH!

As OP said on 4th June she was taking her dc "next week", then I'm guessing they have already been by now.........

Yes but @UsingChangeofName that may not be the only one, and this forum is to help others with the same question!
@squashyhat, yea because a 17/18 year old has so much world experience they know exactly how to do things and what to ask and how to judge. After the open days it's very useful to immediately talk things out with someone, get another opinion or express concerns with. Kids surely can go off on their own, come home and a parent asks 'so what did the course leader say about x,y,z', and the response may well be 'oh I forgot to ask'. I think my job is to provide transportation (two universities will require an overnight stay), support and a wiser take on things. It can also be intimidating asking a question in front of 100 people, even for older adults. But I agree the child should take the lead in asking questions when talking to students - and hopefully not just ask about the nightlife!

That’s shocking! Care to say where he is?

In Exeter they said they have online content for watching back as revision. I hope that doesn’t mean that it’s in place of lectures.