Durham University

[EwwSprouts]

To quote @kingscotestaff The continuation thread for those with DC at Durham, or applying to Durham, or alumni, or staff!

June 2023 End of term for all. Hopefully young people are brim full of plans for summer fun and jobs to pay for it!

Link to old thread
]Previous thread (fingers crossed!)

Has anyone with an older dc had a shared room last year or the one before? How did it go?

@Mytholmroyd The centralising of admissions does not appear to have been the great success it was meant to be from comments here.

I think you've hit the nail on the head here. I've no DC wating for a college allocation but, as a Durham graduate, watch this thread to see what's going on/

My DS did apply this year (he was declined in early May - Durham coming 2nd to Edinburgh in keeping applicants waiting) and found his experiences with the admissions team very poor. He only phoned them twice (after they didn't answer his emails) with straightforward queries and on both occasions said he felt like he was annoying them. A big contrast with Exeter and Newcastle admissions who were always extremely helpful.

It does seem that reading this thread, and also the corresponding ones on TSR about Clearing applicants still awaiting confirmation of a place 1 week, later that there's something amiss here - treating students as commodities rather than people maybe.

It's a real shame as Durham is a fantastic university to be a student at and these 4/5 weeks between results and freshers week should be ones of excitement not stress

I agree. My dc is about to start second year too. In the first year all the stress of allocation is soon forgotten when they settle in, get stuck into freshers week and make friends.

It isn't just Durham that has an accommodation problem, though it feels worse at Durham because they're being allocated to a college not just a hall. The first year dd of someone I know was told there was no accommodation left at all in her university town and was offered somewhere in another town a substantial train ride away. I thought first years were guaranteed university accom but apparently not.

Unfortunately the scramble for second year houses is pretty grim. And rents are horrendous. But that isn't unique to Durham either, though a small city with too many students is always going to struggle.

So many towns have two large universities now - Sheffield, Leicester, Nottingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Oxford, Canterbury, Birmingham and many more. They're all trying to attract more students, and it's inevitable that this leads to shortages of accommodation.

I really don't think any student should take it personally. If 23% of students haven't been allocated that;'s approx 4,000 students! No the admin isn't looking good and @Aaarrrh the day up there sounds awful.

DS was a first year last year and it got much better. Freshers week was excellent. I've got to say both his home faculty and the one he wanted to do a module in bent over backwards to accommodate him timetable wise. There were downsides in that he didn't make friendships with his flatmates but then he did with the flat below. Compared with his school friends I feel he found his feet faster as a first year and think the college system is a big factor. None of his Durham friends have left part way through the year.

Celebrate they have been successful in getting a place. They will be doing a course they have worked hard to secure a place on. All the colleges have bars, societies, sports and they will mix between them. Don't let the admin glitches cast a shadow, they will soon be forgotten.

Well that is not the case although I am not disputing how you feel about the process. I am our first generation scholar rep - being from a working class family with no history of university attendance - we try hard to make everyone feel they belong in our Department.

I cannot comment on the colleges though as they are somewhat independent and I am not a member of one.And we have little influence on admissions anymore.

Yes I agree and I can assure you we do not feel like that about our students in our Department. It is very frustrating to read all this and I do not know why it is like this. But it most definitely will not be done because a student is from a state school. We need to increase state school offers and we also have a widening participation scheme.

There is a shortage of accommodation at many universities but we have built new halls recently up the hill to increase it but of course the old Bailey colleges and Castle have no room to expand.

It sounds to me like they must be short staffed because I cannot believe this would be done intentionally. It just doesn't make sense.

As a fellow staff member, I echo this. Colleges are part of the picture at Durham but definitely not the whole picture, and I'm really excited to meet our Freshers this year and see them through three or four years of growth, learning, and support.

I'm sorry the college allocation is causing so much frustration.

@KittyMcKitty every single university in the country have ranking for accommodation - most kids don’t get their first choice. My friends DD was reallocated to an all girls college from the coolest one last year at Cambridge. Her response was choice - she’s had a fabulous time and bagged herself a fab boyfriend despite the affliction of the all girls environment 😂🤣😂

There’s a large FB page full of parents this week who’s kids have been given 6th choice, 10th choice or accommodation 40mins drive away.

The post from uni shows 77% of kids have been given their 1st choice and they are trying to give the others one of their higher ranked college rooms.

The most popular colleges are often oversubscribed. All colleges are lovely some have great sports facilities, some have great bars, some great rooms it’s pot luck. Ocado to Sainsbury’s deliver to the hill colleges.

Last year DD gpt 1st choice hill, so did 3 others in her flat. 2 got 3rd choice, 1 got 6th and 1 child 10th choice. All enjoyed it.

It’s a bit crap that they are taking their time with the reallocation but I’m sure by Tuesday or Wednesday you’ll know.

Thank you to those who have responded with kind words and I am well aware that I sound like a complete nutter. At the risk of drip feeding by dd has severe anxiety which she has been seeing a therapist for for several years and has made such progress. She will continue seeing them remotely when at Uni. I am massively proud of her for not only being able to sit her exams but to come out with a stars. She wanted Durham so badly - so many people told her she wouldn’t fit in because of our background. We went to the talks at the Uni - they said all the right words and we believed them. And now this. All her hard work is unravelling. We actually spoke to someone in allocations yesterday and they just refuse to engage - instead saying you may be being reallocated but you may not be. Well her college is full so it’s pretty obvious she is! Durham may not be doing this intentionally but they’ve made the last week miserable.

@Mytholmroyd and @SchnitzelVonCrummsTum my DD has loved her first year - college admission admin is crazily slow but once allocated the colleges are fab and the course DD is on has been amazing

@KittyMcKitty

In 2019 when dd was told she might be moved, she was fairly distraught. In her case it was resolved quickly, so I really feel for your dd.
Durham do seem to be particularly bad at admin round admissions, but once she was there dd found them generally fine and had a great time, even through the covid years!

I'm sure my dd would happily answer any questions if that would help her. She was from state school background and never found it an issue at all. I asked her once if it was and she looked fairly blank and said she had no idea whether most people were private or state at all; the subject never came up.
If you want to PM me, I can ask dd to answer anything - she's not very confident with meeting people but she likes helping so I'm sure would answer a message.

@KittyMcKitty there are children from all backgrounds at Durham. You will find a more diverse mix at a Hill college than some of the older catered colleges - why? Because kids who’ve been boarding often like the familiarity of catered and rooms over flats. Some catered have shared bedrooms which my DD found abhorrent as she likes privacy - she preferred the idea of en-suite and being in a flat and cooking her own food.

Im sorry your daughter is finding this difficult with her anxiety but try to manage her expectation going forward in terms of time and college. If she gets a Hill @EwwSprouts and myself can give you info regarding room storage etc for two of them. Happy to share photos also ti reduce her anxiety about any change.

What course is she doing for her degree and does she get to pick a wildcard module on her course ?

If so has she had a look on the list on the website and got herself a short list yet?

@KittyMcKitty you don't sound like a nutter at all! Just a loving parent. 💐 I know it's hard and I wish it had been resolved for you in a better way than this but please know that it will have nothing to do with your DD being from a state school and the staff on the phone are probably not telling you things because they just won't know.

I have no idea how it is all worked out but I am sure there will be all sorts of movement behind the scenes with students turning down accommodation when they plump for their other choice - usually if their grades were better or worse than expected - and you may just have not heard because they are waiting for everyone's final choices to be made.

This happened last year to my DD at Leeds as a late applicant and she suddenly got an offer for her 1st choice after being told it was full - I assume because someone went somewhere else and freed up the room.

The colleges are loved by our students and they do work hard to make students feel safe and welcome whichever you go to and the pastoral care can be a real reassurance to parents.

Fingers crossed you hear soon.

I remember the same frustrations over accommodation and college allocation from when my dd started in 2020. I remember the same feelings because my dd had also exceeded her offer, but honestly I think it’s just that they really are overwhelmed by the amount of students. The allocation system may have changed since my dd started, but it felt like a small team dealing with a large number of students. My dd did end up in one of the most popular colleges on the Bailey but in the very dated halls with shared bathrooms and toilets and a cubby hole for a kitchen. It was pretty grim and I’m sure some of the hill colleges rooms are much nicer.

My dd finished in May but has still not graduated because of the lecture strikes and marking ban. The university is still not giving any idea when she will receive her marks and she’s had no marks for the entire year. I understand that the strike is continuing into September. 😐

@KittyMcKitty you don’t sound like a nutter at all! I’m not going to list some of the things I worried about before DS went . One of them was that he would be allocated a Bailey College, shared, catered, because that was the opposite of what he wanted - dreaded the possibility they would need to shuffle state educated STEM subject student into one because of ‘balance’.
Your DD’s anxiety is of course a factor and I can see how Durham’s lackadaisical approach to allocations is adding to the usual concerns students and parents have in the run up to Fresher’s week. She needs to know to be able to plan and readjust if necessary - I totally get that and I’d be the same.
I can tell you more about Josephine Butler College if needed, but one thing I can tell you now is that once there, the pastoral support for freshers is fantastic.

The state school aspect - I asked DS if there was a big thing made of it and he said it was discussed once, whilst waiting for a tutorial, to pass the time. There will be knobheads who are insecure and care about it, I’m sure (there was at my decidedly non-RG Uni 30 years ago!) but it’s not as prevalent as it used to be at Durham.

@KittyMcKitty i don’t think you sound like a nutter at all and I’m feeling so many of the same emotions. We are also waiting and my Dd who was quite relaxed got very worried and sad last night. She is waiting on Collingwood and was seeing the message that 77% were allocated and Collingwood was full was a big shock as she had been patiently waiting… I feel your pain as just want to know so can plan and feel part of it all.
All the messages of reassurance to @KittyMcKitty have been really helpful and we are going yo try and spend weekend not thinking about it too much and phone admissions on Tuesday. So so hoping works out one way or another and they can start to feel excited rather than worried and nervous.. any other advice from anyone on what to do on Tuesday in terms of who to contact etc?

@KittyMcKitty your frustration is very valid, but if your DD is reallocated it won't be because she was state school educated, it will be because she has been unlucky. I don't envy the administrators who are trying to cram people in - they won't be intentionally causing upset. I do think Durham could be more up front at the point where people rank their colleges in respect of the proportion that have been reallocated in recent years from each, and how many of theses exceeded, met, near missed firm offers, or were insurance or clearing offers. It might help manage expectations. Allocating colleges after results day would be even more sensible.

I completely understand the impact that the uncertainty is having on your DD due to her anxiety. My DD also suffers badly, and has been medicated for over 18 months. In her case formal counselling made her feel worse. She was really nervous about how she would cope moving 5+ hours away from home. She found the set up - which all of the colleges have - of drop in peer support/tea & biscuits really reassuring. This is not counselling, rather it is a friendly face who can signpost other services as needed. She is going into Y2 and living out in a house this year, but is now one of the peer support team for Johns and will be back there regularly to host drop ins. She also had some sessions with the college staff who were aware of her diagnosis and were incredibly supportive. The college set up at Durham - whichever college you are in - is in my view great for pastoral support compared to other unis that family members/friends DC have attended. You just need to get through this last bit of uncertainty then your DD can start finding her new Durham family.

Thank you everyone for your kind words and I’m so sorry others are in the same situation. I don’t know what to do - there are some accommodation options within some colleges (eg Hatfield putting people over the bridge opposite SU) which would be a complete disaster for her.

it is great to hear that those there are having positive experiences.

I can see no positive in the situation at the moment - people who have been admitted through clearing have had welcome emails from their department- dd of course has had nothing.

I don’t know what to do. We are in holiday this week (first holiday since 2019) which is being somewhat overshadowed by this. As it’s a BH weekend then there’ll be no one in Durham until Tuesday.

I get why people are reallocated and I get they are trying to achieve multi disciplinary colleges BUT if they reallocate a large number of people from certain colleges every year then you don’t need to be a genius to deduce that maybe they need to reduce the provisional allocations to this colleges.

I have no idea why they are getting people to register for modukes now and if it affects what dd is able to choose I will complain as this is discrimination. At the risk of sounding like a stuck record it would take minutes to send a nice email out to those still awaiting a confirmed college to let them know they are valued - this is really basic stuff. The fact that they don’t speaks volumes 🙁

@KittyMcKitty

Just as a word of reassurance on module selection - my dd has been explicitly told NOT to select a module before 1 September at the earliest. She's done her enrolment and paid her college deposit but was only contacted by her department for the first time yesterday.

Yes that's the same for dc - module selection is on or after 1st Sept.

@KittyMcKitty there are some accommodation options within some colleges (eg Hatfield putting people over the bridge opposite SU) which would be a complete disaster for her

You're referring to Palmers Garth here, which has been part of Hatfield for at least 35 years, if not longer, and is less than 5 minutes walk from the main college on The Bailey.

Other Bailey colleges, e.g. Cuths and Castle, also have accommodation blocks outside their main college buildings and have done for decades.

I'm curious - why would being assigned one of these a disaster ? Its not like they're miles away - the students hosted there still play a full part in their college communities

Because it would need her to walk over the bridge by herself in the dark to get food.

I mean this very gently @KittyMcKitty but I think you may be catastrophising a bit now. Why do you think your DD will be on her own going for food? Everyone in the accommodation will need to eat, and based on DD's experience lots of people meet up to walk into the dining hall together - whether they have to just cross a courtyard or a bridge. And even if her friends don't want to eat at exactly the same time as her the bridge will be heaving with students. There have always been lots of people around even when we have crossed it late at night to return to a hotel.

@KittyMcKitty As Fruity said upthread I can help with info on the furthest flung college. DS is up and down the hill multiple times a day and it is sociable. Despite new college and being on the STEM campus, he says whenever in the city you bump into people you know. You know the size of the city and there will be 5000? freshers milling around. Your DD will make friends from college, course and leisure activities. I understand that she has anxiety and there is support.

@EwwSprouts @Fruitygal are you happy to share which hill colleges your DCs attended please? My DC has been confirmed in their choice of SC college (condolences to those still waiting to hear💐) but we could do with more detail on the size, beds (DC thinks it will be a single but not 100%), can any storage fit under the bed, storage in en-suite, can you have a kettle/ toaster in the room, put command strips on the walls etc etc….So many questions and DC doesn’t want to hassle anyone official! Struggling to find much online and unusually no YouTube videos, limited photos of the rooms etc. please PM me if you would rather keep specifics off the main forum. Thank you 😊