Annnddd they're off! Uni Starters 2023 Thread.

[Titsywoo]

Hi all,

I thought I'd start a different thread as the Alevels and beyond one is more geared to remarks and clearing at this point so didn't want to start derailing that with chat off packing and freshers week.

How is everyone getting on with helping their DC prepare and the idea that soon they will be moving away?

My DD is off to Cardiff to read psychology so will be about 3.5 hours drive away. I'm both nervous and excited for her right now! Packing is going well - pretty much all stuff has been bought and the induction pan set should arrive today. There is a large pile on the landing which keeps growing as we think of extra bits.

Due to a very lucky spot by me when scrolling Tiktok DD has found and been added to the Cardiff Psychology year 1 snapchat group. From that she got chatting to some others who aren't massively into drinking or clubbing and they have another chat for people who want to do other things than clubbing. They are organising meeting for some of the SU 'Give it a go' events such as an escape room and Ikea trip! Dd has also persuaded a couple of people to join the Hookers society with her (for crocheting! 😄).

Dd had a terrible time with bullying and social isolation from year 5 till the end of sixth form so I am praying this is the new start where she finally finds her tribe 🤞🙏

Looking forward to hearing how everyone's DC is getting on and how the first few weeks are for them. Not long to go now! DD leaves in 20 days 😬

Can I join? I wasn't on the A levels thread. DD is off to York in two weeks. I'm also nervous but excited for her. Due to a few weeks dealing with a bereavement we haven't even started on buying and packing yet, so that's next weeks job, to go out and binge it!! She's joined a Facebook group for her accommodation which has made her feel a little less nervous in seeing who might be in her halls.

Hi. Dd is off to university of Leeds business school and is looking forward to it. Thanks to her joining chat threads she already has a few people she can meet with when she moves into her accommodation and she had the heads up that the discovery units (compulsory to choose 20 credits of units to supplement her core units) were available to book so last night she sat trawling through those to see which were of use / interest and which fitted in around her timetable.
She is very much looking forward to going. Far more so than we are!

DS is off next week. Still lots to do, we too have a large pile of stuff on the landing! DS very laid back about it all, me not so!

DD is also off to York, she moves in on the 17th. We've got most things I think, she's going catered so we've kept it fairly basic.

She's also joined a few whatsapp/Snapchat groups which is great as she's already brought her fresher's ticket and planned to go with some people.

I'm nervous about the whole saying goodbye scenario but I'm really excited for her. Added bonus is her best friend since year 7 is also going and is in the same college so I know she won't be totally alone!

Thanks for starting the thread @Titsywoo . DD’s closest friend goes to a Scottish University in a few days. Then all of her other friends from mid-Sept onwards. She is the last of her group of close friends to go, on 27th Sept, so we’ve a while to go and it feels a bit like being at the back of a rollercoaster and seeing everyone else in the carriages ahead of you go over the peak and disappear.

She is just about ready short of washing of tea towels and similar. She is having wrangles with her CTF provider which she really wants to have sorted before she heads off, she calls, they say the money will be in her account within five working days, it isn’t, then she calls again and they say it wasn’t authorised but is now and will be in her account in five days but this happened about three times now. . Our dining room (also my craft room) is out of use as it has become the pre-Uni dumping ground for all the stuff.

DH and I have a visit to friends planned for the first weekend DD is away. We don’t have any other DCs so it will be a peculiar vibe for a while but she’s travelled a fair bit and gone to summer holiday camps and I’ve got some craft projects planned once I get my dining/craft room back so we’ve been putting in the empty nest practice!

Oh fab! Thanks @Titsywoo ,I came on to the Higher Ed board to start one of these myself, glad to see I can avoid being the OP - it feels like such a responsibility .

I'm wondering if anyone can help me with student accounts - specifically Santander. DD already has an account with them, wants the free student railcard, so she tried transferring the account online but there was some issue or glitch that prevented her. So we've just been into our local branch and were told that we had to have an in-person interview with the branch manager to do this - the next available appointment was in mid-October! Err, no can do... Is this really the case? Don't they want her business? Seems really weird to me, I wonder if the teller had her facts right.

Steaming ahead in other aspects - she is in a WhatsApp group with her flatmates (one of whom is bizarrely a lad she knows from school), we've got kitchen stuff, various bits of signing up admin done. She is properly excited now, which is lovely to see, as we've had a summer of lovelorn pining after a nasty break-up.

(Met up with a cousin who went to uni in Cardiff the other day, OP, and she was mistily nostalgic about the brilliant time she had there.)

Welcome all! Sounds like we are feeling the same way - more nervous than they are 😁

@ZittiEBuoni I've heard several other people having issues with Santander. Dd was looking at their account but was put off by others so changed her current Natwest account to a student one. Took a few mins online and was agreed within 3 days. She got £100 which she will use on a railcard plus a Tastecard and will get a £500 overdraft this year which goes up each year I believe. Not too bad really. Shame Santander are making it difficult as they will lose so much custom!

Glad to hear your cousin enjoyed Cardiff. We loved the city!

How lovely to hear about everyone’s plans.

DD is off to Exeter in a couple of weeks (I’ve avoided the derailed Exeter thread which has morphed into something completely else!).
She is more nervous than I thought she’d be, and is doing a good job of avoiding most discussions related to uni! She doesn’t want much new stuff, wants to take her old stuff and I feel we will later be arranging Amazon deliveries of all the stuff she put off buying!
She does have a moving in slot booked, and got her first choice of halls, so hopefully all will be ok.

She’s worked pretty hard this summer and saved a good bit of her wages, so hopefully that will make it possible to buy the odd little luxury (though she probably needs to rein in her Starbucks spending!)

Wow lucky you @blametheparents - saves a lot of money and much more sensible. Dd wanted stuff to make her colour scheme of which she has different ones for her bedroom, bathroom and her kitchen stuff 😄

Dd has also saved a good amount of money from working this summer although she is planning to get a part time job once she has her timetable. I think it will be good for her to have a job to meet more people and also so she doesn't end up hanging out in her room too much.

Good luck with the shopping @MermaidEyes - we just did Ikea and Dunelm which luckily are next to each other in our town. Few bits from Amazon too. Make sure you ask for the Dunelm student discount - we just showed her UCAS acceptance to get it.

@PettsWoodParadise that sounds frustrating re the CTF. DD has been meaning to transfer hers to an ISA for ages so I had better nag her to sort it before she goes! Hope you can get it sorted soon.

Sorry I have no idea how that ended up all in bold! Using MN on my phone seems to be very difficult nowadays - it keeps doing very odd things!

Can I join? DD has had a gap year so is already 19 (although only just a few weeks back) and she's off to Chichester Uni (Bogna Regis campus) to study Primary Teaching in a couple of weeks or so - need to wait for an email to book slot.

Waves to @ZittiEBuoni - remind me, did your DD have a gap year too?

Hi, @AnneOfCleavage , good to see you here!

Yes, you're right, dd1 took a gap year and has now signed up for an OU Foundation course, starting in October, as her particular combo of ASD, anxiety and on-off eating disorder means she's not really ready to leave home at the moment. I remember your posts about your dd, really pleased she's off to start her teaching degree - how exciting!

My nest-flyer on this thread is dd2, in the academic year below, heading to uni 2 weeks tomorrow .

Titsywoo
Dd had a terrible time with bullying and social isolation from year 5 till the end of sixth form so I am praying this is the new start where she finally finds her tribe 🤞🙏

This happened to my DD also. First year was a bit tricky in her flat as they were party animals into drugs, but she managed to connect with a couple of girls on her course and now lives with them in a ‘nice’ student flat. Sadly I think the bullying will always leave a mark and she has low self esteem, but she has had a much better year this year. I’m glad your DD is thinking about joining a few things. Mine was so low in confidence she felt that she just couldn’t and so didn’t make as many connections as she perhaps could have done.

My older DD was much more confident socially, but really met her real tribe at uni too and they are all still hanging around together 10 years later.

Good luck to you DD and all the young people going to uni in a few weeks. We’ve had our ups and downs with all 3 of mine going, but in the long run it really has been the making of them.

@ZittiEBuoni wow two going at the same time. You must be swamped with all the planning that entails. I remember now your DD1's struggles, and it's wonderful she can do Uni through the OU path and stay at home.

DD not a party girl either and hopes she finds some likeminded friends who like card games, movies and musical theatre to bond with.

She's set up a Snapchat group with her block as no one else had and has found a couple of girls who are in her 6 person flat already and a few in the block in diff flats who are on her course. They have summer work that they are meant to do and are bonding over the tasks and ridiculous questions they need to answer.

@ZittiEBuoni My DD also had a Santander account. She tried to upgrade to a student account on the Santander app but it wouldn't work. We tried it by signing into her Santander account on our PC and it worked there. She just needed to enter the 4 digit pin code thing from the UCAS site and it transferred immediately and she got the code for the 4 year train card as a message the next day. Hope this helps.

Same for us with Santander, it was pretty easy on the PC . Their IT is atrocious in general, though.

We're pretty ready I think, but a lot of small bits to remember to do. I can't believe in a fortnight's time I will be back from dropping him off.

Thanks for the tip @Titsywoo , didn't know about the Dunelm discount. We will mainly be doing there and B&M with Amazon as back up!

Thanks for starting the thread. I have ds off to London. He lives with his dad but I'm feeling weirdly emotional about him moving out! He's desperate to go though. He's doing all the planning and moving on his own. Which is a bit odd (and will be very haphazard) but we have to let him get on with it. He's tea total but loves going out to different stuff. Reckons he'll make friends as he goes along, taking his time. I think he'll be ok, but I thought that about ultra sociable and independent dd who got incredibly lonely and dropped out.

DS also off to Exeter 2 weeks today - overnight ferry from Belfast to Liverpool and then a drive - hoping it stays dry.

Drop off time at hall booked and found out his exact flat number and room number today.

Not buying too much stuff in advance - going to go with the approach that if he finds he needs something once he's started, we'll order it for him then.

He's just back from 3rd summer holiday and now seems to be trying to fit in as many nights out with home friends as possible before he goes

Dd is off in two weeks. Although she will be in halls, the University is fairly close by, and due to sporting commitments, she will be in our home town four days a week.

I fully expect to feed her, and do her washing on those days.
She's speaking to others on the WhatsApp group chat and beginning to get excited and nervous.

Dropped DD off at her halls today. Room is really nice with an en-suite. Kitchen just across corridor. She has already met some flatmates and went to pub with them tonight. Fresher’s week starts Monday. Just now it just feels like she is at school camp. I think it will hit me in a few weeks when I’m missing her hugs.

My DS2 is off to Uni of Birmingham in
2 weeks. We too have had bank account issues - with HSBC, due to proof of address being difficult but all sorted now so he will get the free £100 😁. Don't forget that you can get a railcard with Tesco vouchers. The house is going to feel very empty - but clean and tidy in a few weeks!

We just returned from holidays last night so need to get a wriggle on with packing and organising.
I know she’s opened a Santander account but waiting on an authentication code. I don’t know if she’s found anyone on Snapchat etc. Definitely no one going to York that she knows of. I think there’s only one other person from her school heading to ‘The North’. But she’s getting the train up for a two day workshop next week so will hopefully make a couple friends then. Blooming pricey though as we’ve missed the ‘advance’ train fare plus needs to stay 2 overnights - going to be circa £200. She asked if she could have a quick nosey at accom as it’s not listed as an option or anywhere on Yorks website/no photos etc but it was a no unfortunately. I am getting a tadge anxious that she’ll be a 5hour drive away (3.5 by train) but she’s not remotely bothered!