Tell me about Durham

[Durhamm]

DD has Durham on her list of potential unis but she has never been, can't make the open day and it's a long way for us to visit.

She is looking at one of the joint hons degrees via nat sci.

As far as I can see, lots of people like it for the college system and the formals, but DD isn't bothered one way or the other about those. So what else is good / bad about Durham? A family member went there and didn't have a great experience but we'd like a second opinion and I know there are many Durhamites here.

She wants self catering accommodation, great teaching, to be challenged academically, a diverse and interesting bunch of people to meet, lots of fun things to do when not studying. She is not particularly into team sports, but likes music, going to gigs, cycling, green spaces. Space generally would be good - she found Bristol a bit crowded and much preferred the vibe of the campuses at Birmingham and Nottingham.

Please tell me everything you know, good or bad! Does Durham have lots of other positives apart from the college system, living in a castle and the formals?

DD (yr12) has suggested that we might add Durham to her list of places to look round. If we can't fit in an open day next year, I suggested a couple of nights in student accommodation next summer...nipping over to Newcastle. We are SW, so I think it would need to be quite impressive for us to prefer it over Bristol or Exeter.

How does choice of college work? Do you have to name it on the UCAS form and then just get considered by that college? Or does your application get passed on?

It was all very different 30-40 years ago!

@Madcats no you don’t put college on UCAS - you rank post offer and get a provisional allocation and then get a confirmed one post results.

It’s interesting to see that what put me off applying for Durham 35 years ago is still putting some young people off. Sad too, in a way, because once I put my preconceptions to one side as a parent it really was the best fit for DS. Entirely his choice too, we didn’t try to persuade him into or out of putting it first. I think it helped that previous 6th formers from his school had gone there recently, the main teacher of his chosen subject had close relatives who had gone there, so he had direct, relevant and recent experiences to draw on.

Town And Gown is an issue where I live and that’s not an RG Uni. There were no go areas where I went to Uni, mainly due to Welsh nationalism that was prevalent at the time. Durham hasn’t the monopoly on that. Second years at the Cambridge college where I had an interview took the piss out of me and the other state school applicant staying on their floor. They were supposed to be there to settle us in and help us the night before our interviews, but they were bloody rude and horrible. I consider it a lucky escape I wasn’t successful tbh, as I couldn’t have coped with that as an undergraduate. “Ewww, Blackpool? Do you have a donkey?” with a smirk, for example.

At the end of the day, if you don’t like a Uni for any reason then you’ve no shortage of alternatives to apply for and that’s ok. And if you do get accepted for Durham you’ve damn well earned it, so don’t let the odd Raah you might come across tell you any different.

Goldenruby, can I dm you with a question?

Wow, what a judgemental comment. My DS is state educated, we are not wealthy. When we went to the open day, all we saw was lots of other parents with excited teens, contemplating their childrens' future. Luckily, my DS is pretty versatile socially ( despite his ASC) and ( perhaps because of his ASC) takes everyone as he finds them, regardless of socio-economic background.
We're all just mum's with our young adults, why not give people a chance, even if they are different to us?

@Middleaugust of course!

I take the attitude that if we didn't have the university, we'd just be another run down town like Spenny or Stanley. The poverty would still be there and would probably be worse.

I think there’s a mindset difference among students at Durham, Exeter, Bath, Warwick and Loughborough vs big city unis like Manchester, Sheffield, Leeds, Brum etc.

At the former you tend to get more culturally conformist, conservative types, more sporty, straight, nerdy. If DC is more arty, non-conformist, into “ alternative” culture, a bit of a hipster etc big city is the way to go.

@GodessOfThunder i think that’s partly true. In my sample group of 2 I have a child at Manchester and (in a week) one at Durham. I would describe them both as kind of non conforming (in a pierced / tattooed kind of way - although that’s pretty conforming really) - my dd who’s going to Durham probably looks more ‘alternative’ with her brother looking like a typical skater. Both are left wing and share similar string views on social justice. Both doing social science subjects etc etc etc - so fairly similar. Dd is more of a joiner inner (orchestra) and was a prefect so confirms to what you said in both ways.

We live in a small village near a small town although both have gone into London for gigs etc for years. Why did they choose such different unis? Ds wanted to break out and experience city living, dd wanted familiarity. It’s funny how different their choices are really as they are very similar people.

Can't say we were swamped by London mums when DS attended an applicants' day.

More interestingly the new Chancellor is the daughter of a coal miner and was brought up locally. I'm not local but agree with @PickAChew

That’s bollocks.

I went to Birmingham and Durham and knew England rugby international players at both (the Durham one was a wanker BTW).

Now now….

Yes, there are plenty of those types at big city unis too. It’s just that you don’t get so many hipsters per head at the smaller town/city places. Loughborough is not a hotspot for hipsterism, I can assure you.

I was referring to your point about the “mindset” difference between the “sporty” smaller town / city universities and the “hipster” big city ones.

It’s nonsense. There is no “mindset difference”.

Places like Bath and Loughborough will always be an outlier due to (a) location; and (b) specific sports focus. Again I know international level athletes at these unis - both are national training centres for the specific sports and hence the athletes going to study there.

There is a mindset difference, clearly, between DC who want to go to Bath and train to be a top international sports person, and those who want to bang a few pills at some banging techno nights the Warehouse Project in Manchester.

You will get sporty types at Manc too, but I suspect fewer hipsters per head at a Bath - because it doesn’t have much live music/clubs/art etc.

That’s such a ridiculous comment.

Do you really think that the athletes on the Manchester Uni sports programmes are all “banging pills”?

If they are maybe more EPO than E, no?

I like your theory @GodessOfThunder but I think Warwick, although it has a lot of nerdy maths and economics students, is also very arty. I bet there are a good few piercings there - we're going to an open day soon so I will check it out.

I look forward to your report :)

You really are embarrassing yourself now.

You’ve misunderstood my posts.

Do explain.

Because what you’ve posted is that serious athletes don’t go to big city universities.

Which is clearly bollocks.

Nope. Re-read.

I have.

I think there’s a mindset difference among students at Durham, Exeter, Bath, Warwick and Loughborough vs big city unis like Manchester, Sheffield, Leeds, Brum etc.

At the former you tend to get more culturally conformist, conservative types, more sporty, straight, nerdy. If DC is more arty, non-conformist, into “ alternative” culture, a bit of a hipster etc big city is the way to go.

I still call bollocks.

Shrug.

Shrug indeed.

Ho hum.