Anyone waiting for a Durham offer?

[Annabelnextdoor]

DS has applied for a STEM at Durham. Heard nothing back yet. So thought I’d start a thread so we can share news of offers coming though?
Anyone have any experience as to when offers for STEM are normally made?. The thought of waiting until April seems too much!

Yes. We’re waiting for NatSci. My DS thinks they give offers to the individual sciences first and then see what space is left that they can allocate to NatSci. Not sure if that is true or not!

That sounds a bit mad! Surely they have a specific number of places allocated for Natsci.
When does your DS expect to hear going on previous years?

I’m not sure. I think it is one of the later ones. I think they got roughly 1200 applications last year and made 800 offers for 200 hundred places. That sort of figure. I think Cambridge has 500ish places for NatSci but they don’t offer individual chemistry, biology physics degrees and it all falls under NatSci. I think Durham offers the next biggest number of places for the NatSci course in the country.

Waiting on Comp Sci - not expecting anything til the spring really.

Waiting for Economics & Politics. Application submitted early Oct, no news yet.

Durham is definitely one of the later ones with offers. DS went there - he got offers from the others pretty quickly but was well into March before he got his offer so you might have to wait a bit yet.

Dd got her offer on the very last possible day last year. She is now happily enjoying her second term so don’t give up. They can be slow but worth it.

Durham are notoriously late, especially with the more competitive subjects. I was mid-March for mine.

My dd got her offer for compsci in mid March last year.

All sounds reassuring and that most are in the same boat and waiting…and waiting!
How does it work re accommodation? If an offer is made, when can students apply for a college? Do they wait until all/most offers are made?

Don't want to irritate/annoy you all but for last year's entry, Durham didn't release a lot of decisions until the week of April 17th-21st, - they emailed towards the end of February informing that applicants would definitely hear by that date, so at least they kept to that (unlike Edinburgh who followed a policy of radio silence throughout the entire cycle).

Unfortunately, a lot of my DS's cohort - including himself - received rejections from Durham during that April week, with High Level of Competition being cited as the reason - which he/I could never really work out was a positive (you're ideal Durham candidates) or an even bigger kick in the teeth.

Saying all that, DS went to Exeter, is embracing life there and says he can't imagine ever being anywhere else (rugby, girls and beer exist there too - who'd have thought it lol)

DD waiting on Durham for English lit. Applied early Oct and waiting to hear from Cambridge in a few weeks (which she thinks will be a rejection). Had all her other offers and so far it will be between Exeter and Durham if she gets an offer.

DS is waiting for Classical Civilisation, and applied end Nov. The waiting is taxing…

Exactly the same - but for history not English and a he not a she.

Good luck to your DD. This was my DD last year. She did get the offer from Cambridge and then Durham in April. The Durham offer was actually slightly more stringent than Cambridge. Cambridge offered Astar A A with no requirement for a particular subject, Durham offered the same but with requirement of A star in English so it was no good as an insurance.

Do also look at contact hours for English at Durham, in third year it is only 5 hours which DD didn’t realise at application.

She has friends at Durham studying Maths who are very happy. They’ve sorted out accommodation for 2nd year (not without stress) but it isn’t great quality and is expensive.

@LilacPoet thanks for that. So is your DD at Cambridge? 😃

My DD has an offer from Durham for Sociology which came late November, but she has her grades already.
Interestingly she's had a flurry of emails from Durham the last couple days about colleges etc - the fact that Oxford results just came out makes wonder... however my DD pointed out that Oxford does not offer a undergraduate Sociology degree, but I'm not sure whether they would be that detailed (in that are emails sent out to all offer holders after Oxford and Cambridge offer days regardless of degree). Maybe I'm just a cynic.

When I applied (admittedly this was 20 years ago) we had to apply for a college at the same time as the course. Does that not happen anymore? Am I behind the times?

They changed it a few years ago. After you are offered you can rank the colleges by preference, but they then allocate you one. However they reserve the right to change your college post results!

Thankfully my son is very keen on one of the least popular colleges so not something I will worry about if he actually gets an offer.

Ah interesting. I don’t like the sound of that, mind. The previous system wasn’t perfect (a lot of people got rejected from their choice of college on application), but I think I prefer it to the uncertainty of possibly having to wait until results day for confirmation!

Yes Y1, heading back on Saturday. Loving it. PM me if you want details of college as it is too outing to share subject and college in same post as there are only 5-10 doing most subjects at each college. Saying that lots of people know who I am IRL as I am not that secretive.

If your daughter does get an offer from Cambridge and the college has an offer holder day I heartily recommend that.

@PossumintheHouse Ah interesting. I don’t like the sound of that, mind. The previous system wasn’t perfect (a lot of people got rejected from their choice of college on application), but I think I prefer it to the uncertainty of possibly having to wait until results day for confirmation!

The new process causes a lot of angst on MN and TSR forums both when:

1. Initial, provisional college allocations are made (April/May) - especially so for those who are still awaiting an offer.

1. Results come out, and provisional allocations are waiting to be confirmed or reallocated.

Like you, I think the old process (which I used 30+ years ago) was better

Waiting for Physics

@PossumintheHouse yea it's a gamble. She puts them in order of preference but they are clear there's no guarantee and even if given a college it may change (I don't know whether having her grades already helps with that). She's interested in St John's or another Bailey college, catered, doesn't want to share and prefers an en suite (wouldn't they all). She has MS and needs a fridge in her room. Anyway we need to visit for sure if it's a no from C, and even if it's a yes I think it's not a dead cert. Just wish Durham wasn't so far away - we are on the 'wrong' side of London for both it and Cambridge.

I loved being on the Bailey, especially as my course was so Bailey-based. I didn’t pick the right college for me though (it was a very posh one), the whole system is a bit of a gamble really.