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!

It had never crossed my mind to fly either @mondaytosunday which is probably fairly remiss given that we live reasonably close to Heathrow.

Sounds like she’s having a whale of a time and setting her up nicely for student life!

Same here @Revengeofthepangolins. DD went from absolutely loving the buzziness of Durham by night the evening before to being so disappointed and frustrated after the talk. But we then looked round some colleges and she was more positive again.

@FebuarySmith the issue was that it wasn’t an English subject talk because the majority of the faculties were on strike. They had managed to rope in some poor professor to do a very high level humanities talk that covered a number of subjects and didn’t drill down to any subject specific detail whatsoever. There was much confusion and lots of people walked out so definitely not the best experience! That is why DD wants to go again as all she knows about the course is what she has read online.

That’s a shame - my son is second yeAr BioSciences and he had a brilliant offer holders day and college tours so I hope you all have similar experiences this time . It was helped by the fact that it was a beautiful day and Durham was looking at its very best ! He is very happy at Durham - it is perfect for him .

Slightly concerned that IF DD gets an offer it will be too late for an offer holder day; she considers it bad luck to go visit anyway and we didn’t get to an open day 🤔

Congratulations everyone on your offers.....sadly we're still waiting! One DD applied October for English Lit and the other in November for Biosciences but still heard nothing for either! Does it really need to take this long? Is it worth contacting the Uni do you think?

@dredlocks Have they both received acknowledgement of their applications?

We're still waiting. Ds has asperger's and can only really go to a local university so he really needs this place. His insurance places aren't the best and he'd have to do a completely different subject as well. He has offers from his insurance places, so I suppose that's something at least.

Thank you everyone - I continue to keep everything crossed for those still waiting. For Durham though it is still early days even though i know it doesn’t feel like it.

@EwwSprouts He is Stevo all the way! According to the assistant principal at his informal visit just before half-term, everyone who has put it as the first choice has got it - let’s hope this stays the same!

I did book the 20th offer day as he will be away for the one in April. Got the train for £70 from Kings Cross with the unidays 40% discount offer mainly as he doesn’t need to arrive until late morning as his college choice is made. He will have time to see at least one Bailey college though just as a comparison.

@Rollergirl11 Durham will probably be his firm choice but will wait until after he has seen Exeter. Durham on the 20/3, Exeter on the 23/3 - if is a good job he likes trains.

@Jaxx DD also doing Exeter offer holder day on the 23rd. Will be a busy week for her!

* EXCITING UPDATE *
At approximately 5am this morning one of my daughters received a UCAS notification.....she has an offer from Durham to study English Lit, yay!! She's beyond thrilled and will firm Durham but now needs to decide which one for insurance, Exeter, Cardiff or Southampton. Just waiting on other daughter now for Biology.

5am! Wow! And congrats to her!

Congrats to your DD @dredlocks!! My DD will be firming and insuring Durham and Exeter for English lit too. She’s just waiting on offer holder days to confirm her decision.

@Rollergirl11 thank you sooo much! They'll probably end up being Uni buddies! Which colleges is she hoping for? x

@Jaxx DD is in her 1st year at Stevo and loves it. It was her first choice - she's in an ensuite room in a flat, shout with any questions! @EwwSprouts was very helpful to me last year (serial name changer) with questions about the college so happy to pay it forward! She's not sporty but has found a wide range of friends and activities, we are really impressed with the pastoral care the college system offers

Also off to offer day 20th March. DD thought she ought to visit before definitely turning it down.

Too kind! Glad she is having a super time. Like your choice of author.

@CarlanHoben and @EwwSprouts thank you both for your kindness.

He has lived in Central London all his life and wanted a contrast for a university. It doesn’t get much better than a college surrounded by greenery on a hill overlooking a small city. Plus the train link ofc 😂❤️.

btw literally preordered the latest Myron (and Win) book yesterday.

@dredlocks many congratulations may the offers flow to all those still waiting.

@dredlocks she wants self catering so probs the hill colleges; she liked South and John Snow at the open day. Although I think English is taught at Elvet Riverside so the Bailey colleges will be closer. DD is not good at getting up in the morning so depends if being closer trumps self catering!

@Rollergirl11 St Cuthberts is worth looking at if you haven’t already. Will probably put this second after Stevo as with the Parsons Fields accommodation it seems the best of both worlds. South and JoBo would be his third and fourth choices - though likelihood is that ranking the others will be unnecessary 🤞.

Looks like there will be a few of them doing both Durham and Exeter that week. So glad I booked his hotel in December as the Premier Inn is a lot more now than the £40 I paid. He is really looking forward to his first solitary hotel stay.

Thanks@jaxx, I’ll get her to have a look at it online.

After lots of to-ing and fro-ing DD has now decided that she’d rather go with me to the offer holder day then her friends. She says that it sounds good in principle all going together but they will all be looking round different colleges and have different subject talks and at the end of the day I’m far more organised than they are. So we are flying from Heathrow to Newcastle and there and back in the day.

Does anyone know if they generally go alone to the offer days? It seems to be a mix on here. I can't do the March date but DD could go alone if she isn't going to be one of a handful.

@OurspoonscamefromWoolworths no right or wrong about this - if you haven’t had chance to see somewhere i think its a good idea; also many univs put accom tours and finance talks on for parents leaving the student to do most of it alone which i think sounds a good idea. I def would like to see accom choices before DD firms esp as one likely option is London and so expensive!

When we went most had parents in tow. However, they did separate the young people for the subject session. There were also student ambassadors on the buses going between the city and the library/hill colleges. All the colleges we popped into had regular talks being given by senior staff and students giving tours. I would hope she would feel comfortable.

@Headingto18
@EwwSprouts
Thank you. I will see what she wants to do. She definitely wants to see some more of the accommodation. The subject talk during the open day was a stand in so she wants to attend that. Booked for April but I think she would like to go sooner if there are spaces and she is prepared to go alone.

Anyone still waiting? My ds is still waiting for Natural Sciences. Is it looking less like ly now that he will get an offer? He applied in October and has grades in hand.

@MerchSwyddEfrog lots of us still waiting, and DD is also an Oct applicant… hopefully pace picks up soon