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!

I have posted this thread about when is best to ask for a deferral from Durham.....posting here incase any experienced Durham parents have any further insights and advice:

**DS now wants to take a year out.

What’s the best way to go about this?

Is it straight forward or do they need a good reason?

Will they make him reapply instead?

When is it best to do this now or on results day?

If he missed his offer slightly on results day is it possible that they would take him this year but refuse a deferral?**

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/higher_education/5026687-durham-offer-for-24-ds-wants-to-defer-to-25-any-experience?reply=133699403

Anyone still waiting for Classics?

@AmberlyCastle in terms of slip grades, some Univs are less tolerant for gap yr candidates apparently and would withdraw the offer and tell them to apply again and take the risk with the next cohort. Personally i would be advising DC against asking for a deferral on the day if grades have slipped; unless it is a less popular course I would also not be assuming they will change a deferral to an immediate place on results day - they may be full - if that’s what you mean. I really don’t think anyone can guess for sure Durham will say - but your DC can ask them without prejudice to their current offer and that will be the best source of info

Yes, waiting for Classical Studies

Thank you.

I think we need to do this assess.

If he asks for a deferral now and they agree and he drops a grade in Aug I think he will lose his 2025 place more so than if he drops a grade in Aug - there may be a chance of going in 2024.....and missing his gap year. That’s a choice he can make on the day if he’s given that option (might not be given that option due to numbers).

He could also ask to defer on results day if he makes the offer - they may say yes or no at the point and he will have to make a decision there and then - to reapply with grades in hand if they say no - or go this year.

Does anyone have any experience of Durham History dropped grade?

Or how would it be seen if he rejected the offer and reapplied for 2025 with grades in hand? Do you think he would be penalised or rejected? Would he have to demonstrate more on the PS of what he was doing in gap year and how this would help his history application? Ie would the bar be higher?

But why would he reject rather than asking for a deferral? Unless he wants to apply again to try to get in somewhere else, in which case federal isn't relevant ?

@AmberlyCastle From Durham website - seems to answer a lot of your questions, but i would still contact them

Which courses are changes of year possible for?
Change of year requests are considered for all courses with the exception of Law, History (including joint honours courses with Classics, English, and Modern Languages and Cultures) and courses with a Foundation year. For these departments, a deferral would only be considered if you have mitigating circumstances (such as a significant and evidenced health reason).
Regardless of year of entry, we consider your application according to the entry requirements and standards of the year you're applying in. This means your application would be considered alongside all other applications for your course that year i.e. applying for deferred entry won't increase your chances of receiving an offer.
When won't we consider a deferral?
If you're successful in gaining a place with us through Clearing, or if we confirmed your place with us after you missed your offer conditions, this will be for the specific year of entry we accepted you for. As such, a deferral would only be considered if you have mitigating circumstances (such as a significant and evidenced health reason), and this would not be guaranteed.
If you'd like to join us the following year instead then you'd need to reapply in the next admissions cycle. Your application would be considered in competition with the rest of the cohort for the new cycle. If you'd missed your original offer conditions, you may wish to consider re-sitting exams to ensure your application is competitive.

@Headingto18 that’s incredibly informative - thank you so much for taking the time and effort to source that.

I wonder why Law, History and English are the exceptions at Durham? As my understanding was that Maths and other STEM subjects more likely had this stipulation as there was a risk of losing the skill set in the year out.

It is a really weird Durham thing. They don't like deferred applications for english and history either, which is at least consistent

I mean, applying from the start as deferred

English and History are some of the most competitive subjects at Durham. They don't like deferrals as they don't want to allocate places for the following year before they have seen the strength of applications for that year from people yet to apply.

DD had an offer in February. There doesn't seem to be much of a pattern as her friend had an offer several nail-biting weeks before her. Both for Classics rather than Class Civ though. Fingers crossed for those still waiting.

Ds has been accepted for Theology. We're beyond happy and relieved 🥰 good luck to everyone still waiting 🤞

Good news@JobsLot! What college is he hoping for?

He's not really worried as he's just over the moon to be accepted 😂 I think they'll just allocate him to one. I'm not sure how it all works tbh.

Well that's good @JobsLot as there's no guarantee even if you make a preference. He'll probably love whichever one he gets.

Congratulations @JobsLot‘s son!

You will get an email about colleges soon and the college preference form may already be on the application portal. The allocation process doesn’t start until the end of April, but it is definitely worth doing some research and making your rankings. The big questions for us were Catered/Non-Catered, probability of room sharing, en-suite vs shared bathroom and location (although this is often determined by the previous questions). St John’s may be a good fit for theology, but it will very likely be very popular with others doing that subject so you’d need to rank it to have any possibility of it being allocated. As already said - you may well be reallocated after results anyway, but it is still better to have your preferences in place for this process too.

Thank you for this information. We'll start doing some research to find out what colleges have what provision. With his autism, I think he'd be better off with his own room in a quieter more low key area. He'll not be wanting to go out drinking and partying etc.

If he has autism, he can provide medical evidence and should get a single room if needed.

Np. My son is also autistic and he has firmed Durham. Durham offer early induction for students with Autism so they can get settled a couple of days before everyone arrives which we are definitely going to take advantage of.