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!

Thanks @GoldenRuby! DD is not religious at all but that's not why she likes it - in fact I've no idea why that over another but she's only seen what's on Durham's own website and YouTube. I guess it's also not wise to get too invested in any specific college.

@mondaytosunday yes that is very wise - although it's hard for DC to not get too invested when the provisional allocations come out.

My daughter has applied for English Lit at Durham, application submitted early October but still not heard anything. Sadly she's received a rejection from Oxford (2nd interview didn't go great) so is pinning all her hopes on Durham which is next best in her eyes. She does already have offers from Exeter, Cardiff and Southampton so all is not lost but it would be nice to know one way or the other. Apparently they wait until the 'equal consideration date' has passed which is 31st January 2024 but they do still give some offers beforehand e.g. to international students or anyone wanting to study something more obscure or who has attributes that no other student would be able to match? I'm keeping everything crossed and would be great to get the support from follow parents on here during the process.

DS has an offer for Durham but is putting it as his insurance

@dredlocks very similar here! DD applying for English lit; waiting to hear from Cambridge next Wednesday although not holding out much hope for it. Also waiting on Durham and has offers from Exeter, Warwick and Lancaster. Her favourites are Exeter and Durham so would be great if she got an offer!

Unfortunately from looking at here and TSR fur last year it looks like Durham process English applications pretty late with many getting decisions as late as April. So think we might be in for a long wait!

@Rollergirl11 I literally can't bear it! Keeping my fingers crossed for your daughter with Cambridge! Mine is even considering taking a gap year now (not remotely considered previously) and then reapplying to Oxford next year after grades received!

DS is STEM and heard back from Durham November last year if that helps. It's not up there particularly for STEM so he will firm elsewhere

What's that supposed to mean @Annabelnextdoor

It's not up there compared to the other offers he has I'm afraid which are further up the league tables and have better departments for his chosen STEM subject

I'd be more than happy for him to choose Durham,

Sorry your DS hasn't been offered a place there yet but there really is no place for snide pas/agg comments

I'm just replying factually to the question placed by your thread

Just funny that you came onto a thread where people are waiting hopefully for an offer to criticise the university.
Not particularly helpful and not particularly nice. But it’s fine, I misunderstood. You made your point. Thank you.

Anybody heard from the IR/Politics department?

Had an offer for History this week. Standard offer for home, non-contextual. Had expected longer wait, so was nice surprise after Oxford said no, last week.

Having a look at colleges online, but not getting too invested in ranking as realise in the end it’s fairly random what you get and reallocations from top to bottom choice do happen in Aug and you just have to go and enjoy whatever you get.

Hoping they are speedier across the board this year. Offers close to A Levels and post-offer days seem unreasonable.

My DD is in her first year at Durham. She is incredibly happy there and I would highly recommend it. I would advise strongly not to get too invested in college choices- mine was reallocated after results and was upset at time but she loves her college and is thriving. Everyone she knows in other colleges is happy where they are. There is also a real culture at Durham of participating in whatever activities or sports you like. She does so much above and beyond her degree and I say overall it’s all very good value for money! She got her offer in December last year and apart from the college reallocation blip it’s been a wonderful experience so far. I think she would have been happy to be randomly allocated to any college. Good luck everyone

@Notsure84 with regards to college reallocation, will they still put in the same type of catering? DD will want self catering so could she possibly be allocated to a catered college instead?

@Rollergirl11 Yes that can happen. DS wanted s/c but one of those in his first year flat had ranked catered colleges as their preference.

@Rollergirl11 not always. It is difficult because for some people catered vs self-catered is their main criteria, but for others it is gowned vs non-gowned, or proximity to the science site etc. The best thing is when ranking colleges to use all 16 choices - it doesn't guarantee that a move won't be to the one at the bottom of the list, but in the past they have said they will try to fit new students into their highest preference that has space after results day. So if your DD puts all of the self catered options at the top of the list - including Hild Bede which is being temporarily relocated into self catered accommodation and has been less popular in the last couple of years as a result, she has a better chance of still being in self catered than reallocated to an undersubscribed catered college. I've not heard of anyone being reallocated to the most popular colleges though - it may happen but less frequently.

All colleges will have a higher allocation of offer holders than they can actually take, on the expectations that not all will achieve their grades; if more than expected do that is when reallocation happens, with those who are accepted but near misses most vulnerable to reallocation.

My DD was fortunate to not be reallocated, but she knows people who were reallocated to Stevo, Aidans, Trevs and Hild Bede in the last 2 years (although these colleges will also be first choice preferences for others).

DD got an offer from Durham today for History and Spanish. She still doesn’t want to go there though!

Ahhh well done @MirandaWest. It definitely seems like Durham are getting the offers out earlier. @Jaxx hopefully your DS won’t have the wait you’re expecting!

Curious - if she doesn't want to go there, why did she apply there ?

I have no idea! I think she felt she ought to apply there (not from anything I’d said). She also hoped she’d get an offer from Oxford which she didn’t and so probably hoped that Durham wouldn’t have been relevant anyway.

Thanks for letting us know about the offer@MirandaWest and I totally understand why you would apply to somewhere and then not want to go. Lots of schools make you enter all 5 options and it is no surprise that early applicants are rushed into decisions or change their minds. My son is sounding pretty convincing that he doesn’t want to go to Cambridge anymore and he never wanted to go to UCL but it seemed prudent to include one option where he could live at home.

Thanks @Rollergirl11 and straight back at your daughter and best of luck for tomorrow and the others waiting on Camridge decision later today 😲!

She was however glad she got an offer from Durham rather than being rejected!

In the end, when you put 5, most aren’t that keen on 1 or 2 of them. What’s one person’s top choice, is always someone else’s bottom choice.
Even the most popular options below Oxbridge find they have to make a significant number of offers beyond places because a large proportion won’t firm them, as they will firm elsewhere.

Thinking of the Cambridge gang today.

Yes, thanks @MirandaWest

My DS was very much the same last year - made his application in November - school deadline - but living in NI had only been to 2 open days - Durham and Exeter, both of which he liked.

Chose Bristol, Edinburgh and Heriott Watt for other 3, but then come March/April stated he didn't want to go to either of Scottish ones, as too many from his school choosing them, and he didn't really know why he'd chosen them.

Luckily, he got offers from Exeter and Bristol, but left himself with lack of a realistic insurance offer (Bristol was AAA/A*AB, Exeter was AAA) so the lead up to results day was "Interesting" 😳

My learning from this - can't beat going to an open day to "make it real" for DC