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!

Perhaps someone would like to pick at and attack my comments further on the matter

No expert, but have spent far too much of my time reading current and past Durham threads - but it is my understanding that when offers come out is very much department rather than grade dependent.

Plenty of examples - just on here - of potential students with perfect or near perfect grades still waiting.

Thanks for clarifying Mirror. Yes, I could see you were generalising. That was the point I was raising. The previous posts had all been about teens looking at universities often generalise and therefore dismiss certain universities based on generalisations about the type of people who go to them and stereo-types of what their behaviour will be like. I’m sorry if what I said annoyed you - I wouldn’t know about your broader context, only what I saw in your post about the private school students who had joined your DC in 6th Form. My comments about parental attitudes weren’t specifically about you - but a continuation of the discussion that’s been running for several pages about young people and parental attitudes towards students or universities perceived to have sizeable numbers of students from certain groups. Maybe you hadn’t read those previous pages and so didn’t know that the comments you made related to what had already been said.

The ‘top-slicing’ thing is interesting and I think it’s different in different departments to some extent. Some departments seemed to make offers to some of the candidates who had impeccable applications (and likely Oxbridge given their timescale for submitting UCAS) whilst others only seem to make contextual/international offers before Christmas. We know that offers are also made to some non-contextuals who don’t have quite top grade predictions as well as the fact that not everyone who does have them actually gets an offer eventually - a good number are turned down. So it does seem they don’t just offer to the best or in a fully ranked way, but perhaps are thinking too about who is most likely to accept and reject the offers and going for a mix of rankings to optimise take-up or push towards the optimum final figures, based on what they know from before of likely acceptance/achievement amongst different groups. I don’t think there’s an exact pattern or process that can be identified and it’s a dynamic process responding to applications, firming and rejecting by candidates and an attempt to balance having the best candidates they can and filling but not over-filling the courses which are very popular and over-subscribed - not easy to achieve.

My DD got her offer in November but has her grades. If she chooses Durham, it is where she will go as it's unconditional. I wonder if that means she would not get reallocated from her initial college? She'd prefer a Bailey college as closer to where her department is, and likes the look of them. St Mary's looks appealing too. It will come down to the offer holder day as she hasn't visited and hard to judge from a map and those YouTube tours the distance between them all.

Mirror - an apology too. I’m on several HE threads at the moment. I’ve realised that the one with the ongoing discussion about teen attitudes to different groups and how they and their parents can decide certain unis are not for them, based on pre-conceived ideas about those of school many attendees, is in fact the thread ‘Uni offers coming in’ and not this one.

I thought your comments followed on from all the various discussions about that - which was why I was surprised to see them. However, it was a different thread and you probably aren’t following that one. So I apologise if my comment seemed rude and upset you. It was my mistake in getting what was being said in a couple of similar but different threads muddled.

Monday, I think that threads from the last couple of years suggest anyone can be reallocated. It’s best to decide you want Durham regardless of college allocation and decide you’ll enjoy and make the most of whichever college you end up with. Rank the colleges as you see fit, but hold lightly to it and also to the provisional allocation because it can change. People with grades in hand and who’ve achieved and exceeded their offers (so thought they’d be last to be reallocated based on the Durham info) have sometimes been reallocated from a high to low or bottom preference.

Come results day, I think so much re-jigging is needed because it looks like they massively over-offer to the very popular colleges and also come results day, a total re-jig is needed as lots of those with offers hadn’t even firmed it, and some don’t achieve their results. Not getting too attached to the references or provisional allocation seems the best way to not be disappointed.

In other unis you won’t know where your accom is until later - it could be near or far way from your department, so not really knowing with Durham either makes it the same really. The problem is that people think they know what they will getting so are disappointed when it changes.

@mondaytosunday nowhere in Durham is a long walk.

As an example, from Aidans (where I was) to Palace Green (where the law library was, when I was there) was 25 minutes max.

@mondaytosunday i think your daughter could express a college preference on medical grounds. They are very good at meeting these.

Also go to an offer holders day during term time - the Uni, colleges and city and very different in and out of term time.

Question about the walking and nowhere being a long walk. 25 mins walk isn’t long if you’re doing it once a day…but what about if you walk it in the morning, have to do the 25 mins back for lunch, then out again for the afternoon and back for dinner, and then possibly again in the evening? We’re starting to look at a good couple of hours of walking up and down those hills.

Do people always go back to college for lunch? In Catered Halls you’ve paid for your lunch, so I presume they want to go and eat it.

Even with lots of walking, I think it’s good it’s all within walking distance, because if you’re having to get buses etc it’s a pain. I’d have thought most uni owned accommodation everywhere (maybe not London) is close to teaching buildings and within walking distance. Maybe those at Durham walk more and further than some places.

We visited York and Campus West was pretty small. You could manage a day with very little walking unless you went into the city. Other campus universities are also perhaps more compact than cities might be? No wrong or right. I do remmeber being tired myself after the Open Day at Durham and that was after following a pretty carefully planned route to make it logical and efficient. But then I suppose I’m a middle-aged oldie and not a sprightly teen!

@WombatChocolate thats a relevant point. My dd has all lectures / seminars at Elvet Riverside. She is at Chads - it’s less than a 5 minute walk - over Kingsgate Bridge and down the hill. She has some days when there is like an hour between lectures and she goes back to college / has a coffee / does her washing / sleeps / goes to the library or whatever. She says people in the further hill colleges can’t do that cos of the timings. We also visited York (it was DD’s insurance) and Durham is not a campus Uni - the main teaching areas are the science site, Elvet Riverside and some depts (classics? Music?) have some things on the Bailey. Durham is also VERY hilly unlike the flat York campus. So yes some students walk a lot. It probably takes 15 mins walking at a good pace to get from Chads to the science site / Mary’s. As I said up thread I think it does make a difference as to the relationship between the students and the city - for eg dd and her friends may pop to Fabs for an hour or even less as it’s 2 mins walk but if you’re coming in from the far end of the hill you are less likely to do that (obv neither is right or wrong / better or worse but it is different). Also I don’t think there’s a supermarket on the hill. There’s a Tesco in town, one in Viaduct and a big one on the industrial estate at the end of gilesgate. In the 2nd year many people live in Viaduct (my dd will be here) or Gilesgate.

Re lunch - college will make you a packed lunch if you can’t get back for lunch.

Thanks. That’s all really useful.

Just to qualify the packed lunch thing - Chads doesn’t have DU caterers (nor does Johns) I’m sure the DU caterers will do packed lunches but it may be worth checking.

Its also worth looking at the distance to sports centre / boat house if you row (I think most are on river under Chads / Johns / Cuths) and SU where a lot of societies are held.

Also I think where you live in 2nd year can have an affect in your continued relationship with college. Dd will be a 10 min walk to college and she says lots of livers out in viaduct come into college during the day to use the library / hang out between lectures etc.

@WombatChocolate harking back to my time again (risking the ire of Kitty), we always walked back to college for lunch (followed by the post lunch tradition of watching Going for Gold) before going back to class in the afternoon, if we had one

The only people I know who didn't come back for lunch were the Education students, whose department was based over near Hild/Bede.

And yes, Durham is hilly. But, not as hilly as Exeter lol, where your calves really get a daily workout

@lastdayatschool i have no ire to risk 😂 Maybe students were hardier in your day - or maybe just the Kure of going for gold. I think also DD’s course has one particularly tricky day for timings every other week where they have a 2 hr lecture and a couple of seminars (unfortunate timetabling) all at slightly odd times which was affecting students at the top of the hill (with lectures and seminars all being at Elvet Rivrside).

We’re still waiting with 2A stars and an A achieved. Plus A star EPQ. Am being to think DD might just never hear.

@FebuarySmith which subject? I hope your dc hears soon - waiting is miserable but hopefully now it’s passed the equal consideration date things may move a little faster.

We are waiting too. My ds has 2 A stars and 1 A plus an A at AS level achieved grades. He’s waiting for Natural Science.

Also waiting since end sept - 3 A*s and an A; hopefully very soon now for everyone

Is it humanities subjects that people are mostly waiting for?

Yep waiting on English lit here, 2xA*, an A and an A in EPQ. Applied for Oct deadline.

My DD just got her English offer through about a hour ago. She is undecided about Durham as her brother is there, but is thrilled to get the offer.

Congratulations to your DD @StElwicks!! It definitely seems like they are working their way through English applications now as there are a few posted on TSR too. Hoping DD hears soon but slightly anxious that she’s going to get a rejection.

Is your DD going to an Exeter offer holder day?

Hi @Rollergirl11 - She went to an Open Day for Exeter but is going to an Offer holder day for York and is going to see her brother in Durham again for another look. I remember when my son applied for Durham everyone got their offers at such random times even for the same subjects- so do not worry. I hope your DD has positive news soon.

Is TSR now a forum that everybody goes to? Genuinely wondering about this, as it used to be the forum for pre-university or during university kids.

@Rollergirl11 I think you feel about Durham how I feel about Bath! (DD has arrived in Lisbon by the way, says they got the best room in the flat and all went out for pizza tonight).
@PossumintheHouse TSR has threads for offer holders for many unis, and 'official X university applicant' threads with links to spreadsheets, so you get to see when offers for which subjects have come through. Self reporting though so not exhaustive of course.