Durham Open Day

[Maggiethecat]

Anyone done one and what did you and Dc think of it?

[Headingto18]

DD is there today - stayed in St Chads last night and so far having a v good experience indeed

[mondaytosunday]

We are here! Also stayed at St Chads. We've seen that college (lovely dining hall, beautiful grounds, rooms basic but spacious). St John's, (thought room nicer, library big and modern, dining hall not so nice but floor to ceiling windows overlooking gardens which are lovely too. Left DD to explore St Mary's on her own (or, looked at the steps and opted out). I'm at the Learning and Teaching centre having a cold drink.
Universally, from the bus driver who took us from the train to the Cathedral, the maintenance staff playing pool in the JCR, the housekeeping staff who shared a laugh over our view from our room (a brick wall), the catering staff, the student ambassadors- everyone has been lovely. We had a meal at Lebaneat across from Hatfield which was busy and buzzy with several other parent/student combos plus plenty of locals! Love the accent (I grew up in America I'm allowed to say that)!
So in terms of the 'university social experience' it ticks all the boxes. Seems the college set up is indeed very welcoming, and involvement continues in later years.
Will report back after her subject specific experience. But she's liking it so far!

[mondaytosunday]

Just to add accommodation is eye watering - catered at St John's for a single is about £10k! Free laundry there though...

[Headingto18]

Yes agree i am not there but the reports i am getting are very excited about how nice people are; v busy but v well organised and the amount of music opps on offer has impressed DD

[Maggiethecat]

Here now, sitting in the teaching/learning centre while Dd at her talks.

Nice friendly atmosphere so far. Saw university college (castle), John snow and St Mary’s.

[Wronginformation]

It's a no from DD.
Will be firming Bath

[Maggiethecat]

@Wronginformation - did she not like it all or is just that she prefers Bath?

[Rollergirl11]

We are on our way home from the offer holder day. DD says she enjoyed the subject talk but she’s not giving me much more and is waiting until Exeter on Saturday to give more of an opinion. My gut feeling is that she isn’t blown away but I might be wrong.

[Jaxx]

My son is on his way home by train. He still likes it, but won’t make a decision until after Exeter on Saturday.

He was quite taken with St John’s - but not sure if it was enough to sway him from Stevo. Food is an issue with him, but have read on here that food there is good and the catering staff are lovely and can be flexible. All the catered colleges are so expensive, but least with John’s you get free formals and laundry.

[Wronginformation]

Both DD and I for what it's worth preferred Bath. Felt offer day in Bath was more useful. She was really not interested in seeing all the bedrooms and kitchens.
Too spread out.
Yes cathedral, castle and river were lovely but that was about it .
DD liked that on Bath campus everything was nearby.
I don't mind a non campus uni and personally would rather join my older DC in London but getting up 10 min before lecture starts would be a bonus for me...

DD also sent an email off inquiring about support for some medical issues and again Bath's response was much more helpful

[O2HaveALittleHouse]

Great success today for my DC. The subject lectures seems more challenging and robust than others including Exeter but given higher offer grades required, that’s not surprising.

it is rather spread out and you’d certainly be fit running around those hills.

[Crochetpenguin]

Dd enjoyed it. Unfortunately I was unable to get the day off to go with her. She loves Warwick too though so going to make a list of pros/cons for both.. Dd really wants self catering and is worried she'll end up in catered accommodation. Does anyone know how likely that would be?

[KittyMcKitty]

So pleased people had a good time at Durham yesterday- and for those who decided it wasn’t for them it’s always good to know these things.

My dd is at Chads (and is on the well-being committee from now until this time next year) so if she / I can answer any queries please ask.

To pick up on a couple of points re involvement with college (obv this is Chads specific but there are people with dc at many colleges on MN). There is a strong tie to Chads throughout the years whether living in or out. Many livers out study in the college libraries. There are livers out formals plus the end of term mega formals (where they use the quad as well as dining hall). All years attend the Bops, wine and jazz etc and of course Chads Day. as far as Balls there’s the winter ball (organised by the boat club), Hope Ball (in college organised by charcomm and only £15), Candlemas (the big one - tix go on sale at 5am and sold out in less then 30 seconds) and summer ball. College families - I know some colleges are opt in for college families but at Chads everyone has a family and you get a letter from yours in moving in days. The families are great - dd has parents , grandparents and siblings and they are a great connection through different years - there are family formals and family events at Chads day. I think all of DD’s friends are in college committees etc next year so there seems a really strong tie to college even when living out.

There didn’t seem to be a problem with finding accommodation this year. Dd is paying £150 in the Viaduct (apparently 7 mins walk from Klute - make of that what you will 😂).

[curlywillow]

DD not as impressed as she thought she'd be and prefers Lancaster. Their offer holders day was really impressive and they're also collegiate.

I know the castle area is pretty but she's not as influenced by that. She's done all the tradition etc at school so wasn't swayed by it at all. She felt it was too spread out, didn't like the fact that some of the stuff is right over the other side of the city and just didn't get a particularly positive vibe from it.

[mondaytosunday]

It's a good thing they like different universities! My DD didn't like Exeter at all, but she can't articulate why really. I think she has been charmed by the city of Durham and walking around - the woods, river etc. And I think it's so small that it does have a campus feel - I imagine in terms of time students rather dominate the area! We walked from Bailey to Teaching and learning Centre to Riverside building and back up - pretty much her stomping we figured.
Or could it also be now the choices have been narrowed down so they know they have to make a decision finally? Glasgow next week which will be a good comparison, and if Bath would just pull its finger out that next month.
@Crochetpenguin I got the impression and think read on the college allocation bit that because the Bailey colleges are smaller it's 'harder' to get in, but Castle and Collingwood, St Mary's and St Chads are the most requested. It also that only like a third put a preference down?!?

[chocolatenutcase]

@Jaxx

My son is on his way home by train. He still likes it, but won’t make a decision until after Exeter on Saturday.

He was quite taken with St John’s - but not sure if it was enough to sway him from Stevo. Food is an issue with him, but have read on here that food there is good and the catering staff are lovely and can be flexible. All the catered colleges are so expensive, but least with John’s you get free formals and laundry.

And you get free hit drinks throughout the day. The catering staff are lovely and will accommodate food choices. And apparently they have the most extensive choice of types of potatoes served up with meals.
And student support there is second to none.

[FebuarySmith]

@KittyMcKitty Is that £150 a week? So would need to budget around £600 pcm for second year rent?

[KittyMcKitty]

@FebuarySmith

@KittyMcKitty Is that £150 a week? So would need to budget around £600 pcm for second year rent?

Yes £150 pw and this wasn’t including bills. This is probably the lower end of rents in viaduct and other central areas. There were a lot around £180 and many others in excess of that but there have been reports that landlords haven’t been able to let everything so maybe prices will stabilise?

The college welfare committees will give accommodation talks early in the Michaelmas term. This is what’s still available with one of the agents - obv the cheaper / maybe more desirable properties have already been let but it gives an idea:

https://harringtonsdurham.com/properties/

[EwwSprouts]

@Crochetpenguin

Dd enjoyed it. Unfortunately I was unable to get the day off to go with her. She loves Warwick too though so going to make a list of pros/cons for both.. Dd really wants self catering and is worried she'll end up in catered accommodation. Does anyone know how likely that would be?

There are no guarantees but if she was to put the four main self-catering colleges first she would be very likely to get one of them. I think @Jaxx son was told nobody who puts Stephenson first gets rejected. That was true for DS and he thinks he got the right fit for him.

[Jaxx]

Yep - again no guarantees he was also told that last year everyone got their first choice room type as well. Stevo seems to get overlooked, people either choose South of John Snow because they are new or JoBo because it it all en-suite.

[mondaytosunday]

What I can't quite get my head around is reallocation after results. I understand they like to spread subjects around and if dome miss their grades it needs a bit of rebalance. My DD wonders if, as she has an unconditional offer, of her initial allocation would remain. We forgot to ask when there as the student ambassadors wouldn't know and we never saw anyone else who might know.
Frankly if she got any on the bottom of her list she would not want to go. She will be applying for DSA so that may help get her the college she wants (which will be nearer where she would have lessons closer to the town).
However she is having serious wobbles about the amount of loans - she wonders if she should go to LSE so she can live at home (not yet had an offer, so told her not to think about that yet).

[Cremebrulee45]

@mondaytosunday it is odd that they allocate at this point . If I was being cynical I might think perhaps they over offer on the popular Bailey colleges / give most people one of their top choices to encourage them to firm. It’s inevitable that there would then need to be quite a lot of shuffling about once they have final numbers?

[mondaytosunday]

Yes I don't get it. She'd be much more confident in firming if she knew what college. Our tour group ran into the head (president? Principal?) of St John's and she was gratified to see he was wearing tweed 😁. Plus he congratulated the kids on all getting an offer in the first place. The St Chads woman reminded her too much of her school's head mistress! She's cooled on St Mary's. Said it felt more like a dorm and very big. Nice dining room though - it's sometimes the little things that gets to them (last night she was looking at the various coat of arms and declared she might find it hard to go to a uni with an ugly one like LSE's creepy looking beaver one. No wonder it doesn't feature in their publicity)!

[Wronginformation]

Mondaytosunday. Obviously I don't know what the DSA iss for, but medical conditions are not taken into account when allocating colleges.
It says so on the website and we sent an email off to enquire...

[Cremebrulee45]

Actually yes to back up what @Wronginformation said. My DD will have DSA. I asked at the open day last year about this as she couldn’t share a room and they said better to avoid colleges where that is common. They didn’t seem to be able to say they would give preference doe a single room despite DSA.