Durham University college allocation/ranking

[mondaytosunday]

So DD still waiting for offers from Bath and LSE, but just submitted her college rankings for Durham today. I'm surprised they didn't ask for anything else - like en suite/sharing/catered or any other preference or did she miss something? I know it's just preliminary allocation they do as she hasn't firmed them yet (and may not) and they can reallocate after results day. Also she has MS and needs a fridge in her room for her medication.
Has she missed something?

And I have looked at their allocation process and it just says how they allocate the colleges nothing about further preferences.

I guess if your dd has picked self catering colleges as her top preferences they might also only have en-suite or single rooms - the colleges I remember my dc ranking top were just self catering.

I’m sure once her college is allocated they will go into more depth - my dc didn’t end up going so we didn’t get that far

Until results day where they will definitely lose some firm choice applicants and gain some insurance choice applicants nothing is set in stone so they will start the allocation process after that.

As your DD has medical needs I am sure she would trump other applicants with their preferences. I assume she has chosen a college near to where her lectures would be for her course ie Bailey or Hill if her MS was to flair and impede her mobility.

You could contact the accommodations officer to ask what happens in her specific case. Clicky link on this page for undergrad college enquiries, https://www.durham.ac.uk/colleges-and-student-experience/colleges/

As per their website and also my email they said they do NOT take medical conditions into consideration. Once allocated a college they will however try and see how best to help the student.
One.of several reasons DD preferred Bath...

@Wronginformation that's interesting. She needs the fridge though - that's essential. She doesn't need anything else though of course has preferences! I'd prefer Bath but she can't even consider it without an offer!
She ranked them all but on the Bailey is her preference (we stayed in St Chads - not her top choice - for offer holder visit).

Worst case scenario she could buy a small table top fridge?

I can’t remember much about the process (DS went in 2019) but definitely ensure her medical needs are on the form (I’m sure she has) - she may get an en-suite at same cost as non en-suite.

I expect that most student accommodation at Durham will include access to a fridge in shared kitchens; even when they're catered they have small kitchens to use in most places.
Durham is wonderful in many ways but the college allocation can be a bit fraught. Everyone ends up loving their college regardless. One thing to be aware of is that some colleges have shared rooms for first year, so if you absolutely don't want that, be careful which colleges you apply to. Once you have a college allocated, you can talk to them about medical needs and I'm sure they'd bend over backwards to help. Rooms which are not on the Bailey are likely to be nicer and have better facilities, due to being a few hundred years younger!
I've got/had DC at Durham and Bath & all absolutely love their unis. The one at Bath didn't get any of the accommodation options out of the 6 he requested, but when he went back to them with medical needs they were more helpful.

@mondaytosunday ive dm’d you.

Once college allocations are confirmed after results day your DD would usually have a chance to state her preferences for type of room and notify the team of any medical needs. It is not uncommon to need a personal medication fridge so I am sure this will be facilitated whichever college she would be allocated - I'm sure one of DD's friends had one at St John's.

Thanks all.
@Cornucopia55 it can't be a shared fridge. The medicine is extremely temperature sensitive (and if we were in the US costs $40k/year). Actually I'm not that worried about a fridge, I'm sure they'll let her have one as it's not an uncommon requirement (even I need a fridge for insulin but it's not as temperature sensitive in the short term).
I was just asking if she missed an email about preferences or something on the form she filled in.

As I understand it they don't ask your preferences for catered/shared because essentially they don't care. https://www.durham.ac.uk/colleges-and-student-experience/colleges/frequently-asked-questions/undergraduate-faqs/#d.en.878478

"We do not allocate colleges on the basis of the facilities they have. The college allocation is part of the broader academic offer and as an offer holder you are being offered membership of a college community, not a particular room/catering type."

@mondaytosunday no you haven’t missed an email (unless we have too!!)

Interesting @AuntieAndrew I didn't see that before. However, they say that they make 'preliminary' allocations to offer holders before they firm so it may help them make a decision, but I can't see anywhere in the Q&A about the fact they may be reallocated after results day. I've only heard about this from MN. So say my DD gets her preferred choice, then firms, then finds out she's been switched to another college that she doesn't want at all! I understand they want to keep a balance spread throughout the colleges and people will miss grades or not firm, but it adds a level of uncertainty and anxiety to the whole procedure. They bang on about the distinctive qualities of each college (and that the point of preliminary allocation is to entice a firm choice) so can they really turn around and say it doesn't matter what college you go to? And I'd love to know how many do get reallocated in reality - 20%? More? If you have an unconditional offer does that help keep you from being reallocated?

@mondaytosunday this covers college reallocations:

https://www.durham.ac.uk/colleges-and-student-experience/colleges/your-college---undergraduate/august-confirmation---college-allocation/

DD's friend was reallocated her Durham college after results day, she needed a fridge for medical reasons and the college provided one in her room for when she moved in. I don't think it was an issue at all.

Thanks all. As I said not really worried about the fridge business.
One just hears anecdotal evidence like 'all of my friends were realllocated' and 'it's highly likely that you will be reassigned' and the university is still not very transparent. They need to put all the info in ONE section, not have to root around all the pages to get answer.
Anyway she's submitted. Other than Chads I don't think hers are in the top five most requested (which is a surprising list - Castle (not surprising) and Collingwood, Josephine Butler, St Mary's and Hatfield topping the list most years). And apparently most applicants don't rank any at all!

Piecing together stats from Palatinate (the student newspaper) and from Freedom of Info requests, I think Durham enrols c7000 students each year, and in one recent year reallocated c1100 after results came out in August. Looking at threads on here and on The Student Room students seem more vulnerable to reallocation if they have selected certain popular colleges. If true this suggests that these colleges maybe over-allocating in the initial round as otherwise I can't see why these colleges would be more likely to end up with too many pupils and have to move some over to other colleges.

College allocation at this stage is purely provisional and subject to change after results day . After results day once the college has been confirmed you will be sent a form where you will order your preferences. My daughters form also had questions on hobbies whether she was early to bed or early to rise etc and there’s also a section for medical or other special info . If your child has applied to a college that has some shared rooms ( and the cant/ don’t want to share ) it is vital that you state in this form the medical reasons why sharing would not be suitable .It should also be stated that a fridge is required to store temperature sensitive medications.

I literally came on here with a change of name to ask some questions about this and saw this thread.

My DC has some medical issues that would affect accommodation but the most relevant of those is actually severe allergies to common foods and other non-food substances that would affect a roommate's quality of life, if allocated a shared room. I assumed that the form would ask that so that they could be routed to a single room or matched with a similar sufferer (if even possible) but there was nothing at all.

Does anyone know at which point any SEN and/or medical information will be requested? This is my DC's firm choice if it matters.

I'm not surprised at the degree of reallocation. I looked at the FOI information on places per subject per college and it's remarkably consistent so I assume a fair degree of rebalancing goes on in order to avoid X college becoming the de facto Law college (say).

@mondaytosunday - I don't think any of those colleges were in the top 5 submitted by my DC so I'm hoping there may be a little more leeway.

Sorry @littlenickyy61 you actually answer my question. I don't know how I didn't see your reply before I posted!

@DurhamOfferHolder Just in case you haven't noted it, the s/c colleges have a far, far higher proportion of single rooms and en suites.

Thank you @EwwSprouts

As part of the wider medical issues, fully catered would be preferred for year 1 but would consider s/c rather than torment a roommate with limitations!
It seems odd to have submitted preferences without a note on the above.

@DurhamOfferHolder I think the finer details of preferences/needs are sought after the college is allocated, by the college, rather than as part of the allocation process.

I thought the college allocations would have been out this week. And inside info? Do they email or do the students have to check the portal (is there a portal? I have no idea)?