Uni Open Day Logistics

[sniffydog]

On a steep learning curve about uni things for DD who's in yr 12. We're looking at open days with her are 3-4 hours by car or train (Liverpool/Leeds/Manchester). Wondering if it's better to go overnight? Is it a long day/need to be there early? I'm worried that very tired teen will be miserable and not take much in. Thoughts appreciated thanks!

Most of ours were about 2 hours drive or less but one was 5 hours and we did go the night before.
Its usually all done by 3 so lots of time to get home.
Some people we spoke to at open days had flown up that morning or come by train very early. I suppose it depends on what your child wants to do

With a 3-4 hour journey I'd definitely recommend staying overnight (though I wouldn't want to do that amount of travelling to anywhere going there and back in one day).

When the timetables come out, look at what times things are scheduled. Generally there is more than one opportunity to hear any given talk, so you can choose what time you arrive.

We tended to take the approach of prioritising the department(s) talk and any taster lectures. Then next priority was the "Welcome to X" type talk (some give you a good idea of the place, some are just marketing spiel) and viewing accommodation. But your DC will have their own priorities.

There are a lot of "standard" talks such as finance, writing a personal statement, careers etc. They are all basically the same regardless of university, so we spread them round.

Also consider where you are parking. At some places (e.g. York) - this is a fair way off and the getting to and from the university requires extra time on your day. In others, you are parking right next to where you want to get to.

We (mostly DH as he was pretty much retired) did overnighters with DD for the further ones, day trips for those 1-2 hours away. A couple of times there were 2 fairly close unis with open days on consecutive days so staying a night made good sense.

Most of ours we did as day trips but they were all 3 hours or less by car (each way). There was one which was about 5 hours and DH took ds and stayed overnight. It usually is quite a long day-they often start at 9 but you will find that some of the talks are repeated several times throughout the day so you don’t necessarily have to be there at 9 on the dot. With some of them we knew the timings in advance and could book onto talks online. With others there was less information available in advance but there were usually plenty of spaces in the talks so it wasn’t so pressured. Most were over by 3-4pm although some went on later. Usually the main talks are in the morning/early afternoon though, and after that you’re going on accommodation tours which you can at least skip if you need to get away.

I found some of them quite tiring tbh! Lots of walking, long day. When it came to the accommodation, it all blurred into one so I found it useful to take a few photos and caption them so we could look back afterwards.

Agree with @redskydarknight about how to prioritise which talks to attend btw.

If you are thinking about going to Bristol, make sure you get on and book talks and parking asap btw. That was the only one we went to where there weren’t enough spaces and there was one dept talk that we couldn’t book onto, although they did let us in on the day because there were some spaces (presumably due to no-shows). Not that I would recommend Bristol at all. We arrived for a department/lab tour an hour before their advertised closing time and they turned us away because they’d decided to close early 🙄

Agree with others, 4 hours sounds like an overnight to me.

The day can be long - with DD we literally spent a whole day (like, 9.30-4.30) at the first one, but we did go to all the talks and as a PP says, you only need to hear the finance talk once, for example. That was only about an hour's drive away tho.

Also agree re photos and labelling of the accommodation - that's deffo a good idea or you just forget.

Most of DD's open days were fairly near as that was one of her criteria - by which I mean max of less than two hours' drive and some nearer.

DS2 was Covid year so barely any organised days, but we did do an overnighter to check out two northern cities that were a fair way away but v close together (Durham and Newcastle in case you were wondering)- one each day, just a mosey round town and look at the uni buildings. Open days are great but the general mosey is worth it as well if the open days are booked or too many clash. It gave DS a good idea of location of accommodation, look of the uni and feel of the city (so for Durham, he was wowed by the gorgeous buildings ofc but actually felt the town was a bit small for him).

Getting an idea not only of the student accommodation but also the areas they're likely to be renting in after the first year may be an idea (and the costs!)

We made a schedule for May and June. Most of ours were more than 4 hours so a stay over was needed. Two weekends involved doing one on Fri and then one on Saturday.

We booked trains to the very distant ones as soon as tickets were released. Booked Premier Inns as soon as we knew dates as prices increased and they sold out. We were able to stay with friends and family probably 3 times.

We found we needed to be at them for about 9.30. Orientating yourself and getting to your first things which were often at 10 could take half an hour. Often you book into talks or visits.

One of us went with Ds to most of them and I think we all went to 2 or 3. They were some lovely weekends away - great bonding experiences and time to chat about what he’d seen and liked and did it like….seeing him think it through and have his eyes opened to possibilities was brilliant. Bit stressful s9metimes and often hot days. Cost lots in transport, food and accommodation, but felt very worth it.

Yes, similar experiences to above. I counted them as a series of mini breaks as all but one needed an overnight stay. We didn't do accommodation tours but did try to explore the city as well as the uni. The weather was a big factor. It was very hot for most of them and even when we only attended a couple of talks we were flagging by afternoon and grateful to be able to retreat to accommodation.

If you can afford it, then I would. (or did) - but we are happy to stay in Youth Hostels, and the like so it didn't cost much, and could start the day without a long journey.

DD was a bit unimpressed with Bristol. Some individual people we met were nice but the day was very rigid and "we are Bristol take it or leave it" seemed to be the attitude. The Admissions Lady in particular was very abrupt - she told DD that there was no point putting any effort in to her personal statement as they wouldn't read it. That wasn't actually true either
I think it was the only Uni we visited where DD didn't rave about how lovely and helpful everyone we met had been, might just have been unlucky though.

Are you going with you child to all these open days? She would probably be less "tired and grumpy" on her own

Thanks so much for the replies. Booking hotels and trains as we speak! Trying to do some as day trips but it's not helpful that the unis haven't sent times yet!

We filmed lots and narrated as we filmed so we knew what accommodation was what otherwise you end up with photos and no idea of which building it is.

We allowed a day for each and just made the most of being somewhere new and stayed overnight. These days it is completely the norm for a parent or both parents to accompany their child. I was spending £5k a year supporting my child so I was absolutely going to see where my money was going.

Agree on prioritising subject talks and chatting to students after the talk which the DCs really appreciated.

The child might want her there, ours did.
We also had another child attach herself to us at one Open Day because her parents just dropped her off and went for a jolly nearby.
Some DC want you there and some don't - we did whatever DD wanted

Seriously?

Apart from meaning she didn't need to worry about the logistics, dd found having an extra pair of ears or two useful. When I went as well I was dispatched to do the duller research while she did lab tours - that sort of thing.

I went to a couple with my children, mostly not. It is just an observation that if a teen is being "grumpy and tired" that is normally aimed at a parent, and is less likely to happen if the parent is not there.

These are adults we are talking about- I think most go alone - and meet other young adults when they are there. Nothing wrong with either way.

Yes, I'm (dad) definitely taking her to everything which she's very up for. DD just gets stressed when she's tired and has a lot to take in.

This is making me a bit nostalgic for my own days of university open days and interviews! The thing to do was sit on the train with the prospectus in front of you, and look out for anyone else doing the same, and get talking

This was 40 years ago though - no parents went.

@Hoppinggreen , yes we too were very unimpressed with Bristol. Some of the “helpers” were entirely unhelpful/unfriendly, they had run out of maps by the time we arrived, the accommodation we viewed was not nice and very expensive, the city felt dirty and nasty, and finally being turned away from the department for an advertised lab tour resulted in ds crossing it off his list (much to our relief). It definitely felt like they didn’t think they needed to put any effort in to attracting applicants. Complete waste of time! (Although we did take ds to see Clifton suspension bridge afterwards which was nice - especially since it was a lovely day).

None of the other open days we went to were like that at all (and we went to lots, with 2 dses).

These are adults we are talking about- I think most go alone - and meet other young adults when they are there

Well, you think wrong.

I've been to open days with 3 different dc, and at each and every one of the 15+ open days I've been to over the years, young people on their own were in a very, very small minority.

We noted very few prospective students on their own - if they weren't with parent(s) they were with a friend (that they knew before). Open Days aren't really set up for you to meet others (you can do that more at Offer Holder days).

Plus, if you do need an overnight stay, you have the issue that there are none to very few options for under 18s (which most attending Open Days pre A Levels will be).

University is expensive these days and many rely on financial support from parents. It's the most amount of money these young people are ever likely to have spent up till this point - of course they are likely to want some guidance from others.
(Although I should caveat that the Open Day is for the young person and not for the parent. We witnessed one parent at an Open Day who had an entire colour coded file of Open Day material and had entirely planned the schedule for the day to the point their daughter wasn't 'even able to sign in for herself (her mum had registered her). That was very much a child looking grumpy!

We are doing two weekends which involve two unis for each. Other ones are day trips.
Places like Liverpool will be expensive for staying overnight especially if you have no car.
As the only uni mentioned on here I feel like I need to defend Bristol. DD went to the open day the year they were allowed after Covid and they were very welcoming. She happily completing her second year there.

It all depends when they start. Introduction talks and accommodation/campus tours tend to be throughout the day, so it's really the subject talk you need to look out for. Most of my DDs were in the afternoon, so we were able to go same day to ones within a three hour radius. For Durham and Glasgow she only went to offer holder days and they started around 9.30am so we went up the night before (and in both cases stayed a second night as otherwise would be getting home very late).
We got 18-25 rail card and 60 plus railcards which we made back on the first trip.