DS wants to apply to two courses at Durham - single and joint in same Dept

[Glooop]

Do you think this will be acceptable.....could he potentially get two offers - he is grades in hand?

Yes, that's fine. Go for it and good luck.

DS1 did that.

Waited 6 months for a decision (even with grades in hand).

Got rejected from the single honours course and then within a few minutes got accepted for the joint honours course. So I can 100% confirm that they took the multiple application into account.

Thankfully if he'd been offered both, he'd have taken the joint option anyway.

I did that, got rejected from joint honours and accepted for single. I took a module in the department I was rejected from and was glad I didn’t have to do another!

ETA It just occurred to me my experience was a lot of years ago so probably not relevant, sorry…

The best thing is for DS to ask the Durham admissions tutors directly, or to join the online forum The Student Room and ask current students in the relevant degree programmes. Policies change, and no one else (except current students and their parents in these programmes) can be certain

Thanks all - I had a look at the FAQs on the Durham website and it said that many applicants do this.

Found this:

https://studyatdurham.microsoftcrmportals.com/en-us/knowledgebase/article/KA-01587#:~:text=Views:,your%20substitute%20personal%20statement%20here.

"We can accept a substitute personal statement if the programme you are applying to is different to your other UCAS choices, or if you are applying for more than one programme at Durham.

Your substitute personal statement should be uploaded to your Undergraduate Applicant Portal within three days of your application being acknowledged.

You can find more details on submitting your substitute personal statement here."

There are changes to the PS this year, so he might check with Durham that this guidance is still valid.

DS did that last year and got offers for both courses. He's just started on the joint honours course. Good luck!

Worth noting that different Universities have different policies. For example LSE says:
5. Can students apply to more than one programme at LSE?
Students can apply to more than one degree at LSE, however they will only be able to submit one personal statement. The programmes will therefore need to be closely related to enable the applicant to show sufficient interest and enthusiasm for their chosen discipline. Applicants are only eligible to receive one offer in the same admissions cycle, so are advised to think carefully about whether applying to multiple courses at one institution is the most effective use of their UCAS application.

Thanks for that @Needmoresleep - I understood that the changes to the PS were coming in next year - and it would be a series of questions?

New style personal statements are for 2026 entry. 2025 entry is as normal.

My DC applied for 2 courses at Durham and was made offers for both (pre A' Levels). One was Combined Social Sciences and the other Geography and he was able to make his PS suitable for both - and his other choices were all Geography.

@Glooop , yes the PS changes are coming for 2026 entry and it should be a series of questions.