Exeter Open day

[stubiff]

For anyone who went last year, or recently:
For those taking the Westpoint P&R, what were the queues like (particularly on the way back). Was the travel time ok?
Any quieter decent eateries on campus?
Any accommodation stand out (good/bad)?
Any other tips.
Thanks very much.

It’s busy!!
But accept to dedicate the whole day to you DC and uni and you’ll be fine.
If you’re on a time constraint, I wouldn’t bother, and send DC on their own

Tips - wear flat shoes, the campus is gorgeous, but hilly.
My general advice on any open day is take snacks and water with you. There will be queues for food.
For anyone getting a taxi from the main railway station, pop along to the taxi office in the row of shops in front and to your right as you leave the station rather than joining the queue at the taxi rank. It’s generally faster.
If time allows, walk up towards the on campus surgery as it’s located in an area of beautiful older buildings, and you can see how the university has developed over time. It’s also through some very pretty wooded and garden areas. To be fair, you won’t get time to do this - but if your DC do study at Exeter then it’s worth knowing about for when you go visit.

Accommodation - depends on your budget. The catered accom seemed to be the preserve of the students who had been to boarding school with wealthy parents who could afford the charges.
My DD was at East Park, and would definitely recommend. But we didn’t see any bad accom on our open day, I noticed some is closer to the outdoor pool which could be handy in the summer.

We're going next weekend too. That's interesting @TreesOfGreen99 . I was looking at Exeter catered accommodation last night and I didn't think it was unreasonable compared to the self-catered halls. The catered halls are only 32 week contracts compared to 40 or 42 week for self-catered. so it seems that what you don't pay in rent pays for catering (roughly).

DS is a liability in the kitchen and eats his own weight in food each day (hence considering catered) but is a state school lad with not wealthy parents, so I'm now slightly concerned he wouldn't fit in.

We're getting the train @stubiff - I thought about the P&R and decided against it as it's the last weekend of half term so I thought the roads would be very busy.

@TreesOfGreen99 Thanks. I'm a man, but won't take my 4-inch heels!

Re first year Accom, on Streatham campus:
Catered - £243 or £325.
Self Catered - £161-228.

Catered compared to Nottingham, as an example, is £232-289, so Exeter Holland/Pennsylvania makes it more expensive at the top end. Lower end similar.

Contract length (total cost) is relevant as have to move out of Catered during hols (and the logistics it adds).

@Waspie We're are way away, so going down the day before and staying over. Yes, roads could be busy on the Sat.

DS was in Lafrowda (self-catered), which was fine, but his girlfriend was at Holland Hall -fully catered - and he used to stay/go up there to eat meals with her. Students can buy mealcards to use at catered halls, although of course they will probably feel awkward unless they go with friends or know someone else there!
DS was always sending photos of his massive weekend brunch, which only cost about £6!

@Jng1 Thanks, good to know.

@Jng1 With Lafrowda being the cheapest, was it more party-central?

There aren't really any quiet eateries on campus - it all tends to be in the Forum building.
If you stay at the Premier Inn in town the Cosy Club nearby is fun.

Restaurants down on the waterfront are lovely, but parking is tricky.

Mill on the Exe is a decent gastropub on the west side of the city.

I'm not sure it was the cheapest? More mid-range (but this was a few years ago before East Park was fully developed).

It does have a reputation for being party-central, but I think that's as much to do with it's central location and the density of student flats. Someone is always having a 'gathering' somewhere and the noise travels!

DS is sociable, but found it a bit too noisy and busy - especially in summer when you want to open your window at night, but there are always people milling around outside!

There are all types in all types of hall. As has been said, some catered halls offer shorter rental agreement terms, so the cost isn’t necessarily more. It can be cheaper to be fed than to have an en-suite in some self catered for example.

Whatever school type your DC goes to, try to discourage them (and yourself) from spending Open Day looking out for people who are different to them. All teens have the opportunity at uni to meet people from a range of backgrounds and realise they can be friends with all sorts. Whatever people think, privately educated are always a minority and boarding school a small minority. It’s big enough for everyone to find their tribe and it will likely have people from a range of school types.

For the Open Day, def take some snacks, so when you’re ravenous, you don’t get stressed about trying to get to a talk or session and get grumpy due to hunger….we all know teens get grumpy after an early start and in not fed for longer than 30 mins.

Try to walk into town - well worth seeing, and also that it’s very much in walking distance.

Check out prices for the full year re accommodation, not weekly. If you can save several thousand by moving out at Christmas/Easter, it’s definitely worth considering paying for storage or doing a pick-up.

@Waspie plesse don’t be put off catered if that would work best. That was absolutely not my intention! I was sharing what my DD found. Lots of her friends were in catered and it worked well for them. They were a friendly group.

@stubiff good to know you’re leaving the heels at home - though perhaps if you’re out in the evening you could kick back in them 😂

Hope the event goes well for you, and that your DC enjoy the day. Like everywhere, some will love it and others will feel it’s not for them.

Whatever school type your DC goes to, try to discourage them (and yourself) from spending Open Day looking out for people who are different to them. All teens have the opportunity at uni to meet people from a range of backgrounds and realise they can be friends with all sorts.

This 100%. It seems to me that the parents are often more obsessed worried about this than the kids. My DS honestly couldn't have told you what sort of school his flatmates, and later housemates came from! He befriended them on the basis of their interests, values, attitudes etc. They actually turned out to be a very diverse bunch.

@WombatChocolate
Thanks for that.
DS (and us) won’t be bothered about other attendees. As numerous people have mentioned on loads of threads, they will find their tribe. If someone is a knob then DS just won’t be interested!

There looks to be a subject fair in a large room for speaking to dept staff, but can you also wander around the dept, or is a lot of it behind keypads/swipe cards?

The form the open day takes will depend on your subject. If it’s a STEM subject where it’s important you see the labs/tech etc then these will probably be open for visitors, but supervised with tours etc. There may be timed subject talks. Not much point touring empty lecture theatres though.
You won’t have freedom to just wander anywhere though.

Not STEM.
DS is booked on 2 subject talks. They are in different theatres, but no idea if they are generally used for the subject in question.
So, disagree slightly on 'Not much point touring empty lecture theatres though.'. It's like viewing a house and not being allowed upstairs.
Would be good to see where you're actually going to be taught.
But, understand it's difficult to facilitate that.

There is not much between a lot of DS's uni choices in terms of curriculum, job prospects, etc, so it will come down more to what the facilities are like, feel, that sort of thing. And cost to some extent.

Re costs:
Cheapest self catered (40 weeks) - £6,417.
Cheapest self catered ensuite (40 weeks) - £8,032 (or £40 per week for ensuite).
Cheapest catered (32 weeks) - £7,677 (or £39 per week for food).

So, as Wombat says, cheaper, in total, to be fed vs not fed + ensuite.

I wouldn’t get too hung up on the quality & vibe of classrooms and teaching space. Many lectures are recorded, and the % of students who attend live has really fallen off since covid.
What’s more important is the location and distance from accommodation. Is it 45 min walk uphill, are there buses?

On the catered/non-catered debate it’s worth considering if your DS is likely to be heavily involved in sport or another hobby which means they will miss a lot of mealtimes. Student kitchens in catered accommodation aren’t designed for cooking your own big meals and takeaway costs soon mount up!

@Jng1 Good points.
Would you say the same about the library, say, no point looking round, as "it's a library"?

Honestly? Probably yes!

Having had two DCs go through uni in the last few years I just don't think those are the important things if you're choosing between highly ranked, Russell Group (or equivalent) universities. And student life and ways of studying have really changed since the 80s/90s when parents went to uni.

DS graduated in his humanities subject from Exeter last year. He wrote 4-6 essays a term and a 12000 word dissertation in his final year and never ONCE visited the physical library! All the material is online, sharing academic resources on a global inter-library basis is common, and a lot of the physical books are not the latest reprints.

I guess it may be more important for some students if they are cold or distracted in their student accommodation etc, but DS always preferred the flexibility to work at odd hours, use his own printer and whiteboard and have (cheap) food and drink on hand.

Thanks for this thread @stubiff. I hope your son enjoys the open day and the traffic is bearable.

DS is a liability in the kitchen and eats his own weight in food each day (hence considering catered) but is a state school lad with not wealthy parents, so I'm now slightly concerned he wouldn't fit in.

He needs to start learning to cook! It's an essential life skill. Get him to make a family meal once a week (with yours or his father's support) - he'll soon learn. It's an essential life skill, and part of how he should be equipped at home for leabing home.

I didn't say he couldn't cook. I said he was a liability in the kitchen.