Parents of Durham freshers 2025

[MillicentFaucet]

We've chatted on a different threads over the past few months so do any anxious/excited/slightly overwhelmed parents want to congregate here for Durham chat?
My DS will be starting an MEng next month and has been allocated to Cuths 🐯(but no confirmation of what type of accommodation he has yet).
He's slowly working his way through registration etc and fretting about the important things like what to wear for matriculation <sigh>
How's everyone else getting on?

Not first come first served - there’s a deadline on the college choices and then the sorting is done after that. DS did his after OHD.

Thank you @HelenDenver. DS didn’t share the email with me. I’m treated as the person brandishing the credit card rather than someone who needs to know anything about this exciting application process 😊

The humanities buildings are at Elvert Riverside, so the Bailey colleges are closest. BUT - having gone through the college application palaver with a Liberal Arts student who had her heart set on a Bailey college but is now in a Hill college - I would start emphasising now that none of the colleges are THAT far away from anything! My YP now adores her college but when it was first allocated she felt like every reason she’s had for making the selections she did were ignored.

Enjoy the OHD, and do have a good walk around - from the Bailey and town center up to the hill colleges, out to the Hilde Bede site (under refurbishment) and its current incarnation, etc - and get a good feel for the place. Durham is very walkable for first years in colleges (joys of a market town-sized city).

My DS does History at Durham. Much of the teaching is in the students union building (new Elvet area) and around Palace Green.

Any college is absolutely fine for travel. Bailey Colleges or Hild Bede will be nearer. Given most live out of college after yr1, the college location won’t matter so much but Bailey or Hild Bede easiest for popping home to mid-day if living further out and unable to nip home.

Most popular housing areas are Viaduct and Winney Hill (Elvet area) and both are close to centre and where History stuff is, so easy to nip home between lectures. Other areas include Claypath which is also well located for the centre and History. Neville’s Cross is beyond the Hill Colleges and good for science site but not History. Gilesgate is popular as cheaper but further away from centre, esp ‘Deep Gilesgate’ as students like to call it….but in reality still prob only 20 mins walk or so.

Honestly, don’t get attached to the idea of a specific college, just Durham as a uni. There is no knowing which you’ll get and people love them all once there. It would be better if they didn’t do that providional college allocation - as so much can change. I feel it’s a marketing exercise to help applicants get more invested in Durham….but who knows!

You could cores your ranking preferences and then come allocations day, applicants are drawn by a computer out of the hat and their rankings worked down. If you’re early out of hat, you’ll get higher preferenced college (esp if less popular course…as they allocate to give a distribution of subjects too) but if you’re later out of hat, the most popular colleges might be full and they will work down your rankings.

It’s why lots advise that you place a couple of less popular colleges which you’d be happy with as no2 and no3 - if you’re later out of the hat, although you prob won’t get a popular top option, places likely remain at the less popular.

Examples of these include Grey, Van Mikdert and Hild Bede or Trevs or Aidans. They are all Hill colleges and don’t seem to be 1st choice for vast numbers ….but students allocated to all of them report loving their college, plus most of them offer all single rooms or v few shared, which is a big issue for many.

Ranking according to catered or self catered preference is good idea. But there is possibility of not getting the type you want. Catered is about £3k more per year. Many unis don’t offer much catered accom these days - many students like the idea of self catering flexibility, but in reality those in catered often find it easier to meet more people as mixing with hundreds not just a flat at meal times. But both options are there.

Personally we didn’t do OH day as had done the Open Day and viewed a few colleges then. Actually wanted to avoid becoming too invested in college choice. DS for his 3rd choice which was catered Hill College. He didn’t get the Bailey experience he’d have liked but loved his college, made good friends there and lives with them in yr2 in Viaduct. He remains involved in college, being on the JCR and doing other stuff there like going to the odd Formal. It’s definitely more than a Hall of Residence which you only live in for a year. But the exact one matters less than people think.

As to distance. One day every fortnight my daughter has 3 back to back classes, first in science area, then at riverside then back to science. And this has been totally do-able, especially when lecturers remember she is moving all the time.
Hill colleges are closer to the Library. But on offer holder day 4 is absolutely the maximum you will be able to visit properly.

Thank you all so much, so helpful 💐

DS has made a list of colleges and the types of rooms, location and cost. I will suggest that he prioritise before OHD but I don’t think he is particularly bothered about the college and won’t get too attached. He’d probably like catered just because he’s enormous, plays rugby, and is not great at cooking anything other than pasta. He would happily manage either way though.

Thank you for all of that information @WombatChocolate- so helpful. DS has had to ask to view some of the college residences on his OHD request form. We will be there for a few days so will have ample opportunity to walk around the city and look at the colleges. I am really looking forward to seeing Durham. I’ve never seen the city despite it being on my list. We’ve been north and south but never managed to actually see Durham.

DS’s top two choices (history) are Durham and UCL. Probably diametrically opposite in type of university but both seem so interesting in terms of the course they offer.

There is quite a lot of detailed information available on how the colleges allocation is done and it's worth reading carefully. As well as the info that @WombatChocolate has given, it's worth knowing that they aim to have a mix of subject courses in each college. Bear in mind that most people want to be close to their lectures, so proportionately more English / History students will put Bailey first and more Maths / Science students will put Hill colleges.

So arguably one of the best chances is from going against the grain.

I'd also suggest making sure to look at a less popular college or two (particularly Aidens which is rarely chosen mostly as people just don't get to it on offer holder days!), as if you like it you have a very good chance of getting it if you don't get any higher choices.

https://www.durham.ac.uk/colleges-and-student-experience/colleges/undergraduate-membership-and-accommodation/how-the-allocation-process-works-for-undergraduates/

This is how they do it

Thanks for sharing all this very helpful info! Much appreciated.

Thank you @NeedingCoffeei will read through all of this information

@Ventress You mention your DS is an enormous rugby player. Two things to think about - the timing of meals if he chooses catered and has a lot of training. DS was glad of the flexibility of S/C as he played multiple sports so was always rushing around. Secondly the length of the bed. We noted that the small doubles in eg Snow are book ended by the bathroom and a wall so DS at 6'3 would never have been able to stretch in bed (on our minds as my goddaughter started there in Covid and they were put into 2 weeks isolation). DS graduated this summer and would highly recommend Durham.

That is a really good point @EwwSprouts, thanks. DS plays rugby and tennis. At Exeter he was told catered would probably suit him best (but this also had the book ended beds which didn’t work for him as they were too short). His top two are now UCL and Durham. UCL rooms (that we saw) are old but quite large. We will definitely look at the Durham college rooms and check the bed lengths/spaces and the flexibility of catering. I think that comes within my preserve.

I’m really pleased to hear that your son has enjoyed his time at Durham. Did he get his chosen college and did it matter in the end? I’m feeling that if DS is playing his sports he’s probably going to have a ready made group of people to mix with. Always a benefit of team sports.

DS is hoping to be a back at college. Bless him. He is 6’5” but skinny so finds the scrum hard but is very in demand for line outs! No rugby coach has ever put him anywhere but in the second row. He can dream…

The trouble is, you can research bed lengths etc and choose colleges accordingly, but most colleges have a variety of beds and there’s no knowing where youlll be allocated in terms of college anyway. In the end you have to go with what you get.

I totally get parental interest and involvement. I was the same. I researched colleges, thought about strategic rankings to give best opportunity of getting features that DS wanted (or I thought were important) and went through the process.

I read threads from previous years. And on provisional allocations day I watched threads as people reported themselves (or their kids) being allocated early out of the hat and getting first choice, or later and sometimes getting 13/14th choice and sometimes cateeed when they wanted self catering and vv. And then lots of angst. And then I read again in August after A Level results and well into September when families gradually received final allocation of colleges - often confirmed a few days after results, but for many not for weeks and then involving reallocation to a totally different type of college. And lots of angst. And then I read again in Oct and Dec as they came home from the first term and mostly loved their uni experience and their college, regardless of hill/Bailey and even if their catering wasn’t what they’d wanted…and they’d met friends in college and weee signing for hiyses in yr2 with them. And if things weren’t going well and they were lively or miserable, it really wasn’t about the college they were at or bed length or catering, but bigger and broader issues.

So the message is, really try not to over think it. Other unis ask you to express a preference at some point and after results allocate and you get what you get. Essentially it’s the same at Durham, but they get people invested in choosing and expressing preferences early…but the end result and often fairly random allocation is essentially the same as other places. And it doesn’t matter.

We think bed length or time they serve dinner is vitally important. We want it to be perfect for our kids. But the reality is they often care far less about these things than we do and just get on with the hand they’re dealt….which is actually a good thing. And we learn to start letting go and see too that some of these things might not be 100% ideal but that our young adults actually cope within non 100% perfect and fret the small stuff less that us middle aged parents might.

Of course it’s exciting when your Dc is choosing and as parents we are interested. But holding slightly to college allocation and helping them do the same can help avoid a lot of angst.

Excellent post @WombatChocolate
My DS has been quite fortunate in his route to Durham, from his achievable contextual offer through to getting the college & room allocation he requested. However I was still guilty of being overinvested in DS's eating & sleeping arrangements (even texting to remind him to book packed lunches for the days he couldn't get back to college).

Yes an excellent post - thank you @WombatChocolateThank you also @MillicentFaucet. I have really enjoyed your posts on this thread.

I am probably rather over investing at the moment, this is true. Two main reasons - not having been to the open day and it being so far away compared to the other universities we visited in the summer.

I’m very glad DS applied and has this offer for Durham.

Exeter was the first we saw - he loved it- so I went all out on research and now he’s written it off! Typical 😊 I am not doing that again. If he gets a bed which doesn’t fit, or any some other little issue that I don’t think is 100% , I will cope. He definitely will!

Thank you so much. We have three days at the OHD so lots of time walk around and explore the area 😊

Yes agree - at this stage I'm just delighted that DC has an offer and I'm sure he will be fine in any of the colleges. Does anyone know when they should arrive at halls? Trying to be proactive and book a hotel (in the hope that DC gets the grades he needs!) as they seem to get booked out so quickly (and we live in the south so have a long drive). Looks like term starts 28 September so do they need to arrive the day before, or a couple of days, or what usually happens?

Students will arrive w/e of 26th/27th, unless they are in uni sports teams or otherwise have need to arrive early e.g. SEN, international.

DS (Grey) had to book a specific slot that weekend for DH to drop him off, owing (I assume) to car park limitations. We were On It and went for Saturday morning. However, other colleges might assign slots rather than give the choice.

DH+DS actually stayed about 30 mins away on the Friday, partly due to accommodation cost and partly as that meant parking outside a naice B+B and not leaving a car full of DS's possessions in a multi storey.

The Premier Inn(s) should be cancellable until nearer the time if you wanted to book fri and sat nights, say, on a Flex booking - you could always change it.

Thank you @HelenDenver - very helpful. When do they know if they will be in the Uni sports team and have to arrive early? DC is quite sporty so I imagine he might be.

Afraid I don't know because it didn't apply to DS but this is the First teams so (I assume) people already at county/national level. DS did try out for a sport when he arrived and is now in something like the fifth team.

Great that there is so many sport opportunities at Durham. My DC isn't at national or county level (just first team at small sixth form college) so can probably safely assume that it's fine to book a hotel for the Friday night then :)

DS put Stephenson down as his first choice and got it. It's not the most popular as furthest out and older than the other s/c options. Has one of the best bars though! In the year he got in, he was told everyone who put it first was allocated there.

He went as a hockey and tennis player. Played both for college all three years. Also played mixed lacrosse from scratch all years and tried rowing in year 2 but the weather meant they didn't get much practice on the river and they did tip the boat once! Not the snowy Durham video you want to receive. You are spot on that many friends are from those teams. He didn't really bond with his yr1 flat mates but made solid friends with the flat below and shared houses with them in yrs 2 & 3.

Wombat is right the catering is not vitally important but I do feel size of bed should be considered if you are tall. He literally would not have been able to lie flat. The newer builds are standardised.

I've spent a lot of time this morning reading the links and info provided by you kind people, and on the website. I've also downloaded and printed out the pdfs for DS. DS has his spreadsheet (and I've added bed sizes where possible) and I think we are ready to go, just a little early!

Hockey and lacrosse sound good @EwwSprouts . He's also pretty good at basketball and cricket. He tends to get picked up by coaches based on his height and speed. I like the range of sports on offer. DS loves his team sports but isn't BUCS standard (or similar) so will probably want to try a few out. I do think it's one of those areas where Durham is much better than UCL.

I'm also looking at Stephenson college

Might also be worth looking at John Snow also as the rooms are newer and they have double beds (which work better than a single of tall). They make friends on course, in accommodation, in sports and societies and friends of friends and most of them go around all of the College bars. Durham has been a very sociable place for DS who loves it and has absolutely thrived at Durham.

Thanks. I think John Snow was one of those we get to see during the Offer Holder Day @LimoncelloSpritzplease so I'll look forward to that.

The sociability aspect is something that has really stood out to me - both in these threads and via the website. I am very pleased that your DS has enjoyed, and really thrived, at Durham