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?

I wonder if I could ask you all a few questions please? Dd went to the offer holder day last weekend and I think might firm Durham. It will be a stretch for her but I think achievable, and she really liked the feel of the place.

Qu1. I’ve read lots of helpful comments and explanations of the college allocation system and I’m well aware that there’s no guarantee of getting your first, or even second/third choice. Did any of your DC end up with colleges even lower down their list? (5th or lower)

Qu2. Are your DC already sorted for accommodation next year? This is one of DD’s main concerns. She’s heard that people tend to group up very quickly due to the shortage of private accommodation, and that it’s very expensive.

Qu3. Does anyone have any direct experience of the geography department? It seems very impressive, but also far bigger than others she’s looked at. I’m wondering how approachable and supportive the staff are.

Many thanks for any info you can share!

@Suffolker

DS got his 6th choice of college, he wasn’t greatly happy at first but he got catered which was the main thing for him

Yes, DS and other groups sorted their second year house partway through first term. I don’t think Durham is hugely unusual in having students sort it quite early. But remember that there are always roughly the same number of students needing housing each year and graduating each year, so there will be somewhere!

I don’t know about geography though.

@Suffolker- my DD got her 7th choice of college, and she was pretty miffed about it at the time despite it being gowned (which was one of her tick boxes). She had put all the Bailey colleges first, but ended up with the second Hill college in her list, which she’d not even really looked at. Like most, she is now happily settled and made firm friends in her “7th choice college,” and she proudly sports her college merch. It took a few weeks of being there for the love to start, though.

I have seen people try to impart “wisdom” like - look at the stats on college rankings and try to put a less popular choice (usually a Hill college) high in your rankings so you are more likely to get one of your top choices - which is backwards thinking, really. Some people are very lucky and get their first choice in the draw, others much less so. Ultimately the college is just a building and it’s the people in it they’ll bond to, and that will make the college special. My own hindsight advice is to caution your YP about taking against any of the colleges, which can be difficult given as Durham students themselves engage in all sorts of inter-college banter and in-jokes that can make it seem like there is a hierarchy of colleges. My DD’s college is quite self-depreciating and is often referred to as though it’s boring, but really it’s just like all the others barring the age of the buildings…

Re: second year housing, ALL the unis seem to go in early on grouping up and finding a place for the following year, not just Durham. There’s a real sense of FOMO about it that just didn’t exist when we were at uni. There will be places available after the first big wave of students looking for accomodation, but the bigger/better value/best located ones will go quickly. That said there always seem to be rooms coming up (people fall out, plans change) so the real driver for the FOMO seems to be more about having a known group to share with, rather than a lack of accommodation. The down side of the groups coalescing so early is that by time they live together some of them find they’re not as comfortable a mix as they initially thought, but that’s house shares!

I also don’t know about geography I’m afraid.

Oh and @Suffolker, another thing I’ll add as you’re probably doing some due diligence research and it will come up here on MN - last year there was quite a big thread about how long it took Durham accepted students to be given the specific details of their college rooms and move-in slot. Everyone had their colleges, but from Results day it took a solid month+ to get detailed info. This gap lead to quite a bit of rumour-mongering: there weren’t enough places in the colleges, Durham had screwed up its numbers, people would be turned away or housed in college-owned buildings in Durham instead of the core college building, etc.

I had family and friends at the time waiting for accommodation confirmation at other unis (Warwick, Newcastle, Bristol) and they were also experiencing/hearing of people waiting a very long time for final details. I even know of students at Newcastle who got so tired of waiting for halls confirmation they decided to switch to private halls instead. Only Durham has a whole thread about it though, despite pretty much everyone getting their expected move-in details in the end!

Thanks very much indeed@RayonSunrise and@HelenDenver. Dd is very much a ‘researcher’ and is avidly reading up on all the colleges, so I really want to emphasise that she shouldn’t get too hung up on her first two or three (and four or five!) choices.

I had heard about the delays last year, and in fact at the OHD someone asked the question about how long it would take for confirmation to be sent post-results, and we were assured it would be within two weeks(!). I remain somewhat sceptical though🤔

DS's offered college remained the same throughout the admissions process. Understandably, people weren't generally taking to the internet to say things were going smoothly but I do think it was a minority affected by that uncertainty (albeit horrible for those who were) and not at every college either.

Q1 - My daughter wasn't particularly bothered about college choices. Didn't research colleges in detail, just preferenced by working down the popularity list from previous years. Was greatly surprised to be allocated the first on the list and kept that allocation through the results/admissions process.

Just luck, but shows if you want popular colleges, it's perhaps still worth listing them, just in case. She enjoys her college, but says she'd have been happy in most of them. Colleges seem to be defined by their buildings in most rankings, but they all have great communities within them. It seems to be her friendship group that really shapes her uni life. These are a mix from college, sports team and course.

Q2 - For Year 2 housing, be aware of the new RRA legislation effective from May 2026. Contracts cannot be signed earlier than 6 months ahead of start date (effectively Jan/Feb for the usual July start dates). It's been suggested this may reduce the pressure to house hunt and sign until a little later

Q3 - Sorry, does not do Geography!

Q1 A few of my DCs friends got a college that was way past 5 on their list and one got their lowest ranked college. It really doesn’t matter. I would advise to just decide if catered and non catered is most important and then work from there. It doesnt really matter if you are hill or bailey - it’s all walkable and they are likely to have different modules in different buildings. They try to have a community which is a mixture of students from all depts and courses in each college so it’s not first come first and your college can change up to the very last minute. This is really pre-allocation.. they look at it again post results day when they know who is actually coming . Changes happen fairly regularly but lots get their first choice
And it’s so true- they will love whatever they get in the end

q2 .. Agree that everyone gets sorted in the end ..there is enough accommodation . The mad scramble being pushed to Jan/feb is probably a good thing so that students don’t make hasty decisions and sign for a house with someone who they’ve only known 3-4 weeks

Q3- not Geog sorry

There is no shortage of private accommodation in Durham. So absolutely no need to panic. People were finding places to rent into term in the autumn.
My daughter despite my advice signed early, has now had enough of that group so has withdrawn and filled her place, and will probably now end up somewhere either cheaper or closer or both.

@Suffolker I'll just second what everyone else has said about choosing a college. Decide if preference is for catered or not and go from there. Even the furthest away hill college is walkable to geography dept.
And they inevitably end up loving their college once they've done Freshers & matriculation together. My DS was given his first choice of college & room type, and is enjoying himself immensely but still chunters on about the thin loo roll or being too far away from the gym/boathouse 🙄

Thanks everyone, that’s really helpful. I’ll definitely make sure she doesn’t get too fixed on one college. Her main concern is that she doesn’t have to share a room!

If there are any geographer-parents out there, I’d love to hear from you!

@Suffolker - my DD was allocated to a college way down her list - 11th i think (John Snow). She prioritised Bailey and catered and was allocated Hill and self-catering. We knew she might well not get Bailey but had not expected she would be allocated self-catering. She was a bit miffed for a couple of days but quickly got used to the idea and was really pleased to have John Snow confirmed after results day. Fortunately, we knew from MN that there was a good chance she wouldn’t get her chosen college and also that everyone loves where they land. That’s certainly her case. She’s extremely happy at JS. The same applied to her friends who were all allocated somewhere a long way down their list.

Remember that allocation of a college is not the same as allocation of accommodation at that college. Your YP should receive and complete a separate form for accommodation at their provisionally allocated college. From memory, that accommodation form was issued in May/June and had to be returned reasonably promptly.

@Dery - DD chose and got JS last year and was very happy there.

She went from being a ramen noodle cook to now being quite capable in the kitchen. I think she really enjoyed the shared cooking/ lounge space where townhouse mates would do lots of socialising at the end of the day.

I also agree that most seem to enjoy where they end up.

@Maggiethecat - yes, DD's cooking skills have also come on a lot and the shared cooking/lounge space has really helped that. JS has been really great for DD and DD can't imagine being anywhere else now!

That’s so lovely to hear!

She sounds the perfect person for the freshers’ welcoming team next year 😊

Is everyone safely home for the holiday? The traffic in Durham seemed even worse than usual yesterday for some reason.
DS is enjoying his newly decorated bedroom and loving my home cooking (apparently). How are everyone else's DC feeling?

Had no idea term had ended!

Tried to call Dd this evening and she messaged back to say she was out with friends and oh by the way she’s coming home tomorrow for Easter 😂

Ha, she's obviously having a great time and good for her.
We're hoping to make the most of the very long holiday and ensure DS has time for his revision etc

We made good time yesterday, although left early so were in Durham just after 10am. Dd hadn't been to bed that night 😂, and was packed and ready so we were out by 10.30! She's enjoying being home but very aware that she needs to work over the holidays. She's had a lot of fun this term.

Yes, DD arrived home this weekend. She’s also had a great term - very work hard/play hard by the sound of it, so she found it went quickly and she needed a long lie-in on her first day back!

She’s mentioned she’s not had a lot of feedback on her course work so far, so she doesn’t really have a sense of how she’s doing, just that she’s keeping up with handing things in. Has anyone else’s YP found the same? It does feel a bit like everything will be revealed at the end of the year.

DD was home very early Saturday morning after I collected her from a distant station. She’s feeling better after talking to her academic advisor - she’s pretty on top of things. And the advisor confirmed the decisions she had made on modules for next year.

DD came home on Thursday evening.

She has very recently passed her driving test (2nd attempt) and took the car out on 3 separate occasions on Friday, the first being just after midnight because our updated insurance ran from at 12.01 am on Friday!

DS hasn't driven since Xmas but he's making up for it now, lots of places to go & people to see.
Coinciding nicely with rocketing petrol prices 😩

Speaking of driving lessons does anyone have any recommendations for instructors in the Durham area?

@W0tnow I can DM you with the number of the instructor that my DCs used last year. They both passed first time but getting the practical tests booked was the problem. Not sure if that system has improved yet