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?

Thank you @MillicentFaucet @WombatChocolate @RayonSunrise it all sounds really positive and he's really looking forward to (hopefully) starting in September. I suppose another good thing about VM is that they don't tend to share bedrooms, something DC wouldn't particularly like. Sharing a bathroom is absolutely fine. I have never understood the need for an en-suite at their age. Good to know also that they don't tend to get reallocated from VM. I've just had a look at mouthful.of.marys -thanks for sharing the link. The food actually sounds quite nice.

@MillicentFaucet He will be studying History. Has one more exam to go and then a long wait for results day!

Hope your DC are enjoying all the socials, sounds like they are having a lot of fun this time of the year!

I cannot tell you what an amazing time one of our young relatives has had at VM, having put it low on his list. So much so that his girlfriend, at one of the sought-after Bailey colleges, told me that she wishes she'd gone there. He went there a shy nerd and has just become Mr popular college guy. Totally blossomed, he's a real joiner-inner and has a lovely bunch of friends. He took a gap year beforehand but I honestly don't know a young person who's been through the most wonderful blossoming between sixth form and mid university. I think it's the combination of the gap year, Durham and VM, and his own efforts of course, but he was a depressed anxious boy and he's now just the happiest person with a really appealing confidence.

When we went to the OHD the principal (head? Don't know what they call them) made a real effort to greet families and I liked the way he directed his conversation to DD rather than us.

What a lovely post @Valleyofthedollymix , it's wonderful to read about our young'uns living their best Durham life!
DS had exams wed-fri last week and had been studying really hard for them. He brought some friends home on the hot, sweaty bank holiday Monday for pizza, beers & badminton in our garden. They returned ready for the final push, I think they've spent this week either drunk, asleep or hungover lol

That's so lovely to hear @Valleyofthedollymix! Really reassuring to hear such positive stories, especially given that we didn't visit VM at the OHD.

@Fabfabfab - welcome to this thread! @MillicentFaucet does an excellent job of keeping us in touch!

My DD got 11th choice: she wanted Bailey & catered; she got Hill and self-catering (specifically John Snow). Had a few days of disappointment but quickly got used to the idea and was really excited to be confirmed there shortly after results day. Fortunately, thanks to Mumsnet, i already knew that Durham college allocation disappointment was a thing and also that everyone comes to love where they land. That’s certainly been true of DD. She’s had a great time there.

Thank you! Glad to hear your DD is having a great time. I agree that Mumsnet has been so helpful in understanding the college allocation process as otherwise it could have been much more of a negative surprise. I'm now instead very calmly letting DC know that not getting your top choice is very common at Durham and that it will all work out for the best anyway. After an initial 30 minutes of dismay he now seems pretty happy with VM :)

Well - nearly at the end of Party Easter term! How are all the DC doing?

My daughter is, by her own admission, living her “best life”: all the fun of uni without any actual academic pressure. This past week she’s taken a visiting friend on a college bar crawl, introduced them to Klute, taken in a play at the Assembly Rooms and attended her college day as well as someone else’s (shhhh!). She confessed she may need to sleep until Tuesday to catch up on all her sleep so she’s packed & prepared to come home by next weekend!

Hope everyone else is having a lovely time.

Hi @RayonSunrise I can't believe 1st year is nearly over, feels like it's flown by! It's great your DD is making the most of the last few weeks.
DS is moving home next week too but hasn't decided which day yet. He feels that everything started to wind down after the summer ball & Durham Regatta last weekend, and except for the rowing crews most of his friends went yesterday or today. I thought he'd be there until his contract ended but he's keen to see his school mates & DS1 before they head off in different directions again.
Exam results tomorrow apparently so fingers crossed that no resits are required!
How are people managing with moving out of college flats and into next year's houses? We're storing a load of stuff for his overseas friends (not sure how we were roped into that lol)

DS1 is home tonight @MillicentFaucet - similarly, the regatta, the PEAC course and the college event days seem to be the end of it. He’s keeping his college room for an extra few days then going back up in ten days or so with DH to move to his second year house. Though a LOT of clothes are coming home with him now!

@MollyButtonunfortunately they’ve had a change of ‘management’ at Laidlaw at Durham and it has become much more chaotic! Last year ran smoothly, she got a research internship with a DU professor and learned so much from that though went way over the time allocated and was working on it until November. Definitely felt like the support she was supposed to have could have been better, but was probably down to her specific supervisor.
This year there were failures in communication. They scheduled a days meeting in Durham over Easter break without much notice and my DD was abroad - she had to email her justification and was interrogated over it! Why now? Can you delay? Is the trip necessary? Uh yes and uh no, the tickets were bought six months ago! Then she got a stern email asking why she hadn’t shown up! She sent them her email exchange …
Then they were told ‘you must book your flights’ and stressed how urgent that was - sending my DD into a panic as you had to have the trip approved. Then it turned out they had given everyone the wrong dates anyway! Obviously it’s been approved and booked but she says they are not particularly encouraging or helpful. Hopefully it’s just temporary glitches with them being new.
I would encourage your YP to go to the socials and meetings. My DD said only half turned up at the one earlier this month but it was invaluable- she met someone who had done the same internship abroad last year who was able to assuage any worries she had (plus met a man related to her current internship quite separate to Laidlaw who was able to offer some guidance).
Definitely a worthwhile experience and great for their CV! My main worry about her trip is the actual travelling- she is well travelled but never on her own and has a long stopover at Miami which is an awful airport. But what a fantastic opportunity.

Yes we know because the person who was in charge is now an Assistant Principle at my daughters college.
My DDs supervisor seems great. And she did attend all the starting events. Although the lady in charge frightened her that she’d be kicked off - even though she was unwell. (The lady was nice in the end.)
She’s probably going to be fine with travel, especially as she wants a year abroad.

Dd comes home tomorrow, having participated in her last show this weekend. She has had a brilliant first year and is looking forward to moving into her house in September.

I'll be glad to have her back!

And I head North tomorrow to help my DD move.

Hello! I was wondering if anyone could help. DD will be heading to Durham in September. Currently allocated to John’s so (fingers crossed) will be based on the Bailey. Classes will be around Palace Green so likely to be around that part of campus more than up the hill.

Any recommendations on mobile phone networks which are good, or any which have poor coverage and should be avoided? She’s currently on Vodafone which works well where we live, but she’s out of contract so could switch to a different network if Vodafone wasn’t great in Durham.

DC is on Vodafone via Lebara (often amazing deals via Money Saving Expert), and I haven't had any complaints about signal. I am 100% sure I'd have heard about it instantly if there was an issue 😉

Thanks @NeedingCoffee that’s really helpful

Hi all, hope you don’t mind me hopping on here to ask a wee question.

DD has been confirmed for Durham this morning following her results, and we obviously know that college communication/allocation/reallocation/room offer etc can take some time.

Would anyone remember roughly what the timeline was last year? When did your DC hear from their college? (Either if they stayed in their preliminary allocation or if they were moved), When did they know the type of room they were allocated? When did they get their move in slot?

I also have a DC heading to Durham and would be keen to know more in terms of timelines - even size of bed would be useful info!

Do not stress if it takes AGES. Some people were being allocated in the week they moved in. I would start by being very pessimistic but do get your YP to keep checking their emails including Junk.

Hi, looking at DS's emails (because he never logs out on the home PC) he received an email from his college the day after accepting his offer on results day with a timeline of what happens next. Day after that he got user name etc for enrolment followed by passwords, request for photos & registration for his course. Just keep checking the spam folder & read everything carefully as there are clickly links for important stuff buried in some of the emails about accommodation.

Oh and bed size varies even within college, so hold off on sheets until it confirmed. But most people go with a double duvet.

Thank you. I remember reading about how slow things were last year. We are coming from NI, so for now have booked the boat to come over on the Friday and back on the Monday, and have booked a hotel for all 3 nights, as we suspect we may not have a move in slot until much nearer the time and know it could be any time on the Sat or Sun. Coming from further away just complicates things a little.

If she gets an email from her college in the next wee while, does that mean she’s definitely confirmed for that college and can’t be reallocated later? She got her first choice, so is obviously hoping to stay put. Her faculty is pretty small so I’m hoping they might be able to sort out the allocation sooner rather than later if it’s about having an equal-ish split between the colleges. Who knows though.

College confirmed! Absolutely delighted. Onwards

Excellent news! The next few weeks will seem a bit frantic but it does calm down a bit before speeding up again towards Freshers & moving in.
Good luck to your DD for the big move