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?

Ah, sure we’ve ages yet! Our DS is in Dublin and he had 9 days from finding out he’d been accepted to having to move down - that was frantic! This will be a breeze 😉

DS got his first choice college confirmed yesterday (yay!), with welcome pack. Really pleased it was quick, as he's had his place since early July (IB not A level), so it's felt like a long six weeks of no contact!

Slight hiccup is I stupidly only booked a Saturday night hotel for us not DS (not sure what I was thinking - hoping drop off would be Saturday, I guess, but it's confirmed as Sunday - no time slot yet), and hotel is now full. For anyone dropping kids off and travelling a long way, be warned that hotels are seriously booked up. We're staying a few miles outside, as hotels in the city centre are mega expensive.

@hoomhom that’s hard! I actually haven’t looked at DD’s email yet with all the info as she’s been out of the house since before it came in and I was in bed before she got home last night/this morning. We booked our hotel back in January as we had heard things booked up very quickly around results day, but are actually booked in Newcastle rather than Durham as DH had points to use up for a hotel there. Is it worth checking a little further afield? Newcastle is only 30min away so not really too bad at all. When we dropped DS off at uni in Dublin we stayed at a hotel in the city and it still took 40min to get to the campus because of traffic!

Thanks, good tip. We're quite happy to go further afield (can always go into Durham for the evening if we fancy it - though I'm guessing restaurants in town will be similarly busy??), but hadn't thought of Newcastle itself.

Have started a new thread here for 2026 starters so we don’t hijack this thread too much. Have really appreciated this thread in the run up - it has helped me feel so much more prepared. Thanks for letting us gate-crash a little!

www.mumsnet.com/talk/higher_education/5566801-parents-of-durham-freshers-2026?utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=share

Thanks!

I’m having a slight panic if anyone can advise please. DH has confirmed his place after getting his results on Thursday. What he didn’t do in June/July was respond to the email sent asking him to rank accommodation preferences. He’s been allocated Josephine Butler college and did the disability request form for a single room.
What happens now please? (He’s emailed and I’ve told him to call tomorrow).

Hi, just a quick question for those who have DC who are already at uni.
How long are the terms? I've looked at the academic term dates for 2026-7 and they add up to 30 weeks, but the accommodation is for 39 weeks. I know the first week is Freshers Week, but what do they do for the other 8 weeks?

They have a month off at Christmas and Easter where their room is still available to them. Some accommodation does require the occupant to move out at these times but that would be reflected in the number of weeks in the agreement. So for a 39 week room agreement, they would move in for freshers week and wouldn’t need to move out until the end of the final term of the year.

Thanks so much for clearing that up.

So the actual academic year is super short! I assume most of them go home in the holidays?

Yes, most will, though they might stay on for a bit after lectures for formals and sporting events.

Term dates are here: https://www.durham.ac.uk/academic-dates/

Hi all, I thought I'd give this thread a little bump in anticipation of our DC starting Y2. I've been in town a lot over the weekend and it's lovely to see it filling up again with families doing the open weekend and returner early arrivals.
How are our lot feeling about the start of a new year?
DS joined the local rowing club in June to keep his blade hand in over the summer but is v keen for "everything to get back to normal".
He's living at home this year because we're 15mins away so it makes sense (and he missed my cooking). He also has a standing invitation to sleep on various floors after nights out & socials so it looks like the best of both worlds for him.
What's everyone else up to?

@MillicentFaucet DS is up and down the country at the moment for various pre-season sporting stuff, but he’s into his year 2 house and I’m shipping Amazon prime parcels every 5 mins - it’s all a bit of a change from a catered college 😀

We’ve just dropped DS at his Y2 house today. He’s frepping this year and is so excited to get stuck back in to everything, especially the socialising. It’s been a lot easier for me this time round too… I haven’t cried once 🤣

Hello all! My DD is currently on a late Euro city break with her Y2 housemates. Fortunately they seem to be having a lovely time, which augurs well for their academic year cohabitation 😅.

We’re bringing her up this coming weekend. I hope she’s thought past her trip’s packing and is ready to pull everything together as soon as she’s back!

Hello! Dd has been working for most of the summer and has earned a decent buffer to get her through the year. She's back in the first weekend of October, looking forward to returning. I'm going to miss her!

Hope your dc have all enjoyed their summer. I can't believe how quickly the first year went.

@BigHeroSix, I know what you mean about the first year. Year 2 already! Just one more to go for most. And they’re so obviously & increasingly proper grown ups now.

Thanks for the bump, @MillicentFaucet! Hope all our YPs have had a great summer. I’m dropping DD back (or rather she’s probably dropping herself with me in the passenger seat!) on 1 October. First year flashed past. DD is at least doing a 4 year degree (one of her subjects is an MFL) so that’s something!

@DeryIs your DD already looking at where she’s going? Mine is in LA so technically outside the MFL dept, but was planning to be abroad next year as well. She’s intensely relaxed about everything, but I have a wee concern that she might not be on the same mailing lists as the MFL cohort in her language class.

@RayonSunrise - no, she isn't looking already but like yours she's in the LA cohort and I have periodically wondered whether she may fall outside certain MFL arrangements. She also seems very relaxed. Her language is Arabic and she seems certain that she will be going to Cairo but I'm not entirely sure what that is founded on. She's independent-minded and gets irritated if I seem to be "enquiring" about something in a way which suggests I don't trust her to be on top of things. I actually do trust her to be on top of things but us middle-aged parents can of course spot pitfalls that a 19 yo might miss, and anyway it's nice to be kept in the loop on the big stuff!

@Dery Ha, do we have separated twins? My DD also gets a bit flinty over that, but while I’m usually pretty hands-off the fact she wants to go to China for a year is harder to just leave and see what happens. 😂

Love to see some familiar names and it looks like they're all looking forward to Yr2. DS has started looking for a summer internship already, he had one of those awful Arctic Shores test to do this morning. He also had to resist one of his exams last month, he was absolutely mortified so hopefully has learned his lesson about not taking anything for granted.
His big brother graduated this year and has finally found a job after a fraught summer of interviews & rejections. We're moving him into his naice houseshare in York this weekend so the tradition of stuffing the car & hitting the road continues for another year 😄
It's beautifully warm & mellow in Durham this week so I hope your DC can enjoy it while it lasts.

@RayonSunrise - yep - if your YP’s off to China, you do want to know how it’s going to come about! Given @MillicentFaucet’s update, I’m going to be trying to talk to DD about her 3rd year and applying for internships. She’ll love that 😀. Especially when i tell her i’ve been chatting to fellow Durham parents on MN 😆!

@MillicentFaucet - hope the resit didn’t take up too much of your DS’s summer! Centuries ago when i was at uni a friend of mine (a medic) had to resit 2 first year exams. She went on to get a 1st.

Thanks @Dery he brought his laptop on holiday and filled a couple of rainy days doing solid revision. His resit mark was 66% but has been capped at 40, he's kicking himself that he didn't do it first time. Needing to be back in Durham for the exam did mess up one of his summer plans so lesson learnt I hope.