University Open Days - views/insights/opinions etc.

[hellsbells99]

We have just done a couple of open days and wondered if anyone else has. Do we want to share views on this thread?

Hello Horsemad and everyone else.
We did Birmingham and Nottingham last weekend.
Birmingham was very wet on Friday! Campus was lovely. Labs for DD's course were brand new so impressive but it is a new course there (only 1 year old). Study areas and library was good. Accommodation was quite a treck away. The students showing us round were lovely and enjoyed the course and university.
I loved Nottingham but DD thought it was a bit too 'campusy'. She doesn't know Nottingham at all though. We are going to go back in the summer holiday for a day to have a look round the area. They are building a tram link that will go into the City Centre which will be good. The students apparently solicialise in nearby Beeston too. The halls were expensive on campus - all were catered. Some halls we particularly liked, others less so. It looks like you can only select room-type and not which actual halls you want to go to. The course was very good. Good reputation. Good links to get placements etc. DD got the spend 3 hours in talks aimed at her course and having a go in the labs.
So far she would be happy to go to Birmingham, Nottingham or Manchester which we looked at the week before!
DD is off to Cardiff tomorrow with her friends. And is also looking at UEA.
What does anyone think of Bath, Cardiff or Aston?
Hope you are all enjoying your day trips and not too exhausted!

Hellsbells99 DH went to Birmingham and loved the place! He said it was always his dream to go to a campus uni though rather than a big city .

Thinking of finances, I was interviewing graduates for jobs last week. Most of them had fairly extensive work experience gained at Uni. A definite advantage as they were able to give good examples of what they had done/achieved. Some had been working 24 + hrs a week though while at Uni which seems a lot.

Bath is very highly ranked and very popular, hence choosy. Everyone we know who went there has enjoyed it. I know one person who went to Cardiff recently but changed courses. I would never consider Aston or UEA over Bath or the other 3 you mentioned. However all universities suit someone. Depends on the course though. I wouldn't want my DDs to base their choice on where we went either. Things move on. London universities have many more overseas students now, for example, so that may be a consideration. Universities that were popular in my day would not have been given a first look by my DDs. Just not on their radar. I think students generally know where they will feel at home.

Personally I find Student Room a valuable source if information and insider knowledge which can't really be gleaned from an open day. I do agree that the students themselves have to go with their instinct to a large extent.

I think one aspect that is missed on open day is teaching methods. They only accepted 20 students on my course and we were mainly taught in classroom style and seminars by some quite scary and sarcastic lecturers. I think in retrospect I would have preferred the big lecture style at the college down the road and less small class.

I think other factors like the amount of practical time, frequency and duration of exams or number of projects also need to be taken into account depending on what you are good at.

Cardiff is a good place to be at University. The city is relatively small so everything is within walking distance. Rents are cheap. However it is a capital city so there is a real buzz: loads of shops, clubs, venues, restaurants and cafes.
And you get to see Dr Who filming!

We're going to Bath for the Sept open day. I've heard it's a lovely campus, so I'm looking forward to that.

We are off to Durham on Sat. My God Daughter studied there so have been picking her brains. She said it's hilly - that will probably put DS off!

DD loved Cardiff - and apparently the Top Shop was fantastic!
We have cancelled today's pone day as she is very tired and has too much school work to do. We will try and visit and do a campus tour over the summer instead.
A friend and her son went to Oxford this week - he loved it.
Another friend and son did Reading last week - again they loved it.
Too much choice!

Horsemad - good luck in Durham. Friend who visited Oxford is going but a bit worried about the journey because of the Tour de France.
Has anyone visited Durham's Queens Campus?

We did Cambridge yesterday and Durham today and are now completely exhausted. Didn't see Queen's Campus hellsbells99 just the Durham City colleges, which we loved.

We really liked both and met lots of lovely students who were down-to-earth and normal and all very friendly and helpful. All great ambassadors for their respective universities.

I am en route home from Durham (DH driving!) We loved it, DS didn't. Grrrr. Will post later about this.

Oh DS is doing my head in. He is so moody at every open day. I've asked him if he wants to go to uni as obvs don't want him to feel 'obliged' to go if he really would rather not.
He says he does want to go. He's selected about 9 or 10 to go to - not a problem, we are happy to drive him. So why oh why is he so damn miserable?!

We daren't even ask normal questions such as 'what do you think of this uni/course/halls etc or he snaps our head off.

DH thinks he wants to go to uni, but doesn't want to do the prep (PS, applications, etc). He is exceptionally lazy and I'm not convinced he's motivated enough to succeed at uni, yet he insists he wants to go. Aarrgghh!
He refuses to plan his open days, he is a nightmare.

Today he refused to look at a college because he said it looked 'old'.
I am livid with him and the journey home was miiserable after I ranted at him.

Sorry for the rant.

Oh Horsemad - is he worried about going? Dd wouldn't looking at any of the info before we went to our first open day at Exeter and on the way down, when dh and I had both booked 2 days off work and had booked a hotel, she said "I am not sure if I like the sound of the course". I realised that she is so worried about leaving home that she wasn't reading any of the info as she didn't want to think about it.

It has got better now that we have seen a few but even tonight at dinner when dh and i were trying to talk to her about Durham, she said she was too tired to think about it. I feel for you!

Thank you MrsB. He is the same - won't read any literature before we visit. Very frustrating; I will try and dig to see if he's worried about leaving home, but will do it in a day or two to let the dust settle!

He's very self contained and doesn't share his feelings easily so will tread carefully and see what happens.

This parenting lark is so difficult!

Yes, good idea to let the dust settle. I am waiting for the right time to talk to dd about being realistic about student accommodation. She wants to go somewhere old like Cambridge or Durham but still wants brand new accommodation with en-suite!

Ha ha, yes he wants en suite too, part of me hopes he ends up in shared rooms - is that mean? Would be good for him I think.

He's still asleep, I've been up since 6