Feel at a loss - re Personal Statement - nothing of interest

[Guest55]

Sorry, I disagree - the ones we attended were very good with separate sessions for parents. We could compare resources/facilities and the range of accommodation on offer. Parents need to go - not to influence - but can 'take notes' and help with the comparison process.

Yes the students are paid but no worse than the school Open Evening when the 'best' students are on dispalys and given house points/rewards. I found those far more 'false' with equipment on show that students never use ...

[Amber]

Sorry, I disagree - the ones we attended were very good with separate sessions for parents. We could compare resources/facilities and the range of accommodation on offer. Parents need to go - not to influence - but can 'take notes' and help with the comparison process.

Many of the parents I saw were hugely embarrassing and fussy. I felt that I shouldn't be there and DD definitely agreed. I tried to write something down and was frowned at - an "I'm not stupid" kind of look. I find the idea of parents' sessions ridiculous - at what point do we stop hovering around trying to organise our kids' lives? I suppose it depends on the child and the parent - as it costs so much now I suppose there is an argument for saying we need to look. But whatever, I think universities are best seen on operational days not specially staged carnivals, and with a good deal of research having gone on first. By the child not the parents.

[scary mum]

DD has been arranging to go to open days. I told her it was her responsibility and she had to do the research etc. She managed to book 2 on the same day and one when she has another commitment (she only booked 3!)

[Amber]

DD has been arranging to go to open days. I told her it was her responsibility and she had to do the research etc. She managed to book 2 on the same day and one when she has another commitment (she only booked 3!)

I am sure lessons have been learned, but maybe not the intended ones.

(DD has just bought a diary )

[Rob Clark]

On a purely objective level, I agree with a lot of what Amber says, but I have to say I quite enjoyed accompanying DS last year on a couple of open days. I managed not to proffer an opinion (which as anyone who knows me will tell you is quite an accomplishment), but it was interesting to see what sort of accommodation etc was on offer and to be there as a sounding board when DS was weighing up pros and cons.

And these days there are so many courses on offer with subtle differences that I don't agree you can glean all relevant information from websites and elsewhere – maybe it's possible in some subjects, but not all imo. DS went to one uni which he liked the look of, all the peripheral stuff seemed great, introductory talk fine etc etc, then the course leader started talking and about 10 minutes in DS lent over and said 'we might as well go home, this isn't what I want to do at all'. This was at one of the 5 unis he had short-listed as offering the subject he wanted to study but the angle they were approaching it from didn't interest him.

At another, it looked very good on paper but the 2 course leaders were both so uninspiring and dull that he crossed it off his list. If that university was putting forward its 'best' face, I dread to think what the other lecturers were like

This is all anecdotal, of course, and only one person's experience, if the child wants a parent there I don't see any harm personally, and some places are much easier to get to by car than by public transport.

[Rob Clark]

PS None of the 3 I went to with DS had 'parents sessions' – that does strike me as odd, it wasn't me that was going!

[Guest55]

Perhaps 'parent session' is the wrong label. The potential students went for some 'hands on' sessions and parents were spoken to separately and could ask questions which didn't embarrass their children!

My DS asked me to go and, when weighing up options, he said it was useful to have a sounding board. He did all the research and short-listing and made all the arrangements ... he even did some of the driving.

[Amber]

On a purely objective level, I agree with a lot of what Amber says, but I have to say I quite enjoyed accompanying DS last year on a couple of open days...it was interesting to see what sort of accommodation etc was on offer and to be there as a sounding board when DS was weighing up pros and cons..

Ah, got you now Rob. You are one of those hugely embarrassing and fussy parents I saw last year with DD. Rock on.

[scary mum]

I did enjoy my days out last year with DD - the ones we went to entailed an over night stay or a visit to friends, so was quite fun. This year though, now she knows the drill I'm hoping she will do most on her own. As with schools, I do think it's best to see them in action on anordinary day, but that's not alwways possible. As an aside, one of the lecturers had us rolling in the aisles which was a great selling point.

[mad?]

I guess it is horses for courses. In my view open days were a huge cost and DD only went to 4, accompanied by me to one. This meant taking a day off from my freelance work so along with train fares was very costly. DD's school allowed them 2 days off to visit and then 2 were at weekends. As they have to put 5 down, and assuming they gain something from the open days and eliminate some by going to them, how do they decide about the rest?