University Open Days
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Re: University Open Days
Totally agree with Amber re accommodation tours. We were always shown the plush newer ones nearer the campus and when allocated and seeing what we could afford DS got the old not so great ones further away which were barely mentioned when we visited.
Also agree with Marigold and Yasmin151 re travel. We did all our visits by train so that DS could get a feel and see the cost of what it would be like returning home and as well as choosing the course this really helped him to think about which uni he wanted to attend.
Also agree with Marigold and Yasmin151 re travel. We did all our visits by train so that DS could get a feel and see the cost of what it would be like returning home and as well as choosing the course this really helped him to think about which uni he wanted to attend.
Re: University Open Days
Re trains, check out this website which I have only recently discovered. It saved me (and I have a 16-25 railcard myself!) over half the cost of a ticket to visit my daughter recently - and her university is on a direct train line less than two hours from here. Makes sure you edit the 'arrival time' thing as for some reason it seems to default to about an hour which obviously is unrealistic for most journeys.
http://www.splitticketing.co.uk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I started by apologising to the guards for having split tickets but on both journeys they just said 'I absolutely don't blame you'. I was very pleased.
http://www.splitticketing.co.uk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I started by apologising to the guards for having split tickets but on both journeys they just said 'I absolutely don't blame you'. I was very pleased.
Re: University Open Days
My DD didn't see all her universities before filling out her ucas form as she'd reached a stage where there were only 5 unis that did what she wanted.
She did however check that they all had post application tours and went to those before making her final choice. Those were a lot nicer then the pre days as there were a lot fewer people and the uni's put on special activities for the applicants etc.
She did however check that they all had post application tours and went to those before making her final choice. Those were a lot nicer then the pre days as there were a lot fewer people and the uni's put on special activities for the applicants etc.
Re: University Open Days
Agree with the past (4-5 not sure I can go back further!)posters. It is very easy to get caught up in the whole open day thing, which in itself is self selective as it is far too cost prohibitive for most people to accompany their children and/or for the child to even go at all. There will even be parents there with spreadsheets/wall planners if you are particularly unfortunate, but don't let them put DC off, although it is hard not to of course. The impression gained from open days is therefore skewed even before you get into the marketing effect of it. DC now have the internet, (we had 'Heap' and brochures if you had the wherewithal to send off for them...but it worked out fine...or at least as fine as it does now!) and should make the most of it. Encourage them to do their own research and if they can't quite get inspired enough to do it themselves let them be, encourage them to take a gap year or another option but do not do it for them. When will this ever end otherwise?
FYI DD1 did 4 open days, 2 'accompanied' and 2 alone. Her first choice was one she hadn't visited (train strike) but she went to offer holders day and founder this far more informative than any open day. It was the only offer holders day she went to and I suspect this played a far more important effect than any open day could have done. FYI it has turned out to be the prefect choice for her, better than she/we could have imagined. But, had that not been the case, she (and we) were safe in the knowledge that as an adult it was her decision and her mistake to make, tough though that felt at the time.
DD2 has done the open day round this year and has done it alone (4), albeit that she is more aware of uni life having had a sister already in the system. She has discussed her impressions with us and it has been a much more mature conversation than would have been the case if one of us had gone with her, albeit that 2nd time round it is much easier to be relaxed, armed with the knowledge that comes from experience.
OP you are not too late, much like the 11+ it is a subject on which parents will compete and scaremonger, but you have to let the go and be done with it at some point. Good luck to your DC.
FYI DD1 did 4 open days, 2 'accompanied' and 2 alone. Her first choice was one she hadn't visited (train strike) but she went to offer holders day and founder this far more informative than any open day. It was the only offer holders day she went to and I suspect this played a far more important effect than any open day could have done. FYI it has turned out to be the prefect choice for her, better than she/we could have imagined. But, had that not been the case, she (and we) were safe in the knowledge that as an adult it was her decision and her mistake to make, tough though that felt at the time.
DD2 has done the open day round this year and has done it alone (4), albeit that she is more aware of uni life having had a sister already in the system. She has discussed her impressions with us and it has been a much more mature conversation than would have been the case if one of us had gone with her, albeit that 2nd time round it is much easier to be relaxed, armed with the knowledge that comes from experience.
OP you are not too late, much like the 11+ it is a subject on which parents will compete and scaremonger, but you have to let the go and be done with it at some point. Good luck to your DC.
mad?
Re: University Open Days
My advice ?
Ignore everything apart from KB's advice-he/she has been there gone it and got the T-shirt.
Amber, G55,HM, ... have also been through the process reasonably recently- back in my day we never had this charade of visiting countless universities - just got on the 529 bus by myself and went to uni with nothing more than a modest suitcase.
Ignore everything apart from KB's advice-he/she has been there gone it and got the T-shirt.
Amber, G55,HM, ... have also been through the process reasonably recently- back in my day we never had this charade of visiting countless universities - just got on the 529 bus by myself and went to uni with nothing more than a modest suitcase.
Re: University Open Days
I've been to Open days since DS went on them ... one of the joys of people knowing your job is that I'm often asked along by children of friends as they want an independent opinion and someone to keep the parent occupied.
These days are as different as the unis are but there is a correlation between how well they are organised and how good feedback is to students once on the course. The best have separate talks for parents and plenty of tea/coffee - there can be a lot of walking.
These days are as different as the unis are but there is a correlation between how well they are organised and how good feedback is to students once on the course. The best have separate talks for parents and plenty of tea/coffee - there can be a lot of walking.
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Daogroupie
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Re: University Open Days
All open days and taster courses and offer day visits are done on public transport in our family.
It is just like the parents who happily sign up their 11 year olds for trips on public transport that they have never actually done and the students themselves say they " really want to go" and have no idea what the travel will be like. Driving somewhere can be quite different to getting the train.
Of course 18 years old will not be making that journey that many times a year but they need to know what they are signing up for.
Places further away can actually be easier to get to from our area if you don't need to go through London and some university towns have much better public transport than others.
We made the money back on one trip using the two together railcard which is only twenty pounds a year.
On offers the admissions tutor for the course dd1 was interested in discussed their policy on offers at the open day in October.
This was to offer out half the places among half of the earlier applicants and then keep the other half of the applicants to consider along with the later applicants once they reached the January deadline.
Dd1 had all of her offers before the January deadline so it would seem that perhaps more than one of the courses she was interested in were adopting the same policy.
Some of her colleagues had offers before she had even applied. We know of students who applied on day one in September but also others who waited until the January deadline and have had all five offers.
A family member who started University in September has commented on knowing about a surprisingly high number of dropouts. But perhaps this generation is just a lot more aware of what everyone else is going because of social media. Sadly she told us about two suicides at Bristol in the first term. Hopefully social media can help to prevent this, no queueing at the phone box and having to make phone calls through the operator. " Do you wish tp pay for further time?" A phrase I am glad not to hear any more.
I would be interested to hear if anyone knows if the percentage of gap years is higher now than it was 30/40 years ago?
It does seem hard to have to make such a big decision and have to focus on lots of exams at the same time.
We were very fortunate that dd1 was able to do a lot of research beforehand on the courses and had already made her decisions on which ones suited her so visits were about the place, not the course. I think too many open days could become confusing but I know of others that have found this policy very helpful to draw up a short list.
There is not a one size fits all on this. My dds are in a large sixth form with 230 plus in each year and I have noticed the very wide range of approaches. DG
It is just like the parents who happily sign up their 11 year olds for trips on public transport that they have never actually done and the students themselves say they " really want to go" and have no idea what the travel will be like. Driving somewhere can be quite different to getting the train.
Of course 18 years old will not be making that journey that many times a year but they need to know what they are signing up for.
Places further away can actually be easier to get to from our area if you don't need to go through London and some university towns have much better public transport than others.
We made the money back on one trip using the two together railcard which is only twenty pounds a year.
On offers the admissions tutor for the course dd1 was interested in discussed their policy on offers at the open day in October.
This was to offer out half the places among half of the earlier applicants and then keep the other half of the applicants to consider along with the later applicants once they reached the January deadline.
Dd1 had all of her offers before the January deadline so it would seem that perhaps more than one of the courses she was interested in were adopting the same policy.
Some of her colleagues had offers before she had even applied. We know of students who applied on day one in September but also others who waited until the January deadline and have had all five offers.
A family member who started University in September has commented on knowing about a surprisingly high number of dropouts. But perhaps this generation is just a lot more aware of what everyone else is going because of social media. Sadly she told us about two suicides at Bristol in the first term. Hopefully social media can help to prevent this, no queueing at the phone box and having to make phone calls through the operator. " Do you wish tp pay for further time?" A phrase I am glad not to hear any more.
I would be interested to hear if anyone knows if the percentage of gap years is higher now than it was 30/40 years ago?
It does seem hard to have to make such a big decision and have to focus on lots of exams at the same time.
We were very fortunate that dd1 was able to do a lot of research beforehand on the courses and had already made her decisions on which ones suited her so visits were about the place, not the course. I think too many open days could become confusing but I know of others that have found this policy very helpful to draw up a short list.
There is not a one size fits all on this. My dds are in a large sixth form with 230 plus in each year and I have noticed the very wide range of approaches. DG
Re: University Open Days
CatseyeIf they can pal up with a friend from school then going by car can be much cheaper than public transport.
It does mean they don't get the full traveling experience but can still research info on time, changes, cost etc to compare across Universities.
Ours didn't tend to come home during term time ( do many?) and the only one who was any distance was in a lovely location so I was quite happy to take them all back and forth at start and end of term for undergraduate.
It certainly is worth checking coach or train routes if they will be dependent on them. One of my DC was a 1h 45 minute round trip to pick up by car ( bags packed on pavement as I approached
but 2 hours each way with a change of train. At another stage a DC was less than 60 miles away but the 'wrong' side of London so driving could take up to 3 hours one way and public transport involved tube changes and mainline so was a nightmare with any luggage.
(Sorry, crossed posts but so many interuptions this end before finishing this I'm loathe to start it again!)
Re: University Open Days
I have to say my DS has come home quite a few times, not because he's unhappy but because there have been concerts and social events with friends back in London he hasn't wanted to miss out on. One thing about going by public transport is that you also get to see the town/city the uni is in and that's really important too. My dcs are black and we needed to check out things such as where ds could get his hair cut, and what it felt like just walking around. These are things you need to judge for yourself.
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Daogroupie
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- Location: Herts
Re: University Open Days
Totally agree. As much as you love the course you have to live there for three years and if you don't like it then all the great lectures and tutorials will not make up for that. DG
