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Old 26 May 18, 08:51 AM  
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DisneyDaffodil
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I know there are a few of us on here planning university open days with our 17/18 year olds soon so I thought a thread to chat about them may be useful.

My 17 yo DD is thinking of studying Biology, but is very unsure as she is also interested in script writing, film production, photography. She is studying Biol, psychology, drama, Eng lit and lang at AS level so keeping her options open.

We are visiting Exeter next weekend, 2 June. We are also visiting Bristol and Birmingham in June. We have 2 more in September in Aberystwyth and Worcester. My DD wants to be within a 3 hour drive from home so is basing her options on this, plus how interesting the modules looked in the prospectus's.

We have no idea what to expect from open days. Her elder brothers both went to universities, but that was years ago as there is a big age gap between them and her.

We were hoping to stay overnight at the cities but due to our pets care, this would be difficult. However we are hoping to spend a couple of hours in each city for a meal and a wander around to get a feel for it. I do not drive but DH does so we are driving to most of them. However, DH works some weekends so DD and I are catching trains to Bristol and Birmingham as she may need to do this sometimes when she moves to uni, so this will help her get a feel for the travel route too.

So I thought this thread may help us and other Dibb families preparing for this big step next year. We could compare experiences, and ask questions and help each other. Has anyone been for a visit yet? What was it like? Where has everyone planned to go? Hope all our children find ones they like 😀
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Old 26 May 18, 08:54 AM  
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I didn’t think they were still doing AS levels anymore?
I think the idea to spend a bit of time in each city is good. Good luck x
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Old 26 May 18, 09:09 AM  
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I'm currently in Sheffield collecting all DDs stuff after a foundation year that didn't go so well (that's a whole other thread) I set a limit of 5 units to visit she picked 3. We did a nights stay in a premier inn at 2 and a round trip with the third. All are a similar format really finance accomodation tours subject talks campus tours. We had a good look round Derby & Lincoln centres to get the feel of the place. She ruled out Derby just on a feeling. She ended up at Sheffield thro clearing never having looked 😱 She loves the place social life accomodation friends hockey and uni just sadly did a subject she had no interest in. So it's back to the drawing board and back home with a car full.
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Old 26 May 18, 09:10 AM  
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Originally Posted by Cherrypie View Post
I didn’t think they were still doing AS levels anymore?
I think the idea to spend a bit of time in each city is good. Good luck x
We are in Wales and unfortunately, still have AS levels. They make up 40% of her A level next year. DD is usually a straight A student, but she, despite lots of revision, felt unprepared for these as she only began the course in September. She has nearly finished them now and all went fine apart from her Biology, which she was really upset over. She has her second Biol exam after half term so hoping that will go better. We have pointed out that if 2nd goes better, the 1st is only 20% of the whole A level but it has knocked her confidence.

Thanks for the good luck wishes 😊
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Old 26 May 18, 09:13 AM  
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We did this 2 years ago. The first ones we went to lots of the talks about finance etc. But eventually we realised they were all very similiar. So we focused on the talks about the actual course. Walking around the campus and looking at the accommodation.

We probably spent about 3 hours at Nottingham which is where she ended up going.
Much longer at Newcastle and Edinburgh which were the first two.
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Old 26 May 18, 09:15 AM  
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This was us this time last year with DS. We visited 6 universities and it really helped him decide what and where he wanted to go. Make sure you look at the accommodation available as that seems variable from place to place. One (nameless) uni we visited DS said within 30 mins of arriving he wanted to head home - just didn’t ‘feel’ it and before going it had been a favourite from the prospectus.
12 months on, DS has a unconditional offer at York and has already made friends with people on his course via the online chats set up by the uni. He’s so excited about going - although I am dreading it 😕
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Old 26 May 18, 09:17 AM  
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Originally Posted by soooexcited! View Post
I'm currently in Sheffield collecting all DDs stuff after a foundation year that didn't go so well (that's a whole other thread) I set a limit of 5 units to visit she picked 3. We did a nights stay in a premier inn at 2 and a round trip with the third. All are a similar format really finance accomodation tours subject talks campus tours. We had a good look round Derby & Lincoln centres to get the feel of the place. She ruled out Derby just on a feeling. She ended up at Sheffield thro clearing never having looked 😱 She loves the place social life accomodation friends hockey and uni just sadly did a subject she had no interest in. So it's back to the drawing board and back home with a car full.
Oh so sorry it hasn't worked out for your DD. I agree it's hard to know exactly what they want to do for a career at 17/18, so very difficult to choose the right course. My DD is struggling with this too, her head says Biology leading to conservation work which she has always been interested in but her heart is leading towards something more creative such as scriptwriting but she feels this doesn't lead to reliable work.

Hopefully, now your daughter has tried one course, it may help her understand what type of course will suit her and she can reapply elsewhere. Good luck to her whatever she decides 😊

I'm not looking forward to loading the car up to transport all DD's things to halls either. Poor you, having to move it back within the year! 😀
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Old 26 May 18, 09:22 AM  
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Originally Posted by BevS97 View Post
We did this 2 years ago. The first ones we went to lots of the talks about finance etc. But eventually we realised they were all very similiar. So we focused on the talks about the actual course. Walking around the campus and looking at the accommodation.

We probably spent about 3 hours at Nottingham which is where she ended up going.
Much longer at Newcastle and Edinburgh which were the first two.
My DD says she feels the talks on finance etc are not important as all the information is on UCAS and student finance websites. Plus as we are from Wales, student finance and loans etc work out differently so the information may not be so relevant.

I thought the visits would take around 3 hours. I think we will be concentrating on the course and how comfortable she feels there too. Thanks for the advice Bev
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Old 26 May 18, 09:27 AM  
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Originally Posted by jorm35 View Post
This was us this time last year with DS. We visited 6 universities and it really helped him decide what and where he wanted to go. Make sure you look at the accommodation available as that seems variable from place to place. One (nameless) uni we visited DS said within 30 mins of arriving he wanted to head home - just didn’t ‘feel’ it and before going it had been a favourite from the prospectus.
12 months on, DS has a unconditional offer at York and has already made friends with people on his course via the online chats set up by the uni. He’s so excited about going - although I am dreading it 😕
My DD liked the look of York but felt it was too far away for her to be comfortable with. The online chat set up by the uni sounds a wonderful ice-breaker before going. So pleased your ds is looking forward to his next 3 or more years there. I admit I will be like you, although I was not too bad when our older sons went, I feel I will be very upset this time as she will be the last to go so I am already feeling 'empty-nested' 😀
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Old 26 May 18, 09:38 AM  
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Our college has set up a compulsory visit to one of four unis next week which I’m glad about , so he’s picked York as it’s close and has the better course than the others. I’m still not sure uni is the way forward for mine so hopefully this will give him some idea. He hasn’t wanted to do visits so far so we haven’t pushed him as I feel too many kids get pushed into the uni route when really they just don’t want to be there at all. I know far too many kids who have dropped out and now they have to pay from day 1 end up with debt they could do without . Lots of thinking for us over summer. So many big decisions. X
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