University visits

[DisneyDaffodil]

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 😀

[Cherrypie]

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

[DisneyDaffodil]

Originally Posted by Cherrypie

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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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 😊

[soooexcited!]

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.

[DisneyDaffodil]

Originally Posted by soooexcited!

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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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! 😀

[soooexcited!]

Originally Posted by DisneyDaffodil

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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Thankyou. It's been one heck of a rollercoaster. Sheffield is a 10 hour round trip from us so we stayed overnight to go and clear her room. The biggest bit of advice I can offer anyone is pick a subject your passionate about and will really enjoy studying. DD grabbed the first subject offered at clearing and ran with it against all my advice. She still seems terrified of making a career choice that she perceives will mean that's her choice for life. Incidentally her Buisness foundation only offered 3 1/2 hours of tutored lectures per week 😱😱😱 in my opinion way too much time on her hands to lay about and totally not engage with her studies.

[DisneyDaffodil]

Originally Posted by soooexcited!

Thankyou. It's been one heck of a rollercoaster. Sheffield is a 10 hour round trip from us so we stayed overnight to go and clear her room. The biggest bit of advice I can offer anyone is pick a subject your passionate about and will really enjoy studying. DD grabbed the first subject offered at clearing and ran with it against all my advice. She still seems terrified of making a career choice that she perceives will mean that's her choice for life. Incidentally her Buisness foundation only offered 3 1/2 hours of tutored lectures per week 😱😱😱 in my opinion way too much time on her hands to lay about and totally not engage with her studies.

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I do hope things work out for her. It is so daunting for them, my DD stresses about this being her biggest decision in life too. Yes, it is big, but if it turns out to be the wrong one they are young enough to try something else.

I agree about the fact that many courses are very light on teaching hours, leading to too much free time. Our eldest nearly got thrown out of his 1st year at uni as he enjoyed his 'free time' far too much. Luckily, he worked much harder after that and ended up with a very good degree.

[BevS97]

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.

[DisneyDaffodil]

Originally Posted by BevS97

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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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

[sammykitten]

Originally Posted by BevS97

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.

See more...

thats really helpful, thanks.

Our first open day is Greenwich, end of June, which is DD's current 1st choice. The week after we have Bangor, then nothing until September, when we have Heriot Watt and Edinburgh unis. Aston in Birmingham was on the cards, but that clashes with Bangor dates (and Aston is an easy 1-hour drive from us so we can put that one back until Autumn).
Of the 4 we've scheduled, one we will do round-trip on the day, the other 3 will be an overnight (Travelodge, PI and Air BnB here we come).

DD is really looking forward to these visits, she can't wait to get to uni.