University visits

[Mexy02]

Originally Posted by Dazed

What a great thread!

I wish I had seen one last year when we started looking. A few things that were key for us:

Top of the list was definitely to find the right course.

My brother went to Bournemouth Uni and whilst he loved the uni and local area, it was the wrong course for him and he came home after the first year and had become quite depressed. He worked for a year and then went to uni locally and did a course that he really wanted to do. He loved the course, completed his course and met his wife there too. He now lives in Bournemouth (well, Poole) and went straight back there once he finished uni. He has lived there ever since. So, it was a case of right place, wrong course.

Next on the list was to find the right 'place'. Did one uni have a particular 'feel' and did he like the area too? If you don't like the area you are living in, it makes everything else harder. For us, our son only wanted to live in the south of England, so we only looked at universities south of London that had the courses he wanted. It turns out that the uni he 'couldn't be bothered' to visit as it was the last one and he had had enough by then, is the uni he loved the most and had the 'home feel' for him.

Go with your gut. I trust my sons judgement and as it is him studying the course and living there accruing all that debt, it is only right that I trust him and let him go with his gut.

Accommodation - as others have said, cost after first year in halls needs to be looked into. Standard of accommodations in the local area for students too. When looking at halls, they aren't guaranteed (unless you have an unconditional offer).

We visited many uni's and DS made his choices. When the offers came in he had 4 conditional offers and 1 unconditional offer. He had 2 favourite Uni's and the unconditional offer was for his favourite uni and favourite location. The other uni he liked is harder to get into for his course and although he has a conditional offer and could probably get a place there when he has his results, the one he had an unconditional for is the one he said he had 'a home feel' for. Having seen what my brother went through, and the fact that whilst my son is intelligent he doesn't do well in the pressure of exams and generally achieves 1 grade lower than he is expected/capable of, I told him to go with his heart/gut and do what he feels best. He decided to take the pressure off himself for the exams and accept the unconditional offer.

He is 100% happy with his decision, it has taken a huge amount of pressure off the final exams and he is finding them a lot better than he thought (I'm sure this is because his uni place isn't dependent on them).

I have helped to guide him, given my opinion when asked and helped where needed, but he has made all the final decisions himself.

Accepting the unconditional offer also means he has guaranteed halls accommodation and the student village is on campus. He has first choice and has his slot to book his room on Tuesday and is looking froward to it. Accepting the offer has meant that the whole process has now been enjoyable and he feels for his friends that are fretting over grades/acceptance etc.

Good luck to all those starting the process.

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Thank you for sharing , it’s really helpful x

[Dazed]

Originally Posted by Mexy02

Thank you for sharing , it’s really helpful x

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Sorry it was so long I didn't realise until I had posted! I'm glad it is helpful though.

[DisneyDaffodil]

Originally Posted by Dazed

Sorry it was so long I didn't realise until I had posted! I'm glad it is helpful though.

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It was very helpful, thank you. This is such a big decision for our children, I feel you are right that they need to go where they feel comfortable. Your post shows how important that is.

[Mexy02]

Originally Posted by Dazed

Sorry it was so long I didn't realise until I had posted! I'm glad it is helpful though.

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It was very helpful, my ds Just isn’t sure at all so today’s visit was all about the course ( as will be the next visit ) . Spending £27000 on something has to be researched well I think so that’s our starting point ( students got asked today If they thought they got value for money or felt ripped off which was good imo) . Your post reflects this so I’m grateful we seem to have got the first steps right

[Leanne1977]

We had our first Uni visit today at Sussex and it was very enjoyable. My son really liked the physics department, the modules on offer and the flexibility of the courses. The place had a friendly, relaxed vibe to it which we both liked. The ensuite accommodation was decent enough but the non-ensuite was horrible in our opinion. My son wants an ensuite anyway but we thought the shared bathroom facilities were well below par. They are currently building new accommodation though and investing a lot of money into the campus itself. The library was very well equipped and there was a good choice of food places and bars onsite.
My son liked it but we obviously don’t have anything else to compare it to at this point. But statistically they are very good for physics and we can see why, the staff and students were very passionate.
Royal Holloway next weekend, which is nicknamed Hogwarts as the campus building is stunning! But that’s no good if the course isn’t right so we’ll see.

[DisneyDaffodil]

Originally Posted by Leanne1977

We had our first Uni visit today at Sussex and it was very enjoyable. My son really liked the physics department, the modules on offer and the flexibility of the courses. The place had a friendly, relaxed vibe to it which we both liked. The ensuite accommodation was decent enough but the non-ensuite was horrible in our opinion. My son wants an ensuite anyway but we thought the shared bathroom facilities were well below par. They are currently building new accommodation though and investing a lot of money into the campus itself. The library was very well equipped and there was a good choice of food places and bars onsite.
My son liked it but we obviously don’t have anything else to compare it to at this point. But statistically they are very good for physics and we can see why, the staff and students were very passionate.
Royal Holloway next weekend, which is nicknamed Hogwarts as the campus building is stunning! But that’s no good if the course isn’t right so we’ll see.

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Pleased the trip went well and your son enjoyed it. We felt the same with Exeter, it gives you some standard to compare the rest with.

I had not heard of Royal Holloway, but just looked it up. It looks stunning, I hope the course is as good as the architecture 😊

[TinselAngel]

Originally Posted by Dazed

What a great thread!

I wish I had seen one last year when we started looking. A few things that were key for us:

Top of the list was definitely to find the right course.

My brother went to Bournemouth Uni and whilst he loved the uni and local area, it was the wrong course for him and he came home after the first year and had become quite depressed. He worked for a year and then went to uni locally and did a course that he really wanted to do. He loved the course, completed his course and met his wife there too. He now lives in Bournemouth (well, Poole) and went straight back there once he finished uni. He has lived there ever since. So, it was a case of right place, wrong course.

Next on the list was to find the right 'place'. Did one uni have a particular 'feel' and did he like the area too? If you don't like the area you are living in, it makes everything else harder. For us, our son only wanted to live in the south of England, so we only looked at universities south of London that had the courses he wanted. It turns out that the uni he 'couldn't be bothered' to visit as it was the last one and he had had enough by then, is the uni he loved the most and had the 'home feel' for him.

Go with your gut. I trust my sons judgement and as it is him studying the course and living there accruing all that debt, it is only right that I trust him and let him go with his gut.

Accommodation - as others have said, cost after first year in halls needs to be looked into. Standard of accommodations in the local area for students too. When looking at halls, they aren't guaranteed (unless you have an unconditional offer).

We visited many uni's and DS made his choices. When the offers came in he had 4 conditional offers and 1 unconditional offer. He had 2 favourite Uni's and the unconditional offer was for his favourite uni and favourite location. The other uni he liked is harder to get into for his course and although he has a conditional offer and could probably get a place there when he has his results, the one he had an unconditional for is the one he said he had 'a home feel' for. Having seen what my brother went through, and the fact that whilst my son is intelligent he doesn't do well in the pressure of exams and generally achieves 1 grade lower than he is expected/capable of, I told him to go with his heart/gut and do what he feels best. He decided to take the pressure off himself for the exams and accept the unconditional offer.

He is 100% happy with his decision, it has taken a huge amount of pressure off the final exams and he is finding them a lot better than he thought (I'm sure this is because his uni place isn't dependent on them).

I have helped to guide him, given my opinion when asked and helped where needed, but he has made all the final decisions himself.

Accepting the unconditional offer also means he has guaranteed halls accommodation and the student village is on campus. He has first choice and has his slot to book his room on Tuesday and is looking froward to it. Accepting the offer has meant that the whole process has now been enjoyable and he feels for his friends that are fretting over grades/acceptance etc.

Good luck to all those starting the process.

See more...

An unconditional offer is great for taking the pressure off in the first place, but think about what happened with your brother. My eldest DS had a similar experience at Bristol - loved the place but despite the course being ideal on paper, the reality was very different and he hated it. He has now moved to a different uni, but may not have had that option if his A2 results had not been as good. Just make sure DS is aware that he still needs to get the best he can in his exams as a backup.

Good luck all!

[DisneyDaffodil]

Our shortest trip to an open day is this Saturday. DD and I have booked the train to Bristol, just a 30 minute train ride from Newport. DH is nightshift this week so he will take us the 20 minute trip to train station and go back to bed. All sorted... or so we thought!

Just checking train times today as we have bought open returns and discover the train from Newport to Bristol has been replaced by a bus. Even worse, bus only takes us to Parkway, not Temple Meads, so we then have to catch train from Parkway to Temple Meads. Instead of a 30 minute train ride, we now have 1 hour 15 minute bus/train trip to negotiate. We do not know Bristol very well so we were a little apprehensive before the changes.

We will probably catch a free university bus from Parkway now instead of going onto TM and then getting the uni bus. Then after looking around the uni, we will walk into the city and look around before catching train from TM to Parkway and the bus home. Who says public transport is easy? 😀 I am sure we will manage fine, but it is going to be quite a day.

[WhereIBelong]

We are not doing one this weekend. DH is our driver, and with it being Father's day on Sunday it is nice for him to have a weekend off... Hope it goes well despite the hicups so far...

[Col&Ali]

Originally Posted by DisneyDaffodil

Our shortest trip to an open day is this Saturday. DD and I have booked the train to Bristol, just a 30 minute train ride from Newport. DH is nightshift this week so he will take us the 20 minute trip to train station and go back to bed. All sorted... or so we thought!

Just checking train times today as we have bought open returns and discover the train from Newport to Bristol has been replaced by a bus. Even worse, bus only takes us to Parkway, not Temple Meads, so we then have to catch train from Parkway to Temple Meads. Instead of a 30 minute train ride, we now have 1 hour 15 minute bus/train trip to negotiate. We do not know Bristol very well so we were a little apprehensive before the changes.

We will probably catch a free university bus from Parkway now instead of going onto TM and then getting the uni bus. Then after looking around the uni, we will walk into the city and look around before catching train from TM to Parkway and the bus home. Who says public transport is easy? 😀 I am sure we will manage fine, but it is going to be quite a day.

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What a palaver! Could you change to driving there instead?

At least it will give her a flavour of Uni life via Network Rail!