We are just getting to the end of our tour of various open days with our second daughter and it has got me thinking about what I wished I known about university open days before we started.
There are so many questions to ask around open days at university, the first one being Is it worth attending open days at University?
The answer to this is, most definitely yes. It does depend on what prospective students are hoping to get out of university, as to how useful these open days are though.
Think ahead!
It’s a good time to start thinking about your university options (or whether you even want to go down that route) in Year 12. This is one of the many things you can do to put you ahead of the rest in Year 12.
If you are planning on going purely to gain a qualification whilst still staying at home and living your usual life, then you might not have as many questions to ask.
When do University Open Days happen?
They mainly tend to occur in September through to December (ahead of the UCAS cut off date in January) but some universities do arrange them into the spring too, knowing that Year 12’s like to think early about the next step. Increasingly, I’m hearing about Open Days happening at the end of June/July which is brilliant for the end of the Year 12 summer term.
Book early
Book the sessions that you are hoping to go to as early as possible as many of the smaller lectures or chats with tutors will fill up quickly. This is especially true in the middle of the day. If you live far away from the University, you may want to avoid the early or late sessions, particularly if you are using public transport to get there.
Speak to current students
They have nothing to lose from telling it like it is straight from the horse’s mouth as to what is like to go to that uni and whether it is the right choice for you.
It makes no difference to them whether they sell that particular university or course, but it does make a difference to the senior leaders and academic teaching staff if they don’t get the numbers. (One thing to be aware of is that the university staff will have likely only picked out student ambassadors who are likely to give a glowing report of student life at that university). Having said this, we spoke to a second year student at our daughter’s first choice uni (accidentally, as there were no academic staff around) and she very openly said that doing this particular course at this uni was not great for students wanting to immerse themselves into university campus life.
She wanted to show that it didn’t matter to her that the majority of the course was off-campus as she lived at home, but that admission made our daughter think twice about attending that particular uni as she would be living in and may feel isolated.
Also find out how difficult is it to find accommodation options, if Halls of Residence are not an option or during second year onwards.
Speak to the staff
You will have the opportunity to meet staff and ask lots of questions after the course talks. Many talks concentrate a lot on the actual admission procedures rather than how the subject will be taught. This was really important for our daughter, who wanted a course where they were hands-on pretty much straightaway, rather than being mainly theoretical in the first year. She would never have picked up this information purely from the university website or course brochure.
Be open minded
You may have some free time to attend the general Welcome to the University lecture. We did on several occasions and it was amazing how it changed our opinion of the University. You simply cannot find everything out from the University website. An open day will give you a feel of the atmosphere around campus.
Don’t just stick to the lecture theatres (where they tend to give the majority of subject talks – If they don’t offer, ask to see the classrooms or labs – this could be where you learn most of the practical skills and spend most of your time, depending on what subject areas you are going into.
You are likely to get an email or even a brochure before the open day with the open day programme in it. Plan carefully which sessions you definitely want to attend but be prepared to jump into other sessions that you come across if time allows. We ended up on voluntary tours of the practical classrooms where pretend ambulances and medical scenarios were being played out and this was our daughter’s favourite part of each Uni.
Apart from learning about my course, what will a university open day be good for?
Open days are the perfect opportunity to find out practical information about what it is really like to attend that college.
Extra Curricular Activities
Think about the clubs that you might be interested in joining – Seek them out at Open Day and get to speak to people actually involved with the clubs. You will find out about rehearsal days, competitions and the level that the club operates at – it might be far lower than you were thinking (or far higher).
Accommodation and the local area
Ask specific questions – Our daughter needs a car to be able go to placements on her course. Parking is essential around her accomodation as she will be coming back from late shifts in the dark. If she had signed up for Bristol University, there would have been nowhere at all for her to park in the City Centre and it would have been a huge problem.
- If you are likely to be living on campus, have a look around on foot to see where you will be likely to do your shopping.
- It can look the most beautiful campus but if your student accommodation is right next to the smelly bins, it won’t be quite so glamorous! (We’ve experienced this!)
- If you will not have access to a car, will you be able to do your washing somewhere?
- Will you be able to carry heavy shopping home?
- Is there a leisure centre available – does it have a good gym? Does the uni offer any discount for gym membership?
- Is there anywhere that you might be able to get a part time job? I chose my university accommodation purely based on how near it was to a huge Morrisons supermarket, knowing I was going to request a transfer there from my current part-time job while I was at uni.
- How near is your accommodation likely to be to the train station or other public transport and the cost of travel – Will a quick weekend home be possible?
Are there any bursaries available and when do you need to apply for these?
Many Universities offer some sports scholarships or offers for athletes (Millie got free parking at Bristol University due to having to go to the pool so often between lectures). There are bursaries for some medical courses, which the application process say need to be applied for before starting the course.
Do campus tours
Even if you are fairly local to the University, there is always something to be learnt from going around the campus rather than just looking at the campus map. This is also a really great way of speaking to other people who are interested in the same course and Uni as you/your child.
Do all universities offer open days?
Most do now. They aren’t compulsory (although if you get an interview for your course, you often get asked if you had attended any of their Open Days when talking about ‘why that Uni’.
What if I cannot attend the advertised dates?
Most open day dates are scheduled for weekends which can be difficult if you have part-time jobs or sporting commitments at weekends.
Request if you can go and visit – You might not have access to see the whole university or even accommodation tours, but you should gain access to the subject area that you are looking to go into.
Alternatively, you might miss the on-campus open day but there tends to be virtual tours or even an online open day on the university’s website.
At the very least, follow your University’s social media channels so you can be aware of the latest news. Always bear in mind though, that the official social media pages will only show the best of their high-tech facilities not the mundane every day life on campus.
Email your questions to the subject leader.
About 2 Adults 3 Children
2 Adults 3 Children is a family with 3 daughters, aged 13+. They live near Liverpool and share the best events happening in the North West plus their travels further afield.
