Cost of looking around universities on Open days

TurnUpForTheBooks_2

toadhall wrote: »

I am totally bemused by the amount of money spent by the OP.

Yes the OP did look a bit like a chancer's expenses claim, but the point is well made I think, especially when toadhall reminds us of a more realistic (relatively) effect on a typical student's family. Let's face it, there are more families like the one toadhall describes than there are as described by the OP!

The feature of attending these open days which I don't like is the vaguery of the university offerings on the day. So many universities do not offer anything much via means of a proper interview and tailored tour. It is all generally a self-service one stop shop and I fear that it is possible for two similar families with similar prospective undergrads holding similar abilities and values (like twins but not - if you get my drift) to come away from the same open day with diametrically opposed views on whether it feels right or not. It is a complete lottery dependent on who you actually speak to and who gives the tour and/or the lectures and which you choose to attend be it lectures buildings rooms labs common areas range of accommodation etc.

A year or two ago I was asked to go along with a member of the extended family to a very famous scientific establishment because to save money I was the closest family member in the country so the parents and the student did not need to incur travel and accommodation costs.

The departmental professor who gave the lecture in a massive lecture theatre was a total oddball. He behaved like a cross between an alternative comedian and David Blane and some as yet unknown possibly brilliant or possibly ineloquent philosopher!

He wore bright colours which clashed terribly (shoes/trousers/shirt/jumper/hair dye/hairpiece colour). Furthermore his eyes darted around twixt audience and floor, and he paced like someone potentially deranged. English was not his first language and he was hamming up some kind of dementia suggesting that he could not complete a sentence for lack of the correct vocabulary. Whilst he was speaking (or pausing) he paced relentlessly across and around the entire lecture theatre, occasionally singling out a young person or an older companion and challenging them for their original word or a thought to complete his sentence.

Broadly he was challenging everyone on their motives for being there or daring to consider that they might sometime choose to study there. His manner was received as inane by a very large section of his audience and some actually got up and left while he was speaking.

This was a premier scientific institution in the UK.

Being slightly inane myself at times, I kind of got it, but "it" actually amounted to nothing that could not have been communicated by a normal person in a few sentences as opposed to 20 minutes of pacing around like some mad professor that he was!

When he had finished, his more normal colleagues moved on to more informative household matters after briefly and moderately excusing his style - "that was Prof XXXX - he's always like that!" or some such.

So did any promising students / parents leave the lecture theatre because of his performance? I say probably. What was the point of it? I say it was probably self-serving more than anything else. A waste of time to the majority.

And as other's have said there is a danger of feeling that having seen one university or accommodation style of a certain type, you may feel that you have seen all of the same type. I think mistakes can easily be made that way and £9,000 a year plus plus plus might easily be demonstrated in hindsight by thousands of students as an unfortunate impulse purchase.

I honestly feel that the presentation of open days has been almost totally taken over by marketeers at the universities. There is very little substance to be had - you are simply invited to hear further assertion reinforcing the establishments supposed or self-published reputation. "We are number one in the XYZ table of ABC main-sub-type Russell whatever European Worldwide as voted by a poll of etc. etc" At many establishments I fear that what many students take away from an open day is either (optimistically) almost all gloss, or worse, a whitewash of the real picture, or conversely, as I have tried to illustrate from an experience, can be so easily skewed to a pessimistic conclusion by the behaviour of one strange entity given central stage in presenting the department which is of interest!

I am also very sceptical of many universities claims to have meaningful relationships with top industry names when it comes to arranging a sandwich "year in industry" or being headhunted before graduation.

I have no doubt some of the claims are meaningful but it is extremely difficult to see wood from trees. There will of course be some departmental presentations at some universities which will be truly inspiring for students and parents alike.

However, it is a difficult task to form a decent plan of attack for open days and carry it through to a safe conclusion.

Either way, that's with good planning or none i.e. simply just pitching up and tasting the unknown from a smorgasbord of likely named or 'recognised' institutions, very little guidance or organised support will have been given to students in the proper selection or use of the "open day" offerings. I fear therefore that for a significant proportion these days out are indeed costly to students in more ways than one. The real cost of the exercise, if not conducted correctly, might come with hindsight.

1cat2fish

I know it sounds obvious, stupidly we didn't.
This is what happened to us at the weekend. Took DD1 to Liverpool (2hours away) only to find they will not accept her on the course with her predicted grades DDD* although it stated on the website her grades would be acceptable. Spoke to admissions lady and she turned DD1 down flat. Needless to say one very upset daughter. We have other uni's to look at so will be double checking. On a positive note hubby got a trip to Anfield instead so it wasn't a complete waste of petrol :j

rosalie-lavender

1cat2fish wrote: »

I know it sounds obvious, stupidly we didn't.
This is what happened to us at the weekend. Took DD1 to Liverpool (2hours away) only to find they will not accept her on the course with her predicted grades DDD* although it stated on the website her grades would be acceptable. Spoke to admissions lady and she turned DD1 down flat. Needless to say one very upset daughter. We have other uni's to look at so will be double checking. On a positive note hubby got a trip to Anfield instead so it wasn't a complete waste of petrol :j

You aren't the only one to make that mistake. When we were looking for our middle son, one boy found out that he wasn't studying one of the required subjects at a high enough level to study physics. I felt a bit sorry for him because it came out rather publicly when he asked about his subjects in front of a room full of people.

buzzard

hard to find out at the open day, worse to waste a choice. Sometimes what is in the prospectus and the open day information differ and the open day is more likely to be right.

For medicine there are not only open days but interviews - usually arranged at very short notice so now cheap advance bookings of rooms and no thought at most to travelling times so you get a student who could get a day return for a midday interview interviewed at 9a.m when the one travelling for hours and needing an overnight stay anyway gets 11a.m.

Nowadays you can often do virtual tours online. Best advice - do only local open days (to help chose a course), make them decide on the basis of the course and only take them to the universities after they have offers. Use megabus (including the megatrains) when possible and don't take time off work until they have offers.

silvercar

Also look out for "taster days" in local universities.

rozmister

I only went to two open days and even then I went because I had interviews. My grades were acceptable but my attendance was very poor and I had a record of personal problems so the two best choices I had wanted to meet me to see what I was like!

My mum and stepdad took me to my interview for my 1st choice (where I ended up) and my mum took me to my other interview which was a local university down the road (20 minutes from my house and her house). I left home at 16 and used to go all over the country on my own so I wasn't that bothered about them coming but they were insistent. I didn't have the time or interest to go and see loads of universities to see what they were all like - I worked weekends and I couldn't afford to take lots of time off to swan about. I had bills and rent that needed paying every month regardless of which universities I fancied visiting!

As for industry links with universities - my uni claimed to have industry links and it came good. I work in a job relevant to my chosen discipline and meet graduates who did my course all the time! I don't know anyone who was unemployed by the time we graduated and a lot of my peers have gone on to reputable organisations (including me). You can normally request the stats that back up these statements though, they do a big survey to collate the data every year.

Prothet_of_Doom

Update. The interview stage.

Interview 1. Cardiff. Need to be there for 9:30 start, train won't arrive before 10:30 if you get first morning train(Minium 2 changes).
So wife and daughter heading out the evening before and staying in cheaper (not cheapest) B&B. DD has requested I don't 'need' to attend.
Budget for this is £56.40 train fare with railcard, and £60 B&B plus food.
Interview 2. Local Back up (Old Polytechic) Budget £5 train, £5 food.
Interview 3. London date conflict - awaiting second date.

Savvy_Sue

I still wonder why your DD has to be accompanied everywhere. Is she planning to take her Mum to Uni when she starts?

It's a semi-serious question. I know I took DS1 to most of his open days (not all), but he had flown solo to France for work experience, twice, before going into the sixth form, so it wasn't as if he wasn't capable.

DS2 took himself up to and across London by himself, then on to Cambridge for an overnight stay. He'd never done anything like that before, and as he could get lost in a paper bag it was slightly nerve wracking, but needs must. I don't really know how he manages now he's working: he's lost his coat, wallet and phone in the last couple of months so perhaps I should have him back home and take him everywhere?

And DS3 was so fiercely independent in so many ways that I really had no worries about what he'd do once he started Uni.

I know, temperamentally, they're all different, and some need more support than others, but there are a lot of things she's going to have to do for herself, all by herself, within a very short space of time!

Person_one

Even if her mum absolutely must travel with her, she should certainly stay well away from the actual interview.

There's nothing worse than a helicopter parent at a university.

jackieblack

We've visited 3 Unis with DD for open days (DD spent 4 days at another on Summer School), all have necessitated an overnight stay (we've used Premier Inns to keep costs down) due to distance. DD doesn't drive yet and her travelling by train would have been much more time consuming and meant her missing days at college, so we've driven her.
The 3 we've visited have been very different and each has had their pros & cons that we would never have gleaned from their prospectus or website so visiting has been well worth the expense.
Ultimately where DD chooses will be based on a combination of factors, no good choosing a place where she'll be miserable.
I don't really understand why anyone would use up one of their 5 choices on a place they've never visited and might hate when they do.
DD may have to return to each choice as her course requires an interview, if selected (fingers crossed), but we will just to provide transport and keep well away.
In the grand scheme of what 3 or 4 years of a Uni education for DD are likely to cost us, a few hundred pounds for visits, to help her make good choices, seems like a reasonable investment.