[pink pineapple]

I'm considering which unis to look around but is it worth going if I don't know my results and better to go in the autumn? I have no idea what I'm going to get so I'm worried it's too risky to go to a place which requires the high grades. But at the same time, is it too late going in the autumn. Also, do you neccessarily have to look at a uni on an open day or can you look around anytime?

[Oh my Ms. Coffey]

Some universities would give a guided tour of a department with an academic member. However, I imagine you would struggle to view accommodation on days other than the designated open days.

[cgraham15]

Go now :-) if/when you get the grades you'll regret it if you never went

[tsr-member]

If you're applying for medicine/ dentistry/ veterinary sciences or Oxford/Cambridge, then you'll be applying in October so it may be a bit late to go to the open days around that time - in which case, I'd go to the Summer open days (even if it is prior to your results coming out!). If you're applying for anything else then your UCAS application date will be in January so you'll have plenty of time to go to the autumn open days - however, bear in mind that you will have your A2 studies at this time, and you may have to miss a few days of school in order to go to these open days! If you have a brief idea of what grades you may get and what unis you'd be interested in applying to, then I'd suggest going to the summer open days anyway. Then if you have further questions or want to see more, you can go to the autumn ones as well.

With regard to whether you have to go to see the uni on a specific 'open day' - not necessarily. But this varies between unis. I'm at Leeds uni at the moment, and I see loads of 6th formers with their parents just having a look around. Sometimes, if they look a bit lost, I offer to show them around the places they want to see - this is if I have an hour or so spare. Students can be surprisingly helpful if they're pottering about campus - feel free to ask them. But don't expect to be able to ask in depth questions about courses and so forth.

[michaelhaych]

I went to Open Days in October, it wasn't too late at all. You have until January to spend off your UCAS application. I was planning on applying to Manchester but after visiting the Open Day I decided against it, going when I did left me with plenty of time to make my decisions.

I didn't go to any open days in the summer holidays but I did spend a lot of time looking at universities and, when I got my results, I did much better than predicted and all of that time spent looking at universities was wasted.

I'd go to Open Days after August the 16th if I were you.

[SecretCircus]

I did both - I went to one open day in June and three in September/October time . There's no harm in going now but it isn't really necessary because most, if not all universities, will have more than one open day.

You can choose to go during a 'normal' day but usually it will be a self-guided tour. I think open days are much more beneficial because you get to ask lots of students questions (especially ones who are doing the course you want to do) and you can see the accommodation which you probably won't be able to do if you just randomly choose to visit a university .

[pink pineapple]

(Original post by SecretCircus)
I did both - I went to one open day in June and three in September/October time . There's no harm in going now but it isn't really necessary because most, if not all universities, will have more than one open day.

You can choose to go during a 'normal' day but usually it will be a self-guided tour. I think open days are much more beneficial because you get to ask lots of students questions (especially ones who are doing the course you want to do) and you can see the accommodation which you probably won't be able to do if you just randomly choose to visit a university .

before you went, did you do a lot of reasearch into that place?

[CJAW]

(Original post by pink pineapple)
I'm considering which unis to look around but is it worth going if I don't know my results and better to go in the autumn? I have no idea what I'm going to get so I'm worried it's too risky to go to a place which requires the high grades. But at the same time, is it too late going in the autumn. Also, do you neccessarily have to look at a uni on an open day or can you look around anytime?

Definitely worth going now. Firstly, the open days in October etc might coincide and you might not get a chance to see all the ones you want to or you might have an important day at school.
Go to a selection of different standard universities so that you can eliminate certain ones after results day.
Yes, you can normally make an appointment to go and speak to someone in the department and look around whilst you are there. I did this.
Lastly, nearly all universities invite you to a post-offer visit day, so you'll get a chance to look around in the end anyway.

[SecretCircus]

(Original post by pink pineapple)
before you went, did you do a lot of reasearch into that place?

I'm assuming you mean for the open day I went to in June? I had looked on that university's website once and had read their prospectus, but that's it really. I knew enough about it though (i.e. that it looked good for my subject) and seeing as I had nothing better to do that Saturday, I decided to go and take a look .

[StacFace]

I would definately recommend going to summer open days. The earlier you get an idea of where you want to go the better and even if you get your AS results in August and find they're different to what you expected it doesn't stop you applying to a uni you fell in love with on open day with some resits if required. You get 5 choices so it's fine to have a 'likely rejection' on there and if you do get a place you have an insurance in case you don't make the grades.

Open days are also a great way to make you realise what you do and don't want in a university. For example I visited Nottingham Trent last summer and found I hated the buidlings being spread across the city. When I got home I then knew to rule out other universities that weren't on an actual campus. If this happens to you in October/November you might not have the chance to visit your 'replacement' choice before applying, but if it happens in the summer there's always the autumn open days to visit your 'replacement' choice(s).

If it turns out you don't need that second round of open days then you've also sorted your application early which has numerous advantages. You can concentrate on your January A2 exams without having to worry about getting your UCAS application in on time and you have a higher chance of getting your offers in earlier and being able to accept them earlier. This then has further advantages as some unis will open their accommodation applications early on and allocate on a 'first come first served' basis, meaning you have a higher chance of getting your first choice accommodation or even just a higher chance of getting it if it is not guaranteed at your uni.