Modern Languages Applicants at Durham? :)

Original post by York2595

Got an offer for Modern languages (French/German) a few days ago, at Hild/Bede- so happy! :smile:

But I was wondering if there's any way of changing the languages I applied to do? I've kind of gone off French, and I'm considering starting a new language ab initio, does anyone know if Durham would let me change to another language?

Yeah I had the same thing, I wanted to do French with ab initio Russian instead of just French so I asked them to change but they said you can do another language or two anyway in whatever ratio you want :smile:

Reply 82

largehound

Original post by Alice07

Can anyone tell me what Durham have asked for in terms of grades for modern languages because on the website it says AAA but in the 2013 prospectus, It's AAB... :/

Posted from TSR Mobile

Yeah when I applied (French and Spanish) in October it said AAB on the website but since it's gone up to AAA. My offer was AAA so I'm guessing that's what they're asking for now!

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 83

Alice07

Original post by largehound

Yeah when I applied (French and Spanish) in October it said AAB on the website but since it's gone up to AAA. My offer was AAA so I'm guessing that's what they're asking for now!

Posted from TSR Mobile

Yeah I thought so... Ok thanks :smile:

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 84

Original post by Caits7

Yeah I had the same thing, I wanted to do French with ab initio Russian instead of just French so I asked them to change but they said you can do another language or two anyway in whatever ratio you want :smile:

Sounds like it's really easy to change/add another language then- thanks! :smile:

For the ab initio Russian, have you learnt some Russian already?

Reply 85

Dovegrey

My daughter has an offer for Modern Languages: she needs to get AAA. This seems to be the standard Durham offer now for this subject.

I believe the requirement was "upgraded" in the autumn of 2012, after the prospectus for entry in 2013 had been printed.

The best of luck to everyone still waiting: I think it is a tortuous process, especially for the high calibre candidates that Durham attracts who are no doubt weighing up competing offers. Visiting Bristol on an offer holders day with my daughter last November (there was a programme for parents/guardians), the Director of Admissions made a point of saying that Bristol felt they "earned goodwill" by making swift and early decisions whenever possible. He added that the scrutiny process was no less thorough, but they really wanted candidates to feel that the University was on their side...

Reply 86

geemorton

Getting seriously pissed off with Durham now. They've had my application nearly 5 months, and them keeping me waiting is therefore making ME wait when it comes to accepting offers, applying for student finance etc... In my opinion Durham really miss a trick here, making the applicants wait so long really puts them off (certainly true with me and a couple of others on here), and I feel much happier with a University like Bristol, who gave me a good offer 2 weeks after I applied. I am 99.9999% sure by now that even if I do get an offer from Durham I won't accept, but I just want them to let me know!

Reply 87

lovelanguage

Original post by geemorton

Getting seriously pissed off with Durham now. They've had my application nearly 5 months, and them keeping me waiting is therefore making ME wait when it comes to accepting offers, applying for student finance etc... In my opinion Durham really miss a trick here, making the applicants wait so long really puts them off (certainly true with me and a couple of others on here), and I feel much happier with a University like Bristol, who gave me a good offer 2 weeks after I applied. I am 99.9999% sure by now that even if I do get an offer from Durham I won't accept, but I just want them to let me know!

I sympathise - another Mod Lang applicant here. Hadn't heard back from Durham when I went to Exeter offer-holders open day week before last. Decided I loved Exeter, loved the course, and didn't want to muck around any longer before sorting finance/accommodation etc, so firmed it. Ironically, must have 'crossed in the ether' with Durham's email offering me a place the very next day. I have NO regrets whatsoever. As I see it, Durham missed out on a candidate who they actually DID want, all because of their faffing around and delays. Conversely, had the offer from Exeter a mere 4 weeks after applying, which as others have said, breeds goodwill from the outset! Surely it's about time UCAS/the government/whoever made it compulsory for all Unis to set tighter deadlines for replies??? If there was a window of say, 3 months instead of 6 months, you can bet your bottom dollar all the laggards would suddenly find they were capable of processing applications rather more quickly than they claim... :smile:

Reply 88

Original post by York2595

Sounds like it's really easy to change/add another language then- thanks! :smile:

For the ab initio Russian, have you learnt some Russian already?

I think it is, they said I could do a third language with it too if I wanted, apparently you don't have to narrow it down to two until the final year! Russian, aha no, none at all! ^_^
But they'll probably expect that anyway as it's not such a common subject :smile:

Reply 89

Original post by Caits7

I think it is, they said I could do a third language with it too if I wanted, apparently you don't have to narrow it down to two until the final year! Russian, aha no, none at all! ^_^
But they'll probably expect that anyway as it's not such a common subject :smile:

Really? Didn't realise you could do three languages for that long! Haha that's reassuring, I was thinking of doing Russian and I don't know a single word :P Yeah I guess so, plus if it's ab intio I'm hoping that means they'll start right at the basics and assume we don't know anything :smile:

Reply 90

Original post by Sopih

Woop woop, me too. I'm going to have to travel forever, but I'm kind of excited for it. (And nervous--I want to see how quality the accommodation is.) A chance to meet people is scary but good, and parents aren't supposed to be at this one, I think; when I went to Manchester, everyone was there with their parents and I was just an awkward bean off at the side. The current students took pity on me, though, they were lovely.

I wanted to know if I would hate it or not, ahaha, and I really enjoyed it. I'm sure it'll be a bit different when the stress is on, but it'll be a totally different environment to school so hopefully it'll be really good.

Yay! How long will it take you? I'm from kent so I think it's about 4 hours or something... I'm really looking forward to it, and fingers crossed the accomodation is good! but I'm also a bit nervous too- I'm not the best at meeting/talking to strangers :P. The same thing happened to me when I went to Newcastle, I was pretty much the only person who didn't come with a parent. That's good, the students always seem so friendly on open days haha.

I might have to do a few taster lessons or something in that case, don't want to sign up for something I hate! I'm sure it'll be really interesting :smile:

Reply 91

Sopih

Original post by York2595

Yay! How long will it take you? I'm from kent so I think it's about 4 hours or something... I'm really looking forward to it, and fingers crossed the accomodation is good! but I'm also a bit nervous too- I'm not the best at meeting/talking to strangers :P. The same thing happened to me when I went to Newcastle, I was pretty much the only person who didn't come with a parent. That's good, the students always seem so friendly on open days haha.

I might have to do a few taster lessons or something in that case, don't want to sign up for something I hate! I'm sure it'll be really interesting :smile:

I'm from Bucks, so I'm a little bit higher than you--I'm gonna have to go into London to get the train anyway, though, and that takes about an hour, so maybe 4/5 hours? As long as it's the train it's not that stressful though, can just sit and read, so it should be okay. Aha, I'm a chatterbox, when I'm not tired--an unfortunate downside to an illness--so I should babble away. Welp, yeah; I think it's a good opportunity to get used to traveling by ourselves, although managing an overnight bag is going to be fiddly, I'm weak as a noodle and I always overpack.

I'm just paranoid! I'm sure plenty of people start it fresh and love it; there was a beginner's Russian weekly thingummy offered at my school, so I went for the opportunity just to make sure.

Reply 92

Original post by York2595

Really? Didn't realise you could do three languages for that long! Haha that's reassuring, I was thinking of doing Russian and I don't know a single word :P Yeah I guess so, plus if it's ab intio I'm hoping that means they'll start right at the basics and assume we don't know anything :smile:

Yeah, that's pretty much what I'm assuming they'll do! Apparently you aren't confined to any language combination (other than the one you apply for) until the final year when it's 2 max, so I guess you could do anything you wanted really :smile:

Reply 93

JonnyTic

Is it true that you have to do more than one language to start? I chose just German but I'd quite like to pick up Russian and Spanish :smile:

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 94

ahnn

Original post by JonnyTic

Is it true that you have to do more than one language to start? I chose just German but I'd quite like to pick up Russian and Spanish :smile:

I don't think so? When I went to meet the Durham languages admission tutor she even told me I was right in my decision for choosing to do just Russian (I was really worried about limiting my options at the time!), and I don't think she would have said that if I had to pick up another language. I definitely recommend Russian by the way if you do start a new language. :wink:

Reply 95

Taemon

12

Original post by Caits7

Yeah, that's pretty much what I'm assuming they'll do! Apparently you aren't confined to any language combination (other than the one you apply for) until the final year when it's 2 max, so I guess you could do anything you wanted really :smile:

In fact, Durham's more flexible even than this. You can keep up to three languages all the way to the end of your degree! For example I did:

Year 1: French, Spanish (ab initio)
Year 2: French 2, Spanish 2, Russian (ab initio)
Year 3: Abroad in all three countries (although it wasn't compulsory to go to Russia; I just really wanted to!)
Year 4: French 4, Spanish 4, Russian 2

Reply 96

Original post by Taemon

In fact, Durham's more flexible even than this. You can keep up to three languages all the way to the end of your degree! For example I did:

Year 1: French, Spanish (ab initio)
Year 2: French 2, Spanish 2, Russian (ab initio)
Year 3: Abroad in all three countries (although it wasn't compulsory to go to Russia; I just really wanted to!)
Year 4: French 4, Spanish 4, Russian 2

Wow, that's amazing! So did you just apply for French? And at the end is your degree called French or Modern Languages if you've applied for pure French?

Reply 97

Original post by Sopih

I'm from Bucks, so I'm a little bit higher than you--I'm gonna have to go into London to get the train anyway, though, and that takes about an hour, so maybe 4/5 hours? As long as it's the train it's not that stressful though, can just sit and read, so it should be okay. Aha, I'm a chatterbox, when I'm not tired--an unfortunate downside to an illness--so I should babble away. Welp, yeah; I think it's a good opportunity to get used to traveling by ourselves, although managing an overnight bag is going to be fiddly, I'm weak as a noodle and I always overpack.

I'm just paranoid! I'm sure plenty of people start it fresh and love it; there was a beginner's Russian weekly thingummy offered at my school, so I went for the opportunity just to make sure.

That's annoying then, you have to go in the opposite direction to Durham at first, then go back on yourself!Yeah I don't mind long train journeys, as long as you have something to do they're fine :smile:

. Aha sounds like you're good at meeting knew people! Indeed, and also if we've seen what the accomodation/college is like, plus met some other applicants, it won't be such a shock starting uni for real. Well I think there are uni students at the station, maybe you could ask one of them to help you carry all the stuff? I think Hild/Bede is closer to the station than other colleges so it shouldn't be too bad :smile:

.

I like learning languages in general, so I don't see why I would hate Russian, hopefully I'll enjoy it (if I decide to do it) :smile:

. Yeah, would have been stupid to miss out on learning a bit of Russian if it was at your school!

Reply 98