Chemistry student with questions!

Hey, I've posted a few questions in different forums but haven't got answers for all yet! Thought if I condensed it into one post that might help ☺
so I was checking the dates for the start of the term and UCAS tells me it starts 1st of Sept, but the website says the 11th for orientation week. Are freshers and orientation week different things? I'm pretty confused about that rn!!

I had a couple of other queries too.
Like do chemistry students have to buy lab coats/other lab stuff? I heard they did but wasn't sure.
Plus (and I know lots of booklists are long and pricey asnd you shouldn't buy all the books) do booklists change a lot year to year?
How much do red gowns cost new and where can I buy them?
Are the contact hours long or is it not as much as people say it is?
Can you actually switch between masters and masters with external placement when you get there or is the switching thing a myth?
Last question, honestly! How do you get "academic parents"? Does it happen in fresher's?

Thank you!! And hope you can help

I can answer some Chem-specific q's for you. I can't remember if you buy lab coats but you definitely have to pay a deposit for equipment, you also get your own locker if I remember but this might have changed now because your labs are not in Purdie but the new Medical building.

Book lists for first/second year chemistry are pretty static - for both first and second year I highly recommend Chemistry^3 by Burrows et. al. really fantastic textbook and worth buying because it will help you with most if not all of first, second and parts of third year Chem. Red gowns new are like £150 but second hand they're like £80 - there is a sale in freshers week, be sure to get there early because they might run out of your length. Academic parents you get throughout your first year, you don't have to get them in freshers week and many people don't have some until end of first semester. Some people even have multiple families! Don't worry about this too much you will find a family