Durham College Allocation Thread - 2017

Yes!! I was allocated to Van Mildert and have just been emailed saying it was a mistake. I've now been reallocated to St Chads!

Wow, I think you are the second person that has happened to. My daughter applied to St. Chad's, but St. John's showed up on the open day link. She still hasn't received any emails though so it's frustrating. I wonder if there are other mistakes? Anyone actually received an email from St. John's yet?

Yeah; the one on 22nd but staying overnight on 21st as live disgustingly far away

My daughter been offered trevs going to 21st and staying over too

for which subject??

Geography

Any other Collingwood peeps?

Yep. In fact I've received two now

I'd wait until Monday if they haven't sent one

over here!! are you going to residential visit?

St aidens!

me be waking at 8.50 for my 9am econ lecture next year

Wonder whether anyone can help please. My understanding is that only those who firm their Durham offers are guaranteed the college places they have been allocated. So if my daughter insures Durham, what happens to her college place after that? Surely all the Durham offer holders will have college allocations by then? Under what circumstances would someone else be allocated "her" college place, and at what stage? Is there any chance she'd still get her original college place if she did end up at Durham?

Or is it like BA overbooking flights by a certain percentage and then keeping their fingers crossed that it sort of works out in the end?

(Sorry if this has already been answered, but I've had a quick look and can't find anything.)

TIA

There's a lot of statistical analysis going on based on the applicants they've given offers to this year, college availability and previous data. They know already roughly how many will miss their offers, how many will not accept an offer and how many they can take on despite not getting the grades.

Unless your daughter has been allocated an unpopular college, it's highly unlikely that your daughter will end up at the allocated college. To put it bluntly, your daughter will be shoved in anywhere there is room providing she gets the grades.

However it is worth pointing out that Durham have extremely little 'wiggle room' due to the collegiate system. If she misses the grades for Durham (even by one) and she insures there is very very little chance of being accepted. Even if she firms she isn't guaranteed to get in because results day will be a complete chaos due to the new A-levels being 'unknown quantities'.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for that! I'm assuming your last sentence refers to a firm followed by a near miss - had me wondering there for a minute! As it happens she's doing IB but now I'm curious about your reference to A levels being unknown quantities. Please enlighten me!

Essentially, for many A-levels (science, humanities, econ, business), they have been reformed and in a nutshell...
- AS no longer counts, so all exams are linear thus making it far harder to prepare for
- content has become more challenging
- grading is different (mainly for A* grades, required by Durham - now only an elite few will get it)

While the new A-level is more difficult, the biggest change is that the AS no longer counts. Predictions are now more based off of GCSE exams and internal mocks, which aren't really as accurate as the AS exams were and many educational experts and universities were infuriated at the reforms. Cambridge were hugely opposed to them and produced a MASSIVE document on why the AS is important.

It is likely far more people this year will be missing their offers, largely for being overambitious based off of GCSE results.