Reapply for Durham or go to other options

Well I’d say go to offer holders days for your other choices, try to fall in love with them and be honest about why Durham rejected you - maybe it just wasnt right. Then I would choose firm and insurance your other offers, and start thinking about a gap year: would it benefit you? What would you like to do? Then if you get the standard offer grades, maybe one grade higher, you could consider asking your unis to release you and take a gap year. But then again Durham isn’t perfect and it might turn out that one of your other choices is just right! Also Durham seem really random in their admissions so even if you’re qualified and you reapply you might be rejected again - that’s why you should consider if you’d be taking a gap year because you think it would benefit you too. The best of luck and I’m sure you’ll do great things, you have some other amazing offers already!

Try to hype yourself up for the universities that you've had offers for. Who knows how you'll feel in three years.

It is tempting to reapply and I know how you feel, but this is temporary. Studying law at any of your other choices is a great opportunity and you should take it.

I think it's a bad idea to take a year out just to reapply to a particular uni, as there's a good chance you'll face the same outcome next year and you'll have spent a year owt for nowt. A mate of mine did it for Cambridge (after missing offer, resitting blah) and it really was just a waste of time.

Durham is not that unique of a place. Its college system is a glorified halls of residence with a bursar and karaoke nights. The city is small and dreary.

To choose one, maybe just whittle your choices down first by just exploring what you can online. Maybe even look through Google street view

Thank you - I think it's just the disappointment more than anything else.

The problem is I haven't really researched any of my others in great detail as I was so sure I was going to go to Durham and now I'm at a crossroads of sorts.

I know all my other 4 choices are great, respectful law schools but is there any you'd lean towards or favour?

That's my main fear and why my parents are advising me against it + I still think I want to go this year as I'd be bored on a gap year as I wouldn't have a concrete plan as such.

Out of the other 4, is there one you'd lean towards as I haven't really had the chance to look at any of them as I was so set on going to Durham. I saw York for an interview but found the campus quite industrial, isolated and dreary but I loved the course structure.

I feel for you! Don’t worry. As the person above advised, try to fall in love with the unis which have given u offers. All your offers come from highly rated Russel group unis. If u accept any one of ur offers, it is most likely that when u go there, u will fit in and love ur uni! A lot of ppl say the uni they ended up at was the best actual outcome they could have had, even if it wasnt their first choice

And about taking a gap year... imagine doing that and then not getting into Durham again. Imagine that scenario, and if you are not ok with it then don’t risk it. All that mental investment in one uni is unhealthy and getting rejected a second time can break u.

Personally I think u shouldn’t think about Durham at all and just invest urself as much as u did with Durham with another uni

Also make sure to have a break and treat urself to a movie/go out , to comfort ur self. Don’t try to move on too quickly then the process of starting to research again for another uni will be better and more refreshing

Out of interest what were ur GCSEs like?

Anyway, I wish u the best of luck for the future!❤️

I know nothing about law at any of those unis

It's pretty arbitrary, but my personal choice out of those would be Nottingham and not for any reason relevant to law - just that it's a really nice campus and it's got the professors from Sixty Symbols.

But definitely look into them in detail - you've got time to decide, anyway.

They're all quite decent; don't really think there's a clear based on any objective metric. Base it on location and campus. Google street view your way around and see how you like the look of the place; see if you like the shops in the place, the number of Prets, and so on. Look at pics of where you'll be studying, rather than the famous buildings.

Plenty of Durham buildings are industrial, as well. Look at the library for example; just the law school looks swanky (though it has no real personality and feels more like a corridor).

I think I'll do that actually as the campus and city matters to me a lot more, while I've researched the websites of them all.

I think I've ruled out Newcastle as it seems a notch below the other 3, while when I went for my interview at York, I wasn't a fan of the campus as it was very industrial and dreary, with the law building very far away from everything else.

That brings me to Nottingham and Exeter and they look very different. Nottingham seems to have a lovely campus, big city and people seem to enjoy it but it looks a little dreary, while Exeter looks lively and progressive.

Exeter also seems to be more like Durham, which is why I'm tempted by it. Nottingham does seem prestigious though and read good things about it, more so than Exeter.

Any preference?