Official Durham Applicants Thread 2011

Wow... it's quite an unfair system, isn't it? Surprised? For me, the surprise is the government actually gives you any money (be it loans or non-repayable grants, I don't care). The Spanish government doesn't help anybody, you are left alone. Unis are cheap, and if you get really good grades (almost impossible to attain, anyway) you might get the fees for free, however, that's the end of it.
I am lucky that my parents have been saving for my education, otherwise, I would have it really difficult if I wanted to leave (it's not much more expensive than staying at home, though it requires the money to go abroad, and it's kinda different).
Yes, I am applying though, as I said, I don't think I'll ever be made an offer and, besides, I'm not sure if I would turn it down in favour of Durham (or put it as an insurance, which may be quite offensive, actually). Basically, I've ever been a "Cambridge" person, I have always liked more Cambridge than Oxford (I don't really have a reason). I've never been to Oxford, however, I've been twice to Cambridge, and I find it really nice. Plus, I don't find PPE interesting while quite like the composition of PPS (not the assessment, anyway, that puts me off going to Cambridge a lot!). What about you, why Oxford and not Cambridge?

WORD OF ADVICE: think twice about choosing University College (Castle) - it might look absolutely magnificent being a castle and all, but it's so popular you're more likely to get shunted to another college. So be careful!

Yeah it is quite unfair but understandable in a way - IB students are such a tiny minority and around half of them go abroad to study anyway so it's only couple of hundred students I suppose Most Finnish students need to take at least a year off because of the entrance exam system as well.

It's pretty strange, until the past year or so I've always thought all of Europe (except maybe Eastern parts) was pretty much like Scandinavia in terms of benefits you get with maybe tiny variations! But seems like this isn't the case at all.

Yap, of course no one can be sure if they're getting an offer or not I'm trying to think as pessimistically as I can anyway, I know I'll be really disappointed in January if I don't get in and it will be even worse if I'm optimistic I don't really have a rational reason for applying to Oxford either, it's supposed to be better for Humanities and the IB offers are usually much more manageable (I've heard of 44 point offers from Cambridge which is really crazy!)

Castle for Politics. Fingers crossed.

Welcome to the club of "people applying to almost the same unis". Change Exeter for St Andrews and you have my application. Colleges in Cambridge and Durham are different, though.

Good taste! So which colleges are you going for? I liked St Andrews but it's just a little too far for me, as is Edinburgh - I live in the South so it'd be a LONG way to go three times a year!

Thanks! I'm going for Christ's in Cambridge (Emmanuel being my second preference), and St Mary's in Durham (Collingwood being my second preference, and even though I like more the facilities at Collingwood I think St Mary's would feel like a better place, on the whole).
I deffo hated Edinburgh, I'm not applying there, no way!
And St Andrews was fine (though not as brilliant as I expected), but truth is it is a rather isolated place, and a very expensive one. It's £20 for a return ticket to Edinburgh (from Leuchars), plus £4 for a bus return ticket from St Andrews to Leuchars (which is only 5 miles, so it's way too expensive!). And generally I found everything a bit more expensive than it should be. Durham was surprisingly cheap, even cheaper than home.
Oh, and... I live far more down South than you do, I believe. I live in Barcelona. Truth is that, as I have to get a plane anyway, it's not really different to catch a plane from Barcelona to Stansted, to Bristol, to Newcastle, to Leeds or to Edinburgh. It's just about the same. I did fall in love with Durham, anyway. Have you been there?
And well, I guess that if you go to Durham in the end you will have to use planes anyway. I paid last week for a single ticket from Bristol to Newcastle £35 (with EasyJet). By train it'd take about 8 hours, one or to train changes, and some £60, I think, so... it'd be quicker and cheaper to go back home by plane than by train (depending on how close you live to an airport with flights to Newcastle, that's true as well).

I nearly chose St Mary's but I've been won over by the prospect of living in a castle..I figured since this is my second application (I've already left college) I might as well choose the one I really want to go to even if it is more likely I'll get moved to a different college.
True about Durham being cheap! As far as transport, food and drinks goes, it's miles cheaper than where I live at the moment.
I'm lucky enough that my parents will probably be able to drive me to and from uni at least once a year, so I guess I'd have to work out whether it was better to fly or get the train home. I have a friend who's there at the moment and if you book your ticket in advance and travel at crazy times (arrive at 2am etc) then you can gat the train very cheaply. I'll play it by ear! Truth is if I don't get into Cambridge, Durham is the next best place academically (don't want to go to London) so I didn't want to be put off applying just because it's less convenient than some places.
And lucky you for living in Barcelona..

Uh-huh... that's true. May I ask why are you re-applying?
I don't like the castle-thing, to be honest, and besides, St Mary's looks quite old and appealing to me. Spanish architecture has little to do with the one in England, so overall I'm already improving.
Durham, completely apart with the fact that I fell in love with it, is really cheap. As I've said, cheaper than Barcelona (taking into account the exchange rate, yes). My parents are basically paying everything for me (except the fees because, after much, much effort, they have kinda 'accepted' that I want to pay for them myself with the loan), so the cheaper, the better, I don't want to be much of a nuisance to their economy.
I don't think driving is really worth it, at current fuel prices... anyway, I have no choice. I've travelled once by train to London, from Barcelona. It's not as long as you might imagine (night-sleeper to Paris, 12h, plus the Eurostar), but it's way too expensive, even more if you have to make a connection from London.
Same here, as well. London, just because of being London, was automatically ruled out of the question. So Durham and St Andrews are the next best places.
Lucky, though? Sure not. Life is hell here, unless you're a retired person or a tourist. If you have to either study or work (or even better, do both at the same time), then you'd be better off anywhere else.

If you saw the weather here today, you'd think yourself lucky

I'm reapplying because I applied to uni last year to study English and then decided I wanted to do Politics, so I'm taking a gap year to work and travel. As it happens I've got much better grades than I had last year so I should be in a far stronger position (that's the idea anyway).

I'm not so sure. I like cold, actually, and rain. Anyway, last week Bristol was hotter than Barcelona, and much sunnier as well. Temperatures in Durham/Newcastle were about the temperatures we're having now in Barcelona. Scotland's cold is out of this world, anyway.
Uh-huh... good choice, Politics is always interesting. And with better grades, you can go to better unis, which is always good as well.

So why are you coming to uni in Britain? I've actually been considering going to Madrid/Barcelona for part of my degree, depending on where I go..

Uh-huh... wow, I didn't know the entrance system was so, so hard. I have heard the Finnish education system is the best in the world, but I didn't think of it as being that hard.

Oh, no. Really. Scandinavia is a world apart from Europe. The southerner, the shabbier, actually. Of course, the southernmost point of Europe is Spanish soil, afaik. xD

That's true, I want to feel I will receive no offers, so in case that happens I won't be that disappointed. Fingers crossed, anyway.
44 points? Wow! That's impressive. Isn't it impossible to attain that? What is your prediction? (I've got a friend at a UWC and even he thinks that's really high.)