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This Visit Day was appalling

I went to a visit day at Cardiff yesterday and was appalled at what they did.

Im hoping to become a Civil Engineer

They did NOT provide us with any time to chat with undergraduates from Civil Engineering and, NOT once during the day did we see a member of the Civil Engineering team.

The day started off as a GENERAL engineering visit day with prospective engineers from all the disciplines being taken on a coach tour round Cardiff (not bad), then the students union (on par with other unis). This was followed by lunch. Cardiff had a bunch of admin staff huddled in a corner whilst other unis had people wandering round answering questions. After lunch we got this presentation (general advertising (had many times before, all the same)), then they split us all up.

Civ Eng stayed behind (forced to sit in a parents Q+A session whilst all the other disciplines got interviewed by the staff, then we got given this rather appalling tour by a POSTgraduate who did not seem to realise that he was taking around a bunch of prospective undergraduates. I couldnt really care much what research he is doing, but when asked about our workload, he was relying on "hear say". How can I take this information seriously.

After 40 minutes (its 2:40pm at this point) we get dumped in this cafeteria and after 15 mins this postgraduate disappears, saying that our parents will arrive soon. I left at 3:05pm (with no sign of anyone coming) peeved and flabergasted at the cheek of the department.

I spent two school days, and £60 on rail fares to get to and from this open day.

Do you believe that Cardiff Engineering Department showed itself up. My teachers agree with me and many have said go for Newcastle

Reply 1

MonsieurE

1

I had a similar experience at LSE last year (Application for Law) and ended up turning it down. I don't regret this one bit however... Cardiff is THE place to do Civil Engineering - I have a friend who got AAA in his A-Levels who is going there in September (He is on a gap year at the moment). Don't think this post has helped in the slightest so far... :rolleyes:

Ummmm.... Where else do you have offers from and do you really think that you would enjoy yourself more at those other unis than Cardiff?

Reply 2

*soph*

14

To be honest, I wouldn't worry about the reputation too much, Cardiff may be the top department but there's no point in going if you're not going to be happy there for 3/4 years and it's not as if Newcastle has a bad rep! Go and look at Newcastle (and any others you're seriously interested in) before making a final decision.

Reply 3

G_H_G

Same experience with Manchester this year unfortunatly...

Reply 4

Malik

12

I had similar experience at UCL engineering one day. We were split into groups and each group was assigned a postgrad, except our group never got one and we just sat there for 30mins doing nothing even after asking for help numerous times.

Then when this one guy did come over he sits down and tells me which Unis I shouldnt go to, mainly trying to discredit Imperial. When I asked why his reasons were like "hmm, ya know jus cos they are all crap". We only toured one building because the tourguy said he was getting cold and wanted to go back.

Reply 5

shyopstv

15

That's strange as the open days are supposed to be encouraging you to choose them :confused:

It did sound like they treated you really badly. If you are pissed off enough about it then just go to Newcastle.

G_H_G

Same experience with Manchester this year unfortunatly...

That's weird. The open day I went onto for EEE at Manchester was really good - we even got free mousemats! tbh, it was the only one that I had no gripes with whatsover!

Reply 6

EPD

11

Go for Newcastle. People have been saying Cardiff's great for Civil Eng, which is true granted, but with engineering all that matters is you being on an accredited course, which Newcastle is. As long as you graduate with an accredited degree, university reputation means a lot less with civil engineering than it does with a lot of other subjects.

Reply 7

Juno

20

Don't let one bad visit put you off too much. At least they weren't only showing you the good bits and trying to bribe you!

Reply 8

G_H_G

Juno

Don't let one bad visit put you off too much. At least they weren't only showing you the good bits and trying to bribe you!

But at the same time, its disrespectful and stinks of arrogance. You (and your parent/s) have taken a day out of work/school to go and see the university, spend all that money on train tickets etc and then they turn round and poop on your face... not nice. Unis that do that aren't worth the time of day IMO.

Reply 9

bluenoxid

OP

13

*soph*

To be honest, I wouldn't worry about the reputation too much, Cardiff may be the top department but there's no point in going if you're not going to be happy there for 3/4 years and it's not as if Newcastle has a bad rep! Go and look at Newcastle (and any others you're seriously interested in) before making a final decision.

Ive looked at the others, and found that I preferred Newcastle. The people were genuinely interested and the modules also had a slight transport focus, that I was interested in. Students also work on projects in Year 1 compared to other unis that wait until year 3

Reply 10

alispam

12

I didn't go on the open day dfor cardiff in the end (biochem) as they were v. disorganised. I couldn't go on any of the initial dates set so asked for some more and they automatically put on one in jan that i never said i could do! After trying to rearrange it - no luck could hardly get hold of anyone, i gave up and crossed them off my list.

Open days vary loads - apart from Surrey (which was v. impressive) they've all been a bit of a let down. I think they're arrogant and presume they'll get enough applicants putting them as firm - it doesn't matter whether its you or someone else :frown:

, at least surrey made it personal. 10/10.

Reply 11

bluenoxid

OP

13

What Im worried about doing is making a mistake and using open days to decide which uni Im going to

Reply 12

Lillybut

1

when i went to open days i went and looked round by myself. That way i got my own individual feel for the place and didnt have to follow the crowd.
Because i didnt go to any of my subject talks i emailed the subject school itself and asked for some info etc which they provided a.s.a.p throught the post.
I dont think u should judge a uni by its open day- instead just wonder round their and find things for yourself- other peoples opinions dont matter at the end of the day as long as you feel right :smile:

Reply 13

chewing_phat

I reckon Newcastle has a better rep anyway, and... I'm going there this year, so that settles it :biggrin:

Open days are fairly good indicators of whether you'll like a place or not, as they provide those all important first impressions. And obviously the course content is pretty fundamental.

Reply 14

beanie

1

I had a similar experience at UCL. It was my joint favourite until I went for my interview which was really disorganised and felt like nobody in the department- staff or students- had any idea interviews were taking place that day, so we got shoved in the 'students work room' (read, cupboard) while they sorted it out. Then they decided to take us on a make shift tour with guides who couldn't answer any of our questions.

Have you contacted Cardiff and told them you were disapointed? It may have been a one off, you don't know, but it will be a good idea to give them feedback so they can improve for next year.

Reply 15

bluenoxid

OP

13

beanie

I had a similar experience at UCL. It was my joint favourite until I went for my interview which was really disorganised and felt like nobody in the department- staff or students- had any idea interviews were taking place that day, so we got shoved in the 'students work room' (read, cupboard) while they sorted it out. Then they decided to take us on a make shift tour with guides who couldn't answer any of our questions.

Have you contacted Cardiff and told them you were disapointed? It may have been a one off, you don't know, but it will be a good idea to give them feedback so they can improve for next year.

Senior staff at my school have said they are contacting them for an explanation, they were appalled. Im still in two minds but im hoping its a one off as I really liked Cardiff

Reply 16

philjw

13

G_H_G

Same experience with Manchester this year unfortunatly...

Hmm, yeah, my Modern History & Politics day at Manchester was pretty shameful too. Though at least there was a Professor who told us what the course was like.

Reply 17

turbochargedk

13

Manchester Met was rubbish they put all the joint honours and single honors students together then spent the whole time talking about joint honours. Don't they want single honours students! Then they gave this really un-motivated blaitantly rehearsed to death speech about what happens when you go to uni. they spent like 10mins on the actual course content though our tour guides were pretty good.
While applying to Leeds Met everything that could go wrong went wrong. When I went to the open day there were mini lectures from all the course tutors, who seemed genuinely passionate about their subject and left me wanting to hear more. The campus tour wasn't too great but it's the teaching that matters and that was it. (see sig.)

Reply 18

mauritius

5

I wouldn't get too demotivated by this; Maybe no undergrads were available to meet you and the postgrads were busy doing other things... If you want to be reassured and it's not too far from your home why don't you go there another time and just walk around on capus yourself and talk to the people? Usually when you're in the department you will find many current students, just be curageous enough to speak to them, I'm sure they will be more than happy to talk to you.

Reply 19

Juno

20

If you tell them and sound disappointed enough, they may pay the train fare for you to go and have another look.

This Visit Day was appalling

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