The "Ask a Durham Student" Thread :)

Hi, hope this is useful. Copied from confirmation email, regarding college allocation.


Our admissions process, works as follows: 1. Your UCAS application will be sent to the department (or departments in the case of Joint Honours candidates) that delivers the programme to which you have applied. An academic admissions selector will consider your UCAS application and make a decision - some applicants will be invited for interview but most decisions will be made without interview.

2. If the department decides you are to receive an offer, details of this will be communicated through UCAS. If, sadly, we are unable to make you an offer, this outcome will also be communicated through UCAS. If you do receive an offer through UCAS, your campus code, that is the code for your college preference, will change to Z to show that your college allocation is pending. Please note that you will not be able to change your college preference from this point onwards except in exceptional circumstances.

3. The first round of college allocations for applicants who have received an academic offer by 1st February will take place by 1st March and then regularly after this date for applicants who receive an academic offer after 1st February. At this point, should the date not have already passed, you will also be invited to an post-offer open day. The dates of the Post-Offer Open Days at Durham City Campus are: Mon, 16 March (eve) and Tuesday 17 March 2015 Tue, 17 March (eve) and Wednesday 18 March 2015 The dates for the Post-Offer Open Days at Queen's Campus are: Tuesday, 17 March 2015 (non-residential) Wednesday, 18 March 2015 (non-residential)

If your department decides that you are to receive an offer, your application is automatically considered for your preferred college. All colleges have a limited number of offers they can make to applicants from each department. Where an applicant has expressed a preference for a college and the college has space then the applicant will be offered a place there. If the number of applicants with departmental offers expressing a preference for a college exceeds the space available then the allocation will be a blind selection of those applicants. This inevitably means that some applicants cannot be placed at their preferred college. If this happens we guarantee to find you a place at a different college. If you have not nominated a college in your UCAS application, we will allocate one on your behalf. The important thing to remember is that anyone who has been accepted by an academic department via UCAS will secure a place at one of our colleges.

Is this the letter of application acknowledgement?

Has anyone had any experience with a (minor?) course change? If I took economics BA at Durham but decided I wanted to do a year abroad after I'd applied to UCAS? If I did get an offer and went there could I change? Is it set in stone or flexible?

If I've applied for theoretical Physics and was offered a place, would it be impossible to switch to maths and physics? If not, would I indicate that I'd like to do that by email ASAP or wait till I get there in September?

Hello there! I'm not sure which college to choose.
I'm applying for Economics. I love music too so I suppose a college with an orchestra/music society would be ideal(if there are any). Any help would be wonderful! Thank you!

Hello there! I'm not sure which college to choose.
I'm applying for Economics. I love music too so I suppose a college with an orchestra/music society would be ideal(if there are any). Any help would be wonderful! Thank you!

I'd recommend looking at St Aidan's as well as the two below (as well as looking at all the other colleges as it is true - they'll all have a good range of musical opportunities). Trev's has always been known for being musical and I think they have a good range of groups to join. Mary's has a good chapel choir and a good Jazz band. Aidan's has several good music groups (choirs/ bands) and also hosts the rehearsals for the Hill Orchestra (Durhams main non auditioned orchestra, playing a range of standard orchestral pieces and arrangements of popular/film music) - whilst people from any college can join people from Aidan's can go in their slippers :P

Wherever you go though you'll be more than happy There are so many opportunities that each college offers, but even more are university wide that are open to everyone. Out of interest, what do you play and what sort of groups are you interested in?

Hey guys, how do people find the signal with O2?

What's the food like??? It sounds like so much and I hardly eat, eurgh :////

What's the food like??? It sounds like so much and I hardly eat, eurgh :////

2nd year, you are 'expected to live outside'. How is this possible if someone is reclusive and individualistic?

The signal with o2 is pretty decent all over Durham - i've noticed from going running that it does disappear at some random points along the river etc. , but from talking with friends o2 is one of the most reliable networks to be on. EE is a pretty safe bet as well I think, although in college (Mildert) last year I don't think EE people had 3G.