Edinburgh info sessions in the USA for applicants and offer-holders. We will be at the Chicago one. Just posting as helpful information:
Final offer today from Durham! 5/5 so she has a lot of deciding to do…I’m quite sure Durham will be her Insurance choice (though she really did like Bristol also) but it’s going to be really tough on the safety…one unconditional, one with home fees…makes it very difficult!
@Funniestgirl Congratulations to her! (And you!)
Thank you @CuriousInCincy !
I guess I meant Durham will be her ‘firm’ choice…very confused with UK/US terminology!!
Anyone else here has a son/daughter interested in going to Durham? Just curious as my daughter got her college allocation (St. Mary’s the one she applied for).
St. Mary’s is where my daughter got in after applying to University College. Her tour guide when she went over lived there and liked it.
My daughter hasn’t received her Durham college allocation yet. I’m hoping she finds out soon though - she’s going to the 14 Feb post-offer open day.
We received one communication which indicated that she would hear “the second week in February” and also “the week before you visit” (which seems a bit contradictory) She’s also on a Durham applicants Facebook group and says only 8 out of 200 have received their college allocations - but many don’t yet have offers either.
At this stage, she’s pretty certain that she wants to go to Durham but we’ll also visit Edinburgh and UCL (still waiting to hear anything from the latter.)
which college did she apply to? Engish Literature, right? One of my daughter’s friends (from Virginia) made an open application (not knowing the colleges at the time) and got allocated St Aidens, but is not happy with it (well, the look of it online I guess) she is flying over mid March to take a look. She also got an offer for English Lit. Hopefully the college won’t put her off going there, it would be a shame if it did!
UCL does seem to be incredibly slow/uncommunicative. We’ve not heard anything since the initial acknowledgment in October. Complete contrast to KCL which came back with an unconditional offer within 2-3 weeks, though I realize UCL is a more competitive school.
Hi Funniestgirl. Yes she has an offer for English literature. She also made an open application and doesn’t seem to mind too much which college she gets allocated to.
@Twoin18: Yeah, UCL doesn’t seem the quickest - my daughter applied mid-September and hasn’t heard anything. I suppose it depends on many factors though including the individual departments. Unless we hear she’s been rejected , we’ll be visiting UCL about 10 days. (I hope it won’t be wasted.)
@HedgePig did your daughter like Durham? She went yesterday, right? I suspect the weather was off putting!
@Funniestgirl Yes, she did like Durham. Weather was mixed yesterday and today, while cold was still with bright sunshine.
She found out the day before we arrived that she’d been allocated to Van Mildert college. It’s large and modern and about 20 minutes walk from the center of town but she’s fine with that. Single room, while not huge, seems quite a bit larger than what she’d seen at US colleges.
In the afternoon, she enjoyed the English department’s “taster” that they put on for the prospective students. She said all the lecturers were interesting, especially the head of department. Also enjoyed the Old Norse lecturer! She also found out she could do 40 out of 120 units outside the English dept in her first year which interests her if she can find Mandarin courses at an appropriate level.
The town itself is lovely, although very small. Overall she liked Edinburgh more as a place to live as there is much more going on. But she’ll probably go with Durham as their English Literature program is much better (although it’s easier to find haggis In Edinburgh.)
I don’t think our visit has changed her (or my) views much but she, and I, have a somewhat better feel for the two places. Nice to see where she’ll be for the next three years.
Now on the train to Cambridge - no she didn’t get in, but my brother lives there. We’ll then spend a few days in London and we’ll probably wander around UCL although I think that’s a very distant third on her list, assuming she even gets in.
Well that’s good news! Hopefully my daughter’s friend will take up her English Lit offer there, though, like your daughter when she visits UK next month, she is also going to Edinburgh, St Andrews and Kings for a look. My daughter is flying out to Virginia for 8 days next week to work her powers of persuasion on her! It’s funny you should mention Cambridge as I am from a village in north Cambridgeshire - I love Cambridge! As I see it with Durham, it may be a small city, but with close proximity to Newcastle (for shopping etc.,) and the natural beauty in the surrounding area and fantastic train links to London or Edinburgh, it is has a lot to offer in their ‘free’ time…not to mention the great reputation of the Uni and the friendly people in the north east!
Not sure about that haggis though 
Good news! DD just got her offer from St. Andrews so it is 5 for 5 (Oxford, Durham, UCL, Edinburgh and St. A’s).
@londondad - congrats to your daughter! Does that make it hard to choose for her, or does she already know which one she wants?
^ Thanks. Oxford was always her first choice and Durham would have been her second choice.
congrats to your daughter, @londondad! what college?
@londondad Yes, congratulations to her! What a wonderful achievement.
S18 finally heard back from UCL (applied in Oct) and they turned him down for PPE. He doesn’t seem very bothered because he heard from W&M the same day.
Although he has an offer from KCL (which was a great safety with their early notification) and is waiting on LSE (which he added at the last minute in Jan), I’m betting he ends up staying in the US. He has an Echols scholar offer from UVA, likely postcard from W&M and we’re hoping for good news from Berkeley and/or UCLA (in-state) and a few others. Year abroad or Masters in the UK sounds like a better bet at this point in time.
The rollercoaster with twins has been disconcerting. First one is up and the other is down, then it switches. His sister is now almost done but he’s still not heard from most of his applications.