Open days provide a fantastic way to find out about each university.  You get a direct feel for the place, to see how it suits you as an individual.

In 2009, The Student Room asked over a thousand students about the best and worst things about open days.  Using the top answers given, let’s explore how to make the best use of what you’re likely to encounter:

Best things

• The friendly atmosphere. The universities obviously want to make the visit as beneficial as possible.

So…Don’t hold back.

Find out as much as you can. Ask questions, speak to as many people as possible, explore as much of the place as you can.  Don’t worry about relaxing; you can chill out later.

Each presentation and tour is designed to look as good as possible.  You needn’t be overly sceptical, but do expect an over-emphasis on what they want you to see.  Nobody is going to highlight how awful a particular aspect of the uni is.  Just remember that nowhere is perfect.

The Student Room is a useful forum for speaking to current students about what you’re most interested in.  If it still gets the thumbs up, that’s a good thing.

• Freebies!

So…Take what you can, but don’t let it influence your choice.

Free stuff will make you feel good, but it’s not a sign of a good establishment.  The goodies are great, but unrelated to how the university will actually be.

• Being able to get a feel for the place.

So…Explore as much as you can.

Go beyond the official tour route if you can.  And visit the surrounding area too.  Because you won’t spend all your life on campus!

• Meeting new people and feeling more independent.

So…Don’t hold back.

It’s great to experience this type of thing on your own, because you’re not being drawn into other people’s opinions.  While it’s great to hear what parents think about the place, the only person needing a solid opinion is YOU.

• Getting to talk to students and lecturers there.

So…Ask important and relevant questions to you.

Leave basic points and anything you can check in information packs later.  You can always email or call up if you still need a specific answer to something.

If possible, be armed with one or two big questions you want answered over everything else.  That way, you have your priorities clear.

 

Worst things

• Being alone and with people you don’t know!

Solution…Treat the day like a fact-finding mission, not a social experience.

You’re going there to make notes, not friends.

That said, if you do get chatting with other potential students, it’s all good!  Getting to know new people is something all new students have to become accustomed to once they hit campus for the first time.  Unless you end up attending uni in your home town, a move away forces you to make new friends.  And that’s a good thing.

• Events do not give you much time to explore the university yourself.

Solution…Get there early or stay a bit late.

Consider staying nearby overnight if you can stretch that far.  If you’re serious about the place you’re visiting, spend enough time to cover all you want to know, including about the surrounding area. Nothing beats first hand experience of a place.

• Limited access to the full range of accommodation.

Solution…Check brochures, the prospectus, the university website, and so on.

Email the uni to ask for more information.  Ask current students (via The Student Room again…hurrah!) what the accommodation is like.

• Being nervous, not having enough time to find out everything you want to know, forgetting questions you want to ask.

Solution…Prepare questions in advance.

And if you’re too worried to speak up, note the names of people you want to speak to and try getting in touch with them after the open day itself.  Email addresses, Twitter accounts, and so on, for staff and student reps aren’t difficult to find or ask for.

• Travelling – “Driving with the parents”.

Solution…Discuss with parents what you want out of the day beforehand.

If you want to prepare in silence or with headphones on, tell them in advance and explain why that way of preparing is important for you. But remember it’s natural for parents to get excited about your future, nervous about your future, pushy about your future, etc.

Alternatively, you could go alone.  I know that’s not always possible.  Your parents may not even allow you to go alone…

But it’s no big deal.  There will be more than enough independent time once you *are* at uni. You can look forward to that. And then you may just start to miss your parents a bit. 🙂

• It gets crowded and there are long queues.

Soultion… Look for a less crowded route.

People tend to follow each other in a set route, even when a route hasn’t been set out.  If there’s no route, don’t act like you’re in a crowd.  Move out somewhere else and check out the crowded bit once it has died down.

Failing that, you may be able to hang back until people move on.  It doesn’t matter if you’re the first or last person to see the information.