So, you are coming toward the summer and in September you will be entering your final year of college so you are probably thinking about university and deciding which university to go to. Looking on UCAS and picking some of the universities which meet your requirements then looking on their website is a great idea, but do you really need to go to an open day? YES, is the answer.
If you absolutely cannot make it to any of the open days then it is not the end of the world and you 100% CAN still come to university, but if you can come then I totally recommend it. You can look at prospectuses, recommendations, and league tables to your hearts content but there is no substitute for the feeling you get when you arrive on campus. You will just know which uni is right for you. A lot of people said that to me before I went to any open days and I didn’t understand what they meant. I realised once I went to my open days that it is something you have to experience for yourself.
I was very lucky because Staffs was the first university open day I went to and I had a great feeling from it, then I went to another 7 universities and came back to Staffs twice more. I never got the same feeling from any other university that I did from staffs. One came quite close but it still wasn’t the same. My instincts for knowing which universities were possibilities meant that once I got out of the car at an open day and knew instantly that that particular university was not for me. I almost got straight back in the car and drove away but it was nearly 200 miles from home so I felt I should look around but my feeling was right and my time would have been better spent driving home.
As for what you should do at the open day. That is totally up to you and what you feel would benefit you most but the things that I would recommend most are: the subject specific talk (whichever subject you are taking), the accommodation tour (if you are living on campus), and the campus tour (so you can see where you will be working for the next three years). Other things that are very interesting and informative include the welcome speeches, the library tour, and the numerous stalls with information about services such as the enabling centre (good place to speak to if you have a disability and would like to know how the university can help you through your studies) and careers centre and many more.
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