The do's and dont's of a university Open Day

Plan your day beforehand

Do's

So, lets think about some of the things you definitely want to be doing when on an Open Day. Firstly, although tedious as it may seem, Make. A. Plan. Some people hate planning, I get it (well, kinda - I love a plan, but I know a lot of people that hate it) but for the sake of making the most of your day, please, just make a plan. Use the Open Day guide and think about what sessions you want to be at before you arrive – take 15 minutes out of the day before to look at the timetables and get a rough idea. Also, where possible leave more time than you think for getting in between campuses and sessions. Things are quite easy to lose track of on an Open Day (including your parents) so give yourself time to find them. I also used to have a quick look at the weather before I left too so I could dress appropriately. And try not to carry too much stuff around, it can be quite a long day.

Chat to people

Another thing to do, chat with people. Chat with actual students, who are studying there and are proud to show you around their university. Current students will be able to give you the most honest and relevant response to your questions. They will be able to tell you what it’s really like to study and live there, or which is the cheapest pub closest to your lecture hall (useful info by the way). It’s also useful to chat about subject with students too. At most Open Days you will be able to find students from the course you are looking into. If you can’t speak to anyone specifically from the course on the day, lecturers will be able to point you in the direction of students who can chat online. Lastly, the big dogs – lecturers. Get to know them, have a chat and pick their brains about stuff that you want to know about the course, industry links, assessment types etc. They will be happy to chat to you, on the day or the week after via email.

Ask questions

Another thing that I want to emphasise, and I found really useful is to think about questions you want to ask, but DON’T let it stress you out. I used to get told ‘think of questions you want to ask’, ‘write down your 10 questions for the day’ – and frankly, I had none at that point. I always had a rough idea of topics I’d probably ask about, but never had 21 questions listed neatly on some lined paper.  So, if you can pre-think of questions, and have a list to tick off on the day then great. But if you are more like me and think of the questions as the conversation is flowing (or even more usefully, on the way home) then my top tip is to try to think of the topics you will probably ask about beforehand, but don’t worry about getting questions down word for word. Regarding thinking of questions when you are on the train home - which I by the way, am expert at – then that chat you had with the lecturers I mentioned earlier, will prove useful as you’ll have already got their email and can fire them across some questions.

Don’t forget it’s your day

Don’ts

Now onto a few don’ts - don’t let people you are with takeover or give too much of an opinion on where they want you to be or what they think you should be doing. This is your Open Day so I think it’s useful to try to set some boundaries, where possible, and make sure you are going to talks and doing things on the day that will benefit you and your choices. 

Don’t leave travel arrangements until last minute

Don’t leave travel arrangement until the last minute. A lot of people will need to travel to open days and if there are certain public transport routes that take you directly to and from them, bare this in mind. The last thing you need to be stressing about is what time train you are going to catch to be in time for the 10:15am course introduction presentation… at 8am that day. So plan ahead for travel where possible and get something booked so you know you have an option in and out of there! If you are driving – take a look at the route but more importantly, try to suss out the parking situation beforehand! Do you need to pay? Do you have coins on you in case there isn’t a cashless payment option? How long is the walk between car and campus? Is there any accessibility routes or pre planning for accessibility needs you need to do. Again, I know I love a plan, but please just do it for an open day as it will mean you don’t waste part of the day waiting for a bus that you didn’t know hasn’t actually ran since 2015.

Don’t just stay in one place

Where possible, don’t just stay at the university. If you can, try to make time to go and see some of the city you might be studying in – go and check out the shops, figure out where you will go to get the cheap beers for a Friday night pre’s. Look at things like where you might find the local cheese shop for when you do a flat cheese and wine night (would highly recommend doing at least once by the way). Find where can you go to get a coffee and good Wi-Fi to sit and proofread an essay. Sometimes it’s not possible to try and do this all after the full Open Day, when you might be slightly tired, still need to do the journey home and think about eating tea. So, try to go and visit for a day to get a feel for it if you can - a day out with the girls is a good enough reason, right?

There are many ways to make the most out of a university Open Day and I’m hoping to have helped you guys, but if you have any further questions you can always find information online at https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/ or read more great blogs on the Blog Squad Page or contact myself or any other students directly on the Unibuddy platform where you can live-chat to students at Leeds Beckett https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/talk-to-a-student/.