I suspect the article is a nonsense clickbait one. She's in Plymouth. And it's easy to book advances when you're a student. And XC and GWR go to a lot of the country..... and where does she think she's going all the time when she's at university ? Who wants to go home to your parents every two minutes. Even the boyfriend will last one term.... then Dear John, life goes on.... it's not you, it's definitely not that good looking bloke that keeps whatsapping me and liking my stuff on Instagram....
Your posts really are quite negative about anything in the press aren't they. Just because it's not something you agree with doesn't automatically make it untrue.
I'm not so convinced. As someone who works in the sector, I don't really understand the need to do lots and lots of open days. Universities are more alike than we pretend.
In terms of lifestyle, there really are only six choices: Oxbridge; London; small town prestigious; campus; urban; small town 'local' post-92. Most people will probably have an intuitive sense of which of these would suit them, or at least can discount three or four styles. After visiting a couple of unis the value of extra visits really drops - if you've been to Leeds, you have a pretty good sense of life at Manchester, or Liverpool, or Newcastle; if you've been to Lancaster you don't really need to visit York, or Keele, or wherever. Add to this that course availability, grades and other personal preferences restrict choice in various ways and I think with a bit of research the vast majority of students needn't visit more than 4 unis and most need only visit a couple.
I can't help but think that students and their families are being somewhat conned slightly into making these trips by universities who are desperate to recruit, and a travel industry which is quite happy to facilitate the extra visits
I totally disagree. I visited Sheffield and Leeds, York and Lancaster when I was doing open days. Loved York, hated Lancaster; loved Leeds, wouldn't have gone to Sheffield if they'd paid me. Open days - done well, which many aren't - are a chance to experience life at the university concerned. At the end of the day, you wouldn't move house without going to look at the place first, university is no different.
Expecting young people to commit years of their lives, and tens of thousands of pounds, to a particular course and institution without doing all the research they can is plain unacceptable in my book. Perhaps - as others have hinted - the way forward is for the universities, UCAS, and RDG to engineer some sort of open days scheme where students attending open days at univsersities, with the permission of the college/school, can obtain something equivalent to a rail warrant that would give them a discount on the fare for that specific journey.
I am not sure it is. Even when I was at uni there were people I knew doing joke courses who couldnt even get to uni 3 times a week for lectures.
CLEARLY not all students are clueless and feckless. Sadly lots are. The real world will come as a shock to them.
I worked all through uni ( I had to - no bank of mum and dad) and in my holidays I worked in the area that was to be my furure career. I had amuch better grip of the real world than many.
I have interviewed lots of graduates for proper jobs ( not grad schemes) with a decent wage and many have been terrible, almost clueless. The best have experience away from uni and have thought about what that is teaching them. The worst think a degree and some smugness should be enough
I agree that many university graduates (I also see lots of freshly minted graduates trying to get new jobs) are totally clueless about the real world. However... I also see a lot of excellent graduates from what, I will admit, I myself once saw as 'joke courses' like media studies, film and TV, etc. The good ones, though, are generally the ones who have had nouse to seek opportunities outside their course such as, as you suggest, part time work.