Three reasons to go to a Post Offer Visit Day

Before I went to the post-offer visit day at York, I had about four choices of universities that I shortlisted. York wasn’t the first because I didn’t know much about it and I missed the open day. But that changed very quickly when I decided to sign up to come and visit for a day. I wasn’t sure where it would go but I thought it would be a great day out anyway since I had never visited York before. As soon as I arrived, I knew it was for me. Now that I’m studying Music in first year, I thought I’d give you my three reasons to go to a Post Offer Visit Day!

Get to know your department

No website can quite describe what being in a department is really like, which is one of the important reasons to go to a Post Offer Visit Day. You might get an idea of what it looks like, but being able to talk to real lecturers and students gives you such a good indication of what a department is like to be in. After all, you’ll be spending a lot of time in it so you might as well know what you’re getting yourself into! There will be lots of interesting things going on during the day, probably starting with an overview of the course. This is a great way to find out the content of the course. You can also find out what the presenter thinks is the best bit about studying at York. If you like what you see, don’t stop there – look at accommodation!

Try the accommodation

A visit day isn’t just for your subject, it lets you have a proper look around the accommodation, too. My advice would be to spend as much time as you can looking around rooms. You should try to get a feel for the different colleges because that’s where you’ll be living for at least a year.

I made the mistake of completely focusing on my subject and not visiting any accommodation. This meant when it came to picking my choices, I found it hard to decide which one I wanted (luckily I managed to pick well). Accommodation at York has loads of options: from shared bathroom standard to premium en-suite rooms. You can also choose to be catered or self-catered.

The choice you make with your accommodation is completely down to you and what you’d like most and your budget. When it comes to picking a college and room type, you need to give seven choices in case you don’t get your first. So you should make sure to look around as many as you can.

Get to know York

York isn’t just about the university. It’s one of the most beautiful and exciting cities in England. From the Minster to the Tudor streets, it has so much character while also having all the big shops you’d see in a large city. Not to mention that it has the best tea room (in my opinion) in the country: Betty’s. York is also filled with loads of independent coffee shops and cool niche shops like ‘Give the dog a bone’ which has some of the funniest gift ideas to buy for friends and family. You could even make a weekend of it and try some of the nightlife!

If it wasn’t for the post-offer visit day, I probably wouldn’t be where I am now. I might have not chosen York and ended up somewhere else. My advice would be to definitely give it a go. You don’t know if you’ll love it unless you give it a try. (It also makes for a great day out!)

Find out more reasons to go to a Post Offer Visit Day.