Questions I'm glad my parents and I asked on my university Open Day
Tofunmi Davies Awe
Computer Science BSc (Hons)
Hi I'm Tofunmi, I'm in year one of a Computer Science degree after completing my foundation year last year. Coming to an Open Day was one of the deciding factors in me choosing Huddersfield. Here are some questions I had when coming to an Open Day that could be helpful to you as you book your visits.
Back to the beginning
Before I get into the questions, let me take you back to the day before the open day.
It was sometime in October. I had a week off from college and I was excited to explore all my options. The University of Huddersfield was a big question mark for me; I had no idea what to expect. I’d heard about it through a friend whose brother studied here, we all discussed it and all I knew was that Huddersfield was a place near Leeds.
The day had finally arrived!
Fast forward to the day of the Open Day, I woke up really early and got in the car with my mum, my friend, and his parents, and we all drove to Huddersfield, now for context we were both computer science students. So, something that quickly caught my attention was the fact that the course was accredited, that mattered to me because my big questions were:
"What are my career prospects? And what percentage of graduates actually get jobs?"
And to my surprise over 90% of graduates go on to further education or employment! For me, university is a place of opportunities and one of my non negotiables was getting a career out of it, not just a degree.
Cost of living
Another question that came to mind was
"What's the cost of living like in Huddersfield?"
My mum was big on affordability given that we’re a one-parent household. We spoke to current student ambassadors, and they broke down their cost of living as students, weekly shopping, rent, day to day expenses, transport etc and Huddersfield turned out to be very affordable.
The ambassadors also covered another important question which was
"what's the social life like here?"
they pointed out different parts of town where students tend to go on nights out (Wednesdays usually) places like (Mavericks, Parish, Warehouse etc) they also mentioned nearby cities, Leeds and Manchester.
Homesickness?
"How far away from home will uni be?"
This was another important question, at the time I lived in Manchester so it was about 30 minutes by train and that was very convenient for me. It meant I could go home on weekends/days I felt homesick.
Social life
Another question that I had was
"what societies are there?"
I am a very social person and community mattered a lot to me, my anxieties were quickly put to rest when I was shown the Students’ Union website which had an index of over 50 communities/sport clubs some of which included the: Dr Who society, Taylor Swift society, tabletop gaming, anime etc, you name it, there was something for everybody.
Support and help
The last question I had was
"what type of support does the uni provide?"
I was shocked by how much support we were being provided, not only do we have career/employability support, the uni also offered free wellbeing/sport sessions, cycling, yoga, meditation, badminton etc.
When you're falling behind you have access to academic support, that made me realise I’m not alone and I don't have to go through it all by myself, there's also personal tutors, mental health services etc.
All in all, I was assured knowing that I'm not only being supported academically but also emotionally and mentally and I was in good hands.
I hope this encourages you to think deeply about what matters the most to you, Uni can very much change the trajectory of your life so come prepared, ask a lot of questions and make sure to pick the best fit for you.
Open Days at Huddersfield
What is life like as a student in Huddersfield? Hear it straight from our current students as they write about their Open Day experience when they attended.
Which University?
Read more articles from current students at Huddersfield describing how they chose their course and why.