Making the most of your Offer Holder Day

If you are a prospective student finalising your firm and insurance university choices on UCAS, you will probably have started investigating or even planning some Offer Holder/Visit Days. Offer Holder Days play an essential role in your decision of what university you wish to attend, and give you a great feel for the campus, accommodation and your chosen department.

The University of Leicester was the only place I returned to for an Offer Holder Day after attending an Open Day, and I was so glad I did!  This was mainly due to the fact that it is a smaller event than an Open Day, because only the people who have been offered a conditional or unconditional place are invited to go, and even then, different departments have their own specific dates on which they run events.  This meant that I was able to have a full conversation with one of my department’s staff, current students studying my subject, and felt that I could spend longer chatting to the ambassadors about general campus information, their past experiences and the accommodation on offer.

As a Student Ambassador myself and working on events such as the Offer Holder Days, I wanted to give you a little inside information on how I would encourage you to make the most of your visit to the university.

1. Plan your day ahead of your visit!
   This will help the day run smoothly and make sure you have time to fit in all that you want to do!  All the information you need for times of both general (eg. Student Life Talk and Student Finance) and departmental talks (eg. Archaeology or English Literature) on the Offer Holder Days are available for you to view online here!  The locations of your talks will differ depending on the day that you attend, and these should be sent to you – however if you ever get lost during your visit, don’t hesitate to ask anybody in those red hoodies who are often holding foam fingers that we call ambassadors!  I’d also suggest checking out your department’s website before arriving to see if this may prompt any questions you may want to ask during talks or taster lectures!
2. Make use of the ambassadors (the people in red!)
   The ambassadors are there to help you make the most of your visit – so please do make use of them!  All ambassadors are current students at the university, studying a whole range of subjects and each and every person has a completely different university experience.  Whilst every ambassador will respond to your queries with a personalised touch, each one will be able to help you with whatever you need; whether that be finding a place to grab a bite to eat, a lecture room or telling you about living in halls, or student life.
3. Visit Oadby Student Village
   Oadby Student Village is where the majority of our Halls of Residence are based and is a short bus ride away from campus.  On your Offer Holder Day, there will be shuttle buses arranged for you to get to and from campus and accommodation which will leave every 15-20 minutes.  There are many different types of accommodation available including self-catered, catered, en-suite and shared bathroom.  All accommodation at Oadby is within a close proximity of each other, there is a 24/7 reception, the village hub and the Roger Bettles Sports Centre.  To make sure you have enough time to check everything out, leave around 90 minutes for your visit to the student village!
4. Take a Campus Tour
   Campus tours start every 15 minutes or so and last around half an hour.  This will take you around the main areas of campus and will give you the opportunity to ask the ambassador leading your tour any questions – they don’t necessarily need to be about the campus!  The tour will also give you a bit of history about the university, information about the city and allow you to try and envisage yourself potentially navigating the campus in the future.

I hope this has helped you gain more of an idea of what is available to you at the University of Leicester’s Offer Holder Days, and how you can benefit the most from one.

Feel free to ask me any questions and I hope to see you at one of our days soon!

CLC