Open days Bookmark

Hints, tips and advice to get the most out of your visit to an open day.

Relevant to

Open days are a chance to get up close and personal with the unis and colleges that interest you. They’re also a great opportunity to find out more about the different courses on offer from the people who live and breathe your subject — those who teach and study it; current students and academic staff. Wherever you decide to study, it’s important to do as much research as possible so that you make the choice that’s right for you. Here are a few pointers to get you started.


Preparing for open days

  1. Make a shortlist — there are around 370 unis and higher education colleges in the UK — so visiting them all is pretty much impossible! Whittling them down to a shortlist could take a while, so here are a couple of resources that might help: the UCAS search tool and our open days search tool.
  2. What to expect — don't worry; you won't just be left to your own devices when you attend an open day. Each uni will have planned an itinerary of activities that will run throughout the day — such as tours, talks, meet and greet sessions, and more. Check uni websites or speak to them to see if they have a planned timetable of activities.
  3. Plan ahead — it's also a good idea to have your own agenda in mind when visiting a uni or college. Consider what you'd like to find out more about, which departments you'd like to take a look at, and prepare some questions.
  4. Taster courses — got a couple of unis in mind? Why not see if they run taster courses? These are designed to give students a flavour of the course they're interested in applying to. Often they'll include a number of workshops and seminar sessions, led by academic teaching staff at the university, as well as campus and accommodation tours.
  5. Higher education exhibitions — we hold 48 UCAS exhibitions each year, right across the UK. They're an excellent opportunity for you to meet numerous unis and colleges in the same place at the same time. They're worth attending even if you're considering other options: professional bodies, recruiters and volunteer organisations exhibit too.

Can’t come?

If you can't make one of the open day dates, don’t worry – get in touch with the university or college and see if they’ll arrange a visit on a different date for you. Alternatively, take a look at some virtual tours.