Coming away less certain can be a useful result. Separate your reaction to the subject, its everyday workload and the particular campus before deciding what to investigate next.
A Good Day Can Leave You With An Uncomfortable Answer
In this illustrative composite, we will call the student Maya. Imagine a sixth-form student who has narrowed her options to law and psychology. The law presentation sounds impressive. The prospect of understanding people draws her towards psychology. Her family hopes that a campus visit will settle the question. Instead, descriptions of sustained reading and assessed work make both options feel less familiar. On the journey home she cannot offer a confident preference. This illustrative scenario captures a common decision problem: an open day has supplied evidence that does not fit the story you were telling yourself.
The Subject You Admire And The Work You Would Do
An occupation can attract you through its public image. A degree asks you to return repeatedly to particular kinds of work. Those interests can overlap without being identical. Someone drawn to courtroom advocacy may have very different feelings about reading difficult texts and constructing written arguments. That tension deserves investigation. It does not, by itself, establish that law is unsuitable. Equally, being fascinated by human behaviour does not tell you how you will feel about the assessments and methods on a specific psychology course.
Keep Three Reactions Separate
Write three short accounts of the visit. The first concerns the subject: which ideas made you curious? The second concerns the learning: which tasks would you want to practise, even when they became difficult? The third concerns the setting: did the atmosphere, journey, accommodation or presentation affect your reaction? A flat presentation can make a promising subject look dull. An exciting campus can make an unsuitable course feel attractive. Treating all three reactions as one overall score hides the distinction you most need to understand.
Ask About An Ordinary Week
UCAS recommends asking about teaching hours, assessment and compulsory or optional modules at an open day. Those questions help bring an imagined degree closer to its daily reality. Add a follow-up of your own: ask a current student to describe a recent week, including something they found frustrating. Ask what they did between classes and how they prepared an assignment. You are collecting examples, not conducting a representative survey. One student’s experience should lead you to better questions for the course team, rather than a verdict about every course in that subject.
Try A Small Piece Of The Learning
Before another visit, choose a modest task using publicly available introductory material. Read an accessible case discussion and construct an argument, or examine a psychology study and explain its method and limitations. Keep the work short enough to finish. Record what held your attention, where you needed help and whether you wanted to continue. The exercise is exploratory; it is not an aptitude test or proof that you could succeed on a degree. Its value lies in making the next conversation more specific than whether a subject sounds interesting.
What Parents Can Ask On The Way Home
Give the student room to describe the visit before offering a conclusion. Ask which parts changed their expectations and what remains unanswered. Avoid treating a less enthusiastic response as a failure of commitment. If costs or distance matter, explain those constraints separately. They should not be disguised as certainty about what the student will enjoy. A useful family conversation can end with one follow-up question, another course to inspect and a date to return to the decision. It does not have to end with an application choice.
Your Next Step
Make a two-column note: evidence that changed my mind, and evidence still missing. Choose one thing to check directly with the course provider and one learning task to try. If another open day is practical, attend with those questions. If it is not, use a virtual session or contact the department. The aim is to understand the source of your hesitation. That may strengthen the original choice, redirect it or reveal a different subject worth exploring. None of those outcomes needs to be decided in advance.
Sources And Further Checks
Primary sources checked on 06-10-2026. Course and policy details can change; check the current official information before acting.
UCAS: Preparing For A University Open DayAI-assisted production. How We Produce Stories · Report A Correction
