This week has been a good week, but a bit crazy busy. Our final year students got their degree results this week. We have a really good bunch of final year students, or as they will be in three weeks after picking up their certificates, a really good bunch of graduates. So that was really pleasing. It was a bit crazy busy as it looks we might have 500 prospective students and their parents visiting us next Friday and Saturday on the University Open Days.

This is really a lot. We had about 400 visit on the two comparable days last year. That was a lot. I spent a lot of this week sorting out what to do with the extra 100 – it is not easy, the University can’t give us a bigger lecture theatre – they gave those to Departments like maths who may have 600 plus coming. We also have a new vet school. Rumour had that this meant that there would be a cow on campus for the open days, but the vet I met today didn’t admit to anything bigger than some dogs. I’ll be disappointed if there isn’t a cow, my hopes have been raised.

The University as a whole is pretty seriously popular this year. So I beavered away writing lots of emails  to try and come up with a programme for 500 visitors. I hope it will work. In order to keep group sizes sensible for the Department tours, one of our new astro profs is giving his little talk 18 times over the two days. The visitors on Saturday afternoon should get a highly practised presentation.

All these emails were hard work, but who knows, maybe in five years time one of the 17 year olds coming will get an email from me congratulating them on their first class degree. My final year tutee got a first, and it was an absolute pleasure to email her to congratulate her.