On an open day morning, there is a calm confidence that seems to settle over Exeter’s Streatham Campus. The paths go through real parkland and the lakes reflect whatever light the Devon sky gives them. Somewhere between the welcome talk and the first department tour, you start to feel less like a potential student and more like someone deciding if this place could become home. When people are picking a college, that difference is more important than most people think.
There are three different campuses that Exeter uses for its open days, and each one has its own story to tell. Lots of people have said that Streatham is one of the most beautiful campuses in the country, so it makes a good first impression. Sometimes a place looks great in pictures but isn’t as good in real life. This is one of those times. St. Luke’s is located east of Exeter’s city center and has a more focused, almost clinical energy. This makes sense, since it is home to the Academy of Nursing, the Medical School, and the Sport and Health Sciences. Then there’s Penryn, which is on the coast of Cornwall near Falmouth and moves at its own pace. The beach background isn’t just for show. It really changes the atmosphere.
Aside from the obvious campus tour and departmental pitch, open days usually give you a chance to see if you’ll fit in a way that a prospectus just can’t. You can tell if the staff members who are answering questions are really interested or if they are reading from a script. You notice little things, like whether current students seem at ease when strangers come up to them or whether the campus feels like it’s being lived in or just managed. Most people say that Exeter does pretty well on these easier tests.
For visitors who are postgraduates, it’s important to know that the next official Postgraduate Open Days are not yet set in stone but will happen in the spring of 2027. For now, the university offers tours of both Exeter and St. Luke’s campuses, as well as events in Penryn that are just for exploring postgraduate life in Cornwall. It’s possible that these temporary options work just as well for some visitors—they’re smaller, less planned out, and more conversational. There are times when you should come to campus when it’s not performing.
Virtual tours and on-demand postgraduate video content are also offered by the student recruitment team. These are good first steps for people who are traveling a long way. It’s still not clear if a virtual walkthrough of Streatham’s woodland paths will ever quite convince someone the way the real thing does, but at least it cuts down on the unknowns before you decide to go on the trip.
One thing that Exeter seems to care about is the question of who shows up to these events. It’s fine to ask questions directly to academic departments, and current students are happy to answer questions that admissions staff might not be able to answer. When you talk to some of those students, you get the sense that they weren’t told to be constantly positive. Some will be honest about how much work they have in their program or what they wish they knew before picking their subject.
More than the beautiful campus or the well-done presentations, the most useful thing that an open day can give you is probably a chance to talk to real people who are already living the kind of college life you are thinking about. Exeter seems to know, at least in that way, what potential students are really there for.
