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Does anyone have a degree with OU?

7 replies

matro87 · 01/02/2019 23:48

Hello I am thinking to take a degree and register for study with OU and I would like to hear from someone who already did it!

Thank you

OP posts:
PoutySprout · 01/02/2019 23:52

There are loads on here. Do a search. Wink

Fishdoggy · 01/02/2019 23:58

Yes. Wonderful

Cakedoesntjudge · 01/02/2019 23:58

I finished mine in summer (law), meant I got a job in a law firm and later this month I'm starting my masters after which I can train as a solicitor. Worked for me!

Pros:

  • it's cheaper
  • as long as you get your assignments in on time you can study when you want to
  • can work at the same time
  • teaches you to prioritise effectively

Cons:

  • relies on you being self motivated
  • the only real 'community' is online and it can get a bit lonely.
  • when their servers go down it's a problem!

Do you have any specific concerns?

Cakedoesntjudge · 01/02/2019 23:59

Sorry- apparently my phone doesn't like paragraphs tonight!

matro87 · 02/02/2019 00:25

Hi @Cakedoesntjudge so did you find difficult find a job after your graduation? I heard a few concerns that open university don't gave to you a sufficient credit for a post graduate!
I don't know if take a higher education diploma first and than a degree! I don't have a GCSE or other qualification

OP posts:
Cakedoesntjudge · 02/02/2019 08:15

@matro87 not at all. I had heard such mixed reviews as to how employers think of the OU - with some saying it isn't respected as much and others saying it tends to impress employers that you can complete a degree alongside day-to-day life. I think it's luck of the draw depending on the employer to be honest! I was lucky in that I only found the latter attitudes in my interviews and I got the second job I interviewed for.

Like any degree I think it's dependent on the course too. You need to check it's a fully accredited and qualifying degree for the subject you're choosing. Mine was and I was asked that at interview. I had no issue registering at a different uni for my post grad course either (the OU don't offer the masters I need to do).

As far as I'm aware the OU don't require any pre existing qualifications but you might want to call student support there and talk it through with them to check. They're fab and really helpful.

If you're on a low income there's also some access modules you can do for free (you can pay if you aren't on a low income). They don't count towards your qualification but they're good to get back into studying and for giving you an idea of what will be involved. When I did it, doing the access module gave me a discount of about £2,000 off of my first module too.

It was genuinely the best thing I could have done for me. I went from a job on minimum wage in retail that I really wasn't happy in to one I love and that has the chance to progress. I would recommend it to anyone.

I would say though that there are difficult weeks. My son had an uncanny knack of getting ill whenever big assignments were due in so I'd be up all night with him laid on me trying to type one handed! You do have to really really want it and I was lucky that my family and friends were so supportive and kept me going.

DolorestheNewt · 25/02/2019 16:50

Had a great time doing my OU degree. Started my degree with them 20 years ago and finally graduated in 2013 (I had a very, very long break between modules 4 and 5).

Only word of warning: I think OU underwent a change programme in the last few years. There was clearly a strong clash of cultures in 2013 between the old OU employees, who still tried to operate under old policies that were extremely student-friendly and supportive, and new policies that were more by-the-book and sometimes a little rigid. (I had a bit of a kerfuffle around the end of my final module because my father died, and polices were much less forgiving around deferrals and late submissions than they had been hitherto.) I'm guessing that now that some time has elapsed, they're probably more settled into the new order.
I did my degree in London, so it was easy to attend the monthly tutorials. I think I'd have found it very hard indeed if I hadn't attended the tutorials, and if I were doing it again now, and if I couldn't get to tutorials, I'd be checking with OU quite carefully just what the tutor was going to offer in terms of online support i.e. tutorials on Skype or similar. If the answer was "it's up to the tutor", then I'd at least research other universities to see if they offer a structured, guaranteed number of tutorials online. My experience of one OU tutor who cancelled a couple of tutorials was that he always promised he'd hold an online one, but it never actually happened.
The quality of teaching materials for the modules I did (English and History of Art) was first-rate.
It might be worth bearing in mind people like me, who go back to the beginning of the 2000s, are going to have had a different experience in some ways than people who've done their degrees much more recently: so not that you shouldn't pay any heed to people whose degrees are older, there may well be useful comments from them!, but those who did them more recently are going to have had a different experience in some respects. Definitely value for money perceptions will have changed, because the fees when I started were around £700 a year so the whole thing cost about £4,000.
Hope that helps.

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