Experience of a Psychology degree in general and the OU.

[MollyMoo10]

I’m looking to do an Open University degree and would like some general advice from anyone having done a degree with the OU or a really a Psychology degree anywhere.

Just general advice you wish you had before going with the OU and/or doing a Psychology degree.

Did you find the degree itself hard going?
Was the workload with the OU hard to keep to or fairly easy?
Would you have been able to do the degree in 3 years fairly easily or is the 6 years more likely?
What did you go on to study after the degree? And was it easy-ish to find a job?

AIBU to expect to be able to complete the degree in 3 years doing slightly more than part time hours studying and AIBU to study with the OU or is there somewhere/something else I should be looking at?

for anyone with any advice

I want to do this as well!
Let’s hope for some replies.

@RickOShay

It looks good from the prospectus! They were really helpful on the phone too.

I've just finished a social science degree with the OU so can't comment on psychology but over 6 years it was up to 16 hours a week - basically a textbook, online material and an essay per month. Depends on what else you have got on in your life and what hours you work but doing two modules a year (ie a 3 year degree) would be tough if you had a full time job and family. I started one module a year when I was part time and in the final two years, when I went full time, it was difficult as it was a lot more reading and much nearer the 16 hours. Depends also if you want to study the course or whether you want to study to get a degree. For the latter you can be selective with your reading and cut your hours down considerably and get a basic pass.

You could start two modules a year in year 1 and move to one the following years if it proves too much - some modules used to have two start dates a year so you could briefly overlap but then you lost your summer off. So may not be a choice of 3 years or 6 years but you could do something in between.

I've just finished the first year of my Psychology degree with the OU. I managed to do it full time, alongside part time work. I found the materials very good, as was student support.

I did PPE with the OU (360 credits) and got a good degree that I'm very happy with.

I studied in the morning on my train commute (hour) and at lunchtime (45 minutes) and then usually in the evening and about 8 or so hours spread over the weekend. It varied (and I'm a procrastinator so it stretched out sometimes). For some modules (philosophy - A222 - I'm looking at you!) there was a LOT of reading and i spent a lot of time doing it. Politics, I did a LOT of reading around the subject and for my EMA I put in a lot of hours reading and writing it. Economics - a lot of online work, a lot of extra maths and stats and again spent a lot of time reading and writing the EMA.

In general: it varied from module to module. At the start not as much online, and printed books and a lot of tutorial support. By the time I got to my 4th module it was mostly online (had to buy some books and got some printed materials) but tutorial support was excellent.

For all 3 subjects we had online tutorials to varying degrees - some were every other week, some once a month, some only the week before an assignment was due. Tutors were really really good about answering email inquiries.

forgot to add: I did 60 credits a year (so not full-time) and worked full time, started when my DC were about 10 and it went on for 6 years.

There were tears. Lots of tears. 1 all nighter (procrastinator) but at the end I'm so happy i did it. I loved loads of it and have made some really good friends.

I'm in my sixth year of OU. Looking back, I could have done the level 1 modules in 1 year rather than 2, but I hadn't studied for a while and needed to get my head back in. Level 2 and 3 I've done whilst working full time and there's no way I could have doubled up on those modules. I've actually dropped to 4 days to focus on my final level 3 60 credit module.

You will need to be motivated and carve out study time. I'd also recommend attending the online tutorials, and the day schools if you can. Exams are usually 3 hours long and in city centres, so that might be difficult if you're rural.

I dropped out unfortunately! I was studying Psychology at post-grad level with the OU. I found the sheer volume of information we needed to remember by rote prior to exams was difficult and I’d be up all night before exams as no matter how much I’d revised, I was struggling to recall all the names, dates and details of studies. I also had IT trouble with the statistics side of the course and little support. I found having a long distance research partner difficult as we were just thrown together on a research day without ever having spoken to each other and I found him difficult to work with. He was older and treated me like a “dumb female” and mansplained everything. I realised that to work in my chosen field, I’d have to spend the next 7 years studying and miss out on a lot of life. It came as a surprise that Psychology was not for me. I’d loved it at A Level, getting an A in it (at that time, the highest grade possible) and had family working in the field.

I've only finished one unit, I'm currently doing the 'early start' on a second and i October I pick up a third.

One thing they have been absolutely fantastic with is meeting my needs for disabilities and dyslexia. My 'text' books arrive spiral bound on blue paper.

I think doing it full time is not recommended unless you have very little else to do. I started with a single unit to gage the time needed.

I'm doing maths so less reading/writing than psychology would be.

I also don't attend tutorials, I just use the online ones.

Don't do psychology unless you are using it as a foundation for something else. I did psychology and unless you get a first, go on to get masters and PhD then you will find it difficult to find a job in that field. Most people I know with that degree are now in basic paid jobs. I did my masters in business and psychology then so I could get better prospects.

There are so many psychology graduates every year that you have to compete with. Please think of something that will help you progress in the future rather than just doing a degree for the sake of doing a degree. Whether it is with the OU or not it is really important to make the right decisions.

I have a BSc in Psychology (not from OU though) and I can tell you for sure it is hard to secure further training or employment in the field once you graduate. I would suggest that you look into what you want to do when you graduate and how easy/possible it will be for you to do that and then decide whether you want to spend the next few years studying psychology. It is a very interesting subject while you are studying but it does not open many doors.

I'm doing an OU STEM degree rather than Psychology but I've got one year left and have really enjoyed it.

All my modules have been 30 credits, rather than 60 so I do 2 at a time. Like a PP, I could probably have done level 1 in 1 year, and maybe level 2 but this last year has been tough and I wouldn't personally want to do 120 credits in a year at level 3.

I would say that if you have a reasonable standard of English and can write an essay confidently then you could complete level 1 doing two modules at a time, however at level 2 and particularly level 3 the marks start to count towards your final degree grade and employers/ postgraduate courses are more interested in your final grade than in how long it has taken you to get there. At level 2 and three you need to allow 16hrs study for 60 points, and bear in mind the academic crunch months of April/May which will be hectic. I would only do full time if you know you can allocate 30+ hours a week to study.

I have a Psychology degree, though not from the OU, so can only offer general advice.
It I should a useful general degree, but it doesn’t really qualify you to do anything without further post grad study, which is all fiercely competitive. I would recommend seriously considering exactly what you’re aiming to do career wise, and start researching useful job experience/volunteering that you could do alongside the degree.
Most of my friends from my course aren’t working in related fields at all, the one who is most successful slaved away as a healthcare assistant during the course, which was a massive help getting an Assistant Psychologist role after uni.
Obvious routes are Assistant Psychologist to Clinical Psychologist, Counselling, Advertising/Market research, Educational Psychologist, Occupational Psychologist. Have a clear aim from the outset.
There is a surprising amount of statistics involved, which may come as a shock.

I have to say, I wouldn’t personally recommend it, I haven’t found it very useful and feel like i’m only really qualified to do admin, but if you approach it in the right way hopefully you’ll do better!

I found the workload manageable for the most part, the dissertation was very hard work. I think it’s doable alongside part time work.

*it’s a useful general degree

I'm starting my third year of Psychology with the OU. I am really enjoying it, the materials are great and I have found it quite easy to stay motivated, which came as a shock tbh. I've been out of education/work for a long time.
There have been a few stressful occasions and many tears, but that was mainly after the birth of DS2 last year. I've got in to the swing of studying with the baby and 4 year old on the go now. I'm a SAHM but definitely wouldn't manage doing full time, I'm finding part time works very well for me. What have you got going on in your life OP? Is full time study feasible for you?
I'm hoping to do post grad study in clinical psychology, that will be full time as kids will be at school then and DH can work around it too. What is your goal after studying? I definitely recommend you always use the online tutorials, and never be afraid to contact your tutors. Mine have been great. Very responsive and super helpful.

I know several people who have Psychology degrees and they are working in the care industry in low paid jobs. Because of the amount of people doing it, competition for post grads/ further study is fierce. If you are doing it because you are interested in the subject, then that's fine. If you want to make a career out of it, it might not turn out as you hoped.

Im doing a Masters with the OU at the moment, I started in September. I would say my experience has been mixed. OU do try to be really flexible and to accommodate lots of different needs. However like all universities they have had massive funding cuts, tutors are clearly very over stretched. They are now only slightly cheaper than a 'standard' course at a brick university. I was also pretty stunned to find out you can get a degree without ever having written a dissertation or anything over 3000 words. So I think in terms of skills they expect less that a good degree course at a traditional university, or they do in my subject at least. However I don't regret doing it as it is the only option available to me at the moment.

Doing 2 level 3s is a full time job.

I did Psychology with the OU around 9 years ago. I already had a degree in another field so I did the post graduate conversion course which just meant doing the level 2 and level 3 courses.

I was working full-time at the time, I was single with no kids and I did a 60 credit module a year. It was hard, took up many weekends, statistics caused a few tears, but overall I really enjoyed it.

The materials were good and tutor feedback for assignments was good. We had to attend a residential course one summer to work on a research project and I really enjoyed that.

As others have said, most people that have a psych degree don't work in the field after graduating. I did it thinking I might try and pursue a career in Educational Psychology (was a teacher at the time), but, I then had a child, and my priorities completely changed and I just didn't think I had the motivation or commitment to pursue Ed Psych training any more.

I'm now back at university, retraining to be a SaLT. I rate my OU experience much more highly than my current experience at a very well-regarded red-brick, Russell Group university.

Just to add, my only negative comment about my experience is that it completely stopped me reading for pleasure! Instead of reading novels on my commute to work and in the evenings/weekends, I spent three years just reading text books. And I've never got back to the same level of reading since.

I have a psychology degree, not from the OU and as others have said it is almost impossible to get a job in psych without further study. What career are you hoping to get at the end?

I did an BSc Psychology with the OU but it was a few years ago now. I absolutely loved it. Really enjoyed the materials, the summer schools, the online social aspect (this was when social media was just gaining traction - think bebo and MySpace - showing my age).

I graduated with first class honours and ended up returning to my original field. So it did absolutely nothing for my career. I don’t regret it though.

Tralala - snap! I don't read for pleasure anymore either.