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

No summer school now, that is all online. Just one exam though and that only counts for 5% of final grade, plus you know the pool of questions from which the exam questions are taken so you can prepare.

I came here to write pretty much exactly what @HeyGepetto said. I’ve no experience of the OU but I can advise on the course.

There’s no point I’m doing a general psychology without a specific career path in mind and be aware that’ll it’s pretty useless unless you’re planning on also doing a masters degree in your specialised area.

Psychology is a very competitive area and your best chance is going in either occupational or social work, which is very very competitive and people struggle for placements and employment with First class degrees from very reputable universities... I should know, I have one and still struggled to find a decent job with a first from a top uni.

It’s a good jumping board type degree but you will need to do a masters (or CIPD for example for HR positions) for it to be worth anything so you may as well pick a career path now and do your degree in that area if that makes sense?
I recently complete an MSc in Real Estate Management which paved the way for me to become a chartered surveyor, however I could have taken this route at bachelors level and saved the extra year of study and £9k extra debt.

Tralala - i used to count the days to the between modules break and then I read and read and read because I hadn't stopped buying books and I usually get though 80-100 per year (I had a very long commute).

In fact I really do need to read more (but short car commute now - booo)

I did OU but not psychology I did biology and chemistry. For me the main downside was no practical work but that's probably not relevant for you. I ended up with their Open BSc which I don't think they offer anymore and I'm currently finishing my MSc in Molecular Biotechnology. So it's definitely possible to use the degree to further your education. I don't think I got my job based on my degree rather my work ethic when I did some work experience due to there being no practical aspect of the course.

Oh and I did this a few years ago now before they started charging a lot for the courses. I don't think it's worth the money now because you definitely don't get the same kind of support as you do in a 'normal' University.

I have experience with OU and red brick (post grad RG uni) and I really rate the OU in comparison. The great thing is that you are expected to work from one textbook or a week by week online 'book', so there is no faffing around for one book that is available in the library and 30 people are trying to get it out. The text quality is excellent, the authors I read at undergrad I also had to read at postgraduate level and the difference was huge. The OU is written with the assumption that not everyone has previous academic experience so the texts are clear and concise, without the airy fairyness that I found in my university library. It is also fairly easy to read for the assignment alone if you are limited to time, the guidance for each TMA gives you a good direction for what they are roughly looking for.

I did my psychology degree as a mature student and graduated in 2017, although not via OU. I honestly wish that decided what I ultimately wanted to do and chosen a vocational degree. It was a very popular course with hundreds of students and by the third year, hardly anyone had any idea what to do following graduation. I'm now having to complete a 2 year MSc to progress. Psychology is interesting though and covered a wide range of modules. I wasn't expecting how much of the course was statistics, which I personally struggled in.

'Re support, although the tutors varied I felt that the support from OU was far better. My tutors were generally very good and the relationship was less formal than red brick. E.g. OU tutors would reply after hours to emails and you even have their telephone number for contact. The support from fellow students was also so much better, we had Facebook and WhatsApp groups for each module and it was such a shock to me at postgrad level that people barely said hello to each other. I used to dread going into lectures for that reason.

Just to add (again!) really think carefully about what degree to do, I did mine on transition fees so it didn't cost a lot so didn't matter that much but in light of the new fee structure if it is possible I would do social work or another vocational degree where I was guaranteed a job in the related profession.

OUwhatnext - annoying, isn't it?!

Brefugee - same...I used to have an hour's commute sat on the same bus...just 10 minutes tram ride now. I do always have a book on the go, but it takes me weeks rather than days to finish one nowadays and quite often they get abandoned half way through. I blame the OU entirely.

Doesn't sound good for getting any kind of related job in this field after graduating - unless you gain a doctorate. "Which" magazine says Psychology is the 4th most popular subject studied in the UK. And it's one of the fastest-growing Uni choices for prospective students. In 2014, according to the BBC Education, more than one hundred thousand UK students registered for a Psychology degree, so I guess it must be looked on by employers as a good "general" degree.

No experience of the OU but in terms of Psychology, it is a good general degree IMO. There is a good mix of essay and report writing, statistics and research, and then more specific Psychology knowledge.

Yes fields in Psychology are competitive, as are the doctorates for Educational and Clinical Psychology, and chances are you will have to do some kind of postgrad study more specific to the field you want to go into, however, I think that is true for all degrees that aren't directly vocational.

It is also true of any degree that you need to secure relevant work experience throughout the degree. With my uni there are placements and internships and there is encouragement and support there, and a strong network locally. For me, that is a benefit I wouldn't get from the OU degree. Local employers that I have had contact with all seem to have a really high regard for Psychology students, and the opinion of psychology as a "soft option" seems to be on the way out. Though my uni is quite highly regarded in general so perhaps that has a part to play in it.

Also, is the OU degree approved by the BPS? Would you qualify for graduate membership?

There was talk in the media recently about a shortage of Clinical Psychologists and the need to increase the numbers in training. I don't know how quickly this will translate into actual places, but the need for mental health professionals is increasing, it is the funding that is lagging behind (as always).

Wow thank you all so much for the information! Loads to go back over and really think on.

I’m going to be pretty airy fairy about what career I want and say something along the lines of counselling, counselling offenders, working in a hospital/DR’s as a therapist, that sort of route.

I understand there would be further education after the basic degree which would be fine but obviously I’m concerned that it sounds very competitive!

I haven’t studied for years, I do have time but there might be the possibility of a baby at some point.

I am mid 30’s so a little concerned about how long studying would take and then allowing a career after.

I have to care for my elderly mother but that isn’t full time care although it does mean I can’t do a full time job so I do have time during the day/night and if a baby was to come along then we would get carers in to deal with mother.

I really want to get a decent career for myself and to have something for the future.

If you want to be a counsellor you’d be better off doing counselling qualifications. Start at Level 2, then do Level 3 and then qualify at Level 4 with a diploma. Total 4 years, still bloody expensive but a lot cheaper than a psychology degree that really would only possibly allow you direct entry to Level 4 counselling diploma.

I really want to get a decent career for myself and to have something for the future

Being brutal then, a psychology degree is unlikely to do that for you.
I specialised in Forensic Psychology over 12 years ago when it wasn’t as popular as it is now and I still struggled to get a placement. I worked for a while within the probation service but again, assistant psychologist positions are very difficult to come by and have 100s of applicants. Same with clinical.

I don’t want to dishearten you because the right degree can massively improve your career prospects, but you need to be certain what it is you want to do or it’s a waste of time.

@MollyMoo10 could you maybe find a proper career counsellor and discuss your options with them? When my friend wanted to retrain / get further education in her 30s she did this and was advised the best routes and given realistic information on job prospects. Might be worth having a chat with someone more in the know

If that’s the case and you want to be a Counsellor rather than a Psychologist, I wouldn’t go for a Psychology degree, I’d go down the Counselling diploma route. Most local colleges offer courses and it’s also available via distance learning. I got my first counselling diploma whilst working and studying for a separate degree and caring for an elderly relative who lived with me - it was easily doable. Can you meet with a careers adviser? A degree in psychology will not necessarily lead to a career as a counsellor whereas studying for counselling diploma is the more standard route. My psychology studies and my counselling studies were very very different and psychology didn’t equip me with the skills I needed as a counsellor (albeit I was only briefly a volunteer counsellor for a charity). My counselling diploma has also helped me work in the pastoral side of education and helped set me apart from other candidates - I was asked about it at interview for several of the jobs I got.

Hi. Post grad psychologist here. I have no regrets about my bachelors perhaps because I knew I wanted to build a career in psychology. It’s a good combination of literacy and numeracy is regarded as a good general degree. For a broad counselling type career you could also look at training as a counsellor or psychotherapist, probation officer or social work for example. As a psychologist, Counselling psychology or Clinical psych require a 3 year doctorate. The more relevant work/voluntary experience you have the better. Did not do the OU degree but have a friend who did and was v positive about it.

I have a psych degree from the OU and was able to complete it in 4 years whilst working full times. Some of the early modules were quite easy and didn’t take much time. The final couple of modules were hardcore though and took a lot of study to get me through the exam.
Personally have found it all a bit of a waste of time as couldn’t get any jobs in the field without post graduate study which I can’t afford to do. If you can afford to go on to do a masters or Phd then I’m sure it would open up a lot of doors for you though. And I suppose just having an undergraduate degree still looks good on your CV as shows how dedicated you can be

OP if you are ultimately considering going into counselling then take a counselling degree, or social work degree, I wish I had. I returned to uni as a mature student and gained a first in Psychology (with Eng Lit). A psychology degree doesn't qualify you for anything, and as another poster said, there is a strong emphasis on statistical analysis (although more qualitative research is beginning to be included) so if you don't enjoy statistics then beware. I have since trained in counselling with the Foundation for Emotional Therapeutic Counselling, which is NCS recognised, which I could have done without the degree. I would not recommend a psychology degree unless you are prepared to progress to a Msc and further specialist post grad qualifications, e.g. criminal psych, business psych. Good luck!

With regards to counselling training, I'd be careful with that. At least a psychology degree is a degree. Since the restructure of mental health services in the UK under Layard etc counselling and psychotherapy have been pushed out to a great extent. Have a look at this website, a reaction to the lack of paid employment for counsellors ukcounsellors.co.uk/

Hey OP, I did a psych BSc but not OU. I really enjoyed it, very stats heavy. Nearly everyone on my course wanted to be practitioner psychologists, not many achieve it as there are so many psych grads. Competition is seriously fierce. Even though there is a call for more mental health professionals, it’s still tough getting into the prac. doctorates as there are so many psych grads with at least a 2.1, masters and relevant work experience . I was lucky, managed to get into Counselling Psych doctorate; over 200 applicants at that uni for 17 places and counselling psych isn’t funded!
If you want to do something along the lines of counselling in the NHS, may I suggest go for a trainee CBT position ( studying whilst working) or a course in IAPT high intensity CBT ? I think you need a degree first so psych would be a good choice and then go the cognitive behavioural route?
Very employable ( at the moment!) as CBT is a NICE recommended treatment as it’s short term so cheaper (although not always the most effective but don’t get me started!).
Have a look at jobs for cognitive behavioural therapists to get an idea of the qualifications they ask for. And good luck!

Oh and hello @HappyHedgehog247 What’s your field?

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.

There are many degrees at brick universities where you don't do a dissertation.

The Open degree is still available

I haven’t studied for years, I do have time but there might be the possibility of a baby at some point.

There are some courses that you can do for free with the OU,I think they are called 'open learn'or something similar. It might be worth trying something out to see how you cope before commiting to a degree.

I started one years ago. Even the OU lecturer said 'don't do it this way it's hard work' they were correct.