Working and studying both full time, is it possible?

[FuckKnowsMate]

Has anyone managed to complete a certificate in higher education studying full time whilst also working full time? I have registered an interest in completing a Certificate in Higher Education with OU but I work full time and will need to carry on working full time to afford to live! I could do part time study but ideally I just want to get it done in a year in order to progress career wise as soon as possible!

Some manage it, but a lot who start out full-time end up deferring one or more modules. It may depend what else you're doing - if you're doing a not-too-stressful 9-5 job, with a short commute and no family responsibilities, then you can probably manage. It may also depend on your prior knowledge - the OU assumes very little prior knowledge, so those who have met some of the ideas before can sometimes get through the material more quickly than others. That probably varies between subjects. The assumption is that you need about 36 hours a week for full time study - work out how that would fit in to your schedule.

You might have the option of starting half in October and half in February, which means there's only Feb-May which is full time - and you can reduce that a bit by getting ahead in the autumn. If you're finding 60 credits tough going by December, you can always decide then not to start the other two until the next year.

@lanthanum Ahh thanks for the response. I did end up posting in chat too as got no replies to this at first.
Anyway I work full time but I do shifts which include nights whereby I have absolutely nothing to do!! So I was thinking I could do a lot of the studying when I’m on nights!
Also no partner or children so no distractions in that sense.
It’s 2 modules in total, one compulsory and one chosen module. I’m hoping to start October but waiting on hearing back from a trainee job application first!

I did an evening degree while working full time. It was very hard going, but worth it on the end. I'm really glad I did it, as it really improved my career chances.

I worked full time and did my masters part time. It was hard work. There was a person in my course that did it full time. I'm not sure how she managed it.

The course I’m looking at is Certificate of Higher Education not sure how intense that would be compared to doing a proper degree, masters etc etc.
I think I could probably manage it to be fair but the OU website doesn’t recommend it and suggest contacting them first to discuss it which puts me off, I don’t want to be talked out of it

The Certificate of Higher Education with the OU is the first year of the degree - so it's the same intensity - except that the first year modules do not assume much prior knowledge, and will be more introductory in style, so more gentle (both in difficulty and in how much you are led through the material) than the second/third years.

If you can work whilst on a night shift, that's good. Perhaps experiment with doing an OpenLearn short course and see how effectively you can study whilst on shift.

The OU will just want to discuss with you whether you have enough time, so if you can tell them how you can fit in 36 hours study to your week, there will be no worries. They're wanting to weed out those who think they can fit all their study in at the weekend, who would be better sticking to 60 credits at a time. If they can see you've thought it through, and especially if you go for the strategy of starting one module in October with a view to starting the other in February, I think it will be fine.

DB recently interviewed graduate candidates for a junior role in his organisation. One young man had managed to work 37 hour weeks for a major retailer throughout his final year of a humanities degree: Low contact hours at university, obviously motivated and not a job where you have to take it home with you.

It’s definitely possible. Someone I was at uni with managed to get a job driving trucks at night in such a way they always got 4-5 hours sleep in the early hours but could get a full time Sunday night to Thursday night wage whilst also in uni Monday to Friday daytime. If you don’t have set contact hours you have to make it should be much easier to balance.

This is promising! I’m lucky that I don’t have anything else to think about like family life etc. I can definitely do the work when I’m on nights as there is nothing for me to do at work (hence why I need a new career ).
I will try a short course and see how I get on with that!