PhD - OU or Red Brick?

[DarkRipePlum]

I’ve wanted to do a PhD for a while. I obtained both my undergrad (OU) and Masters (red brick but distance) part time alongside full-time work. So I’m very used to motivating myself and studying. I’m finding figuring out where to do a PhD difficult and I mostly just want to be left alone to study my subject (as opposed to doing teaching, for example). Anyone have any experience with OU for PhD? Any good? I need to be distance and some PhD require annual residential which is no good for me.

My subject is creative writing.

Isn’t funding the crucial issue?

Distance and part time is incredibly common for doing a PhD these days. You might need to attend a campus for some things, so you'll need to check first, there are generally some mandatory training modules to do which might or might not be virtual, and you might have to attend for upgrades/annual reviews. The requirements vary hugely by institution and some supervisors will be more flexible than others.

I finished last year and my big take away was that getting the right supervisors is the most important element, if they're a good fit for you and your project it makes it all fairly smooth sailing.

yep, supervision is more important than institution. Search for who your ideal supervisor would be.

I’ll probably be self funding.

Thank you. I’ve been struggling to narrow down my topic but I had a lightbulb moment earlier today so I’m now looking more closely at that topic and looking back at possible supervisors again.