English literature degree at 52. Absolutely ridiculous?

[MaliceInWanderland]

I've been thinking about it for a while now and am almost decided on taking the plunge via the OU.

Part time so it'll take approximately 6 years which just makes the whole thing even more ludicrous

I have no qualifications really - a handful of GCSE's and that's it. I've always loved literature though and I'm at a point in my life where I'm looking for a new challenge

I work part time, my children are adults / almost adult and I can certainly spare the 12 or so hours of study a week

But is it just a really big self indulgent ego trip? A waste of time? Not like I could then use the degree (if I even manage to get it!) for anything as I'll be even more ancient than I am already!

Any thoughts would be appreciated

I'm excited for you, OP 🙂

How exciting OP. You can space the 6 years over 16 years and if you decide you've had enough then as you finish each level you'll qualify for a different qualification.
Level 1 - Certificate of Higher Education
Level 2 - Diploma of Higher Education

My great uncle, who left school at 14 to be an apprentice carpenter did a degree in history which he completed aged 75. Never too late to study if you are interested enough to do so for your own benefit.

If you are told 3 hours and use more, that's academic malpractice

You are told you have 24 hours but they emphasised you are not expected to use it all. But you are allowed to.

The university know 99% of students use most of that time to do the exam. It was discussed many times in the student /faculty meetings we had regularly.

It's probably not something most open university students come across as their assignments are mostly essays done across the module. Not 100% exam at end of the course.
A return to in person exams may happen at brick university-but students don't want it. They like open book (ie look things up in notes/google). And being able to type over hand writing is good. (Recalling the one in person exam I did just before Covid hit and an achy hand)

Last 2 exams I did professionally were online too but you were watched by a remote invigilator /strict 3 hours and no access to any texts. I had 100 flash cards to learn stuff. Absolutely mentally draining by the end of 3 hours.

So that's when "the fun of learning" is less fun. Unless you are happy to just pass.

I think my dad had one open university module that's an in person exam -so they do happen.

Go for it!I'm studying with the OU and love it. There's a woman on one of my meetups who is in her 60s currently studying arts and humanities. She's loving it 🙂 You will only regret not doing it!

OP, how are you finding it?

@MaliceInWanderland I am considering an oU English Lit degree. I'm 53 and wondering if you did start in October and how you are finding it. I say 'considering', actually I was going to start in October but due to a house move decided to wait until January.

I'm 54 and finished year 2 of my English Lit with Creative writing degree, in September. I'm doing it part time so it'll take me 6 years to finish it. As I think I said in my posts before, the first 2 years involve studying a lot of different humanities topics and through studying a variety of subjects, I've realised that the English Literature units were the ones I liked the least! 😂
So I'm going to switch from an English Literature with Creative Writing degree to an Arts and Humanities degree, which allows study of all different humanities topics.
I liked the Creative Writing and Classical Studies (looking at Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire) units the best so will probably focus on those, but could also do some History because I'm interested in that too.
I just thought I'd add my current experience to the thread!

I did creative writing 2 years of that - children literature and art history.

@Turtletunes and @AyrshireTryer thank you for responding. I wasn't sure if anyone would as it's over 5 months old now. I'm going to go for it: A111 and then the next one in October. I had hoped I could go from February to February but see that's not possible. There's much to be said in starting steadily. @AyrshireTryer which module includes children's literature? That sounds fabulous.

When I did my English lit degree there was someone who was probably in her 50s plus doing it. She’d been a SAHM but her kids were now older. She was great, had a laugh with us, worked harder than any of us 18-year-olds, got a first and went on to do a PhD. Now I’m in my 50s I’m remembering her example as I plan to retrain myself now my kids are older. Maybe you’ll be an example for someone younger as well?

Hi Cloudberry, what do you mean by you can't do it from February to February, I'm not quite sure that I understand? I start my study each February and it finishes in September, with the results out in October. So you can start each February if that's what you mean, you don't have to start one in October.

@Turtletunes you can start the two 60 credit modules for Year 1 in either October or February but the modules for Year 2 only start in October. I had thought to try and do it over 3 years; that would mean doing the two first year modules Feb-Sept ..... actually you would probably know if that's feasible? I don't want to find I bite off more than I can chew!

@cloudberry Ah I see now! I didn't even realise that the Level 2 and 3 modules only start in October. I've picked a History one for my first Level 2 year that luckily does start in Feb, but I'd better bear that in mind for future modules!

I think doing 2 modules simultaneously is the equivalent of full time study of 35 hours a week. I mean if you have the time then why not, you'll get your qualification in half the time of studying part time, but I would personally find it too much I think. A111 is quite easy to start off with, but I found with A112, I did need to study all the hours the OU suggested, particularly in assignment weeks so you would have some very full weeks of study, particularly towards the end.

@Turtletunes ok that's useful to know, thank you. My son will be starting uni in Sept 25 so I might regret it if I tried to do A11 and A112 together then. And wanting to pick up my business again next year after a couple of years of my head having to be elsewhere so I need to give it some more thought, clearly.

@MaliceInWanderland I would love to know how you found this last year of study ….

The reason I didn't pursue the second degree I was looking at was simple: I discovered I didn't want someone criticising my written work. I wrote for a living, and I dislike being told to change anything!

There is no such thing as a waste of education.