Halfway through postgrad OU course but jaded and broke...

[AlexanderSkarsgardIWould]

Any thoughts? I've done one postgrad social sciences module with the Open University and need to do another to get a PGCert in Social Sciences, which I'm signed up to start in March. However I'm feeling very unenthusiastic about the prospect. For one thing, we are totally broke. I'm funding the course myself, through monthly payments. The first module was a real struggle financially and I keep thinking about other things I could spend the money on (like a family holiday, or hole-less work shoes, or driving lessons, or paying off my overdraft (or credit card or the money I owe my family...).

Furthermore, I'm nearly 30 and I feel like I've spent all my adult life in higher education (I started a degree, dropped out, started another degree, completed it, started nurse training, left when I fell pregnant, started a distance learning course with a campus-based university, left after doing one assignment coz I realised it was shit, did my OU module (OU: much better distance learning provider), did a credit-bearing Introduction to Counselling Skills course in evening classes at my local university). I'm absolutely sick of writing essays.

I would just put it off for a while - usually you have up to 8 years to complete stuff with the OU - but the OU is "reviewing" its PG social sciences provision and all current students must finish their courses by next year. Also the module I've been planning to do (for its cheap price as well as its content) is running for the last time in May. We were asked to fill out market research questionnaires on how much we'd be prepared to pay for PG study so I suspect the OU is going to put its fees up imminently, another reason for studying now rather than later.

I'm aware I've chopped and changed my direction a lot. When I was younger I didn't know what I wanted to do, not exactly uncommon, but now I think I've found my vocation as a charity administrator. I started the course because I wanted the challenge of studying at PG level; therefore I don't need to finish it per se, but I'm worried it'll look bad for CV purposes etc. if I don't.

I got decent marks in my first module.

Bump!

Have you just got to do one more module? Where do you think the degree will take you? Do you find enough time for studying or is that hard too?

If you don't finish it there is no reason to put it on your cv, but at the same time you have started and not finished a number of other courses, so for your own benefit it might be good to finish. It is just another 9 months. Do enquire about financial implications of stopping. On my module if you stop early on then there is less financial penalty. You could look through the materials and assessments and see how interesting it is, and how useful it will be. Also look at whether it is examinable. Motivating yourself for an exam is harder than individual assignments imo.

You do have my sympathies though as dh is finishing his nth degree and it has been a big drag not only on money but also family time.

Alexander the OU postgraduate changes are a real pain and have forced people to take courses at times that aren't convenient to them or to double up. I'm about to start a module in May that is compulsory for the social science masters and is on its last presentation. If there was any choice I wouldn't be studying over the summer but I have decided to embrace it

Only you can decide whether you can step up the effort to take the course. It would look better to have completed the PG Cert but on the other hand the courses can stand alone and you have shown that you can do well at postgraduate level.

Have just realised I put I'm signed up to start my next module in March - that should have been May. It is examinable, but I actually prefer doing exams to coursework. Three hours and it's all over! Unlike my last module, which was three 2000 word assignments and one 3000 word assignment. That last assignment was tough going - I really felt after that that I might go mad if I spent any more time in front of a computer screen and didn't want to continue, it was when I got my final result and realised I'd done quite well that I felt I should push on and complete it, and signed up for the next module. (I'm dyspraxic which makes extended written projects a little akin to putting my brain through a mangle anyway - I like learning but I don't like writing about it!).

I honestly don't think the course is going to lead me anywhere. I'm currently doing voluntary work, which I think is much more likely to get me to where I want to be i.e. working for a charity in a paid position. I also think there are other courses that would help me more e.g. IT (initially I thought I would just do those as well at some point). Not finishing could still look quite bad though.

The module I'm signed up for costs something like £745. Beginning in November, there is another module I could do for the same price that looks boring, and two other modules that look quite interesting but cost something like £1245. That means monthly repayments of £250 compared to £150. There isn't much choice coz a lot of the modules that used to count towards the PGCert have been discontinued (I didn't know this would happen when I started the course and am quite annoyed about that).

It's possible that when the OU announce what their new PG social sciences provision will be I'll be able to transfer the credit I've obtained towards a new course after having a break from it all. But the OU are remaining tight-lipped about their plans.

Finding time to study was a challenge the first time round but now DS is in nursery so I think it'd be easier now, that's not something I'm really worrying about.

Ooh, which course is that, webwiz? It's Discourse Analysis I'm due to do. Introduction to Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis is the one I think looks quite dull, and Psychometrics and Environmental Responsibility are the ones I think look interesting but the cost puts me off. Investigating the Psychological World is the module I've already done.

I think I read somewhere that you won't be able to transfer any old modules into the new postgraduate qualifications.

I am about to start Ethnography - I have already done Discourse Analysis and although I loved it it was very difficult conceptually at the start (lots of philosophy!). Lots of people failed the exam on the presentation that I did but as I'd done well on the essays throughout the course and had a fab tutor I had a good basis for revision.

Introduction to Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis isn't quite as dull as it sounds because you get to focus on the one that you are more interested in. It wasn't my favourite course though more of a necessary evil.

I just have Ethnography and then I'll be doing the year long dissertation. I'm involved in the voluntary sector as well and want to move into a paid position. I'm planning to do my dissertation on something that relates to the area I volunteer in and I'll be using discourse analysis. I have no idea whether this will help careerwise but I want to complete the masters for personal satisfaction anyway.

I seriously thought about Ethnography but it was the exam for Discourse Analysis that swung it for me.

You used to be able to transfer 30 credits towards the PGCert in Environmental Decision Making and the PGCert in Systems Thinking in Practice, but they've stopped that. I think the OU have realised they can get more money out of people that way. EDM interested me particularly coz I may at some point stand for election to my local council as a member of the Green Party so actually might have used it - I went for Social Sciences in the end for cost purposes (though I am interested in it too). Am I sounding like a right old tight-arse yet?!

webmiz, what has your favourite module been?

Ethnography has an exam as well and it looks less difficult than Discourse Analysis.

Discourse Analysis has been my favourite so far, the two other courses I've done Investigating the Psychological world and Quant/Qual research methods were "learning to research" courses and so not as satisfying as learning about a type of research area in detail.

I'm actually going loopy. Why did I think Ethnography had a final project? D'oh!

It does talk about doing a project throughout the course in the description but its for TMAs not the final assessment.

Good luck with the exam MrsMagnolia - Ethnography looks like its going to be a nice course.

Yeah, good luck.

Is it D849 you're talking about webwiz and Alex?

I'm just starting it, the website went live today and I'm surprised how much I've missed the pressure

I finished witnesses, experts and evidence on trial a few weeks ago with a horrible expert report which seemed to be universally hated by everyone on the OU forum, have to sweat it out until June to get the results.

Agree as well about the money and all the things I'm thinking it could be spent on, but I'm on 4 of the 6 of a masters in forensic psychology so no turning back now

How did your exam go MrsM?

'Should we have a OU masters dedicated support thread?'

With the highs and very deep lows you get doing it, sounds like a brilliant idea - can you link if you set one up please?

If you're in a low there's bound to be someone who's just had a 'ahhh, I get it!' moment to pull you up by the boot straps.

I had an exam with D872 (which was a great course) and got the sweats realising I hadn't revised a bit I should have if I were you I'd cross the 'fail' bridge if and when you come to it, why tie yourself in knots when it's more likely that you've passed?

Getting lost on the way to the exam is the stuff of nightmares, well mine anyway They want you to pass, so 40's not a lot to get (if that's what you need?).

Found it

Link to it here

Sorry for hijacking Alex

Don't forget that the exams aren't marked as harshly as TMA's MrsMagnolia. Fingers crossed that its above the magic 40.

Agentzigzag I have done D849 - I liked some bits of it and not others. I did the first presentation so hopefully some of the teething problems will have gone now.

How long ago did you do it webwiz?

It looks like it's going to be hard work seeing where the portfolio thingy questions fit into the info they're giving you to answer them.

Taking notes is one thing, but actually making you think all the way though it...

One of the biggest books I've ever had on a course though - it's hooking

I would do it NOW whilst you can. Yes the financial burden is a right pain but trust me it's only going to get ALOT higher.
Loads of internal changes going on at OU currently mainly financial. So I'd do what you need to do to get your qual ASAP.
I am also studying in soc sci but undergrad currently.
Good luck with it all

AgentZigZag I did the May 2011 presentation of D849. I diligently filled in my portfolio for at least two months and then got completely fed up with and went back to my usual note taking

The online exercises/discussions drove me mad as well because some people were soooo far ahead that they had discussed everything relevant by the time I was ready to join in

Hi, sorry, I've only just realised you've all been chatting on here without me. Yes, D849 is Introduction to Quantitative and Qualitative Research Methods. I see D872 is Forensic Psychology: Crime, Offenders and Policing, and D843 is Discourse Analysis, the module I'm signed up to do. Unfortunately ladies I have taken the decision to withdraw, just from that module not from the PGCert altogether. I just need a break from it all and will see how I feel when the next lot of modules starts in November, and what my financial situation's like (I might have started some freelance work by then and have more disposable income). If I end up taking a longer break I might just have to start over. At least I know now I can study at postgrad level. Good luck with your studies everybody.