Choosing a Course with the OU

Hi all! I'm loving this forum; I've learned so much about the Open University, and most of what I couldn't get from here I managed to get from a lovely representative I called today. :smile:

So, I've figured out my funding. I live in Scotland, so it's just an application to SAAS and all should be taken care of. I'm struggling with two things:

1. Whether or not I have any transferable credits, and;
2. Which course to sign up for!

In regards to the first point, I started university at a trad. bricks and mortar uni here in Scotland. I stayed only through my first set of four classes and completed the examinations for those four classes, all of which I passed. I don't remember the exact class names off the top of my head, but the classes were of Economics, Sociology, Marine Law and Management.

Does anyone know if these mid-first-year exams are transferable, and how much credits they'd be worth if they are?

As for the second point, I know this isn't something anybody else can do for me. I'm torn between a traditionally vocational degree - like Management or Engineering, etc - and something that I might find more enjoyable, like English or History. I'm certain I'll find it easier to self-manage my course if it's in a subject I enjoy.

I'm hoping that you all could tell me your experiences with your degrees, which classes you found fun or what process you went through to choose your course! I don't need a specific degree; I already work full-time and I enjoy my work. The degree is purely for me - that being said, I don't want to do the Open degree.

Any advice on how you chose your degrees or what you think might work best? Cheers!

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 1

sputum

1 no idea sorry.

I didn't have to select a degree when I started, just pick a module pay the then-manageable fees and do it. If I'd had to sign up to a whole degree and start at L1 I wouldn't have done (and would have picked the wrong subject if I had.) I did two java modules because my self-studied coding sucked and I wanted to know why, grabbed a database module that work agreed to fund, found it unenjoyable and the rest of the IT curriculum not very inspiring and thought about a combined maths/IT degree. Once I did the L2 pure maths course I knew I'd found my subject and was very happy I'd randomed my way into it.

It isn't something anyone else can do for you but that doesn't make discussion worthless. You only have so much to go on and you may change your mind even if you were 'certain' now. If your degree is really for your own pleasure then you can pick whatever you like regardless of the intended purpose - I don't think the engineers I bumped into enjoyed their study any less because it was vocational.

Hope whatever you pick works out but it's not the end of the world if it doesn't. I wish I had your problem to be honest :smile:

Open University

Milton Keynes

Reply 2

Persipan

I don't know how much help my experiences will be, because although I did my OU undergraduate degree 'for me' that actually led to me choosing to do the Open Degree rather than a named programme. Basically, I knew I wanted to do the Creative Writing modules, so initially I looked at which named programmes those were available in, so I was thinking about English/humanities type degrees. At level 3 there was another module that interested me a lot within those routes; and at level 2 there were some things which looked fairly enjoyable. But, in order to get to that point, I would have had to do AA100, and the more I thought about it, the more I didn't want to do it. And that would have been a year of study, and although I know lots of people have really enjoyed that module, it didn't really speak to me. At all.

Whereas, when I looked at the wider selection of level 1 modules, there were other things which sounded much more enjoyable (especially U101* aka 'Lola'). So, I thought sod it, and did the Open Degree, so I could just do modules I actually wanted to do. It meant I could combine the Creative Writing modules with the Design and Innovation ones - U101, T217, T317 - and effectively build a joint honours degree. The two subjects complemented one another really well - my A215 EMA, for example, was actually inspired by something I'd read about in U101.

So, I guess my advice would be to look ahead as far as possible, and see what modules would be compulsory in each of the degrees you're interested in, and what would be optional, and whether they sound good to you. I also looked at the pass statistics for the modules I was interested in - obviously they can vary a bit from year to year, but where a module had a pattern of lots of people dropping out/failing/getting lower grades, I tended to be a bit cautious as to why that was.

In terms of credit transfer, you'd need to dig out the relevant details and see what level they were counted at, and whether you completed whole modules (transferrable) or not (not). You'd also probably be limited in what you could transfer in to a named programme (i.e. if you chose, say, an English degree then credits related to English would be more likely to be accepted, although there's sometimes scope to bring in a teeny bit of something unrelated).

(*U101 was, indeed, ridiculously fun.)

Reply 3

SuperCat007

Original post by PocketGinger

Hi all! I'm loving this forum; I've learned so much about the Open University, and most of what I couldn't get from here I managed to get from a lovely representative I called today. :smile:

1. You'd need to ask the OU. Though the Scottish education system is different to that in England so who knows.

2. I wouldn't exactly call Management vocational, I mean you need experience to manage something. Why Engineering? Because you think it'll pay well, or because you have a true love for it? If your passion is History or English then you should study that. For many jobs the subject of the degree doesn't matter, it's the fact that you have a degree people want to see. However, if you have a career in mind which requires a specific degree then obviously study the degree which will help you get into that degree.

Choosing a Course with the OU

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