Open University

Hi everyone :smile:

I'm thinking about taking a degree course at the Open University. I'd really appreciate some opinions from anyone who has already done this/currently doing so. What are the good points and bad points?

Reply 1

Owly

Hi,

There's an OU sub-forum, if you post there, you'll hopefully get some replies:

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=206

Good luck with your studies :smile:

Reply 2

Daisy2

Thanks I'll try there :smile:

Reply 3

teresaq

I have done 7 courses and a year ago got a BA. I really enjoyed it - the materials are excellent and the tutors normally excellent. Mostly you write an essay about once a month and can work completely at your own pace. I had a bad experience on the last course when I got an unexpectedly low mark for my final project, after doing well at everything else. There is no mechanism to explain something like that to you, and they are refusing to allocate me a tutor to explain the disapointing result. So ..... its a sausage machine, normally very good at what it does, but don't expect to be treated as an individual.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 4

evening sunrise

It is much better than it used to be. I did my OU modules between 1985 and 1991, I met my wife the first year at summer school. Those modules are also the basis upon which we received unconditional offers from "brick" Unis where we start next September :smile:

.

I say much better because when we did it......

The only degree available was a BA General Honours, you could not get a specific subject degree, and even if all your modules were maths and science you still got a BA not BSc.

Science was not served well, I did the level 3 honours module in Cosmology and Relativity..........no calculus! It had no more content than reading the, at that time, still to be published.. A brief History of Time.

The above have been resolved for many years now making it an excellent alternative to full time, unless you have a very demanding career and a family. By demanding I mean 12 to 18 hour days often 7 days a week.

Be careful at interviews, some (most) employers view it as an excellent demonstration of commitment and drive, but I was challenged during more than one interview regarding their concern on the drain it would put on my time and energy levels for such a demanding position, which requires "24 x 7" commitment.