[Em_Huong]

Quite self explanatory really, I'm currently working full time (40 hpw) and will be starting a part time degree in October. If anyone is currently or have done this, could you share any experience or advice and the like. This is also my first time going to uni and I will be 24 when I start.

[Mr Dangermouse]

I know a guy who's working full time AND studying full time.

[bide_your_time]

(Original post by Mr Dangermouse)
I know a guy who's working full time AND studying full time.

Congratulations what a saint he must be. Also congrulations on the most pointless unhelpful post ever.

OP: It's hard work. At my company a lot of people who take on the degree after finishing a HNC find it really difficult to keep on top of the work as they start to get more important stuff to do at work and quite a few have dropped out of doing it. If you're dedicated to the course though and find it pretty interesting and don't mind sacrifcing time at home to do uni work its possible and not that difficult.

[Herr]

(Original post by Em_Huong)
Quite self explanatory really, I'm currently working full time (40 hpw) and will be starting a part time degree in October. If anyone is currently or have done this, could you share any experience or advice and the like. This is also my first time going to uni and I will be 24 when I start.

I used to work fulltime and went for night classes.

Now I work fulltime on average 60-70hpw and I do an executive MBA.

Where are you doing your studies at? Time management will be the most important thing.

(Original post by Mr Dangermouse)
I know a guy who's working full time AND studying full time.

That was me in my final year.

[Em_Huong]

(Original post by bide_your_time)
OP: It's hard work. At my company a lot of people who take on the degree after finishing a HNC find it really difficult to keep on top of the work as they start to get more important stuff to do at work and quite a few have dropped out of doing it. If you're dedicated to the course though and find it pretty interesting and don't mind sacrifcing time at home to do uni work its possible and not that difficult.

In my line of work it doesn't get that busy, maybe twice a year we'll have a few manic weeks and I may have to take work home to do but a part from that it's pretty stress free with not many deadlines. Thanks for your input!

[Em_Huong]

(Original post by Herr)
I used to work fulltime and went for night classes.

Now I work fulltime on average 60-70hpw and I do an executive MBA.

Where are you doing your studies at? Time management will be the most important thing.

I'll be attending evening classes at Birkbeck.

Is your MBA full time or part time?

[Herr]

(Original post by Em_Huong)
I'll be attending evening classes at Birkbeck.

Is your MBA full time or part time?

I started out at Birkbeck as well for my LL.B, generally all programs there are tailored for working adults, I won't say it is okay to miss classes but it isn't a fatal mistake. But one thing you should attend religiously are the tutorial/seminar sessions.

What will you be reading at Birkbeck?

My MBA is an executive one, we have classes from 9-3 M-Th once every 4-6 weeks.

[Em_Huong]

(Original post by Herr)
I started out at Birkbeck as well for my LL.B, generally all programs there are tailored for working adults, I won't say it is okay to miss classes but it isn't a fatal mistake. But one thing you should attend religiously are the tutorial/seminar sessions.

What will you be reading at Birkbeck?

My MBA is an executive one, we have classes from 9-3 M-Th once every 4-6 weeks.

So do you have to take time off work to attend the classes? How did you find it at Birkbeck?

I'll be doing a Planetary Science Bsc.

[Herr]

(Original post by Em_Huong)
So do you have to take time off work to attend the classes? How did you find it at Birkbeck?

I'll be doing a Planetary Science Bsc.

My employer gives me time off for my MBA class as they are part funding it in exchange for a long term contractual bond. I get time off for the classes and 2 weeks during the exam seasons.

Birkbeck all my classes were either in the evenings or on Saturday, I didn't have to take any time off then as I did it for own interest purposes. It isn't a bad place to study but isn't the best either as it doesn't have the usual university feel to it, also facilities aren't fantastic for a London university. Lectures, I'm not sure about the course you'd be doing but the law classes were huge, some have great instructors while others weren't fantastic as I found them to rely too much on their PowerPoint slides Student body, it's very mixed but most are just there to do their lectures and the moment class finishes they rush off for the the tube. But overall if you're a working adult then this is probably the best option for you.

[Em_Huong]

(Original post by Herr)
My employer gives me time off for my MBA class as they are part funding it in exchange for a long term contractual bond. I get time off for the classes and 2 weeks during the exam seasons.

Birkbeck all my classes were either in the evenings or on Saturday, I didn't have to take any time off then as I did it for own interest purposes. It isn't a bad place to study but isn't the best either as it doesn't have the usual university feel to it, also facilities aren't fantastic for a London university. Lectures, I'm not sure about the course you'd be doing but the law classes were huge, some have great instructors while others weren't fantastic as I found them to rely too much on their PowerPoint slides Student body, it's very mixed but most are just there to do their lectures and the moment class finishes they rush off for the the tube. But overall if you're a working adult then this is probably the best option for you.

Ah I see, makes sense to me now

I've read about what Birkbeck is like and I don't mind that its not got the usual university feel. Even a few years ago when I had planned to study at uni it wasn't the main thing that got me excited about it, so no problems there.

Can I ask, what are the lectures/tutorial sessions like? I'd really like to have some sort of idea. Or does it really depend on the course subject?

[Mr Dangermouse]

(Original post by bide_your_time)
Congratulations what a saint he must be. Also congrulations on the most pointless unhelpful post ever.

It was more making the point that it's easily possible to do so.


He works 32 hours and has 9 contact hours a week at uni.

[llys]

(Original post by Mr Dangermouse)
It was more making the point that it's easily possible to do so.

He works 32 hours and has 9 contact hours a week at uni.

Just out of curiosity, what does he study?

[Mr Dangermouse]

(Original post by llys)
Just out of curiosity, what does he study?

History and politics with primary education.

[Herr]

(Original post by Em_Huong)
Can I ask, what are the lectures/tutorial sessions like? I'd really like to have some sort of idea. Or does it really depend on the course subject?

It depends a lot on the subject and module.

Law modules were surprisingly good but most of them had gigantic class sizes when it came to lectures. Same goes for business and education classes, not sure if science based lectures are big as I never came across any.

Seminar/Tutorials also depends on the subject, some are on a first come first served basis while some you are allocated by the department, these are usually smaller around 10-20 students maximum. How good these are depends a lot on the leader for it, some are good but a lot of them aren't all that used to dealing with people who are working adults and have far more life experiences than them

One thing for sure, Birkbeck does seem to attract a lot of students who can be disruptive in lectures, some seem to be there more for the social aspect of it and believe it or not I knew someone in my class who was there purely to find a boyfriend

Overall it isn't bad, quality is good and standards are higher than many London universities.

[Em_Huong]

(Original post by Herr)
It depends a lot on the subject and module.

Law modules were surprisingly good but most of them had gigantic class sizes when it came to lectures. Same goes for business and education classes, not sure if science based lectures are big as I never came across any.

Seminar/Tutorials also depends on the subject, some are on a first come first served basis while some you are allocated by the department, these are usually smaller around 10-20 students maximum. How good these are depends a lot on the leader for it, some are good but a lot of them aren't all that used to dealing with people who are working adults and have far more life experiences than them

One thing for sure, Birkbeck does seem to attract a lot of students who can be disruptive in lectures, some seem to be there more for the social aspect of it and believe it or not I knew someone in my class who was there purely to find a boyfriend

Overall it isn't bad, quality is good and standards are higher than many London universities.

That would really annoy me if I had disruptive people in my classes, wasting other people's time and stuff! Grrr....

Did you find the work load/pressures bearable? I'll probably only have time to do assignments and stuff on the weekend, I hope that would be enough time :s

[Herr]

(Original post by Em_Huong)
That would really annoy me if I had disruptive people in my classes, wasting other people's time and stuff! Grrr....

Did you find the work load/pressures bearable? I'll probably only have time to do assignments and stuff on the weekend, I hope that would be enough time :s

There will always be disruptive students regardless of where you go. Hate those as well especially those that don't realize to switch off their mobilephones or they are coming to a lecture to learn something rather than spend time playing on their mobile.

As for work load, most Birkbeck programs require 3 evenings per week, the way I look at it if you use the other 2 evenings to do your academic work such as reading or doing assignments then you should have plenty of time for everything else and unless you have some major coursework you won't even need to use your weekends for any type of academic work.

If you have a job that requires a lot of travelling or loads of overtime, then you might not want to leave things to the last moment. Anyway one thing for sure when it comes to assignments they are generally few and far between, what you do need to be aware of is where there is any type of group work or presentation.... plenty of free-loaders/credit snatchers, used to hate those where groups are assigned by the instructor.

[Em_Huong]

(Original post by Herr)
There will always be disruptive students regardless of where you go. Hate those as well especially those that don't realize to switch off their mobilephones or they are coming to a lecture to learn something rather than spend time playing on their mobile.

As for work load, most Birkbeck programs require 3 evenings per week, the way I look at it if you use the other 2 evenings to do your academic work such as reading or doing assignments then you should have plenty of time for everything else and unless you have some major coursework you won't even need to use your weekends for any type of academic work.

If you have a job that requires a lot of travelling or loads of overtime, then you might not want to leave things to the last moment. Anyway one thing for sure when it comes to assignments they are generally few and far between, what you do need to be aware of is where there is any type of group work or presentation.... plenty of free-loaders/credit snatchers, used to hate those where groups are assigned by the instructor.

It's quite distracting when you're trying to concentrate on something but another person in the room is on their phone, I'd be tempted to lob a pen at them or something lol

That sounds okay, I wouldn't mind doing assignments on the weekend anyway if I really had to. I have a desk job and only very rarely I take my work home with me so it shouldn't be a problem

I know about the free loaders from college doing group work lol I hope it will be okay though, I realised when I start it would have been like five years since I've last been in an academic environment.

[tabshiftspace]

(Original post by Herr)
It depends a lot on the subject and module.

Law modules were surprisingly good but most of them had gigantic class sizes when it came to lectures. Same goes for business and education classes, not sure if science based lectures are big as I never came across any.

Seminar/Tutorials also depends on the subject, some are on a first come first served basis while some you are allocated by the department, these are usually smaller around 10-20 students maximum. How good these are depends a lot on the leader for it, some are good but a lot of them aren't all that used to dealing with people who are working adults and have far more life experiences than them

One thing for sure, Birkbeck does seem to attract a lot of students who can be disruptive in lectures, some seem to be there more for the social aspect of it and believe it or not I knew someone in my class who was there purely to find a boyfriend

Overall it isn't bad, quality is good and standards are higher than many London universities.

Disruptive classes etc? certainly not the case in the LLB. Those students are there to learn and the environment is very academic. A friend told me recently that Business degrees at most universities attract a range of academic to disruptive students because it is so general in it's subject that it attracts a wide range of people looking for different things, from just a "degree" to a serious career. I can't say I found that in the law degree - hence you stated that law didn't have that problem.