Can you make friends and socialise at open uni?

Usman97

Just wondering if you can or not?

Reply 1

solipse

I've made some great friends during my OU degree, some I met in tutorials and others via Facebook. It's definitely possible. Some people also organise meetups with other nearby students and there are societies for students with certain interests, eg OU Alchemy for chemists, etc.

Posted from TSR Mobile

(edited 9 years ago)

Open University

Milton Keynes

Reply 2

Usman97

Great! Thats given me some hope. I genuinely thought doing a OU degree meant being secluded within your home due to it being 'distance learning' but thats good! How often are tutorials and can you talk to people in your class and nearby via the website?

people nearby*

You can be as (anti) social as you like with the OU. The number of tutorials offered depends on your modules. Most of mine (in English/humanities) offered around one per month plus 1 or 2 day schools. My creative writing courses only had 2 day schools and some online tutorials. I've heard that some people end up having online tutorials only but could be because they live in remote areas. If you know the modules that you want to do you could check in the relevant Facebook groups and see how many tutorials are offered.

There are often tutor group and module forums on the OU website but it's usually less formal on the Facebook groups.

Btw they have a weekend conference in Milton Keynes every 2 years. I went to this year's one (travel, hotel and food provided) and it was a great opportunity to meet other OU students from all over the country. I had a great time there and met some lovely people.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 5

Gridiron-Gangster

Original post by Usman97

Just wondering if you can or not?

I certainly kept in touch with a couple of people and tutors after I completed my OU studies though really with it being a distance qualification, it usually sits besides your everyday commitments.

It just meant I partied harder when I went onto postgrad study at a brick university.

Reply 6

Odd Future

To be honest, you're not going to make friends at open university. Maybe at a tutorial and even then the chances are you'll live miles away from them. so just make sure you have a life outside of it.

Reply 7

lubna jebeen

Original post by Usman97

Just wondering if you can or not?

hi usman
you can socialise at the open university.you ca socialise and chat with me if you want.

Reply 8

lubna jebeen

Original post by lubna jebeen

hi usman
you can socialise at the open university.you can socialise and chat with me if you want.

Reply 9

katie_214

[QUOTE="jebeen;51155037" lubna="lubna"]

Original post by lubna jebeen

hi usman
you can socialise at the open university.you can socialise and chat with me if you want.

of course. I've only been to one tutorial so far, and spoke to them all. If not put a few posts on the tutor group forum, or their facebook page if the module has one if your interested.

Good luck in your studies.

Reply 10

empiricspirit

Yes you can make friends while being an OU student. But don't expect the OU to be any direct help with that. Also don't expect OU to give you the same 'student experience' as a typical brick uni. In fact expect many of your fellow OU students to be 40-50 year old women you won't be able to relate to at all as a young undergraduate.
Definitively don't expect to make 'lifelong friendships' or connections as some people have had during their brick uni degrees. Of course there's no guarantee that you'd make those while attending a brick uni, but there's an environment that reinforces that far more than the OU.