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Leave a top 10 uni for Open University??

I'm currently a first year at a top 10 uni. I enjoy my course and love my uni dearly however my course isn't going to help me get to where I want to be upon graduation. To complete my career goals I ideally need a degree in linguistics or a foreign language but I don't have the A-Levels to be accepted onto one of these courses at any Uni.
I've spoken with my academic tutor who has advised me that staying at my uni will help me get good jobs etc. when I graduate but acknowledged they might not be in the field I am aiming to go into...

Do I leave my uni and take up a linguistic/language course with Open University? Or is this a bad idea? I want to do an MA in TESOL or linguistics after my degree, do you think I will be accepted with an OU course?

Many thanks to anyone who offers advice :smile:

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Original post by V94
I'm currently a first year at a top 10 uni. I enjoy my course and love my uni dearly however my course isn't going to help me get to where I want to be upon graduation. To complete my career goals I ideally need a degree in linguistics or a foreign language but I don't have the A-Levels to be accepted onto one of these courses at any Uni.
I've spoken with my academic tutor who has advised me that staying at my uni will help me get good jobs etc. when I graduate but acknowledged they might not be in the field I am aiming to go into...

Do I leave my uni and take up a linguistic/language course with Open University? Or is this a bad idea? I want to do an MA in TESOL or linguistics after my degree, do you think I will be accepted with an OU course?

Many thanks to anyone who offers advice :smile:


I've moved this to the Open Uni forum for you :smile:
Student at the Open University
Open University
Milton Keynes
Visit website
Original post by V94
I'm currently a first year at a top 10 uni. I enjoy my course and love my uni dearly however my course isn't going to help me get to where I want to be upon graduation. To complete my career goals I ideally need a degree in linguistics or a foreign language but I don't have the A-Levels to be accepted onto one of these courses at any Uni.
I've spoken with my academic tutor who has advised me that staying at my uni will help me get good jobs etc. when I graduate but acknowledged they might not be in the field I am aiming to go into...

Do I leave my uni and take up a linguistic/language course with Open University? Or is this a bad idea? I want to do an MA in TESOL or linguistics after my degree, do you think I will be accepted with an OU course?

Many thanks to anyone who offers advice :smile:


What course are you doing currently and where?


Posted from TSR Mobile
Original post by V94
I'm currently a first year at a top 10 uni. I enjoy my course and love my uni dearly however my course isn't going to help me get to where I want to be upon graduation. To complete my career goals I ideally need a degree in linguistics or a foreign language but I don't have the A-Levels to be accepted onto one of these courses at any Uni.
I've spoken with my academic tutor who has advised me that staying at my uni will help me get good jobs etc. when I graduate but acknowledged they might not be in the field I am aiming to go into...

Do I leave my uni and take up a linguistic/language course with Open University? Or is this a bad idea? I want to do an MA in TESOL or linguistics after my degree, do you think I will be accepted with an OU course?

Many thanks to anyone who offers advice :smile:


Which language do you want to study? Your current university might not let you study languages without an A level but I know for a fact that many other universities do.

The Open University is very good for most subjects but I would not advise doing a language degree there. Most language degrees at conventional brick universities will involve studying your language's literature, history, linguistics, politics, translation and other cultural topics - you won't do any of this at the OU, it is just language learning from a book. You have very little contact with tutors at the OU, once a month is normal - this means you have almost no opportunity to practise speaking and listening. There is also no year abroad (which is an essential if you want to attain something like fluency). In short, the OU is not the way to learn languages.
Many unis allow you to swap out some of your modules and study a language ab initio - have you checked whether this is the case for yours? Also, what are your year abroad or Erasmus opportunities, and would these support your career goals?

Also, aren't a lot of TESOL masters aimed at experienced practitioners? From what I can see they seem not to ask for specific degrees, or if they do, to ask for English?
I wonder if you can just get a one year certificate from the Open Uni and just do it over a long time period to lessen the load. I might consider not telling your brick university, however
Reply 6
I don't know enough about the subject area really but I was just wondering if there are options out there for you to study at masters level in the areas you want to after you complete your degree? Or what about short-courses or distance learning outside of university term time? A year abroad during your current course?

It seems a shame to leave a course you enjoy and a university you like when you cannot be sure the grass really is greener on the other side. There must have been a reason why you selected your current course knowing what it would offer, so what has changed in the last year?
In a similar situation, though not to do with course, just going through health problems at the moment, and one of the options is to do open university. Though the missing out of the social life and dropping out from a top 10 uni is just too much for me.

A lot of universities have an option to learn an extra language while on course. You will have a slot that is fitted into your lecture timetable. You will then take an exam for it at the end of the year and walk away with a certification. And they do it so you attend the class depending on your level, e.g. an advanced language one to fluency for those who are A level standard. Or a class for those completely new to the subject.

What career do you want to do? Is it a must to have a language degree? Because you could do something like the above to just prove you can speak a certain language. The above also might help if you want to get on a linguistics masters degree in the future or something.
Reply 8
Thanks :smile:
Original post by BigV
I don't know enough about the subject area really but I was just wondering if there are options out there for you to study at masters level in the areas you want to after you complete your degree? Or what about short-courses or distance learning outside of university term time? A year abroad during your current course?

It seems a shame to leave a course you enjoy and a university you like when you cannot be sure the grass really is greener on the other side. There must have been a reason why you selected your current course knowing what it would offer, so what has changed in the last year?


It really depends on the languages. In general, the more obscure the language the more likely it is you can study it from scratch at master's level. The OP certainly won't be able to start learning French/German/Spanish on an MA. I also think it unlikely that the OP would be able to do an MA in linguistics with background in Theatre Studies.
Reply 10
Original post by IceJJFish(II)
What course are you doing currently and where?


Posted from TSR Mobile


I study Theatre after GCSEs I decided I wanted to be a theatre practitioner and did a BTEC instead of A-Levels which is why I couldn't study English or a Language at Uni. Bad choice as college pretty much killed my love for theatre haha. I am at Lancaster University

*As pointed out this is no longer a top 10 university, I think it is maybe at 11? Not sure. However still is top 10 for my course which is more important than overall for me to be honest, sorry for any confusion :smile:

(edited 9 years ago)
Reply 11
Original post by Persipan
Many unis allow you to swap out some of your modules and study a language ab initio - have you checked whether this is the case for yours? Also, what are your year abroad or Erasmus opportunities, and would these support your career goals?

Also, aren't a lot of TESOL masters aimed at experienced practitioners? From what I can see they seem not to ask for specific degrees, or if they do, to ask for English?


I have spoken with several people at my university but I can only take a language as extra curricular, some TESOL masters are aimed at experienced people yes but not all, also I want to do either linguistics or TESOL as a MA depending on what the course offers, I have looked into my study abroad options however for my course I can only go USA or Australia neither of which are useful to me :-/
Original post by V94
I study Theatre after GCSEs I decided I wanted to be a theatre practitioner and did a BTEC instead of A-Levels which is why I couldn't study English or a Language at Uni. Bad choice as college pretty much killed my love for theatre haha. I am at Lancaster University.


Lancaster isn't a top 10 :smile:
Reply 13
Original post by RelaxedPenguin
In a similar situation, though not to do with course, just going through health problems at the moment, and one of the options is to do open university. Though the missing out of the social life and dropping out from a top 10 uni is just too much for me.

A lot of universities have an option to learn an extra language while on course. You will have a slot that is fitted into your lecture timetable. You will then take an exam for it at the end of the year and walk away with a certification. And they do it so you attend the class depending on your level, e.g. an advanced language one to fluency for those who are A level standard. Or a class for those completely new to the subject.

What career do you want to do? Is it a must to have a language degree? Because you could do something like the above to just prove you can speak a certain language. The above also might help if you want to get on a linguistics masters degree in the future or something.



I want to get into teaching English as a foreign language primarily I know you don't need a degree in English or an MA at all for the majority of TEFL jobs however there are certain programmes I would like to be a part of that require this, there are also a few other career goals I have in mind. Though teaching English is certainly my main goal, I already hold a qualification in TEFL but this isn't enough to get me to where I want to be, a Linguistics degree or language-related degree is really what I need.
Reply 14
Original post by SmaugTheTerrible
Lancaster isn't a top 10 :smile:


It was until very recently and still is in my particular subject ^.^
Original post by V94
I want to get into teaching English as a foreign language primarily I know you don't need a degree in English or an MA at all for the majority of TEFL jobs however there are certain programmes I would like to be a part of that require this, there are also a few other career goals I have in mind. Though teaching English is certainly my main goal, I already hold a qualification in TEFL but this isn't enough to get me to where I want to be, a Linguistics degree or language-related degree is really what I need.


If you're just in year 1, you could drop out and sign up to a college, and do the A levels you require. If the job really requires a language related degree and you are competing against people with top 10 uni language degrees, then not sure open uni will cut it.

You mention you did to a BTECs though? Maybe could you get onto a course which requires a foundation year? I'm not really too knowledgeable about the arts, but I do know in science that's a possibility.
Original post by V94
It was until very recently and still is in my particular subject ^.^


Regardless of rankings, based on reputation and isn't and never has been a top 10. A good University nonetheless but not a top 10. Btw I'm not trying to be rude :wink:
I'm not sure why you're ignoring my posts. Can you please tell me what language you want to learn? If you are serious about studying linguistics/languages then you are going to have to drop out, and this needs to be before the second year starts or else you won't get funding.

You can do a degree in linguistics or languages even if you don't have A levels. You can either do an Access to HE course at your local college. These courses are for people who don't have A levels and they are accepted by pretty much every university in the country. Or you can apply for a degree that includes a foundation year (Durham does this, for example). I don't know much about TEFL jobs other than they're extraordinarily low paid (A TEFL teacher in Thailand for example will only earn 1/4 of what a PGCE-qualified international teacher would earn, for example).
(edited 9 years ago)
Reply 18
Original post by Snufkin
I'm not sure why you're ignoring my posts. Can you please tell me what language you want to learn? If you are serious about studying linguistics/languages then you are going to have to drop out, and this needs to be before the second year starts or else you won't get funding.

You can do a degree in linguistics or languages even if you don't have A levels. You can either do an Access to HE course at your local college. These courses are for people who don't have A levels and they are accepted by pretty much every university in the country. Or you can apply for a degree that includes a foundation year (Durham does this, for example). I don't know much about TEFL jobs other than they're extraordinarily low paid (A TEFL teacher in Thailand for example will only earn 1/4 of what a PGCE-qualified international teacher would earn, for example).


Ok sorry... I wasn't ignoring your posts I was away from my computer and I can't reply on my phone for some reason... Also I don't want to do a TEFL job for money, it's because it's something I enjoy doing, I've taken part in several language exchange programmes and volunteered as a language teacher at college etc. Thailand isn't where I'm looking to go and I would be looking more into working at a university rather than a private or public school which is better paid, also your housing is usually taken care of by your employer which is a huge financial weight lifted off of your shoulders.

Language-wise I'm looking at Chinese or Japanese or Korean. Would I still be able to get full funding for my entire course even though I've already used a terms money? Especially if it was a 4 year course? I don't really understand the funding part and it's my main worry about dropping out.

Again I'm sorry for not replying earlier but I'm having issues with using TSR on my phone, I appreciate your response.
Reply 19
Original post by RelaxedPenguin
If you're just in year 1, you could drop out and sign up to a college, and do the A levels you require. If the job really requires a language related degree and you are competing against people with top 10 uni language degrees, then not sure open uni will cut it.

You mention you did to a BTECs though? Maybe could you get onto a course which requires a foundation year? I'm not really too knowledgeable about the arts, but I do know in science that's a possibility.


This is something I am now considering, particularly the foundation year course but I'm not sure how funding would work

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