Open University
Milton Keynes
is the Open University right for me
Hi all,
I have my exams this month, my current plan has been to go to Loughborough university with grades ABB. however I am honestly thinking I might just miss out on this, so I started searching what are my options is this happens.
the first choice is clearing, I could go to a different uni with extra places available. however there is no guarantee they'd offer the course I wanted and also, i'm not a person who likes unfamiliar places, so to go to a random uni I know almost nothing about would be so daunting for me, i couldn't do it.
the second choice is to do resits. If i ended up getting a C instead of a B for example I could take year 13 again to get this grade up to reapply for loughborough. however I think i'd feel quite sad seeing all my friends move on while I keep doing the same thing.
So then I looked into the Open University, and honestly I am feeling quite hopeful about this. Here are my thoughts about why this could be right for me:
pros:
+ no grade requirements, something I am terrified for as I really struggle in exam situations
+ only half the price of a normal university (since I would not be using their accommodation)
+ from my research, it looks to be an equally respected uni compared to if i had got my degree in a physical uni.
+ I could continue living in the comfort of my home, I don't feel prepared to move away and live by myself.
cons:
- only con I can really see is that I wouldn't get a social life. this is something my parents really advised against because they want me to experience the social aspect of a university. I am not sure what my options would be here in terms of making friends.
- I am also worried I might just be using this as a cop out to just give up with my exams now
Also, there's a little bit of me that thiks I only ever went through the uni application process I did because it was what was expected of me/everyone else was doing it. my school heavily influenced kids to apply with UCAS and i think i had partly no other idea what to do so I just applied.
I would like to know some of your' thoughts on what to do here. I am not very confident for exams, and I really think I'm going to just miss out. could anyone please give me their advice on what they think I should do? thank you so much.
- an A level student terrified for her exams.
I have my exams this month, my current plan has been to go to Loughborough university with grades ABB. however I am honestly thinking I might just miss out on this, so I started searching what are my options is this happens.
the first choice is clearing, I could go to a different uni with extra places available. however there is no guarantee they'd offer the course I wanted and also, i'm not a person who likes unfamiliar places, so to go to a random uni I know almost nothing about would be so daunting for me, i couldn't do it.
the second choice is to do resits. If i ended up getting a C instead of a B for example I could take year 13 again to get this grade up to reapply for loughborough. however I think i'd feel quite sad seeing all my friends move on while I keep doing the same thing.
So then I looked into the Open University, and honestly I am feeling quite hopeful about this. Here are my thoughts about why this could be right for me:
pros:
+ no grade requirements, something I am terrified for as I really struggle in exam situations
+ only half the price of a normal university (since I would not be using their accommodation)
+ from my research, it looks to be an equally respected uni compared to if i had got my degree in a physical uni.
+ I could continue living in the comfort of my home, I don't feel prepared to move away and live by myself.
cons:
- only con I can really see is that I wouldn't get a social life. this is something my parents really advised against because they want me to experience the social aspect of a university. I am not sure what my options would be here in terms of making friends.
- I am also worried I might just be using this as a cop out to just give up with my exams now
Also, there's a little bit of me that thiks I only ever went through the uni application process I did because it was what was expected of me/everyone else was doing it. my school heavily influenced kids to apply with UCAS and i think i had partly no other idea what to do so I just applied.
I would like to know some of your' thoughts on what to do here. I am not very confident for exams, and I really think I'm going to just miss out. could anyone please give me their advice on what they think I should do? thank you so much.
- an A level student terrified for her exams.
(edited 11 months ago)
Original post by wkathryn17
Hi all,
I have my exams this month, my current plan has been to go to Loughborough university with grades ABB. however I am honestly thinking I might just miss out on this, so I started searching what are my options is this happens.
the first choice is clearing, I could go to a different uni with extra places available. however there is no guarantee they'd offer the course I wanted and also, i'm not a person who likes unfamiliar places, so to go to a random uni I know almost nothing about would be so daunting for me, i couldn't do it.
the second choice is to do resits. If i ended up getting a C instead of a B for example I could take year 13 again to get this grade up to reapply for loughborough. however I think i'd feel quite sad seeing all my friends move on while I keep doing the same thing.
So then I looked into the Open University, and honestly I am feeling quite hopeful about this. Here are my thoughts about why this could be right for me:
pros:
+ no grade requirements, something I am terrified for as I really struggle in exam situations
+ only half the price of a normal university (since I would not be using their accommodation)
+ from my research, it looks to be an equally respected uni compared to if i had got my degree in a physical uni.
+ I could continue living in the comfort of my home, I don't feel prepared to move away and live by myself.
cons:
- only con I can really see is that I wouldn't get a social life. this is something my parents really advised against because they want me to experience the social aspect of a university. I am not sure what my options would be here in terms of making friends.
- I am also worried I might just be using this as a cop out to just give up with my exams now
Also, there's a little bit of me that thiks I only ever went through the uni application process I did because it was what was expected of me/everyone else was doing it. my school heavily influenced kids to apply with UCAS and i think i had partly no other idea what to do so I just applied.
I would like to know some of your' thoughts on what to do here. I am not very confident for exams, and I really think I'm going to just miss out. could anyone please give me their advice on what they think I should do? thank you so much.
- an A level student terrified for her exams.
I have my exams this month, my current plan has been to go to Loughborough university with grades ABB. however I am honestly thinking I might just miss out on this, so I started searching what are my options is this happens.
the first choice is clearing, I could go to a different uni with extra places available. however there is no guarantee they'd offer the course I wanted and also, i'm not a person who likes unfamiliar places, so to go to a random uni I know almost nothing about would be so daunting for me, i couldn't do it.
the second choice is to do resits. If i ended up getting a C instead of a B for example I could take year 13 again to get this grade up to reapply for loughborough. however I think i'd feel quite sad seeing all my friends move on while I keep doing the same thing.
So then I looked into the Open University, and honestly I am feeling quite hopeful about this. Here are my thoughts about why this could be right for me:
pros:
+ no grade requirements, something I am terrified for as I really struggle in exam situations
+ only half the price of a normal university (since I would not be using their accommodation)
+ from my research, it looks to be an equally respected uni compared to if i had got my degree in a physical uni.
+ I could continue living in the comfort of my home, I don't feel prepared to move away and live by myself.
cons:
- only con I can really see is that I wouldn't get a social life. this is something my parents really advised against because they want me to experience the social aspect of a university. I am not sure what my options would be here in terms of making friends.
- I am also worried I might just be using this as a cop out to just give up with my exams now
Also, there's a little bit of me that thiks I only ever went through the uni application process I did because it was what was expected of me/everyone else was doing it. my school heavily influenced kids to apply with UCAS and i think i had partly no other idea what to do so I just applied.
I would like to know some of your' thoughts on what to do here. I am not very confident for exams, and I really think I'm going to just miss out. could anyone please give me their advice on what they think I should do? thank you so much.
- an A level student terrified for her exams.
I would say Open University should be your last resort. Not saying it doesn't do the job or the courses are not decent, but I think top end employers and universities might not take you as seriously. It's also not a university that is as specialised as other universities.
The first question I have is: what do you intend to do after university? Depending on what you want to do, you might need specific types of accredited degrees or with a certain type of content from certain universities in order to progress into the field that you want.
The second question is: why Loughborough in particular? You could have picked any other university, and there are a number of red brick universities local to the area, so why Loughborough in particular?
What subject do you want to study? Just because you want to do a degree at Loughborough and Open, it doesn't mean they're the only universities that offer the specific subjects.
If you're considering Open University, are you looking for online degree courses? If so, Open isn't the only university offering courses at undergrad level
If you're having a very hard time with exams, have you considered doing degrees that are more coursework based? If you have a hard time with exams at A Level, university is not going to make it easier unless you're opting for degrees that are assessed solely via coursework. The only subject that comes to mind that does this is International Relations, but there could be others.
Should you do resits, would you be able to improve on your grades? Exam performance is as much about exam strategy and performance, not just about what you know. If exams give you anxiety, your performance won't likely do you justice. How would you be preparing yourself for this?
I am an advocate of resitting exams, don't get me wrong. Resitting and having the option of improving your grades at A Level will often get you a lot further than settling for a random university doing a course that you might not want as much. However, you would need to work on your ability to perform well in the exams, and this needs to be achievable.
Depending on your answers above, I might be able to better point you in the right direction.
Open University
Milton Keynes
Original post by wkathryn17
Hi all,
I have my exams this month, my current plan has been to go to Loughborough university with grades ABB. however I am honestly thinking I might just miss out on this, so I started searching what are my options is this happens.
the first choice is clearing, I could go to a different uni with extra places available. however there is no guarantee they'd offer the course I wanted and also, i'm not a person who likes unfamiliar places, so to go to a random uni I know almost nothing about would be so daunting for me, i couldn't do it.
the second choice is to do resits. If i ended up getting a C instead of a B for example I could take year 13 again to get this grade up to reapply for loughborough. however I think i'd feel quite sad seeing all my friends move on while I keep doing the same thing.
So then I looked into the Open University, and honestly I am feeling quite hopeful about this. Here are my thoughts about why this could be right for me:
pros:
+ no grade requirements, something I am terrified for as I really struggle in exam situations
+ only half the price of a normal university (since I would not be using their accommodation)
+ from my research, it looks to be an equally respected uni compared to if i had got my degree in a physical uni.
+ I could continue living in the comfort of my home, I don't feel prepared to move away and live by myself.
cons:
- only con I can really see is that I wouldn't get a social life. this is something my parents really advised against because they want me to experience the social aspect of a university. I am not sure what my options would be here in terms of making friends.
- I am also worried I might just be using this as a cop out to just give up with my exams now
Also, there's a little bit of me that thiks I only ever went through the uni application process I did because it was what was expected of me/everyone else was doing it. my school heavily influenced kids to apply with UCAS and i think i had partly no other idea what to do so I just applied.
I would like to know some of your' thoughts on what to do here. I am not very confident for exams, and I really think I'm going to just miss out. could anyone please give me their advice on what they think I should do? thank you so much.
- an A level student terrified for her exams.
I have my exams this month, my current plan has been to go to Loughborough university with grades ABB. however I am honestly thinking I might just miss out on this, so I started searching what are my options is this happens.
the first choice is clearing, I could go to a different uni with extra places available. however there is no guarantee they'd offer the course I wanted and also, i'm not a person who likes unfamiliar places, so to go to a random uni I know almost nothing about would be so daunting for me, i couldn't do it.
the second choice is to do resits. If i ended up getting a C instead of a B for example I could take year 13 again to get this grade up to reapply for loughborough. however I think i'd feel quite sad seeing all my friends move on while I keep doing the same thing.
So then I looked into the Open University, and honestly I am feeling quite hopeful about this. Here are my thoughts about why this could be right for me:
pros:
+ no grade requirements, something I am terrified for as I really struggle in exam situations
+ only half the price of a normal university (since I would not be using their accommodation)
+ from my research, it looks to be an equally respected uni compared to if i had got my degree in a physical uni.
+ I could continue living in the comfort of my home, I don't feel prepared to move away and live by myself.
cons:
- only con I can really see is that I wouldn't get a social life. this is something my parents really advised against because they want me to experience the social aspect of a university. I am not sure what my options would be here in terms of making friends.
- I am also worried I might just be using this as a cop out to just give up with my exams now
Also, there's a little bit of me that thiks I only ever went through the uni application process I did because it was what was expected of me/everyone else was doing it. my school heavily influenced kids to apply with UCAS and i think i had partly no other idea what to do so I just applied.
I would like to know some of your' thoughts on what to do here. I am not very confident for exams, and I really think I'm going to just miss out. could anyone please give me their advice on what they think I should do? thank you so much.
- an A level student terrified for her exams.
You may well be accepted if you only miss your offer by one grade
Focus on revision and try not to worry too much now.
Original post by wkathryn17
Hi all,
I have my exams this month, my current plan has been to go to Loughborough university with grades ABB. however I am honestly thinking I might just miss out on this, so I started searching what are my options is this happens.
the first choice is clearing, I could go to a different uni with extra places available. however there is no guarantee they'd offer the course I wanted and also, i'm not a person who likes unfamiliar places, so to go to a random uni I know almost nothing about would be so daunting for me, i couldn't do it.
the second choice is to do resits. If i ended up getting a C instead of a B for example I could take year 13 again to get this grade up to reapply for loughborough. however I think i'd feel quite sad seeing all my friends move on while I keep doing the same thing.
So then I looked into the Open University, and honestly I am feeling quite hopeful about this. Here are my thoughts about why this could be right for me:
pros:
+ no grade requirements, something I am terrified for as I really struggle in exam situations
+ only half the price of a normal university (since I would not be using their accommodation)
+ from my research, it looks to be an equally respected uni compared to if i had got my degree in a physical uni.
+ I could continue living in the comfort of my home, I don't feel prepared to move away and live by myself.
cons:
- only con I can really see is that I wouldn't get a social life. this is something my parents really advised against because they want me to experience the social aspect of a university. I am not sure what my options would be here in terms of making friends.
- I am also worried I might just be using this as a cop out to just give up with my exams now
Also, there's a little bit of me that thiks I only ever went through the uni application process I did because it was what was expected of me/everyone else was doing it. my school heavily influenced kids to apply with UCAS and i think i had partly no other idea what to do so I just applied.
I would like to know some of your' thoughts on what to do here. I am not very confident for exams, and I really think I'm going to just miss out. could anyone please give me their advice on what they think I should do? thank you so much.
- an A level student terrified for her exams.
I have my exams this month, my current plan has been to go to Loughborough university with grades ABB. however I am honestly thinking I might just miss out on this, so I started searching what are my options is this happens.
the first choice is clearing, I could go to a different uni with extra places available. however there is no guarantee they'd offer the course I wanted and also, i'm not a person who likes unfamiliar places, so to go to a random uni I know almost nothing about would be so daunting for me, i couldn't do it.
the second choice is to do resits. If i ended up getting a C instead of a B for example I could take year 13 again to get this grade up to reapply for loughborough. however I think i'd feel quite sad seeing all my friends move on while I keep doing the same thing.
So then I looked into the Open University, and honestly I am feeling quite hopeful about this. Here are my thoughts about why this could be right for me:
pros:
+ no grade requirements, something I am terrified for as I really struggle in exam situations
+ only half the price of a normal university (since I would not be using their accommodation)
+ from my research, it looks to be an equally respected uni compared to if i had got my degree in a physical uni.
+ I could continue living in the comfort of my home, I don't feel prepared to move away and live by myself.
cons:
- only con I can really see is that I wouldn't get a social life. this is something my parents really advised against because they want me to experience the social aspect of a university. I am not sure what my options would be here in terms of making friends.
- I am also worried I might just be using this as a cop out to just give up with my exams now
Also, there's a little bit of me that thiks I only ever went through the uni application process I did because it was what was expected of me/everyone else was doing it. my school heavily influenced kids to apply with UCAS and i think i had partly no other idea what to do so I just applied.
I would like to know some of your' thoughts on what to do here. I am not very confident for exams, and I really think I'm going to just miss out. could anyone please give me their advice on what they think I should do? thank you so much.
- an A level student terrified for her exams.
What degree are you interested in studying?
Also, I don't see why you even need to choose. You can apply for the Open University in addition to your 5 choices on a UCAS form. So, just apply for it now; but only finalise your registration and finance when you want to go to that university. You can ask the OU and student finance how it would work, but having the OU as a backup isn't a bad idea. (Remember OU is a part-time degree on the student finance form, even if you are studying full time). Worst case, you can always cancel it if you get the offer you want.
Lastly, my advice on whether you should go to the OU depends on the type of degree you want to do. There are degrees with lots of options and funding, while there are other degrees with sparse options, making it difficult to choose what you want.
Edit:
In-fact, I believe you can cancel an OU course up to 2 weeks after it starts in October without paying any fees. You'd have to confirm that with the university yourself. So, my advice, worse case, see what you get on results day. See what clearing offers. If nothing takes your fancy, you always have OU as a backup.
(edited 11 months ago)
Original post by wkathryn17
Hi all,
I have my exams this month, my current plan has been to go to Loughborough university with grades ABB. however I am honestly thinking I might just miss out on this, so I started searching what are my options is this happens.
the first choice is clearing, I could go to a different uni with extra places available. however there is no guarantee they'd offer the course I wanted and also, i'm not a person who likes unfamiliar places, so to go to a random uni I know almost nothing about would be so daunting for me, i couldn't do it.
the second choice is to do resits. If i ended up getting a C instead of a B for example I could take year 13 again to get this grade up to reapply for loughborough. however I think i'd feel quite sad seeing all my friends move on while I keep doing the same thing.
So then I looked into the Open University, and honestly I am feeling quite hopeful about this. Here are my thoughts about why this could be right for me:
pros:
+ no grade requirements, something I am terrified for as I really struggle in exam situations
+ only half the price of a normal university (since I would not be using their accommodation)
+ from my research, it looks to be an equally respected uni compared to if i had got my degree in a physical uni.
+ I could continue living in the comfort of my home, I don't feel prepared to move away and live by myself.
cons:
- only con I can really see is that I wouldn't get a social life. this is something my parents really advised against because they want me to experience the social aspect of a university. I am not sure what my options would be here in terms of making friends.
- I am also worried I might just be using this as a cop out to just give up with my exams now
Also, there's a little bit of me that thiks I only ever went through the uni application process I did because it was what was expected of me/everyone else was doing it. my school heavily influenced kids to apply with UCAS and i think i had partly no other idea what to do so I just applied.
I would like to know some of your' thoughts on what to do here. I am not very confident for exams, and I really think I'm going to just miss out. could anyone please give me their advice on what they think I should do? thank you so much.
- an A level student terrified for her exams.
I have my exams this month, my current plan has been to go to Loughborough university with grades ABB. however I am honestly thinking I might just miss out on this, so I started searching what are my options is this happens.
the first choice is clearing, I could go to a different uni with extra places available. however there is no guarantee they'd offer the course I wanted and also, i'm not a person who likes unfamiliar places, so to go to a random uni I know almost nothing about would be so daunting for me, i couldn't do it.
the second choice is to do resits. If i ended up getting a C instead of a B for example I could take year 13 again to get this grade up to reapply for loughborough. however I think i'd feel quite sad seeing all my friends move on while I keep doing the same thing.
So then I looked into the Open University, and honestly I am feeling quite hopeful about this. Here are my thoughts about why this could be right for me:
pros:
+ no grade requirements, something I am terrified for as I really struggle in exam situations
+ only half the price of a normal university (since I would not be using their accommodation)
+ from my research, it looks to be an equally respected uni compared to if i had got my degree in a physical uni.
+ I could continue living in the comfort of my home, I don't feel prepared to move away and live by myself.
cons:
- only con I can really see is that I wouldn't get a social life. this is something my parents really advised against because they want me to experience the social aspect of a university. I am not sure what my options would be here in terms of making friends.
- I am also worried I might just be using this as a cop out to just give up with my exams now
Also, there's a little bit of me that thiks I only ever went through the uni application process I did because it was what was expected of me/everyone else was doing it. my school heavily influenced kids to apply with UCAS and i think i had partly no other idea what to do so I just applied.
I would like to know some of your' thoughts on what to do here. I am not very confident for exams, and I really think I'm going to just miss out. could anyone please give me their advice on what they think I should do? thank you so much.
- an A level student terrified for her exams.
Hi @wkathryn17,
It's great to hear that you're interested in studying at Loughborough.
I would recommend taking a good look at the course you want to do and potentially emailing the admissions team at [email protected] about your question.
However, in the meantime, please do ask me if you have any questions about Loughborough
- Lindsay
Give your exams your best shot and see what your options are.
I'm coming from this from the prespective of a somewhat mature student (23) who is in the work force - but honestly I would say the flexibility of the OU outweighs most of the negative aspects such as not finding friends through it.
Personally, I live quite close to a university campus where I am able to use their library facilities and attend public talks, which I have found to be quite helpful in making friends. As well as this, working while learning provides an additional social life.
Depending on your field of interest, I would highly recommend gaining job experience while chasing a degree. Though you may want to either reduce your work hours or study hours based on this - I found the first 60 credit module I did to be a bit too tiring with a 40 hour work week, as I was doing an additional 20-25 hours on top of that with OU work. But I got lucky with my employer and living conditions so thankfully am able to work less days a week.
I would say, that some other institutions may be better for certain fields and building connections which will help you in the future, so it really depends on what you intend to study.
Just focus on your exams and see what happens. Don't worry too much about it.
I'm coming from this from the prespective of a somewhat mature student (23) who is in the work force - but honestly I would say the flexibility of the OU outweighs most of the negative aspects such as not finding friends through it.
Personally, I live quite close to a university campus where I am able to use their library facilities and attend public talks, which I have found to be quite helpful in making friends. As well as this, working while learning provides an additional social life.
Depending on your field of interest, I would highly recommend gaining job experience while chasing a degree. Though you may want to either reduce your work hours or study hours based on this - I found the first 60 credit module I did to be a bit too tiring with a 40 hour work week, as I was doing an additional 20-25 hours on top of that with OU work. But I got lucky with my employer and living conditions so thankfully am able to work less days a week.
I would say, that some other institutions may be better for certain fields and building connections which will help you in the future, so it really depends on what you intend to study.
Just focus on your exams and see what happens. Don't worry too much about it.
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