BSc in Physics

Hi all, I'm interested in studying the physics course but have a few questions. I did a natural sciences degree years ago but focused on biology, and graduated with a specialisation in zoology, then went on to do a masters in parasitology. I currently work in a molecular biology lab and to be quite honest I hate it and just want to do something else just for fun and for the sake of learning (I'm an extremely boring person, this genuinely is fun to me!) I had originally thought about doing something entirely unrelated to science but when I started to look at courses it was really only the science courses that appealed, and it wouldn't make much sense to do biology and chemistry all over again. I enjoyed physics in school and I love maths so here we are.

How well does the course compare with those in traditional universities? I know it's accredited by IOP but I'm interested in what current and past students think of it.

How do labs work? Labwork made up such a huge part of my previous studies, I'm not sure how it would work in a distance learning course.

In terms of the research project, how does that work? How is data gathered for this? Or are you given a dataset to work from?

I also saw that there's an integrated masters programme. If I got to the end of it and wanted to keep going would I be able to sign up to it, or would I have to be signed up to it from the start?

I've directed most of these questions to OU as well, it's just that they say it can take a few days to respond and registration closes in three weeks. Thanks in advance!

Reply 1

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

My understanding is that they organise "virtual" lab experiences for all students on the modules (albeit these lose some of the random chaos you find in a "real" lab session!), but they also have optional residential courses for lab experiments etc for some modules, where you spend a week or two in Milton Keynes doing practical/in person work. They aren't required though and you do need to pay your way for attending at least (not sure if there are additional costs on top of your travel/accommodation?).

Skimming over the course they seem to cover all the expected topics (hence the IOP accreditation). The nature of OU courses is that there tends to be a narrower range of options to choose among as much of the course is prescribed, so this is something to bear in mind, although it does ensure you cover what you need to and accommodate a variety of backgrounds!

Not sure how integrated masters courses work at the OU, but at brick unis it's usually straightforward to move between them during the first two years of the degree while full time, so I imagine you can start on the bachelors and swap to the mphys/equivalent at least for a while.

If you have questions about the courses I'd definitely recommend calling them up. They're quite helpful on the phone lines (or were in my experience) in advising on the courses and could probably answer a lot of your questions directly that way :smile:

Open University

Milton Keynes

Reply 2

Anonymous #1

Original post by ArthurFitz

I also saw that there's an integrated masters programme. If I got to the end of it and wanted to keep going would I be able to sign up to it, or would I have to be signed up to it from the start?

I didn't study physics but I can answer this: R51 and M06 are the same for the first two stages. They diverge mid-way through stage 3. So you have a couple years to think about it, but do need to commit to one or the other at least a year before finishing.
If you have an OU account, this link should work:
https://learn2.open.ac.uk/mod/forumng/discuss.php?d=3970048&p=p30389630#p30389630