Considering applying to the OU (General questions)

Hey guys,
Is the Open University looked down upon by employers? I have heard many people hold it in high regard on TSR. I have also seen many people slate it on TSR/Reddit.

How much Mathematics is in the Psychology degree? This is something I have been worried about if I was to study Psychology.

How well structured is the work packs?

Would not having A levels affect me when applying for a PGCSE/Teacher training course? Would it be advisable for me to study the access module?

I have studied around 5 months of AS content before I had a procedure performed that disrupted my studies. I obviously have not completed A levels but I feel I have a good grasp on the nature of independent study.

Hey guys,

Due to an unfortunate turn of events, I have been in and out of the hospital during my college years (16-18) due to some pretty awful health conditions. Regretfully now my local college will not accept me as a student and does not allow for any form of night school. The closest college that will allow me to study A-levels is 40 minutes away and would involve 3 train trips to and from college. Due to this circumstance, I have been considering other methods of getting back into university and I have discovered the OU. I am currently unsure about the degree I would like to study but I have a few in mind.

1) Psychology or Sociology
2)English
3)History
4) Law

I currently have 10 GCSEs consisting of 9 A/A* grades and a C grade in Mathematics. I was just wondering if any current OU students could answer some questions I have.

Questions

Is the Open University looked down upon by employers? I have heard many people hold it in high regard on TSR. I have also seen many people slate it on TSR/Reddit.

How much Mathematics is in the Psychology degree? This is something I have been worried about if I was to study Psychology.

How well structured is the work packs?

Would not having A levels affect me when applying for a PGCSE/Teacher training course? Would it be advisable for me to study the access module?

I have studied around 5 months of AS content before I had a procedure performed that disrupted my studies. I obviously have not completed A levels but I feel I have a good grasp on the nature of independent study.

Hey guys,

Due to an unfortunate turn of events, I have been in and out of the hospital during my college years (16-18) due to some pretty awful health conditions. Regretfully now my local college will not accept me as a student and does not allow for any form of night school. The closest college that will allow me to study A-levels is 40 minutes away and would involve 3 train trips to and from college. Due to this circumstance, I have been considering other methods of getting back into university and I have discovered the OU. I am currently unsure about the degree I would like to study but I have a few in mind.

1) Psychology or Sociology
2)English
3)History
4) Law

I currently have 10 GCSEs consisting of 9 A/A* grades and a C grade in Mathematics. I was just wondering if any current OU students could answer some questions I have.

Questions

Is the Open University looked down upon by employers? I have heard many people hold it in high regard on TSR. I have also seen many people slate it on TSR/Reddit.

How much Mathematics is in the Psychology degree? This is something I have been worried about if I was to study Psychology.

How well structured is the work packs?

Would not having A levels affect me when applying for a PGCSE/Teacher training course? Would it be advisable for me to study the access module?

I have studied around 5 months of AS content before I had a procedure performed that disrupted my studies. I obviously have not completed A levels but I feel I have a good grasp on the nature of independent study.

I have read great things about the tutors and staff at the university online. My preferred area of study is the humanities and arts with a longterm ambition to teach either History or Literature. My main concern about the OU was the speculation around the credibility of the institution, everyone seems to have a conflicting opinion.

How do you find the EMAs and TMAs @hannxm? Does the OU prepare you for University style essay writing well?

Hello recent OU graduate here (2:1 in English Language and Literature in 3 years)
I’m now at a brick uni for my MA and I absolutely hate it. I miss the OU so much! It’s amazing and the support is brilliant. As regards the PGCE I know many people from my course and the OU in general who have gone onto PGCE’s without A-Levels and without any issues. The materials are excellent and very detailed. I note you are considering English also so if you have any questions please do feel free to ask

Does your local college offer Access courses as well as A-levels and could you do an Access course? That would give you access to a 'normal' uni.

I was very ill when I did my A-levels but they always let me back in, I did three years there overall. So if you haven't already, it might be worth looking up the rules and regs and seeing whether you're being unfairly penalized.

OU access modules are only designed as preparation or further learning for OU courses, you don't receive a qualification from them.

Hello recent OU graduate here (2:1 in English Language and Literature in 3 years)
I’m now at a brick uni for my MA and I absolutely hate it. I miss the OU so much! It’s amazing and the support is brilliant. As regards the PGCE I know many people from my course and the OU in general who have gone onto PGCE’s without A-Levels and without any issues. The materials are excellent and very detailed. I note you are considering English also so if you have any questions please do feel free to ask

I think the OU is going to be a beneficial move for me regardless. I have numerous procedures coming up and I struggle to get out much as it is due to illness. The method of study and the nature of the content delivery seems like I would be able to pursue a degree regardless of my current poor health.

In regards to English, did you apply to the OU with previous level 3 qualifications?

How did your current brick university look at your OU degree?

You’re in a similar situation to me- I was very poorly through most of my degree but the OU has the flexibility on its side which is why it has so many students with health problems/disabilities.

I have an A-Level in English Language that I took 20 years ago however I may as well not have had it- I couldn’t tell you now any of what I did as my memory is very poor. This didn’t give me any advantage or disadvantage as everyone starts at the same level which assumes no previous study.

My brick uni were very welcoming of my degree- the Professor in charge of the overall programme and one of my first modules is an external examiner for the OU and says she always welcomes OU students on the courses she chairs as they have such good levels of motivation and independent study skills.

Do you mind telling me some more about the Literature and Language degree?

No problem!
Everyone starts with AA100 which is a general introductory course to the Arts- that encompasses a bit of everything, Literature, History, Philosophy- that just basically prepares you to start studying and eases you in nice and gently.
Then you have your ‘free choice’ module. You can pick from a list of modules as diverse as Law and Health studies or you can pick A151 which is basically a further extension of AA100. I picked DD102 which was introducing the social sciences as I had previously been a mental health nurse and so had some knowledge.
At Level 2 you start to specialise. I did U214 which is called Worlds of English and A230 which i can’t remember what it was called but it’s a Literature module so you study the same amount of credits evenly for each subject. Those two were compulsory modules and the only two there were to choose from. A230 covered a wide range of literature from Shakespeare’s Othello to more modern day stuff like the Lonely Londoners.
For that module there was I think 6 assignments and an exam- and to be honest it’s a very Marmite module. I hated it but others loved it- I guess it depends where your interests lie. I’m a linguist so I enjoyed every second of U214- in that you get to explore how English has become a global language and how even in England the language is changing- in fact my dissertation topic for my MA is an extension of an assignment I wrote for U214! I was so fascinated by it I really wanted to explore further and everyone I’ve showed it to has said what an interesting and unusual topic it is. That module was purely assignment based and assessed by final assignment.

At Level 3, final year, you get more autonomy in choosing your modules but there are two groups- Language and Literature and you need to pick a module from each. In the Language group I chose language and creativity- all about the different ways in which language is creative, or I think there’s a module about grammar as well.
I chose Creative Writing for my Literature module although there’s also a Children’s Lit module and from Shakespeare to Austen which I think is about older literature over more modern stuff.
Like most OU degrees there is no dissertation although the final EMA’s (examined assignments) where appropriate are usually fairly lengthy. I did my degree full time, 120 credits together all the way through so I ended up writing about 8500 words in total for my final two EMA’s which is broadly equivalent to an undergrad dissertation I would guess.

I got a 2:1 and it was surprisingly achievable. I really enjoyed my course and had some amazing tutors. I’ve always loved English and this definitely allowed me to indulge my passion.
Hope this helps!

I spoke to someone at the OU's admissions yesterday and they told me that introduction to the arts module has some Music study involved?

How did you find full-time study? I am currently 18 so I am able to study the course fulltime but the admissions employee suggested doing the first year part-time.

I am not entirely sure if you will know this but does the English Language and Literature degree contain enough relevant content to be eligible to teach the subject? I have heard that PGCE courses take into consideration the modules that you have studied during your degree.

Do you possibly have any course content you could send me so I could get an idea of how the course is structured?

So does the first year not involve any content purely specific to the degree? Other Universities are studying content such as:

*Studying Literature
*Approaches to Literature
*Structures of English
*Language and Text

Would this possibly sit me at a disadvantage?

Have you ever had an admission issues to brick unis with an OU degree? I may have already asked this but many people have told me that the OU is highly recognized due to the discipline and determination needed to study. Is the content for year 1 still as rigorous as other institutions despite the content being different?

Was the transition back into education smooth? I would hope that the course teaches some degree level academic writing prior to the first TMA/EMA.

Did you start your degree with an access module?

Sorry for the bombardment of questions, I just want to be well informed before I make a decision

No problem at all- I’m glad to help, honestly! Ask away.

1) Yes it does. I think if I remember correctly it was just a case of listening to a piece of music and reading the accompanying notes then answering a question based on the notes. I’m hard of hearing and I just used the notes which I had no issues with- it’s nothing mega complicated.

2) Full time study to be fair wasn’t as hard as some made it out to be. I don’t work as I’m disabled, I had no other commitments and my partner works long shifts so I was at home alone all day with nothing else to do. The OU did try to discourage me at Level 3- they said ‘it’s not recommended with all your other commitments’ to which I laughed and said I don’t work, I have no kids, pets or other caring responsibilities and I’m home alone twiddling my thumbs all day- I’ve got no other commitments! It is what you make it though- I didn’t do loads of extra work and tended just to write the TMA’s when they were due. At Level 3 when the workload is supposed to be about 40 hours a week full time, mine was in the months where I had two TMA’s due, probably about 14 hours a month.

I can absolutely categorically tell you that yes the ELL degree (as it’s known) is suitable for teaching as that’s why I took it. I was advised to study a named degree rather than an Open for teaching so yes that’s absolutely fine- no issues there.

I’m so sorry I haven’t got any of it! I sold my books as soon as I had done- I was that glad to see the back of them by the time I had finished. My laptop died with all my OU work in it as well which is really frustrating as I was very proud of some of my assignments- especially for the ones I gained firsts for in my final year!

It’s certainly not disadvantaged me I’ve found and I’m sure that it won’t be an issue for you either. Those sorts of topics are introduced at Level 1 then integrated into the Level 2 courses.

I looked at 4 unis before I settled on De Montfort- the other three were all Russell Group and all of them were perfectly accepting of my degree as I told them outright I was from the OU. No issues. If you’re planning to see the degree through to the end then apply to brick uni perhaps for a Masters, I doubt you’ll have an issue. I do know of some in my cohort who have been accepted to Oxbridge with OU degrees. It’s a little different if you’re planning to transfer after first year but at Masters level 1st year really isn’t relevant.

I was fortunate enough to have completed an apprenticeship immediately prior to starting my course. This was one of the new style courses and involved a lot of academic writing so I was fairly used to it. For this reason I didn’t need to do an Access module. There is absolutely tons of help on academic writing available and always someone to ask!
I won’t lie it was a bit of a shock to the system at first. I was 33 when I started and had last been in education eight years before when I did my nurse training. It was totally different to what I was used to but there’s so much help and support out there- you’re never alone 😊

Sounds brilliant, the novels for lit looks great as I have read a lot of the literature during my AS year. Before I had my procedures and stuff done I was doing A levels so I have a fairly good understanding of academic writing to some extent. Did you ever attend any face-to-face seminars?

How did you find the examinations with a disability? I spoke to someone at the OU and they informed me that I could sit the examinations from home if my health was poor.

Also, written material from the OU is used in hundreds of top universities.

I don't think you should give up on going to a brick uni just yet. Not having A levels is no barrier to a brick university, there are lots of alternative routes - see this thread for a list of options: https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=3401311

An OU degree is a proper degree, there's no doubt about that. That vast majority of graduate jobs are open to people with an OU degree, although there are jobs which require practical scientific skills e.g. lab-based or fieldwork that as an OU graduate, you won't have - however, OU students tend to overstate just how good the OU is. It's good, but it has some failings.

My biggest issue with the OU is the lack of module options. A brick uni might have 40 or more optional modules for you to choose from whereas the OU has, at best, 2 or 3. If you like the subject matter covered in the OU modules then that's no problem, but if you want to study specific areas of history or literature that the OU does not cover then I'd advise you to look elsewhere (the Uni of London has more comprehensive distance learning degrees, although you get less academic support), or a brick uni.



I'm wondering if this is one of those OU myths. I keep seeing people say this on the OU facebook group, but nobody ever says which unis or which material is used, or by who.