Switching to a bricks and mortar university after year 1/2?

bachus2015

About to start a BA(Hons) Business Management degree with the OU in October on a full-time study basis (120 credits per year).

Bit concerned (well very concerned) about the lack of examples on either Linkedin or generally asking on various forums about the amount of (or lack of) OU students/graduates that have been accepted on to graduate schemes or internships. I can't find a single example.

For that reason, I'm considering transferring to a bricks and mortar uni after either year 1 or year 2. Is this possible? I still have a nagging feeling that one possible reason for the lack of OU students on graduate schemes is that a lot of well known employers running graduate schemes simply prefer a bricks and mortar uni over the OU. I haven't been proven otherwise to be honest.

In terms of UCAS points I only have around 90 (AS Levels, C,D,E). I also have 11 GCSEs (A-C). I would want to join a degree in year 2 (obviously, having completed the first year with the OU).

What is the process for switching? Is it possible? Any advice?

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 1

SuperCat007

17

Original post by bachus2015

About to start a BA(Hons) Business Management degree with the OU in October on a full-time study basis (120 credits per year).

Bit concerned (well very concerned) about the lack of examples on either Linkedin or generally asking on various forums about the amount of (or lack of) OU students/graduates that have been accepted on to graduate schemes or internships. I can't find a single example.

For that reason, I'm considering transferring to a bricks and mortar uni after either year 1 or year 2. Is this possible? I still have a nagging feeling that one possible reason for the lack of OU students on graduate schemes is that a lot of well known employers running graduate schemes simply prefer a bricks and mortar uni over the OU. I haven't been proven otherwise to be honest.

In terms of UCAS points I only have around 90 (AS Levels, C,D,E). I also have 11 GCSEs (A-C). I would want to join a degree in year 2 (obviously, having completed the first year with the OU).

What is the process for switching? Is it possible? Any advice?

Switching depends on uni, course etc. My experience is that you can't switch to year 2 of a 'normal' degree from year 1 of an OU degree, you'd have to start at year 1 again. But that will depend upon each university. It would be best to enquire now at your chosen uni so you can perhaps study a mix of level 1 and 2 credits with the OU to give you the best shot at getting in.

Also be aware any years spent with the OU will be removed from your full time entitlement, so you can only really do 1 year with the OU unless you haven enough money to fund year 1 of a 'normal' degree.

Finally, have you contacted people on the graduate schemes/internships you keep posting about? That would be the best way to go because they are the people who actually decide who gets in! There aren't that many people on this page so you might have to wait a while for the right person to feel like having a look.

Finally, finally... If any of the grad schemes/internships you mentioned have a UCAS point cut off then you won't be in a good position to get in with only 90. For most big companies I've looked at they want 280 at a minimum and even all the way up to 340! Though there is talk of scrapping the UCAs point boundaries because it severely hinders the chances of mature students using the OU or Access course entry to uni meaning there's a huge population of very talented students rejected because they didn't do A-levels.