Need advice about an OU course and life in general

[SheepBeast]

Long story short(ish): I completed the 1st year of an Astrophysics degree at the university of Edinburgh, then failed 2nd year cos I didn't go to any lectures or revise, and got kicked out in September. I'm now on Jobseeker's Allowance and looking for jobs to balance the books while I sort my life out.

I've spent a lot of time researching my options and also thinking over my experience of uni and the reasons for my failure. The problem was my motivation - physics wasn't interesting me and in addition I had a lot of personal problems which I didn't deal with well. Now I've had a kick up the arse and experienced a taste of how crap the real world is, I'm 100% decided that I want to return to university to get a degree. I know I'm capable of being very successful as I'm ambitious and intelligent and a fast learner, and naturally good at maths. The aforementioned personal problems are much reduced now, and I'm in a much more positive mindset about life.

My eventual goal is to become a pilot, and I've wanted to do so for years. I've had experience flying a single engine plane and loved it and I'm sure it's what I want to do. However the training is very expensive so it's not viable at the moment - I need a decent job to get the money to pay for it, which I'm not going to get without a degree.

Enter: Aerospace Engineering.

I dunno why I didn't just do this 3 years ago instead of Astrophysics. I made a stupid decision. The parts of physics which I enjoy are all the parts which engineering makes use of - dynamics, kinematics, thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, stress etc. I'm not really interested in discovering new things about the universe - applying current knowledge appeals much more to me - and that's what engineering is about. The "Aerospace" flavour seems appropriate given my aim of being a pilot, and designing and building planes, helicopters, rockets, satellites and engines sounds like an awesome job.

So anyway, now that you know the background, here is what I'm considering:

- Do I do a part-time Open University degree in General Engineering (they don't offer aerospace) while working a crappy retail job to pay the bills?

- Do I apply for brick universites for Aerospace Engineering, even though I have no idea how I would fund my studies? My financial situation is dire so I guess I'd definitely get a few grants and assistance, and my parents can give me some money, plus I could get a part-time job. But even still I'm sceptical as to whether I could fund it at an English uni. A Scottish uni would probably be viable since the fees are ~75% lower.

- Whichever of the above I choose, I want to carry forward the credit from my 1st year at Edinburgh that I passed. However I'm not sure it'd be enough to gain direct entry to 2nd year at a brick uni because I didn't do any engineering modules. Do you guys think this would be a good thing for me to do to increase the chance of them letting me in to 2nd year?

- My girlfriend is Chinese, here studying for a masters. She wants to stay here after but may not get a job, and therefore she might end up back in China or going to Singapore. If her and I are still together when (and if) that happens I would certainly consider moving with her. However obviously it poses a problem if I'm in the middle of studying a degree. If I study with the OU it's not a problem...... but their degrees take a long time, carry less prestige, and they don't offer Aerospace Engineering... . If I went to China it'd be relatively easy to get a job teaching English. In Singapore, I dunno what I'd do.....

- If she does get a job here, then it'll be something in the pharmaceutical industry (since that's what she's qualified in and wants to do). I gather that in the UK most pharma jobs are in London and the South East of England, and in the midlands. So if I apply to brick unis I'm gonna apply to ones in these areas, to maximise the chances of ending up near her. It's a pretty crap plan, I know, but I can't think of a better way of doing it. However remember as mentioned above I have no idea how I could fund a degree at an English uni.


I know this post is pretty long and boring, and I guess I need to talk to some student advisors from Edinburgh about this, but I thought I may as well throw this out there and see if any of you awesome people have any advice or thoughts to help me out.

Thanks.

 

[Salsa]

I was in a similar situation to you about 5 or 6 years ago. I had dropped out of uni, got a dead end job and bummed around until my mid 20's. Then decided to make some changes, go back to school and take a totaly different route. My first hurdle was finance as you have already identified but it is not as hopeless as you make out.

For a start if you live in scotland you will still get 2 years of your fees paid for by SAAS should you choose to do a degree in a scottish university. In addition they will also pay the difference between the fees charged for your particular course and the lowest price band for fees at that university (essentially meaning you pay the minimum fees for your first 2 years and no fees after that). For me that would make the choice of attending an English university totally bonkers given your situation.

Secondly it is more than possible to work part time througout a degree and more and more students are doing so. I funded my entire degree (living costs and fees) by working part time in a DIY shed. Most of my friends did not, some because they were bone idle, some because they wanted to concentrate on their studies and some because they were too proud to work the kind of jobs you need to work to fit around your studies. I found managing my time difficult sure but I got the hang of it and work was understanding about my priorities and need to concentrate around exam time. I worked overtime in summer to keep the bank balance healthy. This did not affect my grades in any way and still graduated top of my class.

You can also apply for your means tested loan/bursary each year you are at Uni to help with the funding. Since you have already done 2 years you will only be elligible for a bursary for your final 2 years (depending on your financial situation ofc) but you can take the maximum loan allowed each year regardless. I took out the maximum allowed loan every year stuck it in an easy access ISA as a backup. Since I was working enough I did not touch the money but it was nice knowing that it was there as a backup should I really need it, and when I say "really need it" I mean not being able to pay my rent/bills not "oh i need some money to go out boozing for the 5th time this week".

Financing a degree is relatively easy, you just need to be prepared to put in a bit more effort to make things that bit easier financially and sacrifice some of the social side of things. Since you have been to uni already though I am assuming that you have already "done" the freshers experience and are now prepared to attend University to work and not just to party. If not then I would serioulsy re-consider going back.

As to the girlfriend situation, I am of the opinion that you should take the direction that suits no and not both of you. Giving up what you really want to be with her might seem very chivelrous now but may seem very stupid a few years down the line. I might sound selfish but you are still relatively young (I am assuming) and if it is meant to be then it will be, no matter where you both end up.

My 2p worth anyway.

/Salsa

 

[4T5]

Tldr:

Anybody want to caption it all for me ?

 

[Salsa]

Tldr:

Anybody want to caption it all for me ?

OP dropped out of astrophysics degree in 2nd year. Unemployed and currently seeing a Chinese masters student. Wants to go back to uni to do Aeronautical engineering but worried that GF might end up moving either to London, China or Singapore.

Dilema.

Does OP:

1)Go back to uni to do aeronautical engineering at a Uni near where GF will move to.

2) Do an OU course in general engineering and move with GF somewhere

3) Move to China with his GF and teach english

Short as I can make it.

/Salsa

 

[4T5]

Cheers Salsa.

My advice then is to just forget about the Doris & do what's best for your career & your future.

 

[Deiwos]

Long story short(ish): I completed the 1st year of an Astrophysics degree at the university of Edinburgh, then failed 2nd year cos I didn't go to any lectures or revise, and got kicked out in September. I'm now on Jobseeker's Allowance and looking for jobs to balance the books while I sort my life out.

I've spent a lot of time researching my options and also thinking over my experience of uni and the reasons for my failure. The problem was my motivation - physics wasn't interesting me and in addition I had a lot of personal problems which I didn't deal with well. Now I've had a kick up the arse and experienced a taste of how crap the real world is, I'm 100% decided that I want to return to university to get a degree. I know I'm capable of being very successful as I'm ambitious and intelligent and a fast learner, and naturally good at maths. The aforementioned personal problems are much reduced now, and I'm in a much more positive mindset about life.

My eventual goal is to become a pilot, and I've wanted to do so for years. I've had experience flying a single engine plane and loved it and I'm sure it's what I want to do. However the training is very expensive so it's not viable at the moment - I need a decent job to get the money to pay for it, which I'm not going to get without a degree.

Enter: Aerospace Engineering.

I dunno why I didn't just do this 3 years ago instead of Astrophysics. I made a stupid decision. The parts of physics which I enjoy are all the parts which engineering makes use of - dynamics, kinematics, thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, stress etc. I'm not really interested in discovering new things about the universe - applying current knowledge appeals much more to me - and that's what engineering is about. The "Aerospace" flavour seems appropriate given my aim of being a pilot, and designing and building planes, helicopters, rockets, satellites and engines sounds like an awesome job.

So anyway, now that you know the background, here is what I'm considering:

- Do I do a part-time Open University degree in General Engineering (they don't offer aerospace) while working a crappy retail job to pay the bills?

- Do I apply for brick universites for Aerospace Engineering, even though I have no idea how I would fund my studies? My financial situation is dire so I guess I'd definitely get a few grants and assistance, and my parents can give me some money, plus I could get a part-time job. But even still I'm sceptical as to whether I could fund it at an English uni. A Scottish uni would probably be viable since the fees are ~75% lower.

- Whichever of the above I choose, I want to carry forward the credit from my 1st year at Edinburgh that I passed. However I'm not sure it'd be enough to gain direct entry to 2nd year at a brick uni because I didn't do any engineering modules. Do you guys think this would be a good thing for me to do to increase the chance of them letting me in to 2nd year?

- My girlfriend is Chinese, here studying for a masters. She wants to stay here after but may not get a job, and therefore she might end up back in China or going to Singapore. If her and I are still together when (and if) that happens I would certainly consider moving with her. However obviously it poses a problem if I'm in the middle of studying a degree. If I study with the OU it's not a problem...... but their degrees take a long time, carry less prestige, and they don't offer Aerospace Engineering... . If I went to China it'd be relatively easy to get a job teaching English. In Singapore, I dunno what I'd do.....

- If she does get a job here, then it'll be something in the pharmaceutical industry (since that's what she's qualified in and wants to do). I gather that in the UK most pharma jobs are in London and the South East of England, and in the midlands. So if I apply to brick unis I'm gonna apply to ones in these areas, to maximise the chances of ending up near her. It's a pretty crap plan, I know, but I can't think of a better way of doing it. However remember as mentioned above I have no idea how I could fund a degree at an English uni.


I know this post is pretty long and boring, and I guess I need to talk to some student advisors from Edinburgh about this, but I thought I may as well throw this out there and see if any of you awesome people have any advice or thoughts to help me out.

Thanks.

FYI, you're unlikely to get credit transfer towards much/any of the Engineering degree with the OU if you studied Astrophysics. The same likely applies to any uni tbh.

Source: I work for the OU.

Also, if you start with the OU and decide to move, there's potentially a variety of funding/cost implications. Best to contact the OU about it so they can make clear what would happen if you moved countries (including Scotland to England).

 

[SheepBeast]

FYI, you're unlikely to get credit transfer towards much/any of the Engineering degree with the OU if you studied Astrophysics. The same likely applies to any uni tbh.

Source: I work for the OU.

This seems odd to me.... I studied advanced maths courses to the same level or higher than that of the level 1 OU courses (I haven't seen the syllabuses for them but since you can do them with no prior qualifications they can't be too hard). And the physics is very applicable to engineering - mechanics, dynamics etc. To be clear, I didn't mean direct entry to 2nd year at an English uni - I meant for scottish unis. Bearing in mind I was offered direct to 2nd year for my astrophysics degree (i turned that down) just based on my very good school results, i would expect most scottish uni's would offer the same again for an engineering degree. My advanced highers were Maths, Physics and Computing all A's.

Also, if you start with the OU and decide to move, there's potentially a variety of funding/cost implications. Best to contact the OU about it so they can make clear what would happen if you moved countries (including Scotland to England).

Good shoud. Willdo.

snip

Great post, very helpful. For the record my age is 21 (22 in january) but I still feel like I should have graduated by now rather than be just starting a degree. I guess this is partly cos my GF has 2 degrees already (she studied pharmaceutical engineering at a brick uni and at the same time also did a full-time distance learning business management degree, and got 1st's in both lol) and will soon add a masters to her collection, and she's only 1 year older than me.

The reasons for applying to english unis are to keep my options open regarding where my GF might end up. I'm gonna make sure I apply to at least 1 scottish uni though as a safety net, and in case her and I break up before I have to choose which offer to accept - it makes sense to have a plan for every eventuality.

 

[Blinkz]

Why weren't you able to change degree before being kicked out? I went to Edinburgh and I failed a year and just resat it.

If your goal is being a pilot then a degree isn't really going to help that, it will just put you in more debt when it comes to actually doing your pilot training.

Did you know Edinburgh uni has a gliding club? Perfect and cheap way to learn to fly!

Also check out this - http://www.bafuturepilot.com/ You've 3 days to get an application in!

 

[Deiwos]

This seems odd to me.... I studied advanced maths courses to the same level or higher than that of the level 1 OU courses (I haven't seen the syllabuses for them but since you can do them with no prior qualifications they can't be too hard). And the physics is very applicable to engineering - mechanics, dynamics etc. To be clear, I didn't mean direct entry to 2nd year at an English uni - I meant for scottish unis. Bearing in mind I was offered direct to 2nd year for my astrophysics degree (i turned that down) just based on my very good school results, i would expect most scottish uni's would offer the same again for an engineering degree. My advanced highers were Maths, Physics and Computing all A's.



Good shoud. Willdo.



Great post, very helpful. For the record my age is 21 (22 in january) but I still feel like I should have graduated by now rather than be just starting a degree. I guess this is partly cos my GF has 2 degrees already (she studied pharmaceutical engineering at a brick uni and at the same time also did a full-time distance learning business management degree, and got 1st's in both lol) and will soon add a masters to her collection, and she's only 1 year older than me.

The reasons for applying to english unis are to keep my options open regarding where my GF might end up. I'm gonna make sure I apply to at least 1 scottish uni though as a safety net, and in case her and I break up before I have to choose which offer to accept - it makes sense to have a plan for every eventuality.

It does very much come down to the syllabus but having dealt with lots of people regarding CT the Engineering degree is difficult to get much CT towards. We get people with HNDs/equivalent in various forms of engineering only getting 60 credits of CT so you'll be lucky to get any more than that.

At best you'd be looking at 60 credits and more realistically I'd expect you to get 30 credits to the level 1 maths. You'd probably not get it towards the engineering module (T173) and almost certainly not MS221 as you only did SCQF level 7 study if you finished after 1 year.

I'm sure you'd be able to sail through the first year or two of study based on your experience but the CT office and MCT Faculty are stingy when it comes to CT.

 

[SheepBeast]

It does very much come down to the syllabus but having dealt with lots of people regarding CT the Engineering degree is difficult to get much CT towards. We get people with HNDs/equivalent in various forms of engineering only getting 60 credits of CT so you'll be lucky to get any more than that.

At best you'd be looking at 60 credits and more realistically I'd expect you to get 30 credits to the level 1 maths. You'd probably not get it towards the engineering module (T173) and almost certainly not MS221 as you only did SCQF level 7 study if you finished after 1 year.

I'm sure you'd be able to sail through the first year or two of study based on your experience but the CT office and MCT Faculty are stingy when it comes to CT.

I've passed 7 courses at university - 2 maths ones, 2 physics ones and 3 other courses including a programming one. All of the 7 courses were SCQF level 8. But fair enough, thanks for the advice... I guess I just have to wait and see what the OU's response to my CT application is. Fingers crossed!

Why weren't you able to change degree before being kicked out? I went to Edinburgh and I failed a year and just resat it.

If your goal is being a pilot then a degree isn't really going to help that, it will just put you in more debt when it comes to actually doing your pilot training.

Did you know Edinburgh uni has a gliding club? Perfect and cheap way to learn to fly!

Also check out this - http://www.bafuturepilot.com/ You've 3 days to get an application in!

Because I failed 1st year in my first attempt, resat and passed, then failed 2nd year. They wouldn't let me do another repeat year which is understandable as my academic record at Edinburgh was dire. I made the mistake of not talking to anybody or taking any advice, either about my own personal issues or about whether I potentially wanted to change course, and ended up making a right mess of the whole thing. Parents are obviously peeved so if I want them to part-fund an Engineering degree I'll have to prove to them I've got my arse in gear haha. Anyway that's outside the scope of the thread

Yeah, if the funds were available I'd like to start pilot training now, however I'm completely broke and my parents are pensioners so can't afford to give me anything. I'm sure I could gradually do the training over the course of maybe 6-8 years paying for lessons as I go, but tbh I would much prefer to get a degree with 3/4 of those years and then a good job for the other 3/4, as opposed to the very likely rubbish job I would otherwise have. In fact getting a degree may well let me finish my training at much the same time as if I didn't, as well as offer me a relatively secure prospect of employment. The job market for pilots right now is **** poor so doing the training without any bankable backup career is very risky.

The gliding club looks great.... shame I didn't bother to investigate it when I was a student here

Thanks for the link, I'll look into it