Can you finish an OU degree early?

philstanbridge

philstanbridge

philstanbridge

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Might sound like a stupid question - I've applied for a degree and I intend to work at it full time for the next three years. I've just seen the materials despatch however, and it's scheduled to take 5! I presume I can contact these guys and get them to send me the assignments earlier? :confused:
 
That's what I thought, but my course doesn't specify whether it's part time or full time. It's a 60 point module, which I intend to have finished by February. I've already registered for the second module you see.
 
Its up to you, you can do the full credit allotment a year, but many people do less, say a 60 point module and a 30 point one so they aren't rushed while in fulltime work. If you want to do the full amount, do it, not sure if they can be persuaded to let you do more than that a year, probably, shouldn't be any skin off their nose, however some courses obviously theres a sequence modules need to be taken, some their aren't though, especially if you are doing a mixed degree of whatever you want.
 
I think (but dont quote me on this) that they send the TMA's in one booklet, thus you have all of them from the start - obviously you'll need to do the work/reading to be able to do them but I dont see why you can't do the assignments early :)

Im not sure if you can hand them in early though, but as long as they are done, dropping it in the post at the right time wont be too hard :)
 
lol.. I'd best give them a call tomorrow. The OU is all about flexibility so I can't see this being a major problem, but like you point out, there's a lot of work there to take onboard. I hope they can let me do this otherwise my plans are scuppered. :(
 
Just called the OU general enquiries team. I emailed them a couple of weeks back regards the materials despatch and I didn't receive a reply. I decided to call them this morning and it's a good job I did!

"Sorry we have had a systems problem, and we've lost thousands of emails!" Obviously mine was one of them. :mad:

That aside, I finally got through to the right person after being cut off - apparantly it *is* possible to "rush" through a degree in 3 years, but my courses will have to overlap due to the way they are structured. So my Level 1 starts in Oct, and is scheduled to finish in April 2009, but the Level 2 starts in Feb 2009.

So every year for a few months I'll have a bit of a struggle on my hands. Trying to complete the TMA's or whatnot for the two different modules at once.

I can't quite believe the OU haven't come across this before - I thought the whole ethos behind them was based on flexibility. :confused:

Just to add, they also said that the materials despatch will not be sent out early - so I will have to sit tight.
 
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I'm doing an OU course at the moment; and I have nothing but praise for them.

Yeah, if you're doing it as a full time course you'll find it's not entirely designed for you. The OU is intended for part time students first and foremost. Have a good look at what you need to get for the degree and see how you can shuffle it around to give you a clearer timetable. You can take up to 60 points from other subjects, so it's worth looking if there are any interesting modules out there that fit better with your timetable.

Also, why are you doing a full time OU degree? Why not go to uni?
 
I want to do 2 x 60 point courses per year. So I'll have 9 months quieter and 3 months of chaos when the courses overlap. Like you say I may be able to squeeze some smaller modules in later on in the course to better suit my timetable, but these don't start 'till Level 2.

I'm not going to "physical" uni because I can't afford it. I can afford the OU.
 
The OU isn't designed at all for what you're trying to achieve - while you can do multiple courses at once, the studying is going to be horribly structured - I doubt whether you will get any enjoyment out of the degree at all. The OU is desgined to allow people in work who are only able to commit to a part time distance learning course to stretch themselves academically.

Also I thought the OU was pretty expensive, with many of the 60 point modules being £600-700 each.

Just out of interest what does the comparison come out like for a 3 year course at a traditional Uni versus the same course at the OU?
 
Im studying with the OU myself at the moment, the level 1 courses were so easy and didnt consume much time so its easy to do 3x 30 point courses at the same time, even if the TMA dates do overlap. As for level 2 courses, currently im doing 90 points a year, so i have 1 60 point level 2 course, and 1 30 point level 2 course, both start and finnish on the same dates so the TMA deadlines are very similar, no real problems at all though, plenty of free time that i could have used to do another 30 point course if there was on available for me.

Most courses have very flexible, in that the TMAs can be compleated months before they are due. From my experience you will only ever run into problems when you have multiple TMAs that require group participation, because you are having to wait for other people to participate to get your work done.

miracleboy said:
Also I thought the OU was pretty expensive, with many of the 60 point modules being £600-700 each.
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You can get soem great financial support if you dont already have a degree. Personaly i dont have a degree, and live with my parents while im studying with the OU, and since i dont have a full time job and dont make a great deal of money, i qualify for full financial supprt, and thus i dont have to pay a single penny, its all fully funnded for me by the OU, and i dont have to pay anything back when im finished either.
 
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Greenlizard0 said:
Always wondered this in terms of how good it is on a CV compared to a traditional university's degree.
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From what I have heard to many employers an OU degree is as highly if not more highly rated than a traditional one because it demonstrates your ability to achieve a high standard of work without any supervision and shows the determination and self discipline to maintain a full time job while completing a degree.
 
miracleboy said:
The OU isn't designed at all for what you're trying to achieve - while you can do multiple courses at once, the studying is going to be horribly structured - I doubt whether you will get any enjoyment out of the degree at all. The OU is desgined to allow people in work who are only able to commit to a part time distance learning course to stretch themselves academically.

Also I thought the OU was pretty expensive, with many of the 60 point modules being £600-700 each.

Just out of interest what does the comparison come out like for a 3 year course at a traditional Uni versus the same course at the OU?
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The OU should be more geared up for people like me, who prefer the distance learning over the more traditional methods. I am in a fairly unique position I realise, but I'm not the only one. Flexibility is why I chose them over the competition!

The 60 point modules are costing me £610 a pop so yes it's not cheap but it still works out cheaper than a traditional university.

Comparison wise, OU tends to be favoured over traditional.
 
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miracleboy said:
I mean cost wise (i.e. why did you chose OU financially over a normal Uni?) - what are the costs of going to normal Uni for 3 years for you against those for OU - what does the balance sheet look like?
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There's a number of reasons - for starters, I don't qualify for any financial help as such, so I'd have to foot the costs myself. I'd need a car to get me from A to B and then there's the associated costs of running it. I didn't fancy a traditional university over the option of distance learning. I'm 34 and feel slightly uncomfortable about the fact I'm "going back to school". But I want to change direction and this is the only way to do it. It's a big step for me.

I should just add as well, another big reason for me not going to traditional uni, is the fact I haven't got the grades! I've 2 A Levels, and 8 GCSE's but they are not good enough to get me further without taking Highers. So that's another year of study. So all in all I'd be looking at 4-5 years in a traditional uni! Against 3 via the OU.
 
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