Why I get to 'Carrie' on being an OU student...

I always thought that when I finished my degree that would be it – my goal accomplished and I could move on. Well that changed when I decided to go a step further and work towards a Masters and ultimately try for a PhD. It’s the natural education progression isn’t it; undergrad to postgrad to research. It crossed my mind a few times that somewhere way in the future I might like to go back and perhaps do another degree, maybe turn my BSc Open into a named degree, but I always thought of it being way down the line somewhere in my murky old age. But I’ve done it. I’ve registered for another degree!

As I said, it’s a minor niggle for me that my BSc is an Open degree. I loved that I got to study whatever I wanted and I loved that I could muddle subjects up and still end up with a degree, but it has left me with no specific area of ‘expertise’. I know I’m now doing a very specific and somewhat vocational Masters degree, but my undergrad is a cloudy world of philosophy, social science and construction (don’t ask).

The OU, under the forthcoming revisions to undergraduate fees have put in place an incredible and (I think) generous structure for existing undergraduate students to allow them to complete their studies and gain their qualification at the fees which were applicable at the time they registered. This is what the OU have dubbed the ‘transitional arrangements’ and these are what I will utilise in order to gain that ‘undergrad expertise’ I missed the first time around.

During my original studies I flipped between being interested in social policy to criminology to psychology and many others but those three areas were the core topics I was always interested in pursuing. So with that in mind I’ve registered on the BA/BSc (Hons) Criminology and Psychological Studies. I spent days working out the logistics of my study plan and making sure I could make full use of the transitional arrangements without the study encroaching on my Masters too much. I’ve managed to work it so that I complete 60 credit points of level 1 study alongside my Masters which I think is more than achievable (that’s not to say level 1 doesn’t require a lot of effort, but once you’re used to the way the OU works and have completed level 3 study it’s far quicker to get through) and none of it clashes with my dissertation writing. The remainder of my study towards this qualification won’t need to continue until I’ve finished my Masters so there’s no interference at all.

I’m thrilled about registering for this degree for so many reasons. For starters it means I can work towards a named degree which is far more specific to the area I want to work in. Secondly, it means I get to continue my ‘relationship’ with the OU until at least 2017 (when the transitional arrangements cease) which is fantastic as I was thinking my time with the OU was drawing to a close. And lastly it means I get to study those areas I thought I’d missed out on first time around.