OU/Óscail Prices/Difficulty

Humpty

BuffyBot wrote:

Oscail is also an option, but the range of courses they offer is smaller than the OU

Hi there,

can you advise how tough Oscail is for the BSc in IT? I did a few courses at the OU and some of the courses are just crazy ... I'm interested in IT, even work in the area, but I'm still not a nerd so I wonder if this would be too much for my level of knowledge, interest, ...

Cheers for your answers ...

BuffyBot

"Crazy" how? Both offer university level courses, so the difficultly factor will be much the same.

EdgarAllenPoo

Is it just me or do people in Ireland get shafted by the OU, it costs somewhere betwenn €10-15k to do a degree in psychology.WTF? You can go through Oscail and it costs about €5000. Incidently, I'm thinking of taking that Oscail option, has anyone done the Psych degree through Oscail?

Humpty

BuffyBot wrote:

"Crazy" how? Both offer university level courses, so the difficultly factor will be much the same.

Hi there,

thanks for the reply ... with crazy I meant it was tough going ... the work load was huge in a course that brings you 10 Points ... considering how many points you need to get a degree it looked close to impossible to actually do a degree when I'm fultime working ... but anyhow ... cheers for the reply ...

Humpty

GDM wrote:

Is it just me or do people in Ireland get shafted by the OU, it costs somewhere betwenn €10-15k to do a degree in psychology.WTF? You can go through Oscail and it costs about €5000. Incidently, I'm thinking of taking that Oscail option, has anyone done the Psych degree through Oscail?

I perfectly agree ... will be taking the Oscail Option as well ... I was just checking yesterday when the next compulsory introductory module starts ... which will be April/May ... the modules itself commence in October then ...

Good Luck to you so

BuffyBot

with crazy I meant it was tough going ... the work load was huge in a course that brings you 10 Points

If you feel that 10 Point course with the OU is way too much (and a 10 pointer should have very little in terms of workload) then studying a degree (be it with the OU or via Oscail) is going to be a near on impossible. Oscail's modules are going to be just as difficult, and contain a lot more information than an OU 10 point course. I suggest you consider things *very* carefully.

Is it just me or do people in Ireland get shafted by the OU, it costs somewhere betwenn €10-15k to do a degree in psychology.WTF? You can go through Oscail and it costs about €5000.

Two words: Government subsidies. Students outside the UK don't get the benefit of the OU's UK prices, simply because the UK Government subsidises the cost of courses for UK students.

Humpty

BuffyBot wrote:

If you feel that 10 Point course with the OU is way too much (and a 10 pointer should have very little in terms of workload) then studying a degree (be it with the OU or via Oscail) is going to be a near on impossible. Oscail's modules are going to be just as difficult, and contain a lot more information than an OU 10 point course. I suggest you consider things *very* carefully.

Fair enough! Finding the particular course work load pretty high for a 10 point course was the opinion of some 60 people who did the course as well and in comparison to the general university course work load ... I've got a degree alright and was merely looking for other peoples experiences with OU & Oscail courses ... but either way your response is appreciated ... you may just want to consider very careful what way you put things ... no point being rude ... sure you know this ... you're smart enough ...

Cheers!

BuffyBot

I don't particulariy see an issue in what I said or how I said it. I was just surprised that you are considering taking on a part-time degree with either the OU or Oscail when you considered an OU 10 point course a heavy workload. They way it came across to me is that you were seriously under estimating the amount of time or effort it would take to complete one with either instituation, and that doing Oscail over the OU was some kind of an easy option. I'm fairly sure (now) that isn't what you meant, but then again it's all about how you put things

Of course, you may have just encountered a particularily labour intensive 10 pointer course. I couldn't really class any of the ones I've done as being that bad, but I haven't done them all. However, considering most OU students are studying 30 or 60 point courses and having fullt-time jobs/lives, it's far from impossible to do.

kickthedog

Humpty wrote:

I perfectly agree ... will be taking the Oscail Option as well ... I was just checking yesterday when the next compulsory introductory module starts ... which will be April/May ... the modules itself commence in October then ...

Good Luck to you so

Quick question about registering with Oscail. I got tthe forms the other day. They ask for your leaving results(I'm under 23). I didn't pass maths and you have to pass maths for their courses if you're under 23. I'm retaking it in June, how should I fill in the form? Could I get away with saying I passed maths (they don't ask for an exam number) and hope I pass it in June?

Humpty

kickthedog wrote:

Quick question about registering with Oscail. I got tthe forms the other day. They ask for your leaving results(I'm under 23). I didn't pass maths and you have to pass maths for their courses if you're under 23. I'm retaking it in June, how should I fill in the form? Could I get away with saying I passed maths (they don't ask for an exam number) and hope I pass it in June?

mmh, sorry I'm way over 23 and have foreign leaving certs as well so I can't really say ... my best guess is to give them a call ... from my experience they are very helpful and tell you what you need to know and do ...
It might still work out as the actual modules only commence in October ...

Maybe somebody else can answer this though ...

Cheers.

Humpty

BuffyBot wrote:

I don't particulariy see an issue in what I said or how I said it. I was just surprised that you are considering taking on a part-time degree with either the OU or Oscail when you considered an OU 10 point course a heavy workload. They way it came across to me is that you were seriously under estimating the amount of time or effort it would take to complete one with either instituation, and that doing Oscail over the OU was some kind of an easy option. I'm fairly sure (now) that isn't what you meant, but then again it's all about how you put things

Of course, you may have just encountered a particularily labour intensive 10 pointer course. I couldn't really class any of the ones I've done as being that bad, but I haven't done them all. However, considering most OU students are studying 30 or 60 point courses and having fullt-time jobs/lives, it's far from impossible to do.

Alright, maybe you got me on the wrong foot there yesterday ... sorry ...
the 10 Point Course in Web Application Development I did had about the same workload as a 30 Point Course I did in Science, 60 would be a bit too much to say ... still it was a fun course ... can actually recommend it once you don't plan much else ...

However, I was looking into Oscail as an alternative simply for the fees not so much the easier option

I had a look into old examination papers online etc ... and it certainly is on the same level as any other degree course ... still, I'll go for it ...

Sorry again.
Grumpy Humpty

Tom Dunne

kickthedog wrote:

I didn't pass maths and you have to pass maths for their courses if you're under 23. I'm retaking it in June, how should I fill in the form? Could I get away with saying I passed maths (they don't ask for an exam number) and hope I pass it in June?

One piece of advice - if you have trouble with maths now, you will have serious trouble with maths in the Oscail course.

Remember that this is a distance education course, so you don't have the immediate support of a teacher/lecturer you can sit down with and ask for help. You do of course have tutorials on a Saturday, and telephone support, but when I was doing the course, I found that being left to my own devices with notes of questionable quality was not the way to learn maths.

krankykitty

Just wondering if anyone is pursuing any other distance learning options other than the OU or Oscail.

The OU course choices for UK look really good but as GDM says, once you look at the ROI prices, it's all a bit extreme..

DapperGent

They certainly are expensive but don't forget to factor in tax relief which takes a chunk out.

Also a lot of employers now will subsidise courses to some extent. Obviously they're not going to give you much if you're working in IT say and want to study English literature but you might get something from them.

From talking to a few people this is the sort of thing employers like to state as their policy without actually making too many of their employees aware of it. You never know what you might turn up with a bit of digging.