Charlotte Green

Undergrad student testimonial

My name's Charlotte, I work full time as an admin assistant. I have been doing OU since I was 18 years old; I am now 20 and well in to my second year, and still have the same spark and enthusiasm as when I started.

Why I chose the OU

From leaving school at 18 I went in to full time employment, although it was an apprentice scheme. I love and live to learn and when my apprenticeship came to an end I felt like something was missing. After continual searching through college night classes (as I didn’t want to quit my job and lose the money I was so used to earning) I came across the OU. It was perfect.

Like a tailored suit it fitted me. The range of courses available where brilliant.

I am currently studying 2 courses at the same time, B203 Business functions in context and B121 Managing in the workplace.

I will be continuing my studies with the OU until I have reached my Business Studies (Honours) degree.

Highs and lows

Through the lack of support from family and friends I have literally been in this by myself and the personal sense of achievement has been a massive high point, and unintentionally improved my confidence in other aspects of my life.

The low points of course are probably the social sacrifices you may have to make depending on your day job. And basically fitting it all in. I also found starting a new course isn’t easy as all course have different layouts: it would be beneficial and would save valuable learning time if the course websites were standardised.

The decision to do a course is not to be taken lightly, it’s a massive commitment of time and effort, and finding your self-discipline is hard.

How my studies have changed me

The course has made me much more confident in a business sense and also in a personal sense. I feel I have a much greater knowledge in business than if I had gone to a university as I feel the OU is more self-taught. Although your tutor is there for assistance, your time management and the reading is down to you.

My job has improved but my greater knowledge has led me to believe that I can do more in my working life. 

My learning experience

The learning has been implemented straight away, and as I move on to new courses I take my previous knowledge with me.

On all my courses so far I have had brilliant tutors who have been there if needed. The support has been invaluable and individual. Being able to contact my tutor at any time has been a key resource for me. From start to finish you do not feel alone, unlike the name implies (long distance learning).

I found the OU at first to be a very scary prospect. I had very basic computer knowledge and the OU used the internet as a main source of connecting. It does however get easier to understand and the support is there if needed. It’s clean cut and user friendly.

I would recommend the OU business school to someone else, and I already have.