I'd text my tutor and I'd get
a reply almost straight away
Melissa England
When I joined the OU I had just left a traditional campus uni down south. I went there for 4 months and didn't really enjoy it. I felt lost. I felt like I was just another number. We only had one hour each week to see our tutor and he had about 120 students so when you had a problem, you knew you only had 2 minutes to talk about it. I started getting lower marks than I'd ever got before.
I ended up becoming really disillusioned with the whole thing - it was like no one was interested whether I did well or not and I ended up dropping out. I really wanted to get a degree though so, when I moved back home, I decided to do one through the OU instead.
As soon as I started at the OU I thought it was brilliant, I had way more time with my tutors for one thing. You can call your tutor at home and they reply to your emails or texts the same day. You've also got the student support centre. There's just much more support than I've ever had at any other institution.
As well as the extra support to help you personally and with your work, the OU was so much more affordable too. At the other uni I'd only been there for 4 months and I'd already accumulated £3,000 worth of debt. With the OU I haven't done that.
For the first three years my study was paid for. And when I started paying for the course in my final year, I found the fact that you can do it in instalments brilliant. The fact that I've worked full-time while getting my degree is something that I couldn't do at any other institution too. I've got six years experience in my field now and it's a great way of showing people that I am dedicated and committed.
When people see my CV they're so impressed with the fact that I've done my degree while working full-time and with the fact that I didn't have to go to lectures and yet I was still motivated to do the work I was supposed to do. It's something that's always mentioned at interviews.
