{"id":25595,"date":"2024-08-26T09:00:03","date_gmt":"2024-08-26T08:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ounews.co\/?p=25595"},"modified":"2024-08-26T09:00:03","modified_gmt":"2024-08-26T08:00:03","slug":"every-person-i-have-met-online-has-been-so-friendly-helpful-and-inspiring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/arts-social-sciences\/every-person-i-have-met-online-has-been-so-friendly-helpful-and-inspiring\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Every person I have met online has been so friendly, helpful and inspiring\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

At 19 years old, Izzy wanted to achieve a degree but knew \u2018going away\u2019 to university wasn\u2019t right for her. She shares how studying flexibly from home with The Open University (OU) fit her lifestyle and career goals.<\/span><\/p>\n

Izzy, now 21, said, “I was lost on what to do, knowing I didn’t want to attend a brick university. A teacher mentioned the OU, which sounded perfect for me.<\/span><\/p>\n

“I would be able to have the flexibility of working and volunteering, continue my education, and not have to move away from home. Within a week, I had signed up, chosen my modules and had my next step for education finalised.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Finding friends<\/span><\/b><\/h2>\n
\"A

Izzy enjoying time with her friends<\/p><\/div>\n

Although Izzy was excited to start her studies, she was worried she would feel isolated and struggle to make friends, but she quickly found her tribe.<\/span><\/p>\n

“My main worry was that I wouldn’t have any friends,” she says. “Little did I know someone from my town was studying the same module as me. I made so many new friends and study buddies. We had such a good laugh and kept each other motivated.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Every person I met online was so friendly, helpful and inspiring.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Planning for the future<\/span><\/b><\/h2>\n

Having just finished her third and final year with the OU, Izzy was thrilled to learn she had received a 2:1 in her <\/span>BA (Honours) Social Sciences<\/span><\/a> degree. She is now on her way to becoming a full-time teaching assistant. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOver three years, I have been able to study while working. I\u2019ve gained vital experience, earned money and learnt valuable skills. The exposure to different industries and the connections I have made has also helped me to feel confident in choosing a career path after graduating.<\/span><\/p>\n

“I feel on top of the world having received my result. The OU has been great for me. My advice for anyone considering an OU degree would be to grab the opportunity \u2013 it’s something I have most certainly done and I\u2019m so grateful I did.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Like Izzy, you could achieve your career goals with an OU degree. <\/span><\/b>Register before 5 September<\/span><\/b><\/a>\u00a0for courses starting this October.<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At 19 years old, Izzy wanted to achieve a degree but knew \u2018going away\u2019 to university wasn\u2019t right for her. She shares how studying flexibly from home with The Open University (OU) fit her lifestyle and career goals. Izzy, now 21, said, “I was lost on what to do, knowing I didn’t want to attend […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":25596,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,18],"tags":[1525,1640],"class_list":["post-25595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-social-sciences","category-student-stories","tag-news-home","tag-ou-home"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25595"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25595\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}