{"id":8116,"date":"2018-03-27T09:21:22","date_gmt":"2018-03-27T09:21:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ounews.co\/?p=8116"},"modified":"2018-03-27T09:21:22","modified_gmt":"2018-03-27T09:21:22","slug":"the-ou-was-never-seen-as-a-lesser-choice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/student-stories\/the-ou-was-never-seen-as-a-lesser-choice\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cThe Open University was never seen as a lesser choice\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

Zoe (centre right) opted for the OU and toured with her band whilst studying<\/p><\/div>\n

Bass guitar player in The Franklys<\/a> Zoe Biggs, 29 from Milton Keynes, attended a few traditional university open days whilst studying her A-Levels. But she was unsure about what career path she wanted, and didn\u2019t want to get into debt studying something she might not then use in the future.<\/em><\/p>\n

An extra level of motivation<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cAfter completing my A-levels there was no other option encouraged as much by my school as to go on to study at university. I decided to study with the OU and work full time whilst I did so, and I think completing a degree with the OU shows an extra level of motivation, dedication and commitment.\u201d<\/p>\n

…completing a degree with the OU shows an extra level of motivation, dedication and commitment.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A degree, and zero debt<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\"\"

Zoe graduated with no debt<\/p><\/div>\n

Zoe began with a few short courses, to see if OU study suited her, and it grew from there. She opted for an Open Degree<\/a> as she wasn\u2019t sure what area she wanted to focus on.\u00a0 This degree means you can take a variety of subjects according to your own interests.\u00a0 Zoe decided to focus on biology based subjects and graduated in 2016.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have come out with a degree and with zero debt, unlike all of my friends who went to traditional universities and are now having to start to slowly pay back that dreaded student loan. All of my friends were very encouraging of the OU, it was never seen as a ‘lesser choice’ to a traditional university, and I think they could see the extra motivation it took to continue to study whilst having to work full time as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

I have come out with a degree and with zero debt, unlike all of my friends who went to traditional universities<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve gained so many skills, many that I \u2013 and other OU students \u2013 don\u2019t even realise we\u2019ve learnt from studying with the OU.\u00a0 Independence, confidence in your own ability, determination, resilience, being organised \u2013 the list could go on! I\u2019ve learnt that I will only ever get out what I put in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Studying around the world<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"\"Bass guitar player in a band called The Franklys, Zoe performs alongside three other women all around the world with appearances at big festivals such as Download and the Isle of Wight Festival; and she had to fit in her studies while on the road.\u00a0 The band\u2019s debut album \u2018Are You Listening?<\/a>\u2019 was released in May 2017 and they are endorsed by H\u00f6fner guitars, Hutchins guitars, Dean Markley strings, Promark, Evans and Zildjian.<\/p>\n

Now working at a firm of solicitors in London as an administrator, Zoe hopes to continue with a Master\u2019s degree in the future.\u00a0 She\u2019s eventually hoping for a successful career in the music industry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bass guitar player in The Franklys Zoe Biggs, 29 from Milton Keynes, attended a few traditional university open days whilst studying her A-Levels. But she was unsure about what career path she wanted, and didn\u2019t want to get into debt studying something she might not then use in the future. An extra level of motivation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":8119,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,18],"tags":[265,388,1490,1592],"class_list":["post-8116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science-environment","category-student-stories","tag-biology","tag-case-study","tag-music","tag-open-degree"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8116","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\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8116"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8116\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}