Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi all.
I went to traditional brick Uni in the autumn of 2018 after passing a pre-access course and after being diagnosed with ASD at the start of 2019, I dropped out of my degree. Since then, I’ve been battling with severe depression and have always received the common comment ‘Oh, uni isn’t for everyone.’ The issue is that uni was for me, however, I hated the environment and received no support regarding my health and ASD diagnosis.
I know that I’ve already been to uni, so wouldn’t be entitled to any student finance loans yet I’ve been feeling more drawn to OU just because a family member has done multiple degree courses with them and had a positive experience. The subjects I’m thinking of are either along the lines of business management or doing an open degree since I have lots of interests and have done so from a young age. I hate exams and being unemployed with a chronic health condition means no money is coming in.
I would like to hear from anyone with autism/chronic conditions that have studied with OU. Good or bad experiences, I’m interested in hearing all perspectives! Any advice about how to potentially find someone to sponsor my studies would be great as well
Hi there,
I'm still waiting for a diagnosis, but I can fully recommend the OU and I think I particularly like them because it so suits those who need to be doing one thing at time and like to hyper focus...
I did my first degree the old fashioned way, but didn't particularly do myself justice. I could never balance the social distractions with the 101 assignments all coming in simultaneously for different deadlines. Either I turned in minor assignments, I'd spent a week doing, and got a first, scraped by with something substandard, or didn't do them at all. I did OK, but not what I am capable of.
Subsequently, I've done a post-graduate diploma with the OU and another undergraduate qualification and got straight distinctions. They are brilliant! What I really liked was the fact that each course is built unit by unit. Only ever ONE assignment to think about at a time and I found my study rhythm quite easily. I had my little routines, reading on my commute and lunch times, writing from my son went to bed to the small hours of the morning...
Mind you, they say each student would spend 15 hours per week on a unit - errrr...I spent double, at least. I am dyslexic, so reading time is tad longer, but I think it was all the detail digging and analysis until I was confident of my conclusions that went into each carefully crafted submission that took the time. I'd never let the assignment go, until the 11th hour ... I'd be checking it over and over until then.
The quality of the materials and the tutors is first rate. I understand that they also offer good support for students with disabilities, albeit I never availed myself of that.
The sad thing is that until they introduced tuition fees, their courses used to be quite affordable. Now they are much more expensive.
Hope that helps. Good luck and enjoy!
I’m the exact same with your brick Uni experience. Lots of assignments but not a comfortable atmosphere to be surrounded with over 100 people in a lecture. Thanks so much for your reply- very helpful!
I’m definitely more of an independent learner, so group working for me was a huge struggle at school. Glad that you made a good friend!
Personally, I quite like being with other students. I just can't handle social plus academic demands together - can't make the routine work that way.
The OU does by it's very nature allow for solitary, independent study. And I do prefer to my assignments to be MY work alone. Some courses at brick unis require collaborative submissions - nop! Not for me.
I did make one good friend at an OU tutorial (they are generally very small groups btw). She lived quite near me, so we used to have girl's night out in a pub once every assignment cycle, to have a pint and swap notes and talk about the central themes of the unit. We enjoyed bouncing ideas off eachother.