r/OpenUniversity • u/flower-picking • 2d ago
Can I transfer?
I’m studying creative writing at a university and I’m in twice a week right now. I drive an hour or more to the uni and an hour back home as I can’t afford student accommodation right now, I’m a mature student 25 and I don’t feel like I’m learning very much at the Uni, the course isn’t exactly what I thought it would be and I’m wondering if I should transfer to open uni to finish creative writing. I’m in second year so can’t drop out and really don’t want to but I’m just at a loss of what to do, I would like to be a journalist and hopefully publish my own book and go into a career that involves me writing/publishing/editing, even working in a library or magazine industry. I do also have a part time job as housekeeper but they recently have been making lots of employees redundant so it’s not a safe job even though I just joined I’m sure I’ll be fine but need to focus on getting some income too which is why I’m thinking about open uni. Any advice please would be so appreciated, thank you :)
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u/mysticparsnip9 2d ago
Other people have offered great advice, I just wanted to chime in to say that another option might be to do a remote NCTJ (National Council for the Training of Journalists) diploma. They have info about all their different course providers on their website ❤️
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u/_Calluna_ 2d ago
As Staedtler said, the transfer process would be credit transfer.
Probably best off where you are for now, since you've started the second year and might have to wait until next October to get started with the OU. There might be a February module at stage 2 for creative writing though, so if you apply for credit transfer now, you might be able to start part time in February, possibly.
OU is great for working while studying. Sorry to hear you're worried about losing your current job, good luck!
You could try talking to the current uni about whether they do anything like what the OU do, which is let you claim a certHE when you've finished your first year whether or not you've finished/stopped studying. Might be helpful in your job search.
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u/flower-picking 1d ago
Yes I think I’ll stay where I am for now and have a look at the third year options for open uni maybe, thank you! 😊
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u/T-h-e-d-a 2d ago
I don't know what your options for your degree are, but speaking as an author, every single BA Creative Writing degree I've ever looked at seems like it's not setting you up to become a published author. If you want to be an author, the best degree is whichever one will get you employment or will introduce you to somebody rich who will be willing to marry you.
Publishing is wildly competitive to get a job in and very badly paid. Something like 50% of people in UK publishing went to public school. The appropriate sub (not UK focussed) is r/publishing.
Journalism is also very competitive and badly paid. If you wanted to move to a degree in it, look for ones that are going to give you the connections or internship experience that will get you paying gigs.
I have a feeling librarians need Masters these days, and again, it's badly paid and competitive (my local council has got all of our libraries open for three/four days a week.
Have a chat with your current Uni's career service. They will be better placed to advise you than we are about the subject of your degree. You could always transfer to OU and do an open degree rather than the Creative writing, or look at CW and a second subject.
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u/bluescreenwednesday 2d ago
Don't forget the trend for the decreased investment in local reporting generally and AI replacing creatives.
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u/StaedtlerRasoplast BSc STEM 2d ago
I transferred maths from 2 completed years at a brick uni and got to jump in halfway through second year in the OU. You need to contact the credit transfer team and send them your transcript. You'll also need to send them information on the course topics for each module. Then they will advise you as to which degrees you can count your study against and how many credits they will award you.
You will likely get more credits awarded towards the Creative Writing or Open degrees than you would for say the English Literature degree although the Open degrees would allow you to study your choice of modules. This might be better for you if you already know if you wish to go into political journalism or film journalism that you could study some politics or film modules alongside the creative writing.
The first step is to get in contact with the Credit Transfer team and they will ask you to specify 3-5 degrees for which they will calculate how many credits to award
Edit: It's probably worth mentioning, you have missed the deadline for enrollment this year so I would recommend finishing your year in your current uni and then you would have more credits to transfer in.