Sweet and sour bittersweet

Sour:
Yesterday the University I have been chasing during two years to top up my degree changed the degree name to exactly the same name The OU uses for its flexible degree. I was trying to escape from that name since 2010 but that name follows me.

I feel I'm jinxed on this, cannot I just have the degrees with the names I want for God sake?

I contacted them trying to see if I can claim the old degree instead of the new one. It's not possible, I have stopped my application process yesterday and I'm back to point zero in my research on finding a University that would offer this degree online (with good modules if possible).

Only one Uni found at the moment and it was the one I discarded in favour of "the mutator one" :-).

This is very sad for me, the Uni had no exams, had a very good approach to the materials, fantastic modules, it's one of the UK Universities with the highest percentage of people going into work straight away after they finish...and it's even cheaper than The OU.

Sweet:
My M263 results have been published. I got a 88% OES, with a 91% OCAS. Providing that I finish all my modules on time I have now mathematically a 2:1 degree. Just having a 40% in the two modules I have ahead that will be the minimum grade I will be having.

Now I have 10% of probability to have a First, 90% to have a 2:1.

The new unofficial table is as follows:

Uncertainty but with some good points and a lot of hope

The University I'm going to do the top-up of my Dip HE Comp & IT is now doing changes to their planned modules. The contents will be unveiled near September. I now do not know if they will change the module contents as well or not.

I liked the old modules and their practical approach, they were the reason for me to decide to study with them, now everything is a bit uncertain until they will publish the new structure.

For now I know they are going to increase the number of credits per module from 15 to 20 and thus will be reducing the number of modules in the top-up year from 8 to 6. I also know that they are now asking for an English qualification for foreign students.

Another good point with this degree is that from the 8 modules they had they only had 1 exam (that was equivalent to the 40% of the module grade only!). That was another reason for me to select them as even when I do not fear exams at all I was searching for a practical approach that would allow me to use the knowledge in my day-by-day work at the same time I was learning it.


Good points: I will have less modules meaning I probably will reduce a year of studies.

Hope: I just hope they accept that if I have finished an undergraduate degree already with a good grade that demonstrates I can study another undergraduate level in English and would accept my application without any academic English qualification exam to be sit. Should that's not the case I will probably search for another University that be more open minded on this point as I just do not want to have to waste 6 months - or a year - of my life going to an academy course just to pass a stupid exam I do not need at all.

I also hope the modules I liked the most still remain in the new structure.

I'm happy these changes are happening before I'm going into the degree instead of while I'm inside. I do not want to live the situation of starting a degree that is being created on the fly so I will probably wait to finish my BSc with The OU before starting it, leaving them another year to define their modules and have them all in place.

It looks like I can top-up my DipHE Comp & IT

Today I contacted the online University that offers the IT top-up year I'm interested to study (using my DipHE Comp & IT, after I finish it next July 2013).

They did a very fast reply and have basically said that they will consider my application as even when they had in their requirements that they normally accept HND's, Foundation Degrees and access courses as entry requirements DipHE's are of the same FHEQ level (5) so I could be elegible.

It seems to be I can study both qualifications at the same time if I can demonstrate I can face the workload that would entails. That shouldn't be difficult to demonstrate as I have been studying 4 modules per year with The OU and I have done it fine. Apparently I will not need to wait until I have my BSc(Hons) Computing under my belt to study another BSc in parallel.

Hurrah! Definitely this is a good motivation to continue to study M263 and do it well.

Let's see what future brings and how this unfolds then but it's very good to see opportunities are there. It sounds like "everything is possible" for now and that makes me happy.

I would need to double check with The OU once I have claimed the DipHE (or maybe a bit before) to be 100% sure though. I don't want to lose my opportunity to be entitled to B29 as that's a high priority for me.