I’m seriously looking at doing a law degree through the OU.
Has anyone gone through the OU route? Any experiences will be most welcome.
Thanks

My wife did a masters in criminal psychology through the OU.

Not related to her work, just because it interested her.

Finding time was the biggest issue for her. A lot of the people on the course were police officers or worked in law and were being either full or part funded by employers as well as being given time off for study etc.

She stopped after a year as it was really too much to fit in aroudn her work as she’d got a promotion. She had enough ‘points’ for some fort of diploma though so it didn’t get wasted.

She’s susbequently done a masters in an area related to her work and found this a lot easier to do as some of the research etc could be done during work time.

I did a load of Maths courses about 10 years ago. Course material was extremely high quality, thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend it.

Actually it was probably more like 15 as I only stopped when I bought a house and my spare time was re-directed towards DIY…

Isn’t it notoriously expensive, compared to “part time” or “distance learning” courses from other Uni’s?

Presume you’ve done lots of research into law and are committed to studying it? I found it takes a particular type of mind/person to enjoy studying law (I have a law degree….I did not enjoy it)

I’ve looked at OU several times but never could make the case for cost/time versus salary improvement. Then again if it is just for fun and you have the money and time go for it.

If it is a career change into law maybe look at paralegal posts as a first step.

I’m currently on long term sick leave and need something to keep my mind occupied. I have a Civil Engineering degree. It was a choice between Civil Engineering and Law at the time so have been thinking I might as well get the Law.
I have plenty of time on my hands so was thinking why not.

I did four modules a few years ago, it helped me into a new career and I found them interesting. Then, each module was about £300/400. I looked again recently and the prices were c. £1200 if you lived in England and still c.£350 for the rest of the UK.

Seemed a bit of a shame the opportunities just a few modules gave me were not available anymore.

I looked into this (before the price went up) and then moved to doing a Masters the usual way.

As I remember OU degree courses can often be built up from linked modules. So a starting point may be to do a broad module in humanities/social science which could then count towards a really wide range of degrees – quite possibly law – you will have to check. This way you could see if you enjoy the learning style of OU and the sort of stuff covered and get back into the academic way of thinking (and writing)

I am doing an MA in political economy full time at a traditional Uni, my undergraduate degree was a BEng in Metallurgy and Materials Science, and I am an accountant by profession, so I think chopping and changing is possible Am really enjoying my course but it isn’t easy by any means there is whole world of new jargon in social and political science you don’t come across in the real world!

Obviously I don’t know the nature of you illness, but could you consider doing law through a standard uni – perhaps part time? I do like having the structure of seminars, face time with fellow students and there are lots of extra curricular lectures from political groups, visiting academics etc which helps broaden the subject.

I’m doing a degree with the OU (although the fee increases have not made me a happy bunny), and I am enjoying it – although motivation to study is not always easy to find when you work full time.

I’ve considered the OU on a number of occassions but the costs seemed quite high and for me I found the benefits similar to those mentioned by Olddog.
I did a Post Grad (Part time) in Law over two years whilst working. It was quite intensive (compared to my other two Post grad courses). Reckon I averaged a minimum of 12 hours study a week, comprising two to three nights of lectures every week for 3 hours + studying on Saturdays. Hope it works out for you whatever route you take

Did an OU course to add to my old Engineering Q’s all about aerodynamic simulations as I was intrigued about the way car design in F1 and Le Mans was heading a few years ago. Did it in my spare time and found it ridiculous fun. Was done purely to expand my knowledge of an interest rather than for career enhancement so that probably helped!!
Ended up talking to one of the mentors who happened to work at one of the F1 teams (who shall remain nameless) and was invited on a factory tour!! 😀

Do you actually want to practice law or do you have an interest in how the law impacts a specific area? Because if it’s the latter there are much more efficient ways to develop expertise…

The main reason is law always interested me and as I have (and will have) a lot of time I thought why not.
I also believe it will be another string to my bow.
Anything enables me to broaden my career choices is surely a good thing.

did a masters and a few other courses, I would do more but the fee increase has put me off,

You can get funding through a loan same as a full-time course i think, but if you already have a degree you won’t… So you have to find all the money, which is a lot.