The company I worked for in the late 90's/early 00's used to look well upon graduates of the OU, figuring that it takes extra drive and determination to juggle the requirements of work and a PT degree by correspondence. That was a long time ago though, and it was normally undergraduate degrees that our applicants held, so not sure if that's still the case at present with research degrees. For what it is worth, I think the OU is very much a 'proper' university, and their degree is as good as any from the Russell Group (with the usual exception of Oxbridge). The only reservation I have is the lack of day to day contact of a distance learning course, but you are doing a PT course, and that's not your main priory anyway. I'd say go for it, if its a better fit than Central Lancashire (eg., the supervisor has a better reputation etc).

3 months? The turnaround time at my place is 20 working days....

deleted. Didn't realised that the OP was from 7 years ago.

I think there is a clause somewhere in the ESRC funding guide that your supervisor cannot be a referee in your funding application. Not sure about the AHRC or other RC funded DTP/DTCs.

I don't think there would be a problem for your supervisor acting as a referee in a PhD application though. My friend who is applying for a self-funded PhD place has his supervisor (who was also his Master's dissertation supervisor, and his PhD project is an extension of his dissertation ) as a referee, and the application went through OK.

Not sure about other institutions, but as far as I can make out, as long as there is a supervisor willing to take the student on, and the student meets the entry requirements, a PhD place is more or less certain to be offered.

My course had only 6 contact hours per weeks, all small group seminars. Plus there may be half an hour to an hour of meeting with the module leaders, but that is infrequent, and mostly only used prior to assignments or if we have any problems. On top of that, they expect you to do about 40-50 hours of reading. I am not sure if anyone really did read that much, but one of the advantages of being a (very!) mature student was that I had came across most of the concepts in some way already, and really mostly did about 5-10 hours of reading per week to gain more depth.

I did the course out of personal interest rather than any thoughts of a career change, so can't say that it's opened that many new doors. It has, however, enable me to apply for funding for a PhD, something that was not on my mind when I enrolled. So in that sense, it has opened at least one door that was previously closed to me, though I did not know that I wanted that particular door opened. I think you should go for it. You never know where it may lead, and even if the destination doesn't lead to anything new or exciting in terms of careers, the journey is very much part of the fun. It is never in vain!

I suppose it really defends on the field, and what you mean by 'super intense'. Having finished a one-year, full time Master's this September after 23 years out of education, my experience is that a taught master's is not really that hard compared to undergrad degrees. I completed mine whilst also working full time in my business (50-60 hours per week, and its a long story why I had to do both together).

As buying books, not really sure that is necessary, as the library had everything covered in my case, and the online access to articles makes finding relevant material far far easier than my undergrad days, especially useful for finding references for concepts/idea we already know but can't quite remember where we got them from. This is especially helpful when working on assignments. That said, I did pick up some second-hand books from Oxfam, but they were dirt cheap ('Just and Unjust Wars' by Walzer cost me a quid).

Funding wise, most unis give discounts to former students, and some offer scholarships. Best to check on their websites. There's also the Master's loan, £10K a year, and repayable as in the undergrad loan.

The thing I found most difficult to get used to was that the preferred academic writing style seems to have changed compared to my undergrad days. Whereas we were discouraged to write in the first person in my days, this now seems to be the default style. Also, concluding statements are now often also expected in the introduction, which I found strange, but after the first taster essay, I was able to adjust.

Hop this helps.

I think Central Lancaster is in Preston, which quite a journey for you. I would have thought 2 hours might be a little optimistic myself. I know being onsite isn't considered essential, but my advice from tutors is that PhDs can be a lonely business, and face to face interaction and support from peers and the department can make all the difference when the going gets hard, as it inevitably will. I did think of applying to Lancaster at one stage, but that pretty little cottage by the canal went quickly (it was cheap!) , so I gave up on the idea as I want to be campus based.

Hope you have some good news from Hull or Sheffield soon. Have you considered Leeds or York, which are still nearer than Central Lancaster?

Bignige

Think I am a couple hours drive away. I do know about the new proposed PhD loan, and that was my intended route when I had the idea of doing a PhD back in January, but my then personal tutor (I did an MA at Newcastle last year, 2016-17) strongly advised against the idea of a loan for a full time PhD for various reasons.

I am lucky in that I found a potential supervisor who is really interested in my ideas at Newcastle, and is helping me in my funding application to ESRC for a fully funded studentship. I have also applied to York as a back-up in case the funding application at Newcastle fails for any reason, and might also apply to Oxford as a very long shot due to their good ratio of funded DPhil places, and that would be the only place that I would consider relocating for (there's Cambridge as well, but I do not meet their entry requirements. For some reason, Oxford asks only for a 2:1 + distinction, whereas Cambridge wants a First + Distinction). But Newcastle remains very much my first choice even if I somehow get that unlikely acceptance from Oxford, as its nearly on my doorstep, and my potential supervisors (my lead supervisor has already identified a co-supervisor, with whom I have exchanged emails) seem to be leading experts in their fields.

Which uni are you going to do your PhD? If everything goes well, I shall be starting my PhD at the same as you, and maybe we could grab a beer/coffee for mutual support when the weather is nice enough for a longish drive down the A1.

My research topic is in the Politics/Human Geography/Sociology area, and I am based in the North East.

Congratulations on getting your offer. I am a couple years younger at 54, and hoping to start a PhD in the 2018 year, my funding application not withstanding. Shows us oldies still have what it takes...:)

Looking at the numbers, its tempting. But the competition should be too strong, as I just about meet their minimum entry requirements, and its likely to be 75 quid down the drain. Might still give it a go though. Who knows, I might get lucky, and face a less strong list of applicants this year. It'd certainly be good for bragging rights to say that I had turned down a funded place at Oxford, as I would stay at my present uni in the unlikely circumstances that I get accepted for funding for both.

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No sure people who pay for essays will go further. Further than whom? Most of the 'products' will be lucky to scrape a low 2:1, and far more likely to be in the 2:2 category, as the writer have no idea what the payer has read or been taught as part of the course. Its likely to be a generic piece of work, and hence stock marks.

It is indeed a sad state of affairs that people will resort to using essay writing services (in other words, cheating!) for a piece of paper. What is the point, and what was the objective of you doing the degree in the first place? I note that someone said that they are now engaged in doctoral work on the basis of using such services. The question is, if they cannot do the work at Master's level, how likely are they to be able to do PhD level, without the structure and taught elements of a Master's? Why waste 3/4 more years doing something either they are not cut out for, or unwilling to put the efforts in?

Maybe I am the odd one out here, but the whole purpose of my returning to education (MA in International Politics in a Russell Group) was some sort of ego trip, to be able to rant and ramble on subjects that I find interesting, and have my prejudices confirmed or changed by the marks and feedback that I receive. If I am denied the opportunity to communicate my thoughts in my essays, the whole education thing would be pointless to me. Why pay good money (£5 K in my case), then some more good money to someone else, to do the most enjoyable part of the course?

Excuses about inability to do the work due to various contrive reasons don't really wash. Most unis have decent student welfare policies, and extensions can be easily obtained for illness, personal issues etc, and in extreme cases, the degree can be deferred. As for academic ability, I firmly believe that anyone willing to put in the work will get decent grades. My undergrad was from a college of further and higher education (originally a CNAA non-honours degree when I enrolled, got changed to a honours degree and taken over by a post-92 institution by the time I graduated). I can say with hand on heart that the Russell Group MA, if not easier, was certainly not more difficult.

If its a fully funded PhD, I'd follow the money and try to raise your concerns with the supervisory team to get things changed, as you might not get funding for your next application (I've been told that a lot of luck is needed for funding applications (quality of applicants for the year etc.).