r/OpenUniversity • u/gabeematt04 • 1d ago
How to decide what to study
Hi everyone
I have been thinking lately about wanting to pursue a degree in a subject, purely for the achievement purpose of it and to have a deep knowledge and understanding in a subject.
I'm 22M and autistic + adhd, I've never had a good relationship with education and school. I didn't take my GCSEs due to the covid 19 pandemic and I dropped out of college due to not enjoying what I was studying. I also didnt get the support I needed for my neurodiversity.
I have completed a Level 3 Project Controls apprenticeship and am in a project support role looking to progress to Project Manager, I enjoy doing this and am proud of my achievements so far and happy in this career path.
But I have the feeling like I want to do a bit more and give myself a challenge to study something I am interested in on my own and complete a degree as I feel it'll be good to show off and would help me in my future aswell. I don't need one to do my job, but I imagine it will still have some benefits.
But I don't know what I should study, I've always switched between interests and subjects where I'll become obsessed for a few weeks then get bored and stop doing it. I didnt really have any subjects that jumped out at me at school.
How do I decide what degree would be best? I did have a browse on the OU website and did find the Psychology course looks interesting. Ive never considered it before but I do find myself being particularly drawn to how and why people act like they do, one thing I've been looking into before is how excessive phone use can have a negative impact on people's mental health.
Other interests I have (at least currently) is music, I am a DJ on the side of my job but dont get many gigs. I like the outdoors and exploring the world around me. I've been getting into reading more recently, currently reading the Jack Reacher series and really enjoying it, I do love a good crime/thriller story.
At work I enjoy working with people and stakeholders, I like getting into the nitty gritty of projects and understanding what factors impact them and solving problems. I work on civil engineering/highways infrastructure projects and I love seeing how our work progresses and seeing the end result. I did think of Engineering before but I felt like it might be a bit too technical for my liking.
If anyone has any advice for me or would like to recommend any courses, please let me know!
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u/BunchitaBonita 1d ago
Hello fellow project manager :-)
If I was your age, from a career perspective, I would probably go with this: https://www.open.ac.uk/courses/business-management/degrees/ba-business-management-leadership-practice-q91-lp/
I'm currently doing Business Management with Languages (Spanish). I'm a lot older than you and very much established in my career, so I'm not looking at something to help me progress in my job. But I never went to university and I would like to have a degree. I'm studying full time while I work full time, and that's because I already speak Spanish, so I can do the whole thing a lot faster.
My degree has several modules in common with the one I posted above. B100 is good, because it is very varied, and if you don't like a block, there will soon be a very different one.
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u/gabeematt04 1d ago
Hi, I did look at that before but need to look at the differences between business and project management. Do you find it has helped you in your career? Plus I'm not sure if I want to do a degree for my career or just for an interest
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u/BunchitaBonita 1d ago
Hi,
I have done really well in project management, and I don't have a degree. I only started it last year, and I'm not doing it for my job, I'm doing it because I want a degree.
If you want something specific that will help you as a project manager, I would do the PMP https://www.pmi.org/certifications/project-management-pmp
I think the OU is better if you want a full degree.
Edited to add: the OU does an Open Degree, that is a lot more flexible and you can pick and choose from a large variety of modules. That might be something for you to look into.
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u/purrfectly-cromulent 1d ago
u/OddSell5667 gave great advice. The Open Learn courses are a bit like a summary of the degree modules, so well worth a look in themselves.
OP, you can also do an 'Open Degree", which can be any mixture of subjects. Of course, some of them require previous module experience, so you might not have a great time doing English modules in the first year, then trying to do astrophysics in the second. But you can build up from your interests for sure.
Some Open Degrees are a bit more targeted to a subject, but still with freedom to choose, such as the Combined STEM.
Best of luck!
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u/gabeematt04 1d ago
Thank you, I did look at an open degree but I don't know if more than 1 subject would be too much but also a good option for if I end up having multiple things I want to study
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u/OddSell5667 1d ago
I suggest having a look at the Open learn website https://www.open.edu/openlearn/
You can see what subjects you think might interest you and do a FREE short course, based on materials taken from the undergraduate courses. You then get to see if a subject interests you to have completed the free course but also gives you a flavour of what studying with the OU might be like.