Education options

[Leader Bee]

So here I am at 24 years old stuck in a dead end job which I completely abhor.

 

Back in my school days I was a pretty bright lad let down by the motivation to do the work. I didn't get out with great grades despite the fact I knew what I was talking about in Geography & Physics; I just didnt put in the effort to the coursework.

 

Im sick and tired of this crummy admin job and want to look into something i'd find more enjoyable. (something involving the above two subjects i'd hope).

 

I'm guessing that attending university is out of the question. I looked at some of the entry requirements for Leeds uni in the UK as this would be my local Uni and they're far above what I attained. Open University now then seems the best choice for me, but i've really not got any further ideas than that.

 

Anything you helpful folks here at SFN could reccommend?

 

(I'm looking at you Rhiaden as this seems to be a similar situation you were in?)

 

Cheers guys!

[Rhiaden]

Well, what age do you qualify as a mature student in the UK these days? Remember entry requirements for mature students are different. (If I remember, its around 21 in the UK)

 

I managed to sneak in here in Denmark as there are 2 ways of getting into Uni here, if you dont have the qualifications, you can write a letter of motivation (this usually applies to mature students).

 

There is also the option of doing top up classes in maths/physics etc to bring your grades up to the required level, usually you can do short courses to get you A levels if needed.

 

Also, a lot of universities do supplementary top up courses....usually these are called "Foundation Courses" like this one at Leeds: Physics Foundation

 

I would suggest maybe contact leeds Uni as a first option, talk to the relevant faculty, and see how you can go from there.

 

I am quite lucky as I am doing a 2 year Basic Course in Natural Sciences, which basically includes any classes I want from a list each semester, and each subject has a specialist class you need to take in order to move to the degree year in it, and also physics, maths, biology and chemistry have classes to top up your knowledge, so I am doing supplementary physics (Thermodynamics, Classical Mechanics, Electrostatics etc) this semester, and 2 semesters ago I did introduction to calculus and Maths modelling. These are not compulsory, and I can elect to skip them completely and just take the special course in physics if I want, but it is a good way for me to pick up on the college stuff I didnt do, and the ECTS are handy

 

Once everyone completes the 2-year course (4 projects, 8 courses), they select 1 or 2 subjects to take for their bachelor year, so I am just collecting as many special courses as I can so I can have a wide choice in my final year.

Edited November 15, 2010 by Rhiaden

[imatfaal]

Leeder Bee - try Birkbeck - http://www.bbk.ac.uk/. Birkbeck is purely for mature students (at present), but mature starts quite young as Rhiaden says above. There are practically no entry requirements, apart from interviews and assessments; the degrees are all internal University of London (so not mickey mouse) and in some departments they are world respected. The great advantage over Open (which is great as well) is that the Birkbeck courses are not distance learning - they are normal attendance-based, but in the evenings. It's a shattering schedule, work 9am-5pm, college , 6pm-9pm, and study every free minute; but there is a great social side that will provide the necessary peer-support and beer-support! If you want more info about it drop me a pm (there are private messages on this forum aren't there?) - I studied undergrad and post-grad at Birkbeck

[Leader Bee]

Thanks very much. It's been some time since I was in education (2002, and that was an I.T course and not particularly relevent) so I was somewhat concerned about the requirements and brushing up on my maths which was never something I felt very confident with anyway.

 

When I left school I planned to go into the 6th form to study Geography & Phys, unfortunately there were never enough students from my school interested enough for them to run it; The local college had nothing appropriate either.

 

I'll have a look into this. I reckon i'd need the foundation or refresher courses for sure.

 

Thanks muchly!

[Leader Bee]

Double post - my bad.

Edited November 15, 2010 by Leader Bee

[Rhiaden]

Dont be put off by the length of time since you last studied

 

I last studied in 1996, when I was 16, which was also the last time I did any maths (As you know, maths isnt used much in Admin). It was a bit wierd to get back into studying, but it didnt take long. You can also get some handy books from Wiley, they do a range of teach-yourself books, I just picked up their Algebra and Calculus books as I have completely forgotten all the rules for equations.

 

There are also some really good online tutorials, both in text and multimedia.

[Leader Bee]

I knew my maths was terrible but browsing through the open university website for courses it offers a simple "are you ready to study yadda yadda yadda course...?" type quiz, with questions on enviornment and ecology, which I did quite well with but there were also simple questions about adding fractions together and working out percentages which I had to look up how to do!

 

I understand the concepts of physics; Applying any useful equations to it is another story.

 

Maybe maths isn't so bad when you've got a guide how to handle the equations, number crunching is surely easy (Though time consuming) as long as you've got the mechanisim to handle them correctly. It's just really off putting when you enjoy somethign and then those nasty numbers crop up and drop your confidence.

[Rhiaden]

Number crunching is just down to rules, you should see how many times I randomly subtract from one side of an equation, as thats the only rule I remember at the time!

 

It suddenly clicks, although, I am a bit geeky, so I have a 2m x 3m whiteboard in my living room which usually has rules of algebra that I need to remember on it, along with random other equations.

 

I found calculus really impossible in calculus class, until I took environmental biology, and had a context to use them in, then it suddenly made sense all at once.

 

My maths professor says it is just like a language, if you dont use it for years you forget it, but it is still there in your head, buried underneath episodes of CSI Miami and Discovery channel documentaries!

 

One thing I find handy for example:

 

I have just been doing conduction of heat through a composite material for tomorrows homework, and it had in the text "Solving this equation for T, we find........" and I had no idea how they manipulated the equation to get the new one, so I just accept while doing the problem that that is how you do it, then afterwards I hit the whiteboard and the internet to figure out how you manipulate the equation....

 

I am not that geeky, honest!

Edited November 15, 2010 by Rhiaden

[Leader Bee]

If I didn't still live at home and I was allowed a huge whiteboard to just stuff in the corner of my living room believe me I would have one.

I find context certainly helps me understand things much mroe. Unlike you I couldnt just accept that "thats the way it's done" i'd have to ask why it has to be done that particular way to fully understand.

 

Perhaps that was one of my failings having to ask question after question to understand something rather than just accept what i'm told. (usually the accepting things at face value way doesnt help me learn)

[Rhiaden]

Asking why is good , but for example, in the example I gave, I know it will take me about 4 hours working backwards to understand how to put the equation together, which I will be doing later.

 

Most textbooks for physics assume you know how to manipulate the equations already, which is an issue for me, but it doesnt take too long to learn the rules, once you figure out what they have done to one equation you can easily see it every time it is done.

 

If you take the foundation course they cover the maths you need anyway, so you dont end up in the situation I am in, trying to keep up with the maths which everyone else in my class knows already, and learn the physics at the same time.

 

Send some enquiry emails over to the Unis you are interested in, worst case is that you will find out what evening classes you need to do etc in order to get into the courses you want

[Leader Bee]

thanks very much for your encouraging input

[johnmarsh]

yes nice one thanks for shring