University pondering
Thursday, 14 September 2006 01:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
taimatsuApologies to those who have seen this already in Another Place.
Assistance needed from people who have studied a modular degree course!
I'm starting university in just over a fortnight, doing English at Reading. I've been to university before, but that was an ill-fated attempt at doing theology at Oxford, and it didn't work out. Oxford does not have a modular system - you do the subject you signed up for, in essence, and that's about it. There was no real option to do papers in other areas.
At Reading, of course, things are very different. I have to do 120 credits in my first year. 60 of those come from three compulsory English modules, and then I've got to choose papers in other things to make up the numbers. There's a huge list of stuff I could do, and I don't know how to start choosing.
I have made a list of the areas which interest me. Some of those areas I have studied before - French, for example, which I have at A-level, or Japanese, or a metaphysics/philosophy module. But there are areas I've never studied, or not since GCSE, which I am interested in - sociology, history, typography...
What's worrying me is how I'm supposed to construct this. I mean, I could do a unit of Japanese, one of Philosophy and one of Sociology, and choose papers which complement my English studies, and I'd enjoy that. But I *could* choose to study all the compulsory modules for another subject (Typography, say) and have the chance to transfer to a joint degree in year 2.
Are you supposed to make sure your subsidiary modules 'add up' to something? Or is it all right to just study things you're interested in? I have done a lot of evening classes over the last five years, and I am worried I am treating this like those, not seriously enough. This is part of my degree, not some optional thing I can abandon if it doesn't work out. The only other subject I have ever seriously considered studying at degree level is theology, which is not offered at Reading, never mind that I didn't manage it so well last time I tried! It feels very strange to be selecting modules in subjects I have not seriously studied in years and did not apply for.
(The whole situation is made more complicated by the fact that I may be able to get credit for passing my first-year exams at Oxford, and also credit for doing two English modules through Reading's Continuing Education programme last year; I haven't decided whether I'm going to use this credit, and will wait to talk to a member of staff before I finalise it.)
How did you plan your studies? What modules did you take in your first year? How did they support your later studies? Any other tips or ideas? Thank you!
Assistance needed from people who have studied a modular degree course!
I'm starting university in just over a fortnight, doing English at Reading. I've been to university before, but that was an ill-fated attempt at doing theology at Oxford, and it didn't work out. Oxford does not have a modular system - you do the subject you signed up for, in essence, and that's about it. There was no real option to do papers in other areas.
At Reading, of course, things are very different. I have to do 120 credits in my first year. 60 of those come from three compulsory English modules, and then I've got to choose papers in other things to make up the numbers. There's a huge list of stuff I could do, and I don't know how to start choosing.
I have made a list of the areas which interest me. Some of those areas I have studied before - French, for example, which I have at A-level, or Japanese, or a metaphysics/philosophy module. But there are areas I've never studied, or not since GCSE, which I am interested in - sociology, history, typography...
What's worrying me is how I'm supposed to construct this. I mean, I could do a unit of Japanese, one of Philosophy and one of Sociology, and choose papers which complement my English studies, and I'd enjoy that. But I *could* choose to study all the compulsory modules for another subject (Typography, say) and have the chance to transfer to a joint degree in year 2.
Are you supposed to make sure your subsidiary modules 'add up' to something? Or is it all right to just study things you're interested in? I have done a lot of evening classes over the last five years, and I am worried I am treating this like those, not seriously enough. This is part of my degree, not some optional thing I can abandon if it doesn't work out. The only other subject I have ever seriously considered studying at degree level is theology, which is not offered at Reading, never mind that I didn't manage it so well last time I tried! It feels very strange to be selecting modules in subjects I have not seriously studied in years and did not apply for.
(The whole situation is made more complicated by the fact that I may be able to get credit for passing my first-year exams at Oxford, and also credit for doing two English modules through Reading's Continuing Education programme last year; I haven't decided whether I'm going to use this credit, and will wait to talk to a member of staff before I finalise it.)
How did you plan your studies? What modules did you take in your first year? How did they support your later studies? Any other tips or ideas? Thank you!
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no subject
Date: Thursday, 14 September 2006 01:20 pm (UTC)My degree was entirely modular (no compulsory modules), and in the first year I went rather wild with so much choice and chose the most random subjects available. I enjoyed this an awful lot, and came away with some very good marks.
By the second year, however, I was feeling a bit lost by how much reading I was having to do compared to people doing "straight" degrees - to get the background on my courses, which other people were getting just by doing related courses.
Having completed my degree, I've found it was good to have done courses that have used different skills, particularly if they're examined in different ways e.g. oral presentations, written exams. You may get that from your compulsory English courses anyway, but it's good to check.
To be honest though, the biggest thing that seems to count from your degree is what classification you get at the end, and you're MUCH more likely to do well on a course that you enjoy!