Uni Plans Update: The Mammoth Plan

Thought it was about time I tried using this damned thing again! And where better to start than an update on this "Mammoth Plan" I keep mentioning all the time.

What is this Mammoth Plan? To take 180 credit points at once in order to finish my undergraduate degree in time to start my Masters course in October 2011, rather than October 2012, and therefore beat the top up fees. Mad? Probably. Impossible? Never. Why Mammoth? I like them. They're fluffy and have funny faces. I get the feeling I had one as a pet in a past life. Anyway...

Well, things didn't entirely work out as I had planned. The OU didn't agree at first, but after a little convincing they finally allowed me to go ahead. I'd missed the deadline for signing up for A330 (Myth in Greek and Roman Worlds), so ended up taking AD317 (Religions Today) instead. Not entirely relevant to what I want to do, but then again it will provide me with yet another challenge. (And no, I don't ever get tired of challenges. Ever.)

So (hopefully!) the end of my undergrad life will end this year like this...

So, yeah, I'm going to be busy. And in between all that I'll be continuing to work as well. Yes, I always did like a good challenge. The more impossible the better.

Things have gone fine so far though. After a minor "oh my goddddd what am I doing?!" kind of moment just before my first two level three courses were due, my confidence was renewed when I got the assignments back for AA300 and AD317. After submitting what I thought was a load of rubbish for both, I was rather surprised to get good grades! Perhaps this plan wasn't as mad as I first thought.

I need a minimum of a 2:1 in order to get onto the Masters course, so I decided as long as my first couple of assignments came back with reasonable marks I would continue with my plan. I'm trying to be strict with myself because I know I'm one of those people who will battle on to complete a challenge, come what may, because I've said I can, I know I can, so I'll damn well do it to show everyone I can. (If anyone is interested in seeing where I get this idea from, you can find him and shake your fist at him here: http://anthony1956.blogspot.com/)

I'm sure I'll post further updates in the future, should I not have suffered some horrific injury from the weight of all of the books (seriously, these AD317 ones are heavy!).

The Mammoth Uni Plan

Right, so didn't exactly follow my plan of trying to blog more since I created this, but let's hope I can put that right now. Anyway...

As I've been discussing this totally mental plan to try and get the OU to let me finish my degree sooner, I thought I might as well explain it. If nothing else, at least I'm getting my ideas down onto paper so that I can think things through.

Basically things have not been going according to plan at work. I've always planned to go and do a Masters course at some point, which if I take my time I should

have started in October 2012. But with work not going well, I need another option. And I'm not going to be in an office doing this forever, right? So I looked into trying to start in October 2011.

However, in order to do this I need to fit in three more courses: one at Level 2 and two at Level 3. I've already signed up for the Level 2 course, AD281, which will start in a few months time.

I've then decided to sign up for these two Level 3 courses: AA300 and A330 (I think!).

So those three courses at 60 credit points each would work out like this...

At 60 points each, it looks a little insane doesn't it? But there would only be an overlap for four months. The rest of the year I would only be doing 120 points at a time, which is what I've been managing anyway right now. And if things with the job don't go according to plan I could have a lot more time to spend on uni work!

Obviously this is a last resort, because it's a bit of a risk with the grades which may well slip a little. But it's worth the risk right? What else am I going to do? If I'm not going to be doing admin in some office forever, I might as well get on with it and push forward. (And if you know me, you know I like a challenge. This is the sort of challenge I like!) A proper job is always going to be the number one choice, but I think this is a brilliant alternative... don't you think?

And look at what I've got to come with my Masters - whether it be in 2011 or 2012! ....

http://www.southampton.ac.uk/archaeology/postgrad/ma_palaeo.html

Any opinions - whether here or on Twitter - are quite welcome :)

So this is blogging, huh?

Thought I would give this blogging thing a go. Others seem to be doing it so thought I'd try too... but I think Twitter's short character count stops me from waffling as much as I would do otherwise! (Yes, a I'm confessed Twitter addict)

I'll try not to bore you too much. Will post something more interesting later on. Right now, back to Stargate watching and uni work.