h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

This week I got the letter confirming that I have been accepted as a full-time student by the University of Bradford! I have agreed to be a pioneering student on the University's brand-new B.A. (Hons) Combined Studies degree course, starting in the second year (of three) because of the 160 credits I have gathered as a part-time student over the past two years.

Although it wasn't my first choice, I think this course is going to be great. One of the best things about going full-time is that I have a much bigger range of modules to choose from. My modules for the first semester of this academic year will be 'Modern Social & Cultural Trends' and 'British Cinema & National Identity'. After Christmas, I'll turn my attention to 'Literature, Drama & Audience' and 'Popular Culture' - all of which is right up my street. In that second semester, I'll also be doing something called 'Guided Independent Study' - an investigation into a topic to be agreed between myself and my tutor, and thus a kind of rehearsal for my dissertation the following year.

So the great escape from the Jobcentre mentioned in my previous Journal Entry is on! As a kind of parting gift, my old friends there have agreed to keep my benefits going up until my classes start in the last week of September, which helps a lot. Hopefully my Student Loan will arrive soon afterwards.

So nearly two years of splendid irresponsibility loom ahead! I will certainly study hard - I'm currently on course for a First, and would like to keep on that track. But I also fully intend to have some fun. Given that I joined the University in 2003 as a part-time student, but have now become a full-time one, I reckon this makes me a Bradford University fresher for the second time; but this time around I intend to play a full part in the festivities for Fresher's Week. I've volunteered to help out with other students' registration in return for a very modest wage, and will also be manning stalls to promote my beloved University theatre group.

I think I might go to the Freshers' Disco too. It'll be interesting to see if I'm the oldest dancer there.

Are you sure they still call them 'Discos' Ormy?

*snigger*

Actually, anything "retro" is just what students are into these days.

Well done Ormy!

Congratulations! I'm so proud of you.

I don't think we have a fresher's disco at Chichester. There is an open mike night on the second day but I can't go as it's my Dad's birthday.

Love from a fellow fresher!

congrats Ormy!

Well done, proud of you!

GB

Ormy this is fantastic and nothing less than you deserve - well dont

Enjoy every moment of it

* passes pen paper and book tokens *

On course for a first -

I didn't know degrees came in any other 'mark' than a first Good luck and well done its good they've allwed you to count the credits you've already done as the first year; Some times univeristys are relaly stuck up about that sort of thing Freshers week is always good fun I can't remember how old you are, but at my first freshers week n my first year of undergraduate study, there were plenty of forty something students, a few fifty somethings, and one I got to know pretty well, who'd turned 60 a few weeks before So if its anything like that you should be able to find yourself amongst people older and younger than yourself with the studying, I'm seriously tempted to go back to studying myself once I've worked for a few years to make some money to pay for it; I loved it so much

Well done, Ormy. My advice for fresher's week is to seek out some interesting societies and a good pub. Oh, and pour the bottle of free booze from your welcome pack down the sink; it's horrid.

everyone!

BH – at the University of Bradford, there is a famous long-running institution called the Friday Night Disco that is very popular. I’ve never yet dared go to it, because I feared feeling like the embarrassing Dad trying to join in at a teenage party, but I think its Freshers' Week edition may be the occasion on which to overcome those inhibitions. .

Plenty of forty-something students, 2Legs? That’s fantastic – I’m a fairly well-preserved 45, so I might pull in Freshers’ Week after all!

They wouldn’t accept my existing credits for Interdisciplinary Human Studies, which was my first choice of course, but they’re fine for Combined Studies because it is so broadly defined. I’m doing a couple of the modules from the IHS course anyway, so I’m very happy with the way things have worked out. It’s rather exciting to be pioneering a new course – I’m hoping it’ll mean I get extra help from the tutors!

Baggy – thanks for the advice about the ! I've spent a lot of time around the campus over the past couple of years as a part-time student, so I'm aleady a regular at the campus bars and a stalwart of two of the Uni’s most interesting societies: the Bradford University Theatre Group and the Bradford University Society for Operettas and Musicals (BUSOM). I've been in several shows organised by one or both of those societies, and the theatre group in particular provides a big part of my social life. But I’ll certainly look out for other interesting gatherings of like minds during Freshers’ Week!

>Actually, anything "retro" is just what students are into these days.

So beware, Ormy - you might have to defend yourself!

I'm so happy to hear they let you in and it comes across in spades how glad it makes you Very well done and, indeed, very much deserved!

Admittedly my advice is based only on my one fresher's week, although I never heard anyone in the years below me raving about the great alkyhol they got. Ours was alcoholic mineral water, believe it or not, and tasted like it belonged in a chemistry lab (not that I've tasted much stuff from labs, but I will say I don't recommend drinking lime water either).

Now I think of it, you've mentioned the arty societies before. As someone who finds it difficult to meet people, the organised societies were invaluable. I felt kind of guilty later when we drifted away from the groups in which we met in favour of just going down the pub.

As for discos, heck, in Leeds there was a 'bop' on offer, i.e. Polybop, now renamed Saturday Night at the Met.

Santra: I wouldn't fight too hard. I've been single for too long - it's a terrible waste of a fine natural resource.

Baggy: you can have the best of both worlds. In BUTG and BUSOM we meet, do our arty stuff and THEN go down the pub!

I've had a look on the Bradford University website, and the other societies there apparently include a Cocktails Society and a Twirling Society . I'm not sure which one would be more hazardous to my health!

I think most societies will go down the pub afterwards. Trouble was, the Old Bar in Leeds University Union was a bit crap, so it was a case of travel in to the uni for Christian Union, Bridge Club or Sci-Fi Society and then go for a crap pint or go for a good pint closer to home.

>>"... the other societies there apparently include a Cocktails Society and a Twirling Society. I'm not sure which one would be more hazardous to my health!"

I suppose it all depends on what you're intending to twirl. For example, if you combined the two...

The FND! My older brother went to Bradford back in the early 90s, and I have fond memories of visiting him and going to the Friday Night Disco...

I am happy to confirm that it's still going strong - and everyone still calls it the FND!

Nice One!

I'm dead jealous.

I pratted about at school and just scraped through with one 'A' level at grade C, so didn't bother applying for Uni.

I'm now 42 and a fully paid-up member of the rat-race (mortgage, car, job, other material things) and I wish I was brave enough to cash it all in, downsize and go to Uni full time.

I've looked at OU, but that would take about 7 years of evening and weekend study and a further £5,000 to go out and earn.

Hope it goes well.

JT

*starts surfing for house valuers to get working on exit strategy*

Is the OU your only option, JinjerTom? I've done two years of part-time study at the University of Bradford and could have completed a degree that way. Many of my classes were in the evenings or at weekends, and other students were fitting them around full-time jobs. It would have taken a total of five years to complete a B.A. (Hons) that way, and my fees for last year came to £640 - though as I was unemployed, I got £575 of that paid by my LEA. Which still isn't ideal, but it's better than the OU figures you quote.

Worth a thought.

I'd like to do something with languages - maybe European Studies?

Perhaps a look at some of my local university web sites would come up trumps.

The £5,000 I quoted was spread over the whole course, but that's still over £700 a year, so Bradford was still less.

All I need now is the commitment and moral fibre.

JT