3rd year OU student heading to BC
 

Another dilemma, I'm in my 3rd year of a BSc (hons) degree in psychology and wondering what to do when we move to BC hopefully later this year.

1. Keep going with OU in uk get degree then work on equivalency in Canada,
(pro there is if we cone back for any reason my degree and membership of the British psychological society will be safe, and I can practice)

2. Contact local uni and try and transfer mid course, that way I can work towards the register of British colombian psychologists, if they let me swap mid course

3. Start fesh in Canada on an approved course knowing I have wasted thousands and 3 years!

The point of doing the degree is that I want to help autistic specturn children (my particular field of interest) and one day study towards a doctorate.

Any advice or suggestions would be great. Btw if I have to study OU I have a uk address to get the books sent to so other than flying in for my exams its not a lot different from study here, all essays are completed online etc.

Re: 3rd year OU student heading to BC
 

Your best course of action would be to finish your degree, but prepare to do more study in Canada.

Most qualifications lose some value when taken across borders.

However, an incomplete qualification usually has little or no value.

Re: 3rd year OU student heading to BC
 

3rd yr psych includes cognition module with compulsory summer school...BPS won't accredit degree without it...would you be able to attend? Somtimes OU will let you submit research paper instead so you may want to check that if you haven't already. Are you submitting eTMA's? If so you need to still use a UK address so you're not charged international student fees but you probably know that.

Re: 3rd year OU student heading to BC
 

Yes I can use mums house, the residential I'm sure I can manage, will bring kids over for a holiday and dump them, I mean allow them to visit mum and mum in law lol;) don't fancy international student fees.

I agree I don't want to stop half way thru

Re: 3rd year OU student heading to BC
 

For the cognitive psychology course there is actually a good alternative learning experience, which is acceptable to BPS. So that part doesn't always need to be done at one of the summer schools in person. Although I would say if you can make it in person, it is a great motivating experience. (I know this because for many years I was a member of the course team for DD303, and developed some of the materials as well as teaching at the summer schools.)

Many other OU students study overseas, and exams are often taken in overseas consulates too. Right now, it is a fair bit more, but given the proposed English fee system changes, I'd look when you book and then decide, as I'd guess the difference between UK and international fees is about get smaller as the English government reduces direct funding for universities in favour of loans. The OU is a special case, and how the new system will affect it is not yet completely clear.

Now for the difficult bit: whether it's a good idea to transfer. As others have said, BPS does accredit OU degrees, and many non-OU UK students do an OU diploma for BPS accreditation. So it is a recognized degree programme in the UK. In Canada, professional bodies tend to work differently from the UK, and are happy to use exams to assess foreign-trained professionals, so either way, you will probably have to take a test. The question is: will you need to re-do some of your degree and then do an exam, or do some training to fill in the gaps, and then do a different exam.

The BC psychologists have workshops on these issues (see http://www.collegeofpsychologists.bc.ca/ftpp.php), so I'd be tempted to see if I could make one of these on a recce and see where you stand.

Fortunately the OU is large and relatively transparent, so all the credit information is open and clear. My intuition is, however, that when you are most of the way through any programme, you are likely to get a better deal by finishing it and then getting accreditation in Canada.

Good luck!

Re: 3rd year OU student heading to BC
 

I did the research project option rather than residential and it was great - much less hassle!
I graduated gained my student membership of the BPS and then looked at qualifying here in NS but it wasn't going to be easy. I had my qualifications validated by U of Toronto. Dalhousie weren't going to recognise (or at least fully) my undergrad degree, so I would needed to have done more studying at undergrad level and then, of course, in Canada you need to do your PhD to qualify (which you don't in the UK) so all added together it was just too much. Interestingly I decided to go back to my other career (as a lawyer) and the process is much simpler for that.
Good luck!

Re: 3rd year OU student heading to BC
 

My previous profession was accounts assistant I hated it, that's why- whilst off having my children- ive retrained, I'm loving the course (now!, the first year was basically testing if you could read a book and pull out relevant points, none of which interested me:( ) year two was better tho the online "residential" dzx222 sucked big time! Everyone on my course hated it because of the ambiguous advice given and the time commitment. For that reason I'm deffo doing the residential!

I think I will get the degree and then when I'm bps accredited, do conversion and post grad doctorate in Ca. Will have to look at the route and costs tho. Poor dh has been supporting me and all three kids for years. So when I get qualified it will be nice to earn some cash. But mainly I want to be the "Sophie" when my son was diagnosed with aspergers (he is super smart but has some behavioural issues) we met several professionals one of whom made our lives immeasurably difficult when he was supposed to be helping. And then there was Sophie, she cared enough to make a real difference in our lives. I want to be that person and help families who are struggling to cope.