General Study Thread

If it’s okay to drop a “coffee room” style comment in this student thread, then enjoy your time, don’t overthink work life and other crap—there’s plenty of time for that before you kick the bucket. Go to events, hangouts, and parties; they’ll be your best memories in the future. Don’t stress over tiny savings and end up bitter later, like some people here have done while grinding away at their “stack” and becoming bitter toward everyone else :rofl: Lifelong friends are definitely better than any stock market business.

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And you should get your studies out of the way while you’re young!! Don’t take gap years; it often happens that the threshold to start again grows, and you won’t end up saving any money anyway.
When you’re young, you’re used to studying, and you don’t have children or other distractions. If you want to study technology, I would go to vocational school before UAS (AMK). Nowadays, entrance exams have changed so that you don’t need to be a math nerd to choose a technical field. What I regret most is that I did a business degree (merkonomi). To be honest, I didn’t learn anything. I don’t see myself stopping my studies for a long time. Even though not everyone appreciates them, for example, Taitotalo organizes good training programs.

The first year at UAS was a pain. Physics and math certainly contributed to that because they took up so much time. My technical skills didn’t develop because I had studied the same things at Rastor. This year is perhaps the most important one in terms of learning. Without work experience and technician credentials, I would have had to sweat a lot more. This is why it’s worth going to vocational school. On the other hand, at least in my time, math and physics [in vocational school] were at a junior high level, and I graduated from high school (lukio), so the difference was huge. That’s where you lose out again. You can ask yourself which is the better option now. If you know what you want, then vocational school; high school if your plans are open or if you want to get into a so-called “fancier” school.

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It’s so nice that there’s a study thread on the forum as well. :blush:

I wonder, now that the adult education subsidy has been discontinued, does anyone know if it’s possible for someone older (over forty in my case) to get some kind of training support if studying full-time? Or does it have to be funded entirely out of one’s own pocket? I have a UAS (University of Applied Sciences) engineering degree completed when I was younger, but I might be interested in studying more in the coming years.

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The HT/KHT exams were yesterday. Were there any participants from the forum, and how did it go? Was it intense studying, or did you manage purely on work experience?

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You can get student financial aid and a student loan if you have months of eligibility remaining.

However, I recommend blended learning. It’s easier to manage and you don’t have to be away from the workforce.

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However, it is worth asking the instructor about mandatory attendance, and of course, the employer needs to be flexible. If I were young and a recent graduate, I would still apply for multiform learning (monimuoto). It is often okay to participate in daytime classes, so there would be plenty of time to handle assignments.

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Are there many dropouts here, by the way? How do employers feel about it if you have, for example, 100 credits? Does it have any value if it’s in the same field? I have personally listed the school name and starting year followed by a dash. Do degrees still matter nowadays in some companies, even if they aren’t practically needed?

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The Business Studies entrance exam is coming up again in June. This year, for the first time, the exam is a fully electronic multiple-choice test.

The exam area, including high school economics books, is still the same, although the math book seems to have changed.

The exam questions are likely largely similar to those from 2018-2024, following the previous entrance exam reform, unlike many other reformed entrance exams. Of course, this will only be seen in the exam itself, but it is still the most demanding exam in terms of applying basic knowledge. Although the others won’t be seen with certainty until summer, they will probably follow more the lines of the article-based multiple-choice exam that was in educational sciences.

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Did you find work, or are you continuing/did you continue school, or how? Is it a university of applied sciences (AMK) or a university (lipasto) if I may ask :slight_smile:

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So, I’ve been working 40 hours all the time and running my own business. I’m still studying but a maximum of 3 courses at a time. We were a bit misled as there were supposed to be Saturday classes originally, but there hasn’t been a single one. Those who are in the multi-mode (blended learning) do 4 days or everyone has their own arrangements, so I think exams could be done in a way that allows booking an exam slot. Sometimes it works. Fewer group assignments.
Often after the day, it feels like nothing was gained when the PowerPoints contain the same information. There are big differences among teachers. Sometimes when I haven’t been present, important information has been shared, but no announcement on Moodle. Some respond to messages, some don’t. The point is that everything could run more smoothly with small changes. For example, all remote classes could be recorded.

Well, the student is responsible for their own credits, but it feels confusing sometimes. I admit that I rarely go to school, and you can pass if you have TIME. Apparently, 50-60% of full-time students attend classes. I have no idea how many have dropped out, I’d guess 30%.

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For me, the most challenging subjects were statistics, fundamentals of industrial engineering and management, and fundamentals of economics. However, a common thread for all of them was that I was simultaneously busy with everything else possible. Still, I would highlight the fundamentals of industrial engineering and management as an absolutely brilliant course, even though it felt that, due to the amount of material, it could have been divided into several courses for us.

I personally didn’t find accounting particularly difficult, but as someone mentioned above, certain pieces need to click into place in your mind for this master discipline to start making more sense.

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Does anyone here have experience with the study path from a Bachelor of Business Administration (UAS) to a Master of Science in Economics and Business Administration? Previously, I considered pursuing a Master’s degree from a University of Applied Sciences, but now I’ve raised the bar a bit, and my goal would be that university-level Master’s degree. As I understand it, it is, however, more valued in the job market than a UAS Master’s.

If you have any experiences, it would be great to hear how demanding it was to study if you did it alongside work, as I intend to do. I would also be interested to know how long it took to complete the degree.

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Any tips on what one could study alongside work? I’m currently in the middle of my HVAC engineering studies (blended learning), but it’s challenging when there’s no time to be at school for 8 hours every Friday. B2B sales interest me, and business in general. There are all sorts of short courses available, but it would be nice to get at least a UAS degree. As I understand it, a Bachelor of Business Administration (Tradenomi) degree can be obtained without mandatory attendance (excluding exams etc.)?

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Study something that genuinely interests you. Then the time you spend on your studies won’t feel like a waste; instead, you’ll make time for them. It’s not worth studying for several years just for a degree certificate. If you’re having challenges with the attendance days for blended learning, you’ve probably already contacted student counseling about how you can make up for those days?

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I’ve personally liked the “broadly educating” nature of business school, especially regarding the basic studies included in bachelor’s degrees. I can strongly recommend it to every forum member, even as a hobby. I don’t know about BBA (Bachelor of Business Administration) studies, but I assume they contain quite a lot of the same, so I guess they’re quite nice too. If attendance poses challenges, you could also try looking on different university websites to see what kind of open university studies are offered, as those often have more self-study options available

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Blended learning is indeed a difficult option for someone who is working. In principle, it required doing assignments 3-4 hours after work during the week and 8-12 hours on weekends. Initially, I kept up, but I hit a wall when attendance became mandatory. On the other hand, it feels silly to spend time drawing with CAD when I don’t want to do that in my career, because it’s possible to earn more in sales. I don’t know if I’m wrong, but does it matter at all if I have a large number of credits accumulated even if the degree is missing? Everything is beneficial in one way or another, but I personally want the studies to be useful when I apply for jobs. In the sales field (key account manager, sales manager, etc.), surprisingly many are completely clueless about what they are selling, meaning technical expertise doesn’t seem to be as important as previous sales experience, for example. That’s why I’m wondering what would be the best option if one wants to get into these roles.

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In Finland, anything prior to a master’s degree is not considered studying except in rare fields, so it’s advisable to focus on degree-centric studies.

It’s very difficult to imagine which higher education institution or degree program would even offer some kind of benefit-oriented or flexible studies that would yield other results than those already obtained at birth.

A technical background is likely a very great advantage once a degree in the field is obtained.

I’ve looked into it a bit, and a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) degree could be obtained relatively flexibly, but the value of the degree is quite weak nowadays. I need to think about it a bit; I’ve had challenges with mathematics, so I need to take that into account as well. Drawing with CAD doesn’t appeal to me, so the outcome is still that I will continue to work in sales or procurement.

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What is the difference between a Bachelor/Master of Social Sciences (in economics) and a Bachelor/Master of Science in Economics and Business Administration?

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Not much. Except for the title, of course, but that doesn’t really matter. The University of Helsinki and Aalto University (I can’t say anything about the offerings of other universities), for example, have practically divided the teaching responsibility at the master’s level in these fields, and courses are organized as joint teaching. At the bachelor’s level, there’s a small difference in which courses need to be taken. At Aalto, general business studies take up a lot of space in the first year, whereas at the University of Helsinki, the first year is mainly spent studying mathematics and statistics in the same courses as in the mathematics degree program. There’s also some difference in pedagogy in the sense that at Aalto, students are taught to use Stata, whereas the University of Helsinki (HY) has outsourced statistics teaching to the mathematics department, where R is taught.

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