Am I not bright? 3rd in my degree.

[OnTrain]

A thread kind of about a thread. More about a post in a thread! Someone slagging off Carol Vordeman because she only got a third in her degree. Saying she wasn’t bright.

I got a third, tbh I’m just glad I passed but I also thought I was bright! Do I need a reality check? Am I a thicko?!

tiger I’d be devastated if my life were so empty that I still remembered irrelevant shit from 20 years ago.

You’re a teacher with that attitude? Hope you never teach my kids.

Isn’t that a 2:2?

iam is rather her teach my kids than someone who doesn’t even know why fucking degree they have!

Oh shit! I feel really thick now [blush

Vorderman would have graduated in 1981. She was the youngest woman ever to be accepted on her course. I bet Cambridge had virtually no pastoral care at that stage. It wasn’t like it is now!

A third is not great, op. If you got 64%, and that was a third, it suggests that the course was pretty easy and most people were getting much higher marks. But you must know this!

But your degree isn’t the only important thing. It’s what you do with it. If you’re finding it hard to write essays, after doing a uni degree, it sounds like you’re not very academic.

Fuck me, how can you think a 2:II is a third?

Getting a good degree grade literally means that you're good at getting a degree. Some people are naturally suited to that way of learning. Essays are marked on not just knowledge/content, but also structure, having the ability to relay your knowledge, covering the specific criteria set out and answering the question correctly.

I did my degree in my 40s. Prior to that, I did an access course. My access course tutor, who had been in the job for 15 years, said I was one of the brightest students he'd ever met. I was the 2nd person to have got distinctions in every unit. However, I really struggled at uni.

Essay titles use to confuse me; I'd end up missing the point or simply not understanding what information was required of me. I was also terrible at structuring my essay.

I am a deep thinker, people have remarked on how insightful I am. However, I find it difficult to process instructions. My general knowledge is terrible. It takes me a long time to grasp new information.

So can you see, it's not as simple as thick/bright? You got your degree and you're doing something you enjoy. Don't let anything you read piss on your parade.

If I am honest, I would have been very disappointed with a 3rd. However, academic success is not a measure of your ability and it also depends where you took your degree, what course, etc.

ontrain, anyone who gets through a degree with a pregnancy to deal with is hardcore, and if unplanned you must have had a huge extra stress and worry scrambling to sort it out. So don't do yourself down!

IMO people who struggle are more humane teachers, because they understand what it might be like to struggle. I am a teacher at university and I always work really hard to get support for my students because I remember how it was feeling totally out of my depth and stressed.

It's not helpful for people to say they'd have been 'devastated' with a third, because circumstances change. I've known a lot of people who were very invested in their results and imagined they'd be devastated with a lower result. What strikes me most is that the people who've been most disappointed - and least able to follow their hopes - have, on the whole, been those who got very good results but found that a good degree result alone is not a passport to success.

I got a third because I spent more time partying then studying. Went onto a PGCE, did a masters and now a deputy head and all before 30!

No idea

Oh, OP

Why would you think that 2.11 = a third?

When was your degree awarded? How long have you wrongly thought your 2:11 was a third???

Most PGCE courses won’t take people with a 3rd! I did wonder how you’d managed it! What subject are you teaching? I’m currently training too.

umbongo why? If she’s not teaching university who cares?

I’d rather that than a sneery shitty attitude towards less academic people.

Well done firsttimer

Ha ha just read the update! OP that kind of illustrates what I was saying before. That's the kind of idiocy me and my friend display on a regular basis and have a lot of fun laughing at ourselves about. She is DEFINITELY not thick.

well this has turned out well. The OP has improved her academic qualifications enormously (only 9 years after graduating!)

OP your grade starts with a 2 so how was that a third? Well at least you’ve gone up not down. Crack open some bubbly!

Congratulations on your promotion OP

I dunno! I’ve not looked at the cert since graduating. Maybe I knew initially I had a 2:2 and then over time just thought I had a third! I even put third on my pgce application

Most PGCE courses won’t take people with a 3rd! I did wonder how you’d managed it!

Presumably, she's still been putting it on application forms though

Because I want smart capable people teaching my kids that’s why.

OP, you said your degree is in humanities yet you struggle with writing essays? How is that possible? What age do you teach? I’d be very disappointed to have a teacher teaching me how to write essays if they weren’t actually any good at it themselves.

Haha, cross post...

Or I’ve added it up!