I'm so disappointed that I'll probably be graduating with a 2:1

[Strivetobe]

Hi everyone,

I just need to vent a little because I'm feeling really upset and annoyed at myself. I am in my final couple of months at university and I have been working so extremely hard, especially this year. I have given up loads of social occasions and fun opportunities to instead research and work on my essays because I was determined to graduate with a 1st.

All my educational life prior to my degree, I felt that I never put my full effort in or achieved my full potential. I always coasted and did well, but missed some opportunities because I just was too lazy to put the work in and do better. I vowed to myself that I'd put everything I have into this degree and would aim for a first.

I did well in first term and for a first in all my essays but just got my essays back from last term and only got low 2:1s in them. This makes it very unlikely that I will graduate with a 1st overall.

I know I've done my best and that a 2:1 is still good, no disrespect at all to this with 2:1s. I have a job lined up aswell which I only need a 2:1 for so I know not getting a first doesn't really matter

I just feel disappointed that something I've worked so hard for and put everything into hasn't worked out the way I had hoped. I'm now doubting the quality of my dissertation and final essay and am really struggling to focus on them.

Anyone else feel like this?

I'm sorry. It's really hard. A 2.1 is a very good degree and represents a lot of work but I understand it feels like a consolation prize right now.

But chin up! Your diss will be worth a good chunk of this year and may well be a First, and so may your final essays.

Sorry I know this is a first world problem and people have much bigger things to worry about

Thank you @Johnny. I'd have to get at least 75 in my dissertation and final essays which will be very very difficult but thank you for your kind words x

I had a similar experience when I was in my final year at uni. I wanted a 2:1 but got a 2:2. At the time, I was completely devastated and thought my life had ended. 15 years later it hasn't affected my working life or life in general at all. Once you get a job, nobody gives a shit. So, if you don't get the result you wanted, try and not get too down about it. A first class degree is not the be all and end all.

All you can do is your best OP. Good luck!

I am with Ginger1982 - I needed a 2.1 to get the job I had, and got a 2.2.

I was a bit very annoyed at the time. 25 years later eek I am happy with the course my life took.

Good luck whatever you end up with.

It’s good, a 2:1 and 2:2 are the most employable degrees, DH and the companies he works with all don’t interview people with 1st degrees as they tend to be book smart but haven’t got the life experience.......3rds have too much life experience

I do completely emphasize OP, I really do. Especially with your feelings of coasting through your previous education.

That being said, your degree is just like any other qualification, it's just a stepping stone until the next stage. You've already got a job lined up, your next job after that will rely on your experience from this current job and so on.

To be fair, I was at uni 20 years ago now, but my degree doesn't really matter now. It's all work based experience that's got me to where I am now. My sisters both got firsts and their experience is the same, something else comes along to supersede it. For one, it was a doctorate and the other it was work based experience.

Do get what you're saying, but as PPs have said, it's just a stepping stone.

We both got 2:1 and didn’t seem to do us any harm.

Too clever and you get overlooked by someone less smart up the food chain.

Clever but not in an overly threatening way and a 2:1 fits the bill nicely.

I’m in the same position. My exams will bring my grade down. It’s disappointing but what can you do. I’ll be glad when it’s over.

I remember sitting at the graduation ceremony nearly in tears because I just missed out on a 1st. I have had many sleepless nights, and came to the conclusion I couldn't have done any better. Over time I have come to accept it, and am proud I got a degree of any sort.

No advice I'm afraid, just be proud of what you have accomplished.

DH and the companies he works with all don’t interview people with 1st degrees as they tend to be book smart but haven’t got the life experience

I really hope that’s not true. It’s a ridiculous position to take.

A 2:1 is good. I have admittedly a difficult degree from a RG university and studied 16 hours a day in my final year and this was still all I got!

You can do it! If you've been getting firsts before, no reason you couldn't get a 75 in the rest of the assessments. If it matters this much to you, push yourself, and then you can be satisfied that you tried your hardest. Don't give up and decide you're already beaten.

I have a 2:1 and I don't think it has ever held me back, though I know people can be very rude about them. DP has a 2:2 (and from a crap university), and after 10 years, she was working in a job where people routinely assumed she must have had a very swish postgraduate degree (she didn't).

As someone who teaches undergrads, I would say: please go right now and talk to everyone you possibly can about how to improve your marks. Talk to your tutors, your course lecturers, etc. etc. Take all the help on offer. Go to all the office hours (that is what they are for!). That should, at least, give you a sense of why you're not managing the higher marks you know you were capable of earlier in the course.

Oh, and - reading back previous comments, I should clarify: when I say work hard, I don't mean pull 16 hour days. That is counterproductive. I mean, take serious advice about strategies for working and healthy ways of balancing your schedule. If you work ridiculous hours you are very unlikely to do anything except lower your final grade.

DH and the companies he works with all don’t interview people with 1st degrees as they tend to be book smart but haven’t got the life experience

That’s incredibly stupid.

I’ve got a first and have no issues getting an interview.

You’ll find in the world of work and real life your academic qualifications count for less and less. I work in digital and tech and no one could care less about degrees it’s more about staying up to date with latest innovations. I got a 2:1 at uni and have to say looking back uni was completely pointless

So Backwoodsgirl your dh would see my first and bin my application regardless of all the masses of experience I’ve got? How works he justify that?

^would not works

I did a degree as part of my training for my job. It’s a bit of a sore point as I failed an essay, got advice from my tutor re a resubmission. Took his advice, put in everything he said and failed again! That double fail meant I got a third. Sometimes I think I should have appealed/fought it but hey ho. Anyway, my work mentor at the time told me, no one cares in the end. I only had to pass to get my job, and I managed that at least. And my degree classification has never come up since. I switched careers at one point and there were 2500 applicants for 10 roles and I got the job. I am sure almost everyone applying had a better degree than me. It really doesn’t matter that much. There are many things employers look at beyond degree classification.

You need to understand why you gained low 2:1s on those essays. Go and ask the people who marked them. Work out what the difference was between those and your first-class essays. Then you'll be in a position to do your best with what's left.

Whatever your over-all grade, a first for a really good dissertation will give you a huge amount of satisfaction, as well as a topic you can talk about with great confidence.

I will definitely look at the feedback from both and compare them. My dissertation is due in two days and I've still got some more editing to do, and it just seems rubbish now. I'm really doubting myself. I'm so stressed about it that I feel sick

I agree with most that your degree classification is of interest to nobody once you have your job (which you say you have confirmed).

If you have - as you say - been working hard all year, and you have gone back to the first assignments when you started getting 2:1s after you'd been getting firsts, and found out why and what you could do to improve, then you know you have done your best.
Be proud of what you have achieved. A 2:1 is a very good degree.

Do your best. There is nothing to not be proud of if you did your best.

Pick yourself up and put your all into your final essays. If you think there are areas where you could improve, work on them, or find out where you could improve by talking to others and listening to their feedback. Also take some breaks, make sure you have things to look forward to.

It's not only about the end result, the process you took, what you learned and whether you are enjoying it matters too.

I was like you and narrowly missed a first. It hasn't made a jot of difference to my working life. I do a job I love at a senior level in a competitive sector. What matters more is that you have a good work ethic

Ok, take a breather. Yes, absolutely look at the feedback.

If it's due in two days, you are nearly there. It's not rubbish, you know. It just won't be. You have been getting marks between a first and a 2:1 through your whole course, so there's no way this is rubbish. Put the panic out of your mind.

Now, could it be better? Perhaps. Think about that. What can you do quickly and calmly to make it better?

Good editing is a big thing. I mark dissertations regularly, and people come down on issues like referencing and proofreading all the time. An essay scoring 63 might be just as sophisticated and interesting as one scoring 66, but the one scoring 63 has lost points - and slipped from a mid-high 2:1 to a low 2:1 - because the referencing wasn't there and it was badly proofed.

So, if you are nervous, sit down and do some simple, thorough work on the bibliography and footnotes, and make sure everything conforms to the requirements. This will also give you breathing space.

Next: why are you so worried about this piece? Ok, sure, everyone thinks they could do better. But you have done well in your course so far, and this piece of work is likely to be just fine. If you feel bad about it, it may be that you're having the normal crisis of confidence we all have about important work. Or, it might be that you're aware you've not put your argument across as well as you'd like. Either way, here's what you need to do:

Look very carefully at the introductory and concluding paragraphs. Are they clear and punchy? Do you instantly know what the argument of the dissertation is (at the start)? Do you know the important take-away points (at the end)? If you are unsure, look at a journal in your field, and look how people write their first and last paragraphs. Model your work on these. A clear introduction and conclusion could pick you up important marks.

You don't likely have time to do more, unless you have actually not finished writing/drafting! Take this on, do it, and then if you have time over, do whatever revisions you want. But keep calm.