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Original poster

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

73 replies

Strivetobe · 28/04/2019 21:43

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?

OP posts:
SCST01 · 28/04/2019 23:13

I got a 2:1 - when I got my marks breakdown I was 2 bloody marks off a first, was proper cheesed.

Good luck, a degree is an amazing achievement.

Squiff70 · 28/04/2019 23:26

I graduated with a 2:1, but only just (nearly was 2:2). Like you I wanted a first but wasn't prepared to risk my health in order to do it as at the time of doing my degree I was already battling a vicious eating disorder which left me totally drained physically and emotionally. Looking back I am so very happy that I even completed the degree given the state I was in. 2:1 is still a very good grade.

Keep your chin up. Work hard but don't risk your sanity for the sake of what is essentially a number.

Paddy1234 · 28/04/2019 23:45

A 2:1 is really good
Going off course though - we had 300 on our course and only 2 got firsts! They seem to hand out the higher grades more frequently. A third didn't even make the second year but that was 25 years ago!

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Higher education
Camomila · 28/04/2019 23:47

Ahh I know how you feel, I graduated with something annoyingly close to a first like 68.5, and was the only one of my close friends not to get a first.

I'm currently trudging my way through an MSc and getting frustrated that I could do so much better if only I had more time to do stuff (have pre-schooler plus f/t job, am currently meant to be studying!)

TartanTexan · 29/04/2019 07:41

Where are you at Uni?

UCOinanOCG · 29/04/2019 07:47

@Strivetobe Are you my DD2? She is sitting exactly where you are with a good 2:1 in the bag but absolutely striving for a 1st. Her diss is due in 2 days too. Her sister got a 1st and she feels compelled to try and achieve that too. I am proud of her no matter what and i am sure your family will be proud of you too, whatever you get.

Dahlietta · 29/04/2019 09:01

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.......

Sorry, what?! Confused

riverislands · 29/04/2019 09:06

It's true. I have a first, and really struggled getting on the career ladder years ago. Ok after that, though.

Dowser · 29/04/2019 09:10

My daughter and sil both got 2/2
That was 20 years ago
My daughter gave up a good career in IT to home educate their three children. I don’t think it’s affected the quality of her teaching that much
My sil has got an excellent career. Good money. Good work/ life balance. The family is in Florida right now celebrating her birthday today

There’s more to life than playing the numbers game.

gamerwidow · 29/04/2019 09:13

This probably feels devastating now because you’ve worked so hard and had your heart set on a first. In the grand scheme of things though it means nothing. It’s not going to stop you from doing whatever you want with your life.
Your disappointment will fade and you have a bright future ahead.

Quickthrowaway · 29/04/2019 09:13

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

Definitely hope this is bollocks. I have a first which I got whilst being a single mother to 4 kids. I’ve got more life experience than I ever hoped to get Hmm

Topseyt · 29/04/2019 09:20

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 you are kidding, though I suspect you are not. So a student slogged their guts out and got a much coveted first class degree and your ridiculous DH won't even look at them?

Utterly flabbergasted. My DD1 got a first. She worked bloody hard for it. I am glad that the people she applied to for jobs used more common sense than that.

blackcat86 · 29/04/2019 09:22

I know it feels like a big thing now but it really isn't. I had surgery at the end of my 3rd year and uni werent very supportive because they wanted me to retake the year. I refused as I already had a job lined up so it seemed silly to get in to more debt. I got a 2:2 and was so upset but 10 years later literally not a single person or employer has ever asked me what my grade was. Some jobs required a degree in my field and I got them without issue because the simple fact i passed was enough. Please dont worry and use this as a learning experience for life rather than beating yourself up about it

paddlingwhenIshouldbeworking · 29/04/2019 09:34

Not interviewing people with firsts? How totally bizarre. I have been involved in a lot of recruitment and first class degrees always stood out as a positive. You can't know many people with firsts as you'd know frequently they aren't particularly bookish at all, they usually are naturally very bright and either work hard (a good thing) or know exactly how to pull it out of the bag when they need to (also a good thing).

Op a 2:1 is a very good degree. Over time your disappointment will fade, although it seems raw now.

Coniferhedge · 29/04/2019 09:47

I know this won’t help, but I envy you! I’m 47 so a mature student doing a degree with the hope of going into teaching. I’ve still got another year to go, but it’s looking increasingly likely that I’ll only manage a 2:2. Where I live at least, you have to have a 2:1 or higher to be accepted onto the teacher training courses. So it looks like all this work and money spent will have been for nothing. I know I could become a teaching assistant instead, but with no disrespect to teaching assistants, I could have gone to college for that and qualified much quicker and for a lot less money. Also, I’d earn more going back to my previous role as a secretary than I would as a teaching assistant. There’s still time to turn it round, but I’d kill for a 2:1. I wish I was in your shoes!

Morgan12 · 29/04/2019 09:47

What is your degree in?

Do you still have essays to do after your dissertation?

QuestionableMouse · 29/04/2019 09:57

With proofing, I always run my work through the various online checkers like www.grammarly.com/grammar-check or editor.typely.com

It usually catches a couple of things I've missed and is really helpful!

Good luck!

Original poster
Strivetobe · 29/04/2019 10:08

Honestly my main worry right now is referencing, it's Harvard style. I know I should know how to do this by now but my lecturers give such conflicting and contradictory advice so I have no idea what I'm actually supposed to be doing anymore.

For example, I included the page numbers in the references in my bilbiography and my lecturer making it said I should only put pages in the in-text citation, not the bibliography. So my last essay I didn't include the page numbers and my lecturer for that essay wrote that I should have done!

If anyone could let me know how to format a picture caption reference and then reference it in the bibliography, I'd be so grateful. I keep seeing different things the more I look

OP posts:
moscovv · 29/04/2019 10:14

There are websites that do Harvard referencing for you - just put in the author, page, publication etc etc www.qub.ac.uk/cite2write/harvard3l.html is one

UCOinanOCG · 29/04/2019 10:17

I do page number in the citation in the body of the text but don't put them in the reference list. That's just a list of the sources I used.

WhatWillGeorgeDo · 29/04/2019 10:40

Just considering the referencing aspect, ‘Harvard’ is an absolute bugbear of mine - there is no one standard Harvard style and so you get the discrepancies as you’ve described above with different aspects of the referencing. A few things I’d suggest - take a look in the module handbook for the dissertation to see whether any examples are given for the reference list (as this may mean you can get it right for this set of markers). Check to see whether you can speak to your dissertation supervisor/personal tutor - do they have office hours before your deadline. Does your university have a referencing guide online - either the library website or study skills pages may have some information on how Harvard should look for your dissertation/university. Look at the marking criteria for the dissertation - anything in there? It may just say Harvard/appropriate referencing... Whatever you do, make sure you’re consistent e.g with page numbers appearing (or not), nothing worse than hedging your bets and doing it differently in different places in the essay. To be honest I’d be contacting your department about the differing comments from previous markers - not fair for you to be marked down across 2 modules having followed feedback. I think you are probably too short on time now if you haven’t done it but has your dissertation supervisor seen any of the chapters/sections - any comments from that that you can work with? Page 5 (section 5.8) of this guide from Imperial gives guidance on referencing images www.imperial.ac.uk/media/imperial-college/administration-and-support-services/library/public/Harvard.pdf but remember that this is Imperial’s institutional view of Harvard... Good luck with it all, it is so stressful - I hope you get a chance for a quick chat with your supervisor or someone in the department ahead of hand in.

SarahAndQuack · 29/04/2019 10:41

Look at the websites, but (at a guess), might you have been referencing a book in the one instance, and a journal article in the other? They're treated differently. When you put a book in your bibliography, you don't put page numbers. But you do for a journal article (or a chapter in an edited book), because your reader needs to find that specific article within the journal issue.

I doubt your lecturers are giving contradictory advice, but you might be understanding it wrongly.

lottiegarbanzo · 29/04/2019 10:52

Here's the OU's Harvard referencing guide. They use Harvard as their standard form of referencing, so this is pretty thorough and helpful.

outsho · 29/04/2019 12:24

I remember having to comfort my cousin when she got a 2:1. Both myself and her sister got firsts and she felt like a failure but of course she wasn’t and she’s doing the exact same job as her sister now anyway.

I understand the disappointment after so much hard work but honestly, this will not hold you back in any way. A 2:1 is still an exceptional degree. I know someone who has a third and is still fairly proud of that so...

Ivegotthree · 29/04/2019 12:28

If it's any consolation, I think people who got firsts are a bit weird as they obviously spent their lives working rather than having fun in the pub like me and my mates.

If I interviewed two people and they were equal in every way I'd go for the one with the 2.1 as I'd imagine they'd be more fun to be around.

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