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?

Op don’t give up yet. If your average grade is high 60’s they might bump you up - they did for me!

I know exactly how you feel though , when I thought I was getting a 2:1 I thought of all the pub trips I had missed etc and it was really disheartening to think I could of relaxed a lot more and got the same grade.

It’s not wasted though, you learn a lot about yourself by pushing yourself like this and I it will carry on into working life.

Seriously what’s with the knocking of people who got firsts?

I got a first in mathematics while raising my daughter single handed.

So I didn’t spend every night in the pub because I was busy being a parent too. Does that make me less employable?

The only time I have ever seen it make a difference whether you got a 1:1 or a 2:1 is in applying to be a teacher- you're entitled to more funding and support with a 1:1. I completely empathise with how you must be feeling with all the hard work you have put in () but in a few years time it really won't matter.

"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!"

Remember here that bibliographic information is a grid reference. IT helps others to find the same source you've seen. There is a difference between in-text references and bibliographic references, because each does a different thing.

In the reference list, you need to add page numbers where you're referring to part of a larger volume. So for a whole book you don't need them, but for a chapter of an edited book (where each piece is by a different person) or an article in a journal that contains lots of other items, you need page numbers. Otherwise, your reader will have to wade through hundreds of pages to find the specific piece!

You also need to add a page numder in-text where you are quoting, e.g.

'Della Rocca's interpretation of Spinoza is heavily focused on what he terms the 'Principle of Sufficient Reason', which he defines in terms of explicability: 'each fact, each thing that exists, has an explanation' (Della Rocca, 2008, p. 4).

This is because you want the reader to be able to find this very specific piece of information - to check your quotation if necessary. In the bibliography, however, you do not need to provide this page number specifically, because you've already identified the quotation in the text. You do, however, need the person to be able to find which of several Della Rocca books you're referencing.

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.

Just off to tell my son that he shouldn't have bothered getting a first as some random on the internet thinks he's weird because he wasn't pissed all the time

Anti-intellectualism still thriving in the UK I see....

I got a first in my late 20's and after ten years nursing so had plenty of life experience. In the long run it hasn't really made a jot of difference. Still nursing and counting down to retirement.

And I spent more hours in the pub than I care to remember!

There's such a lot of bollocks on here about people with firsts, as though they are by their nature odd and inexperienced.

OP, perhaps comfort yourself that if you went to a less prestigious university, you might well have got that first, but that you were lucky that you went somewhere with such stringent grading. You've done amazingly well and you're able to do the job you want to do. In a few months' time you won't even think of this again.

Without all the hard work you put in you might not have been on track for the 2:1. It hasn't all been a waste of time. You could have been posting about being on track for a 2:2 or third.

I got a first last year from LSE (ironically the strikes helped as we were given generous extensions). I was able to celebrate the classification for one evening with my family but rarely bring it up now as it makes you sound like a prize twat. It shows that I didn't leave anything on the table- literally the only thing I enjoy about it. If you give one final push now at the end you can say the same thing.

My first and second years were only good/average. Luckily my final year was weighted 5. Is your final year weighted significantly more?

Honestly, I would have been very happy with a 2:1 it's very respectable (and it was the only entry requirement needed for my grad scheme).

^Plus ucas points, sorry.

At least you didn't get a Desmond.

I'm working towards a degree at the moment and I get how you're feeling completely. You work so so hard and it looks like it's not going to amount to what you want it to. As many people have said a 2:1 is an excellent degree and one to be proud of. But this is not the only thing you will gain from your degree. You've expanded your knowledge, education and experience. Those are all really important too. Try to see the wider gains you've made and be proud of how hard you've worked.

I only got a Desmond but was two marks off a 2:1. I was told I wouldn't be accepted on a masters course but am now the proud owner of a masters degree with merit. It's difficult as I remember being so disappointed with my B'ed but that really doesn't matter now. Maybe look ahead to the next stage whatever that may be.

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.

You don’t necessarily have to work any harder to get a first. I’m lucky to be naturally good at academic writing and exams, plus I’ve got a great memory. I had plenty of fun at uni.

Plus, why is working hard and doing well a bad thing? When you’re paying £9k, why wouldn’t you take it seriously?

Are you kidding us? I had a LOT of fun. It is an old stereotype that people who do well have dull lives. Actually, I did hit the library-between 1-6pm maximum.

I remember feeling a bit like this when I got a 2:1 after working my arse off but it's made literally fuck all difference to my career. You'll have a great degree and you've worked hard, that's what counts!

Unless you plan on staying in academia, it really won't matter. Just do your best.

My daughter missed out on a first by 1 or 2 marks. She was ill before the final assignment was due to be handed in and it cost her dear. We had a wonderful interesting retired old school type GP at the emergency doctors appointment who wanted to know all about her and what she was studying etc etc. He made the very valid point that if you get a First, people will expect brilliance from you and be disappointed when they find out you're just normal. If you get a 2.1, everyone will be pleased and nobody other than you will be disappointed. Daughter graduated last summer and has found her first graduate job without any difficulty and is very happy there. So we are happy too. It's been many years since anyone asked me what degree I got. I think that is normal after you've been working a few years?

Want to join the cheerleafers saying dont give up!
I got a 2:2, i nearly gave up so many times in that last year. It was a bloody miracle i finished!
I agree, go back, review where you dropped marks, it aint over til its over!

Cheerleafers?
The old 2:2 coming out there, lack attention to detail.
Did not check.
Learn from my mistakes 😁

Hi, I know the feeling. I am in the same boat. I think I just missed a first and I want to cry. Like you, I went back to university later and put 100% into everything. Had a break up last year and just could not focus properly. I ended up finishing with mostly low 2:1 in all essays. I have a postgraduate course lined up and several interviews, but does not make one feel any better. 😢

I graduated with a 2:1 and was pretty thrilled tbh! When I started the course I was recovering from a severe psychotic episode due to stress (the only one I've ever had) and struggled massively with an eating disorder throughout the whole course. It's a miracle I passed tbh but I put my all into it and did the best I could under the circumstances I was in at the time.

I graduated in 2010. I've since fully recovered and have my life in order (mostly) but 12 years on I'm pretty damn proud of myself for doing as well as I did.

Nothing wrong with a 2:1 AT ALL! Be proud of what you've achieved. 12 years from now I promise you, you won't give a shit that you didn't get a first. Being happy and healthy counts for a lot.