If someone has a 2:1 English literature degree , would you say they are very intelligent/academic?

[Curiousss]

Just basically this question, curious to know what people think.

Indeed 🙄
But it's just typical MN snobbery

Not a load of demoralised kids who have paid a fortune for a degree from the University of Middle Wallop, and who now man the tills at Tesco,

Ah, you've fallen for this myth.
It's totally untrue btw.

Prove it's not true.

@SerenityNowSerenityNow , of my DNs who graduated in the last 10 years, the ones who studied engineering or STEM subjects are in well-paid jobs, the one who did 'mickey mouse studies' has an admin job, and two with arts degrees work in supermarkets.
NDN's DC graduated 2 yrs ago works in admin.

That comment says more about you than it does about the graduates who graduate with professionally accredited degrees from post 92 universities (to give them their proper name)

I have no skin in the game but I can't bear the sneering snobbery I come across on higher education mumsnet threads.

The mickey mouse one got a good degree from a decent(ish) uni, but in a more or less useless subject, and now says it was a waste of time and money, and could have started work years earlier.

I'm sort of middle of the road not spectacularly clever nor awfully dim.

I have a Russell group university degree 😆
I won’t say which subjects I studied .
I didn’t study English literature .
I could be described as reasonably intelligent , not very intelligent or an academic 🤔

Gladly...
The most recent Graduate Outcomes data shows that 80% of graduates were employed 15 months after graduation and 17% were in further study.
75% of those graduated were in professional level jobs.
83% said their work was 'meaningful' and 75% said that their current job fit with their future plans which means even if they weren't currently in a graduate level job, then they were at least in a job that had career progression.

Yes, shocking survey.

Define a professional level job, for example. Even coffee shop workers define themselves as professional these days.

And over half the respondents didn't even bother to complete it.

I don’t think hard work necessarily means longer hours - in fact some students worked longer hours because they were struggling or because they worked inefficiently. I guess I mean more intensive, more focused, more efficient, more diligent.

Compared to friends who got 2.1s, I am in no way more intelligent, in some cases considerably less so, I think it comes down to working practices and application.

Others I know who got firsts were notably more conscientious than others - they certainly weren’t more inspired.

Am I sorry? No.

Firstly, it's not the respondents that categorise their jobs. Anyone responding saying they worked in a coffee shop would not be counted as having a professional level job. Unless they said they were the manager. All jobs are SOC coded and this is done centrally and completely out of a university's control. .

Yes, there are issues with the GO survey and the response rate BUT that's not to say it's useless or incorrect.

However, I work with universities on graduate outcomes and and they all have internal data on what their graduates do and I can categorially tell you that your statement regarding high numbers of graduates are working on the tills in Tesco is fundamentally incorrect. Career Readiness data is far more useful than GO and is used as an internal measure by most UK and some international, universities.
Unless you have data ( and I mean actual data, not what you've read in the very anti HE UK media) to prove me otherwise?

Am I sorry? No.
Aren't you a delight?!

I think then we"re making the same point? I.e. we got firsts by working effectively and strategically rather than spending every moment chained to our desk. So it's incorrect to infer that people with a first just put in more hours than people with a 2:1. And when people say that they could have got a first it they had put more hours in, I just realise that they had never grasped the game they needed to play to boost their grade from a 2:1 to a first.

I think that @DisabledDemon and other posters who look down on professionals who have graduated from lesser universities would be dismayed to learn that many healthcare professionals - nurses, radiographers, speech therapists, other therapists etc often graduated from the type of universities they sneer at.

Would they refuse treatment?

I think then we"re making the same point? I.e. we got firsts by working effectively and strategically rather than spending every moment chained to our desk. So it's incorrect to infer that people with a first just put in more hours than people with a 2:1.

That isn't necessarily true of all subjects. DD did a STEM degree and reckons she got a first because she did extra reading around her subject. She said that those who did the bare minimum got a 2.1 or a 2.2.

We're talking about being academic, though, not if people are competent.

@DisabledDemon does that mean you think people who attend a post 92 university aren't academic?

Frankly, some aren't.

Frankly, some aren't.
But many are... so what's your point?

Frankly, some graduates from other universities aren't academic either @DisabledDemon

And the allied healthcare degrees are more academic than you think.

You seem to think that by constantly chipping away, you will change my opinion. I'm afraid that you will need to accept that you won't and just leave it at that.

You seem to think that by constantly chipping away, you will change my opinion. I'm afraid that you will need to accept that you won't and just leave it at that.

I accept that you're wrong and coming across as an uninformed snob. I'll leave it at that.

I didn’t actually say “more hours” I said amount of work - which doesn’t necessarily equate to longer hours - it’s more how intensive it is - you can get more work done in fewer hours.

I disagree with your last point as many students I knew could have got firsts if they’d applied themselves for the exams. It’s not that they didn’t know how to get them - they may have got them all the way through uni. It’s simply the equivalent of an A and they’re not hard to get in humanities if you argue and evidence your essay thoroughly. It’s different in STEM subjects.