College only celebrating A grade university entrants on social media

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I know why they do it but it's irritating. My dc1 2 years ago got A*AA in his a levels and obviously I was proud of him as was the college. He's now at university and doing really well.

Dc2 got his results yesterday. He got CCU and he is off to his first choice university in September. I'm extremely proud of him. He has autism and he attempted suicide when he was 12 so we are so lucky he is here at all. But the college posted on social media about "some" of the students who got into university. They all got A grades. He's not on the list along with presumably other students who got into university with B's and C's. There is a photo of 3 of his best friends from secondary school holding balloons and grinning. They could have easily included him and the other students who didn't get A grades but they didn't.

Not all jobs need good grades.
But some do. DS's does. They asked for grades.
And some degrees other than medicine or dentistry do make jobs likely
This " grades and degrees and unis dont matter, so why celebrate' is not true for all professions.

I got CCCCDDDDG at GCSE, CCU at a level and then went to uni and got a 2:1.

His results were as predicted and his teachers at college encouraged him to apply for uni when they knew he was likely to get the grades he did.

That's an extremely short sighted and inaccurate viewpoint.

Which uni was it?

None of your business

There was a post when they celebrated all the students with.medical school places (independent ) ..mad a doctor as I just though poor bastards

I don't see what's wrong with that.

I think you have to accept that schools and colleges see their results purely as marketing tools although I'm sure individual teachers do care about how their students do.

My DD got a congratulations email from the head of the department of the subject that she got an A in. Not a dicky bird from the other two that weren't As or Bs. She rolled her eyes and refused to fill in the form saying where she was going because she didn't want them to include her in the bragging about numbers going to top 10 universities.

Good luck to your son OP, hope he has a ball at uni.

Agree. I work alongside people who have been to Uni, doing the same job that I have when I didn’t go to uni/get a degree. It certainly doesn’t hold the same prestige it used to. I guess it’s a rite of passage - the social life and independence, but it’s an expensive way to get that experience…

That’s rude! Are you embarrassed about it?

The vast majority of undergrads never end up on graduate schemes. They take normal
jobs they could’ve got at 18 and when their foot is in the door their degree supports promotion, next role, or further professional qualification.

I’m another who went to a shit uni, earn loads in a professional career, was exempt from
half my professional exams thanks to vocational degree from shit uni and would never be where I am without university.

At a population level stats show a degree doesn’t just add life long wealth, it creates generational wealth- the children of all graduates are at population level better off than the children of non graduates. And it doesn’t matter what degree or what uni.

@TriedSoHardSoLong - I also went to a shit uni - at the time Polytechnic. I got a 2:1, got my act together, got a job, worked hard, got further professional qualifications, earn an excellent salary. Unfortunately you would have told me not to bother, too thick for uni, a waste of time and money.
I needed the degree for the job (it was an essential qual).
My son also went to a shit uni (ex Poly) - got exceptional support. The uni works proactively with employers, good careers support, pastoral care but maybe with his 3 C's you wanted him on the scap heap too. He got a career out of it too.

I did a degree at a time when only 10% did and had good jobs, but in terms of actual wealth , my exh (A levels) and subsequent boyfriends (respectively 2GCSEs and no GCSEs) were much more successful because they were hard working and entrepreneurial.

dd2s sixth form was very inclusive and always had a range of people in the press releases - some of the top ones and then others who were going on to interesting things like apprenticeships, or who had overcome adversity like your son. They wouldn''t necessarily list all the grades but tell the individual's stories. I don' like places like your son's college that only celebrate one type of student, it feels like reducing people to a set of grades.

Well I’m neither entrepreneurial or super smart/ privileged so I had to make the system work for me as best I could.

Some years ago dds college was the same...dd got 3 x As, but they only wanted the A* pupils for the photos/tv/sm

One of mine got fair A Levels. Nothing the school would've shouted about, but decent. He went on to do a degree apprenticeship, got a first, and has been invited back to the school a few times to talk to the Y11&12s about his experiences, do interview practice etc with them. The school is proud of his achievements, he just wasn't newsworthy on results day, which was perfectly reasonable!

Your son's teachers will be very proud of him. Would he have wanted the attention of a write-up on the adversity he's overcome?

Agreed. My dh is very bright but after doing well in his O levels, he did badly at A level and got DDE. He got a place at a poly through clearing and went on to have a successful career as a solicitor. His A level grades don’t reflect his intellect at all.

It's not rude, it's a fact.
You're rude insinuating my degree isn't worth anything and saying you 'doubt my degree has anything to do with my success'. You didn't even ask if it did. So no, I don't have to tell you what uni I went to. And even if I did, you don't have the right to judge if that made my degree worth anything or not. I'm not embarrassed, just not in the habit of sharing personal details with busy bodies on the internet.

Sharing the name of an institution isn’t remotely ‘personal details’ or outing.
Are you ashamed of it?

That’s shitty OP. They could quite easily celebrate everyone who got the grades they needed without having to publish what each student got.

Well done to your DS.

Why does it matter? What are you going to do with that information? Why do you even care where some random person on mumsnet went to uni? Of course I'm not ashamed, I'm very proud of the fact I was able to get a decent degree (and subsequently a career in that field) despite my shit A level results. Where I went or what I studied doesn't matter. My point is, A levels aren't the be all and end all. When you're in your late 30s nobody gives a shit what results you got or where you went to uni (or even if you did at all). Open your mind a little!

Are you always so rude? You’re also wrong. I work for a well known, leading employer and have a 2:2 from an ex poly. I’m on the same grade as some of my colleagues who went to “better” universities with better grades. When I’ve been involved in recruitment, if the role has required a university degree, it matters not one jot what university the candidate went to.

I hear you.

I cringed when DC’s school did this, but it seems to have got worse in the years since. I noticed yesterday that, for their photos, schools now give their high-performing students paddles to hold (like the paddles on Strictly!) with their grades on. I wondered whether they did this for all the students but fear they don’t.