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Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think there's life after getting a 2.2

159 replies

GladToBeGlobal · 20/06/2014 13:50

It's that time of year again. I've been consoling lots of students who've narrowly missed out on their 2.1 or their First. I really mean it when I tell them a 2.2 is still an achievement and a valid qualification. Unfortunately many people out there in the world think differently. Sad

Please tell me your stories of success in life after a disappointing degree result.

OP posts:
FatalCabbage · 20/06/2014 13:54

DH got a 2.2 mostly because he was too lazy to show up for labs and was in a respected managerial role by 30.

A pass degree would be a nightmare; a third isn't great; but a Desmond is fine.

It does depend on the course and institution though. A 2.2 in Chemistry from Imperial is fine but a 2.2 in Wallpapering from an ex poly won't get you a job with JPMorgan.

DrDre · 20/06/2014 13:54

I got a 2.2. It hasn't harmed my career at all. No one ever asks you what classification your degree was once you are working.

Finola1step · 20/06/2014 13:55

I came out with a 2:2 after messing up my finals (after finding out then bf of 4 years was screwing around behind my back)

18 years later I have worked in my chosen profession ever since. Own my home outright, 2 dc, been with dh 16 years. Life is good.

But I do remember the crushing disappointment of missing out on that 2:1.

FatalCabbage · 20/06/2014 13:55

I should say, he's done far more with his 2.2 than I have with my 2.1!

Notfastjustfurious · 20/06/2014 13:56

My dd got a 2.2 couple of years ago and I was still immensely proud of her, so what really? She's now a buyer in an oil company earning very good money and working hard. There are many many people with no degree at all doing really well. I don't think it's all that tbh.
otoh there are many people with good degrees doing either no job at all or working in low paid jobs because that's all they can get.

BarbarianMum · 20/06/2014 13:59

A 2.2 is not going to ruin your life unless you were intending to go into research (in which case you may need to rethink your plans). And I agree with DrDre -once you've got your first job, no-one notices what your classifications is (unless it's very good or very bad).

thegreylady · 20/06/2014 14:00

In our family all the girls including ddil achieved 2:1s and all the boys 2:2s. All the boys are now in fairly high powered well paid careers and all the girls are happily combining bringing up dc with teaching! Dd turned down an offered promotion because she wanted less stress not more.
Among our 2:2s we have a HoD in a prestigious grammar school, a finance manager for a big company and a regional manager (international) for a publishers.

mabelbabel · 20/06/2014 14:01

2.2 here. Narrowly missed out on a 2.1, but I thought I wouldn't pass at all for a while so felt like a relief. Impact on career: it meant I started a training contract with a 'medium' firm rather than one of the 'Big' firms who demanded 2.1's. I enjoyed it and found my niche. 15 years and 2 children later my career is thriving, and I'm actually quite grateful because my slightly worse result pointed me in a much more interesting direction.

mslion · 20/06/2014 14:02

DH has a 2:2 and successful career. I got a 2:1 at the same time and have had numerous crappy jobs and never managed to forge a proper career in 16 years of working. For many years we both thought that I would be/ought to be the more successful one because of my result but it just didn't work out that way. Your personality, natural abilties and the opportunities that come your way all count for more as far as I'm concerned.

TwoAndTwoEqualsChaos · 20/06/2014 14:02

I missed a 2:1 by a couple of marks had a very bad break-up and lost focus and investigted appeals and such like. My tutors advised that, as I didn't want to go into academia, it wouldn't really have any impact. Actually, it has, as some jobs specify a 2:1 or above, and an even greater effect on my confidence and belief in my capacities. I went to a good university. Perhaps I feel more vulnerable, as I am a SAHM and will have an employment gap. DH also has a 2:2 from a good university. Initially, it prohibited him from certain gradute schemes but, after 13 years of work and a Masters, he was till recently working for one of those companies to whom he couldn't apply as a new graduate and has practical experience and contacts, which are probably more valuable.

SallyMcgally · 20/06/2014 14:02

Both my brother and sister got 2.2s and I got a First.
They both earn way more than me Grin, and I've had a much more stressful time in terms of actually getting jobs etc

TarkaTheOtter · 20/06/2014 14:03

I agree to an extent but I think the current job market is so bad that in the short term a 2.2 is a massive disadvantage when it comes to getting a graduate job.

NotCitrus · 20/06/2014 14:03

I got a 2:2 which meant I couldn't take up a PhD studentship despite recommendations from tutors to the BBSRC - I did my finals off my face on pethidine, but the BBSRC wouldn't accept an Unclassified so I had to try. I then did a MSc rather than repeat the year, and then a PhD with much better funding.

Once I had a MSc, which broadened my subject base, no-one has cared about the 2:2.

momb · 20/06/2014 14:08

I got a 2.2, followed up with a masters. PhD, post doc, another masters for fun (whaa). Now quite senior in a spinout company after several years in academia. If I'd wanted to do a PhD immediately after undergrad then the 2.2 would have been a problem. I didn't, it wasn't.

EddieStobbart · 20/06/2014 14:09

I did a masters. Haven't noticed an impact but then I didn't throw myself into hugely competitive graduate recruitment roles. Work for a large company now on what I consider to be an ok wage (considerably more than DH with his 2.1 and PhD).

Original poster
GladToBeGlobal · 20/06/2014 14:16

Thanks all for your posts. I agree it's very tough out there jobwise and also that there are more 2.1s and firsts these days, meaning that the 2.2 has got 'devalued'. But I wish employers could meet my students- several of the 2.2s would outshine the 2.1s (not all of them, mind...)

OP posts:
basilandmint · 20/06/2014 14:16

I got a 2:2, purely because I pretty much didn't go to uni for the last year, bad relationship, breakup etc, no mitigation in at time etc etc.

A decade on, with a good masters degree, a scholarship as part of that, extensive international experience and publications in an academic/research setting, I haven't, in 2 years, been shortlisted for a PhD studentship and i've applied for about bloody 20! I have been unconditionally accepted to do my PhD in excellent universities, but because of my 2:2 (it seems) I cannot get funding. Subsequently meaning that I can't afford to do my PhD, and I can no longer get a job in my field (contract has just run out on a VL job) as it is overpopulated with brilliant people with similar experience to me and a PhD sigh

If I could give my ds one bit of advice (channelling Baz Lurhmann here) it would be get your 2:1 just in case you do want to go into academia and research. However, reading the success people have had in academia with 2:2s, perhaps it's not my 2:2.. Blush

SallyMcgally · 20/06/2014 14:16

8tarka8 has a good point though about things being more difficult in current jobs' market. However, I think if your CV is supplemented by dynamic and engaged extra-curricular activity then you can compensate if need be. I do think that at the moment a 2.2 and an otherwise flimsy CV would mean that you'd have quite a struggle.

CarpetBagger · 20/06/2014 14:21

sorry cant, 2:2 was beyond useless perhaps if from oxrbidge it wouldnt matter so much but it has been a barrier.

Hoppinggreen · 20/06/2014 14:35

Me and DH both got 2.2,s due to being lazy.
We both had pretty good careers and more or less got every job we ever applied for.
We now both run our own ( separate) successful businesses

JacktheLab · 20/06/2014 14:37

I have a 2:2 and professional career

gordyslovesheep · 20/06/2014 14:38

I narrowly missed out on a first and was gutted - but I have a job I love and looking back it wasn't the end of the world

My mum got a 2:2 and had a very happy and successful teaching career

JacktheLab · 20/06/2014 14:38

Argh stupid phone!

Yes professional, doing quite well at the moment Grin

Depends on where and what they want to do but it's not the end of the world

SteeleyeSpanx · 20/06/2014 14:40

I'm afraid I agree, I got a 2:2 after a hellish University experience and most of the doors I knocked on career wise were sadly closed to me.

However, I now run my own business doing something completely different which is incredibly successful. A few years after I took up the thing that I do, it became very fashionable and is many people's 'dream job'. I am the envy of pretty much everyone I know with a 'proper' graduate job.

Also, I now have the time (and, lets be honest, the money) to do the thing that I originally planned to do in a voluntary capacity.

Now, I could't be happier, but to be fair, there were difficult moments on the path.

I guess what I am saying is that every cloud has a silver lining, but a 2:2 is a fairly substantial cloud, especially in that early post-graduation scramble for Grad Schemes

Deverethemuzzler · 20/06/2014 14:46

I don't have a degree.
I have a good job and provide an important service.

So, no, its not the end of the world to get a 2:2

University is supposed to be about the experience as well as the qualification isn't it? Thats what we are always being told.