To think there's life after getting a 2.2

[GladToBeGlobal]

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.

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

Both my dh and I have 2.2s. I am a museum senior curator with a MA. I thought my 2.2 would put them off, but I got my MA and no one even asks about my degree any more!!
my dh has a further HND and has a very good job with brilliant promotion prospects. We own our own home, have a beautiful dd and have a wonderful life.

I don't think it's the end of he world. There are plenty of people out there with no degrees who end up in good professional jobs (myself included).

I live ooop north though, so do wonder if it does make a difference if you're down south - I can imagine it being difficult to break into the London graduate market without a high degree...although after ten years experience in my field, I have had offers from London firms so I suspect in practice it just takes a little longer without a high degree.

I think it depends on your degree subject.

A 2:2 in law? You need to rethink your options. Even in smaller high street firms, 2:1 is standard. I know a few solicitors who have been qualified 15+ years who had 2:2's though. Times have changed.

I got a 2:2 walked into a graduate training scheme with a major blue chip and am a senior director in my sector. I don't recall ever being asked for details of my degree

I got a 2:2

But then a distinction in my pgce and now have a great job running a charity scheme for young mums with no qualifications, including teaching and fundraising.

It's never the end of the world.

The worst 2 teachers I ever worked with had firsts!!

Well, I did an Advanced Diploma in Adult Nursing with Registration as a Staff Nurse, got my job and then went on to do the workplace scheme where we could 'top up' to a Pass Degree in Health Studies.

I got my pass degree and proudly tell everyone I got a degree (a BSc!), who cares that it's only a pass degree - I think it was really good to get that considering I was working full time when I achieved it!

In Nursing it helps to have a degree but I know nurses who only gained Diplomas, not even Advanced Diplomas. OTOH I know some nurses with MScs. I think the qualifications you get help with certain jobs in nursing but not others.

I've noticed a trend here.. lots of posts along thr lines of:

Husband got a 2:2 has a management job and makes a fuck ton of money, whereas I got a first or a 2:1 and have a routine admin job. Therefore your degree classification doesn't matter.

Am I alone in thinking 'well that's down to the patriarchy'

composhat yup, that struck me straight away.

I got a (posh uni) 2.2 (lots of problems during course, plus unplanned pregnancy and hyperemeisis almost needing hospital during final exams). It has been a problem to some employers, but I think the same kind who would probably not want to employ a single parent with a history of depression anyway, so not too fussed about them. I now have a PhD and an adequate job, not quite as well paid as I'd like but better than some. Most employers really need to start treating people as individuals rather than looking at relatively arbitrary cut-off 'scores' if they want to optimise their workforce; the good ones do this already (have been to many academic interviews where the interviewers admitted having been in same situation with 2.2 and postgrad quals).

I got a 2.2 - I did a very hard science subject and was lazy, bad combo. Hasn't held me back at all - I have a successful career.

I was 3% off getting a First and my mother was not impressed. I was chuffed with my 2:1 but she soon rained on my parade

As a poster said above, there aren't too many situations where someone cares what specific grade you got after graduating. Friends of mine who got a 2:2 went on to have the same career as me and the same career as the people who got Firsts. Their 2:2 was to no detriment at all.

Anyone who tries their best should be proud of themselves whatever they achieve.

I have a 2:2, DH has a 1st. I lived away from home, learnt about life, looked after myself drank far too much and partied a lot. He lived at home, studied hard and occasionally had a beer.
We only started earning very different amounts after I stopped working full time to have DS. My earning potential dropped due to 5 years of not working or part time work. I think my memories and friendships from Uni are much stronger, I learned many life kills he didn't.

We were 5 friends doing a law degree at Uni together. Four of us got 2:1 and one got 2:2. 20 years later and the only one of us still practising as a lawyer where we qualified is the one with a 2:2. Three are working in other professions (and not really because of a deliberate decision not to practice law, but because we couldn't get/didn't like our first legal jobs) and one lives abroad doing a legal type thing. We are all happy, but the one with the 2:2 is the one who is living the dream we all had at 20.

DH's brother got a Third after resitting a year, and inexplicably walked into a well paid job in a local authority - now earns c. £55,000 a year.

he still doesn't have a clue what he's doing though

The time between your friend getting that degree and now is relevant though Jenin. People with 2:2's are not likely to get training contracts these days. Not impossible, but unlikely.

2:1 is the standard requirement for a training contract across the board, whether Magic Circle or high street. Even high street firms expect 2:1's of their paralegals, who are often also Lpc graduates.

Unless ones father knows someone who knows someone, or indeed is someone, of course. In which case, only a pass would really impede your progression into a legal career.

I got a third in astrophysics from a well respected university. Can't say I enjoyed it much or helped me job wise at all, but you know what, astrophysics is bloody hard!

I don't regret it, well okay ... sometimes I wish I did comp sci instead. But I had a bucket load of life experience out of it.

At the time, it felt like I'd failed and it definitely hit my confidence massively (which was then reflected in job interviews). I coasted through my first two years, bucked up my ideas in year 3, but had a family death and caught glandular fever which complicated matters. I had a 2:1 in my dissertation and a 2:2 in my final year project but that wasn't good enough to drag the final exam grades into anything respectable and I didn't have the previous track record to be given the benefit of the doubt.

i don't do anything even remotely related to physics now. But the world kept on turning and life is pretty good regardless and while I never applied for degree level jobs, I have always had a good hit rate with job applications (if for no other reason than a non-used degree in astrophysics is a talking point in interview!!).

Tunnock - then a possible conclusion of that scenario is that a woman needs to achieve a much higher academic standard than a man to earn the same ammount and a 2:2 has a different value, depending on the sex, class and ethnicity of the person who holds it.

FatCabbage
Someone very close to me dropped out of uni, & is now an MD at Jp Morgan.

I got a 2:2 in my degree, but it opened up doors for me. I applied for a job that required a degree and now, 10 years after I first graduated, I have completed a masters (funded by my employer) with distinction :) so no, a 2:2 is not the end of the world.

There are no guarantees, I have a 2:1 but am hampered by the fact that it's not in the career I work in. For me at this stage a 2:2 in a relevant degree would be more valuable.

at "fat" - Fatal

Not via the graduate entry, I'm guessing.

I got a third. Fucking hated uni.

I went travelling for a year after Uni and got some world class customer service experience. It was that year away that got me every single job afterwards and nothing to do with my degree...

A 2:2 is not the end of the world but it will close doors. I am sure my first degree wanted at least a 2:1 and it was definitely easier to get in from a " good" university.

I was, until recently, teaching, a 2:2 was often a reason that your application was put into recycling.

Great stories- thanks everyone. I like the fact that for some people the disappointment spurred them on to take risks and do something a bit different with their lives.