I want to tell people I have a 1st class even though I don’t?

[plieddried]

It bothers me so much to see my actual degree classification. On my cv I don’t even bother to write my degree classification but I still feel embarrassed. I want to start telling people (and myself) that I graduated with a 1st class honours even if it’s not true. It makes me feel happier to tell myself I got a first class. It also makes me feel more confident and secure in my ability to work. It makes me feel accomplished. Wondering if AIBU?

It’s more of a self esteem booster. I feel like it tells people I’m accomplished.
How does knowing that you are lying boost your self esteem?

How old are you?

The last time I told someone my degree classification was when my niece graduated and my bro asked me.

Time before that, no idea.

Unless you’re a new graduate I can’t see how you’ve managed to come across anyone who is interested.

@iloveeverykindofcat

I'm not sure doing a PhD will help your self-esteem OP. Doing a PhD is pretty ego-deconstructing, for everyone, no matter how smart you are. The very first thing you learn is how little you know about anything. A good supervisor criticises your work and challenges your ideas, and you have to learn not to take it personally and right now you are taking your grades very personally.

I'm an academic and professional writer and honestly one of the main things involved is leaving your ego at the door. Just the other day I had a book proposal accepted, but reviewer 1 had plenty of critical things to say (some of which reviewer 2 disagreed with, so there you go). Even now, it's a bit upsetting. It is for everyone. But you've got to realise it isn't personal. Its useful. It can make your work better. I think the things your looking for - external validation from academic achievement - aren't ultimately going to make you feel better about yourself. You can have all the qualifications, titles and on-paper achievements in the world and still feel bad about yourself - and even if you do, there will still be people who hate your ideas and think you don't know what you're talking about it.

Absolutely. Doctoral research can be ego-annihilating, and frequently leads to a career spent applying for research funding with a statistically small chance of success. I have a double first, two Masters degrees with distinction and a DPhil from an elite institution, all on competitive scholarships, and (a) I’m not sure anyone’s ever asked my first degree class and (b) my self-esteem is pretty average.

OP, piss taking aside, I went to school with a girl who wasn't massively academic. She got very average GCSEs but has since been to college and uni and has gone as far as doing a PhD.

I bumped into a mutual friend a few weeks back who said this woman now can't get a job anywhere. She's tried various different sectors, industries etc but nobody will touch her because:
A) no low level job will be 'enough'. Employers will assume that she'll see herself as better than the job because of her qualifications
B) she has no real life work experience. She's spent the last 10 years studying while others went to work, proved themselves and gained experience.

Employers want experience over qualifications in most fields.
A first wont get you any further than a 2:1.

Just go and be success in life.

People do lie about their qualifications. Doesn't make it a good idea though. Some don't get found out. Some do.

We tend to assume a first or a 2:1 is ‘normal’, a 2:2 usually a sign of partying too hard or there were some life difficulties, and a 3rd we would assume the persons life had imploded in some way. We do ask at interview what happened if the grade seems low (relative to their other accomplishments and people tend to be quite honest about which of the above it is. Doesn’t tend to put us off. Nobody has ever said they were a bit thick and that’s why they got a low grade!

@plieddried

It bothers me so much to see my actual degree classification. On my cv I don’t even bother to write my degree classification but I still feel embarrassed. I want to start telling people (and myself) that I graduated with a 1st class honours even if it’s not true. It makes me feel happier to tell myself I got a first class. It also makes me feel more confident and secure in my ability to work. It makes me feel accomplished. Wondering if AIBU?

Why don't you just tell them you're a Dr too then, would that make you feel more secure?! 😂😂😂 I might take a leaf out of your book and tell myself I'm a Duchess today so I feel more secure 😂😂 really hope this is a joke

I am as lucky and got a covid 1st!
I did a second degree over last 2 years and one of my goals was to get a first if possible and exams being online helped that. I do tell everyone :-) (though I was quite happy with my 2.1 from the 1990s)

Not so fussed on my masters results, no one cares about them. But in law, the degree class is very important as to getting next jobs (not that I want to do that)

So yes, do another degree if you feel that urge. Mine was 2 years, so cheaper to do. Or can do open university, part time whilst working.

My dad is also doing a second degree at over 70! Think he'll be happy if he finishes it.

I got straight As at school and a 2:2. I also didn't submit my probably extenuating circumstances. But hey ho. I'd never lie about it, that would never make me feel better as it would not be true.

That’s nuts!

We’d all like to have got a first, would feel proud if we had got one, I expect.

I got a 2:1. That’s what I got so that’s what I tell people!

Just told the postie I'm a brain surgeon and that I speak ten languages [including Jedi] and now I feel GREAT

OP I was also a straight A* student and ended up getting a 2:1 at uni being very close to a 1st within 1.5%. I'm actually convinced that they lost half of one of my exam answer booklets because it was so strange that my mark was so low for a particular module but my lecturer was not having any of it when I asked them to double check. They actually got insulted I "suggested they couldn't do their job properly". I wouldn't be surprised if I did actually get a 1st and the uni was so disorganised they just ballsed stuff up due to multiple dodgy things that happened there. This is a Russell group uni for what it's worth.

Was a very sad time for me actually, but I still didn't lie about my 2:1 on my CV or to anyone. But also my graduate employer required me I get at least a 2:1 to secure my job. That ended up being the only time I had to share my degree classification with any employer and since then no one's even asked me or batted an eyelid and it's never come up again. My career experience now speaks for itself.

I get the disappointment OP but you're going to come off far worse if you say you got a 1st and it's found out you didn't. Did you get a 2:1 instead? Just embrace it for what it is and a few years into your career the classification will be meaningless. It's just a stepping stone to the next part of your life.

I know a lot of extremely successful, very clever people who didn’t get great degrees. Grades aren’t everything. It is not embarrassing or pathetic to get bad grades but it is embarrassing and pathetic to lie about them.

@TellingBone

Just told the postie I'm a brain surgeon and that I speak ten languages [including Jedi] and now I feel GREAT

OP has said that they were going through stuff at the time...this is affecting their mental health...you instead just come across as an idiot.

@plieddried like others have said, I think the issue here is around your self esteem, and taking the time to reassess what it actually means for you long term. Likely- absolutely nothing.

For context, I graduated from my BA with an honours with distinction, and my MA with distinction. Or was it honours? I don't think we had firsts, 2:1, or 2:2 at the MA level; it was either honours/distinction, pass, or fail. I think.

I am writing that because, as you can see, it is SO unimportant now that I can't even remember the right terms. Since graduating not one person has asked me about my marks. Not one.

What seemed hugely important at the time is now totally inconsequential. Focus on achieving in your career and exploring why this is so important to you that you would consider lying and putting your future job at risk should anyone find out... time much better spent!

No one cares.

In the workplace your qualifications only matter to the extent they (or lack thereof) impact your work performance. The further you progress in your career the less important it becomes and soft skills like people management become more important, together with executive capabilities - ability to make a clear headed judgement, weigh up risks, shoulder responsibility for the performance of a team.

My academic record is littered with slight failings. I do not have a first class degree!

Nonetheless I have done well in the workplace because I am diligent, learn fast, and most important work well in a team.

I do have a first. The only time I've ever 'told' anyone was on my CV when I went for a professional job, and I had to show my degree certificate to prove it. It's just not something that comes up in conversation! And if I'd lied on my CV I wouldn't have got my job.

I think you need some form of counselling if lying to yourself makes you feel accomplished when you haven't actually achieved that qualification. I also think you need to examine why you're pinning your entire self worth on one qualification. People are far more than pieces of paper, particularly once they've been in a job/career for a while and people you meet judge you upon what you did most recently in your role, whether it's a project that went well, a deal you negotiated, a shift you managed well etc. Many outstanding and invaluable employees do not even have a degree at all.
People will mainly judge you by your words and actions and not on your qualifications!

That said, a good degree course really sorts the sheep from the goats. Just because you got A throughout school does not mean you're 1st class degree calibre. Lots of (mainly girls) pupils are well supported, spoonfed in independent schools and naice leafy comps and get A all the way through their school careers when really they're not particularly intellectual, certainly not brilliant, but rather they attend well, are hard working, biddable, act upon advice given, and generally allow education to be done to them which is how the English school system is set up currently. When they go to university, where learning is done independently, it all falls apart as they haven't got the necessary skills and resources to take responsibility for their own learning.

@bonfireheart

Just told the postie I'm a brain surgeon and that I speak ten languages [including Jedi] and now I feel GREAT

OP has said that they were going through stuff at the time...this is affecting their mental health...you instead just come across as an idiot.

Oh do giveover

😄

Weird.

I do have a first - I've never said those words out loud since I told DH the day I got it. It's a non issue. Getting found out lying about it is a huge issue though OP.

Are we self identifying our degree classifications now? Wanting something makes it so, after all.

it’s best to be honest op. As others have said there are lots of successful people around who don’t have the best degree.

What will lying achieve? A moment or two of fantasy? It’s not going to change reality.