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?

A first used to be something only the top top graduates got. The next best got 2:1s and most got 2:2s. A few got thirds. On my course of over seventy there were only six Firsts.

Now the proportion seems far higher, but still, there's nothing wrong with a second class degree.

@Hello6732

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.

That’s what the university appeals and complaints process is for, though — if you think there’s been an irregularity like some of your work not being corrected, or some admin error in that a mark has been omitted and has impacted on your degree classification. It isn’t n the gift of the lecturer who taught and marked the module, it’s handled by an official university process, entirely independently.

@TellingBone

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

🤣🤣🤣

Would committing fraud really help your self-esteem, OP?
Better an honest 2:1 than be a liar.

The only circumstances where your degree classification is relevant to anyone else is in applying for jobs or further study, in which case they'll probably want your transcript too so they'll be able to see the full picture.

Most people do not judge others by their degrees but on their morals and what kind of personality they have.

You could have said to me you have a 1st however I would probably judge you on the fact you need this 1st to validate yourself and question what are important personality traits for you to base your judgments on.

Having a 1st is not the most important thing. I am concerned about the children if any in your life, sons, daughters, nieces or friends children...do you judge them on their academic ability?

So yes YABU, and to be honest you sound pompous, immature and just a bit of an idiot. I guess even if you feel like you would have got a 1st you are still not that clever....not on what is important anyway.

@HesterShaw1

A first used to be something only the top top graduates got. The next best got 2:1s and most got 2:2s. A few got thirds. On my course of over seventy there were only six Firsts.

Now the proportion seems far higher, but still, there's nothing wrong with a second class degree.

Snap.

Seems like they're giving out too many firsts if people seem to feel they're entitled to one rather than them being the exception.

It’s interesting that people would think like this - it kind of shows how this whole “I am my feelings”/“who I say I am”/“I get to decide what I deserve” ethos that has seeped through society is affecting basic logic and understanding.

What about people who do have a first? You know the rating exists to show they did really well and to recognise that? By just feeling like you can just claim that when it’s not true, it weakens the meaning of it.

If you don’t want to be rated by a system, you don’t have to engage with that system but you don’t get to just change it because you don’t like what you got.

Also agree that it’s a life skill to learn to accept you’re not perfect. No one is. It would be better to concentrate on improving and doing your job as well as possible, rather than trying to rearrange reality.

What would be worse/more embarrassing: people knowing you got a 2:1, or people finding out you got a 2:1 after you'd lied about getting a first?

Are degree classifications a purely British thing?

I came to the UK as a young adult in the 1980's and I think in my first round of interviews was asked once about my degree classification, and didn't have an answer. To me a degree was something you either did or didn't have, grades did not matter. (If they did, I would have scraped a pass, but in subjects that 99% of my age cohort could not have passed, so my self-esteem wasn't particularly at stake.)

Ever since I've wondered if I wrongly went through university thinking grades did not matter as long as you passed, or if they really were only a "thing" in the UK.

(I worked in IT, sometimes alongside people who had no degree at all, so my lack of a classification was never really an issue.)

@ErrolTheDragon @HesterShaw1 it’s true. I got a 1st degree in a course I ended up being a teaching assistant in around ten years later when doing my PhD. When I was grading papers I was called in by the lecturer who told me I was grading too harshly and I quote “a 2.1 in my day is a 1st now” this was one of the top universities in the country.

Seems to be all part of mollycoddling the younger generations. I met so many students who insisted they must have a first as they wanted one.

@TellingBone

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

So in other words you want to become an untrustworthy person OP?

I'm struggling to understand what sort of social situations require you to have conversations about your degree classification?!?

It's been almost 30 years since I graduated and ai can't think of a single occasion when my classification has come up socially since my grad party.

The only time it is relevant is on my CV or when I present my certs to a new employer.

I do understand these sort of feelings. Our competitive educational system is set up to make people feel grades are more significant than they really are.

A good reason for doing a degree is to learn about a subject, have new experiences, find out what your interests are - and what they definitely are not! A bad reason is to use it to place yourself in some essentially meaningless hierarchy.

Not everyone that's fantastic at doing their job, whether related or unrelated to their degree, was great at cramming and performing under pressure in the exam room and vice versa. The skills are very different - I wish this was realised by more people.

In addition, not everyone had a life that was settled enough to allow them to study and concentrate when they were doing their degree.

You are worth more than a flimsy sheet of paper with a grade on it!

Focus on becoming accomplished by continuing your development. Do you have a Masters? If not, I'd start there before a PhD. I say this with kindness OP but as someone with a First, a Merit at Masters and a second post-grad and now doing a PhD there is a world of difference between undergraduate and PhD. I don't care what class of degree colleagues got, but if I found out one of them had lied about it I would think much, much less of them. In academia, and many professions tbf, integrity is everything. Focus on what you can achieve going forward rather than ruminating on the past.

@RandomLondoner

Are degree classifications a purely British thing?

I came to the UK as a young adult in the 1980's and I think in my first round of interviews was asked once about my degree classification, and didn't have an answer. To me a degree was something you either did or didn't have, grades did not matter. (If they did, I would have scraped a pass, but in subjects that 99% of my age cohort could not have passed, so my self-esteem wasn't particularly at stake.)

Ever since I've wondered if I wrongly went through university thinking grades did not matter as long as you passed, or if they really were only a "thing" in the UK.

(I worked in IT, sometimes alongside people who had no degree at all, so my lack of a classification was never really an issue.)

Are degree classifications a purely British thing?

No they do it in the USA too. They have GPA scores and then there's all that weird business with the greek letters for really high flyers.

What is the point of lying?

Are degree classifications a purely British thing?

At some point they came up in a discussion with an American colleague who asked 'oh, is a First like Magna cum Laude'. (Or maybe Summa cum Laude).like that was more obvious and normal than a simple numbering grade.

To be honest first class degrees are two a penny these days so A) if you didn’t get one, you didn’t deserve one, and B) even if you did it’s basically just a 2:1 in today’s terms. You’re delusional.

No they do it in the USA too. They have GPA scores and then there's all that weird business with the greek letters for really high flyers.

The Greek letters are something different I think... fraternities/sororities.

I can't for the life of me remember anyone telling me whether they got a first, second or third class degree here! I don't think anyone cares.

[quote NollaigNollaig]**@ErrolTheDragon* @HesterShaw1* it’s true. I got a 1st degree in a course I ended up being a teaching assistant in around ten years later when doing my PhD. When I was grading papers I was called in by the lecturer who told me I was grading too harshly and I quote “a 2.1 in my day is a 1st now” this was one of the top universities in the country.

Seems to be all part of mollycoddling the younger generations. I met so many students who insisted they must have a first as they wanted one.[/quote]
I'm afraid this is true. I had a student on a placement at work. She wasn't great when she was with us - very passive and lacking in initiative. I had to write up the report which then fed back into her degree and I did so honestly. She got back in touch begging me to change a few answers because with it as it was, it meant she was missing out on a First by just a percentage point. Now way did I have her down as First material.

I did change it though. I reasoned it would be hard enough nowadays for young people to get ahead, particularly in that field which is very competitive. The problem is then, a First isn't enough, so then more of them go onto do Masters especially in a competitive field. And then in turn the Masters get devalued.

I'm sure there will be people who disagree with me, but I take lots of students on placements and we work closely with the local universities so this is what I have seen first hand.

In my company they run background checks. You'd be found out and your job offer withdrawn. Or if it came out later you'd be fired for lying

Op what you achieved is better than lying.
You got your degree, the result may not be what you wanted. But that in itself is better than a lie.

Most lies are eventually found out, and once someone is found out about one thing it is thought what else have they lied about and get the name of a liar and not to belived.
No one wants that.

Get help with your self esteem, but under no circumstances lie about your degree or anything else.

I come from a country where first degrees, second degrees, masters, 1st class, 2.1, etc are big deals. Most people who have a 1st class will either tell everyone or their family and/or friends will tell everyone. Just people being proud of their achievements and isn't seen as 'boasting'. They're usually high-achieving students from the get-go too, like OP. Everyone lauds you for it too. I don't know where OP is from but I understand the "big deal".

Still, @plieddried I don't think you should lie about it if you didn't get it. It's only going to be a temporary feeling of satisfaction before you start getting paranoid that you'll be found out. If people know you're a 'high-achiever', 1st class or not won't affect that. Not every high-achiever gets a 1st class anyway but they still go on to do greater things. I'm sure you will too if you focus on that instead.