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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

504 replies

plieddried · 01/12/2021 03:56

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?

OP posts:
Bluntness100 · 01/12/2021 12:42

That’s kinda weird op. What did you get?

Can you really lie to yourself and make yourself believe you got a first? Does no part of you then know deep down not only did you not, you’re also a liar and a cheat?

ErrolTheDragon · 01/12/2021 12:43

And how does knowing you're lying to people and might very well get found out if you lie on your CV make you feel better about yourself?

I used to know someone who was an osteopath. When she was on holiday she would tell people she was a doctor.

We met someone on holiday who said he was a professor of the subject DH and I have our degrees in, so DH looked him up out of interest. He wasn't a professor, he was a lower ranked academic. It just made him look like a bit of a prat. (We didn't say anything about it to him, obviously).

BlusteryLake · 01/12/2021 12:47

It's better to avoid the topic rather than lie about it. Put it out of your mind and focus on your professional skills. Nobody beyond your first couple of jobs is likely to ask, so just move conversations on if you prefer not to discuss it. If you are found to be lying it reflects far worse on you than if you just haven't mentioned it.

Tulipomania · 01/12/2021 12:49

Wow. Can't believe this thread hasn't been deleted yet.

Original poster
plieddried · 01/12/2021 12:53

@Scarby9

I work in education, so all educational qualifications back as far as GCSEs have to be included on any application form, including grades and degree classifications. Certificates have to be shown and you can lose your job for misrepresenting your qualifications.

I am involved in recruitment for ITT and teacher appointments. We are actually interested in people who have a lower than usual degree classification or school qualifications but have then built their experience towards their chosen career as a teacher. That tenacity and determination shows how committed they are to the profession, often more so than some 21 year olds who drift into applying for teaching because they can't think what to do as they finish their degree.
I worry that you are so fixated on this, OP. You need to shift your thinking to the resilience and grit you have demonstrated to build your career since the blip of your degree - it's done, it was what it was, but it is not who you are now.

Reading through the comments in this thread made me realise I can’t let this define me for the rest of my life. I’ve come to terms with it now. It’s from five years ago now anyway. I’m only triggered by it because we get new graduates every year and it seems like everyone has a first class now! Everyone apart from me. Sad
OP posts:
Original poster
plieddried · 01/12/2021 12:58

@Snugglepumpkin

You are being weird & when found out people would think less of you than if you just tell the truth.

If it bothers you that much, you can go & take another degree & earn the right to a first if you can get one.

I might want to tell people I have a Phd in Mathematics but I haven't got one so I don't.

If people believed that I'd feel like I am better at maths than I am but it would still be a big fat lie.

I’ve actually thought about doing another degree but I’d have to do it part-time. It would take me six years instead of three
OP posts:
ErrolTheDragon · 01/12/2021 12:58

Reading through the comments in this thread made me realise I can’t let this define me for the rest of my life. I’ve come to terms with it now.

Good!
And as to the newer grads - so you know you're in a role alongside people with firsts. You may have been disappointed by your classification but clearly it was good enough!

tenredthings · 01/12/2021 13:01

I feel cheated because such great store is set by exam results but once you've done them no one really cares about the grades.

HollowTalk · 01/12/2021 13:04

I thought that your overall grade came from all assessments and exams over Years 2 and 3?

What were your grades during those years? What was your final grade?

potoforchids · 01/12/2021 13:06

This is ridiculous, no one cares about this apart from you. You will look ridiculously foolish if you lie and got found out.

I know someone who lies about their degree classification - everyone knows his real mark for reasons I won't go into and everyone pities him for feeling the need to lie about it.

KeyboardWorriers · 01/12/2021 13:09

I have two first class degrees. I think outside my family the only person who knows are my university friends (because they displayed our results on a big board) and my colleague (who "guessed" but I suspect was actually told by our now retired manager who recruited me)

You are so much more than your exam result

GrrrlPwr · 01/12/2021 13:15

Well that would be lying!
And some employers do check on degree results. So you could lose your job. For lying.
Daft

Raskolnikov84 · 01/12/2021 13:17

I've got a first class degree, and a Ph.D, and work in a non-academic setting.

While I am senior now, for a while I would see others with neither a first class degree, nor a Ph.D, be promoted to more senior levels than me.

And to be completely honest, I was absolutely fine with that, because career progression is about SO MUCH more than qualifications. Personality, resilience, drive, willingness to work long hours, networking ability, self promotion, people management, ability to juggle 100 things at once - all of these things are hugely consequential, and once in a job, take on far more importance than one's qualifications, in which few people will have any interest.

I don't even include "Dr." in my email signature, and sometimes get asked about this. I reply that the moment I do this is the moment I write something exceptionally bone-headed in an email, making the embarrassment all the more acute given the juxtaposition with this supposed-to-be-oh-so-clever title.

Unless your qualification is actively holding you back, I would suggest that you don't give this issue any further thought.

Piglet89 · 01/12/2021 13:22

I don't even include "Dr." in my email signature, and sometimes get asked about this. I reply that the moment I do this is the moment I write something exceptionally bone-headed in an email, making the embarrassment all the more acute given the juxtaposition with this supposed-to-be-oh-so-clever title.

@Raskolnikov84 laughing!

JohnDee007 · 01/12/2021 13:27

God no! If someone tells me they got a1st (unless at a shit uni on a shit course) is just think they had no life at university. Don’t most get 2:1s or 2:2s? Or has the world changed at uni where the amps go up to 11now?

twoshedsjackson · 01/12/2021 13:40

Most of the time, nobody enquires about your degree classification. The only time that it has relevance is in situations where it likely to be checked, which could be disastrous. Would it really make you feel better about yourself to know that you are lying?

KeyboardWorriers · 01/12/2021 13:41

@JohnDee007 what a stupid thing to think. I didn't work any harder, I just worked smarter. I had an active social life, got university colours for a team sport, and was involved in a major volunteer project

(Highly rated degree at Russell group university)

NollaigNollaig · 01/12/2021 13:51

@JohnDee007

God no! If someone tells me they got a1st (unless at a shit uni on a shit course) is just think they had no life at university. Don’t most get 2:1s or 2:2s? Or has the world changed at uni where the amps go up to 11now?
Whatever makes you feel better about yourself @JohnDee007
NotSoNewAndShiny · 01/12/2021 13:58

I don't understand people who say that those who got a First class had no life at uni. Is it to make you feel better for not having one (which is insane because it really shouldn't matter) or to make the other person feel stupid for achieving a high gpa (so like reverse snobbery or something)? Either way, it's a bizarre thing to say.

First class or not, it doesn't matter as long as you did your best. It doesn't really define your life at the end of the day. Look at those who dropped out of college/uni to go on to bigger things.

Cam22 · 01/12/2021 14:04

Is this for real? Lol

If it is:

Don’t be stupid. You didn’t make the grade.
Oh and DO desist from my asking excuses for yourself. I can’t believe I’m even responding f to you.

Cam22 · 01/12/2021 14:04

…from making excuses for yourself…

Tink626 · 01/12/2021 14:10

YABVU I've got a first class degree and I worked really hard for it! My A levels on the other hand I completely mucked up. However disappointed I still am with those grade though I wouldn't dream of lying about them.

Cam22 · 01/12/2021 14:14

Anyway, too many people get First these days. Of course students are customers so it pays to keep them happy.

Some people don’t even sit any examinations; it’s all based on good old coursework. The acid test is being able to perform well during at least a week of challenging examinations.

The system has been dumbed down in line with what has happened in secondary schools.
And no people are not more clever than they were in the past. What a joke. The standard has plummeted. Simply that.

Thwackit · 01/12/2021 14:15

Of course YABU. It’s a lie. You didn’t achieve one so you have absolutely zero right to say that you did. What would be the point of any exam or qualification if we all just chose our own result. What an odd question. Stop trying to impress other people with lies and focus on the fact that you are good enough even when you tell the truth.

Cam22 · 01/12/2021 14:16

…a First…

And no, people…

( Why doesn’t this site have an Edit facility?)