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?

[fourminutestosavetheworld]

I've never asked anyone about their degree classification and nobody has ever asked me. I am not even sure how you would shoehorn it into a conversation without looking like a dick. Tbh the only time I've ever been asked was when I did my MA, because a first qualified me for a few discount.

You can't lie on a cv or job application because it would be humiliating if you were found out.

You can't lie to yourself because, well, you'd know it was a lie and that you just didn't achieve the grades necessary to achieve a first.

I think you need to do another degree to get over the disappointment tbh, it's the only honest course of action to achieve absolution.

[Hawdyerwheesht]

So many employers qualify degrees to students as their 'foot in the door'. The actual content of the degree does become outdated - its how you perform in the workplace that should matter. Shine there and you will be seen as a first class employee. I do appreciate that it's ultimately a very personal feeling, to really feel that if circumstances were better you would have been more fairly assessed.

[IamtheDevilsAvocado]

Apart from being fraudulent....

How will this booster your self esteem?? As you KNOW that this isn't true.

If you had significant extenuating cirsumstances.... Didn't the uni offer you a chance to resit..??

[ThirdElephant]

As someone who has a first class degree, no one asks and no one cares. It goes on my CV and that's it.

Tell the truth, because they will care if you are caught in a lie.

[steff13]

CandidaAlbicans2 thank you, that makes sense.

[Skyll]

@CandidaAlbicans2 doesn’t really apply like that in many of the universities in Scotland though. Uk means England Wales and Northern Ireland in this case.

[LordoftheDanceSaidHe]

Of course you can't lie.

I think I really should have become a top doctor/ children's illustrator/ farmer/Olympic swimmer but for reasons (lack of talent largely) I didn't. Should I lie about that ?

[CiderJolly]

Lying like this could be indicative of a personality disorder. I would make an appointment with your GP, you don’t sound well.

A first class degree is not the pinnacle of intelligence. There are all different types of intelligence, not all academic. Im wondering how much pressure was put on you to achieve the ‘right’ grades and by whom? Parents, yourself?

[Aussiegirl123456]

That’s so weird but if you want to identify as a first class with hons graduate then who are we to stand in your way?

[sashh]

@steff13

I'm in the US, so I don't understand what this means, but I think you're being unreasonable. You can't tell other people you got a first class and you certainly can't tell yourself that. If you wanted one why didn't you get one?

A first is roughly equivalent to a 4.0 GPA.

[Porridgeislife]

Please don’t lie.

In my world (the City), we do extensive background checks on our staff after job offer & before they start. Lying about a degree classification would see your job offer withdrawn. I’ve seen it happen because someone (apparently erroneously) gave incorrect information about their A-Levels.

More broadly, if I was working with a grad that I discovered was going around fibbing to people they had a first, I’d feel a lot of pity for them that they were so insecure and also probably give them a bit of a wide berth when it came to the end of their grad contract. I don’t care what degree classification you have but I do care very much about lying or boasting.

[EmmaGrundyForPM]

Dh has a Double First from Cambridge.
I have a 2:1 from a non-RG uni.
No one has ever asked for our degree classifications, or suggested I'm not as bright as DH (apart from my MIL but that's a whole different story).

If you lie about your degree, who are you lying to? Will you proactively go round telling people? Will you put it on job applications? What do you think.you will gain from lying?

Unless it came up naturally in conversation, I would think anyone who suddenly told me that they'd got a First was just showing off and felt themselves to be intellectually superior. If I subsequently found out they'd lied, my opinion of them would plummet even further.

[Aussiegirl123456]

Btw I got a first and I’m so dumb about everything in life except law (degree subject). I even thought Elon Musk was perfume and you need to walk your petrol mower to a petrol station. So you’re right, it’s no reflection of your intelligence.

[Cam2020]

Why not just add a fictional PHD while you're at it and call yourself Dr?

[SickAndTiredAgain]

It’s not a major hinderance career wise. I just feel better saying I had a first class to people if they ask.

How often do people ask? I’m not sure I’ve ever been asked except for on an online job application that had a specific field for it, and I’m assuming you wouldn’t lie there in case they wanted to see the certificate. I’ve never been asked in general conversation

[User5252727]

I definitely don't think you should lie on a CV or to your colleagues or your job will be jeopardy.

I think you should examine where the impulse to lie is coming from. Do you have an insecurity about your intellectual ability? Were you on track to get a first and something got in the way? Do you regret not working harder? Any of these could be reasons why you feel the need to lie.

I don't think you're really hurting anyone if you lie (as long as you aren't lying to obtain advantages like jobs etc), but you could harm yourself. You know it's not true, so all you would be doing is reinforcing to yourself that you're not good enough. That will tank your self esteem. I think it would be better to try and feel pride in the fact that you have a degree, which is a great achievement, and to work through the feelings that are giving rise to this impulse.

[GrandPrismatic]

Don’t lie OP. Firstly anyone who felt the need to throw into conversation with me that they got a first class honours degree and I would smile and say “that’s nice” and be thinking “how weird they feel the need to mention that”.

Secondly, the fact that telling people a lie about yourself makes you feel better about yourself….that’s deeply troubling. Be proud of what you achieved and don’t feel you have to justify yourself to anyone. You will end up believing your own deluded lies.

I have a couple of people in my team who feel the need to tell me in lots of different ways how clever they are or how good they are at their job. Neither of them are good at their job, they are mediocre at best. they just can’t bring themselves to believe or accept it. I feel very sorry for them (as well as mildly irritated by the lying) and if anything it makes me think worse of them. It also makes performance discussions brutally painful because they can’t accept critical feedback. I get every excuse under the sun when I give them critical feedback…their underperformance is always due to something (ah but my kids were poorly so I couldn’t finish the project on time) or someone else (so and so just didn’t deliver what I needed and I didn’t have time to do a good job etc etc) neither of them accept responsibility and for as long as this is the case, neither of them will progress. Don’t be like them. Take accountability for your performance. Some of the best people in my team have average exams and some didn’t even bother getting a degree. Academic “smarts” does not directly translate to being good at a job.

[GreyGoose1980]

I have spent a number of years in management roles recruiting people (including onto graduate schemes). In my experience ‘success’ can be predicted by a combination of academic qualifications, work ethic and resilience (all being essential). Simone fixated on their degree classification being a first class reveals a lack of resilience and ultimately a less rounded and successful person. As pp have said please don’t lie on your CV as if you are found out you are likely to be dismissed. It shows dishonesty and poor judgement & decision making skills. Honesty, integrity and sound reasoning are key to all workplaces - you need to be trusted with the organisation’s customers and finances wherever you work.

[RestingPandaFace]

@plieddried

I understand, I just feel like I’m smarter than what my degree classification shows. I don’t believe it’s representative of me and my academic ability. It’s not an excuse (although it kind of is) but I was going through a lot of things at the time of my degree and it messed up my accomplishment. If I had sat the same exam I would have gotten a first. I wish I submitted extenuating circumstances at the time because it’s stayed with me since then.

Do you know what, you’d be better putting your energy into therapy to work out why external validation of your ability is so important to you.

No-one actually cares what class of degree you got, but if you lie about it the consequences could be losing your job, being kicked off subsequent study etc. not because people suddenly think you are less capable, but because no-one wants to be associated with a proven liar.

[Iwab82]

Lying about it doesn't make true. Better to be honest than to be a liar. If it's that important, do another qualification.

[GreyGoose1980]

*Someone

[KaycePollard]

It’s fraud and could be serious.

Whatever, you’d be a liar and a cheat.

[Practicebeingpatient]

@plieddried

I understand, I just feel like I’m smarter than what my degree classification shows. I don’t believe it’s representative of me and my academic ability. It’s not an excuse (although it kind of is) but I was going through a lot of things at the time of my degree and it messed up my accomplishment. If I had sat the same exam I would have gotten a first. I wish I submitted extenuating circumstances at the time because it’s stayed with me since then.

You might well be smarter than your degree shows. After all millions of people are very, very smart indeed and don't even have a degree. And lots of very stupid people hold first class degrees.

What would prove that you aren't very smart at all would be lying about a matter of record. That applies in your personal life and your professional life. You run the risk of being found out and looking both foolish and dishonest.

Just enter your degree and dates on your CV and omit the classification.

[NewModelArmyMayhem18]

You sound immature OP. I'm not sure you are the person best placed to judge just how intelligent you are either?

In life, many of us don't necessarily achieve what we're capable of but most of us don't pretend that we have just for the lols!

FWIW, academic results don't necessarily prove superior intelligence anyway.

[YourenutsmiLord]

Where you got your degree counts too. Oxbridge being impressive to most people.