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?

Don't do it!!!!

The lie would be more damaging and reflects very badly on you.

Get some therapy to work out why you feel the need to lie about it.

Weird. Having a first makes little difference in the context of your career. I know cos I've got one and it really doesn't matter, I couldn't say what universities my colleagues went to and certainly not what classification of degree they have. Plus, lying about it in an employment context is fraud. Sometimes when doing pre employment checks I have been asked to provide my degree certificate.

I think I will feel better if I convince myself and others that I am a tall, blonde, skinny, beautiful, Olympian with a first class degree and plenty of money and absolutely hilarious and loved by all who meet me.

Sometimes you have to deal with the cards you were dealt with.

You are hilarious though.

I honestly could not tell you what any of my friends or colleagues degree classifications are. It just doesn't matter and doesn't come up in conversation. TBH I would think someone that went on about getting a first was a bit of a nob.

Why would you feel accomplished lying? If you are embarrassed by it just don't mention it in general conversation. You can leave your grade off your CV and just say what your degree was in but you will have to be prepared to be asked at interview what the grade was if it is relevant to the job

If OP is not an American, why use the term gotten in first place?! I hate it with a passion, and these Americanisms creeping into UK spech is scream-making.
Got is an ugly word anyway. Gotten is just wrong! :)

To add to wtaf37’s post for any Americans reading and thinking ‘70%?! That’s easy!’ In practice most grades don’t go much above a 70. Anything in the 80s or 90s is pretty much unheard of except maybe for very specific individual assignments, and it’s basically impossible to get 100 on anything. Most people I know who got a First got something like 72 or 73% overall, which is why it can be a sore point for people who finish with a 68 or 69 and get a 2:1.

Just thought I’d add that because I have heard Americans say that our system is too easy and that they got way higher than 70 in their college degrees so they would have got a First here, but that’s not really how it works. And I’ve been in classes with American students over here who get a shock when they realise 60 or 70% is actually a great mark when they were striving for 100!

OP, how old are you?

I thought I'd feel like you do when I graduated. I was also a straight-A student, top of my class, sailed into Oxford. Then it all went tits-up, and there were plenty of extenuating circumstances but I barely realised I could even reach out for help. Ended up scraping a 2:2 partly in due to focusing on other things (which became my career).

I said to myself, I have unfinished business with academia and one day I'll come back and rectify that. Guess what... within a year of graduating I couldn't have cared less.

Firstly, no one cares about your degree class in the adult world, any more than they care about my As at A-level and GCSE. No one asks, no one knows, it's never hindered my career.

Secondly, there are so many people in a similar boat. Some of the smartest people I know fucked up their education at some point and don't have the qualifications their intelligence might merit. You might not have applied for extenuating circumstances but you know they existed - be kind to yourself but don't dwell on it.

Thirdly, your degree class was never going to be the ultimate proof of your academic ability or intelligence. This ties together my first two points. Regardless of what degrees people get, they have to continue demonstrating their smartness to progress in the adult world. That's how I know a friend of mine is incredibly smart (and has a top media job) despite dropping out of uni completely. Or why I take another friend who flunked their A-levels much more seriously than some others in their field with Oxbridge firsts. It's also how I built a career I'm proud of. The ability to quickly grasp concepts, to make links, to articulate them well - all the reasons I was a straight-A student are all the reasons my career has been successful. I didn't lose my intelligence by crashing and burning at uni - that was just a low period in my life that ended up being a very small part of it.

It's pretty clear you don't have a degree, OP, so it doesn't matter what class you tell people your pretendy qualification is.

Leaving aside the morality of lying about your achievements, why would telling yourself something that isn't true give you more confidence?

I have a first class degree and can guarantee none of my employers over the last year know that. I write it on my CV but no one has ever commented on it. I’m not sure anyone gives a toss apart from the person it’s awarded to. I’m almost certain that my colleagues would be surprised I got it as I’m not particularly bright just worked incredibly hard to get it. I really wouldn’t worry op, no one really cares about it.

You get all kinds of oddballs on mumsnet. Literally no one tells me their degree classification. Someone might mention a first to me in a job interview, but no one has ever done this. I think because they let their CV speak for itself.

If you made a point of saying this to me I'd think it was odd and possibly that you're lying.

People don't like, trust or promote liars so for the sake of your career don't start lying.

I'm smarter than my degree results show, as I barely scraped a pass. But I have since done a masters so that is what people look at.

Eh. I'm surprised that you've made it this far into your adult life without coming to terms with it to the extent that you'd lie. Maybe work on your emotional issues rather than a PhD?

I was a top of the class student all through... Well, 4-18 education. I got a 2:1 because I didn't put the effort in, when a first should have been easy for me.

But then I also know PhDs who are as dumb as bricks because they ONLY pursued the PhD, and once they got it, didn't continue developing in the field - and therefore got left behind because everyone else continued, with a PhD or not - whilst all the while their knowledge got out of date.

Could that have happened to you, OP? If you'd got that magic first, would you still be anchoring your self-esteem to something you did years ago?

This is a very weird OP. I did get a First (30 years ago, so before they were handed out to a third of all candidates). I then did a PhD, and was head-hunted because I had an immense list of publications, all written for the fun of it. I have had no reason to tell anyone any of these things other than when I was applying for jobs in academia. Most of my friends have no idea that I have any of these things, because it doesn't tend to come up in conversation.

I would not think badly of anyone who didn't get a First - or, indeed, anyone who failed every exam they ever took. Intelligence isn't only measured in academic grades. However, I would think rather badly of someone who claimed they had qualifications which they didn't actually have.

Yeah, don't, just don't, it will make you into a dick. Plus the only people I know who do this constantly spouting degree grades thing, are insecure dicks with little else going on, so clearly do it as they feel a failure

@plieddried

'I understand, I just feel like I’m smarter than what my degree classification shows'

The Ernie Wise university of 'plays what I wrote...'

Posting for the deletion message ...

Obviously you can't do this, and it won't make you feel better. This isn't about the grade you got or the achievement level and what others think, it is about how you feel about yourself. No external signal or grade or degree can change that for you, it is internal work that you have to do on your self esteem and confidence and thinking about why this really quite insignificant thing which no one will ever ask you about is bothering you so much. I say this as someone who has a half written PhD which I spent years on. I'm no less clever than my colleagues that do, and it tortured me for a long time that I felt like a failure. But now, ten years on, it hasn't hindered my career at all, I work alongside many people that did finish PhDs, it's all a bit irrelevant. Also I learnt a lot from that experience about letting go, about finding internal validation and self esteem rather than needing a piece of paper to prove to other people what I think my value is. I'm a far far better manager, I recognise stress and anxiety in myself and others in my team and I know how to help with it, I know how to validate and encourage and build confidence better because I had to go through it myself. The path isn't always straight, the end point isn't always where you think, and the piece of paper or a lie won't fix the problems only the long road of internal work will, and you'll be better for it in the end. But no, don't lie it will make you feels worse, you have a better story than that.

Get help to work on your self worth and self esteem. Lying to yourself and everyone else is just pointless as deep down you know it's a lie. Or..... go back to uni and retake your degree and work to get a 1st and then no lie needed.

I got a 2:1 and was just under 2% off a first. My uni requested my last year course work got remarked - it did, It was only increased by one mark which still did not make it a first. I say I got a 2:1 because that is what I earnt at the time. You are simply lying and YABVU! Some places will check esp in finance industry background checks.

@Sahgah

I also don’t understand what all these 1st and 2nd degrees are. I got my degree in another country and there is no such thing as 1st or 2nd only graduating with honours (very few people did this) and no one goes around saying that they did this unless it’s graduation day.

It goes 1st, 2:1, 2:2, 3rd, fail. You can graduate with honours, but it also comes with a classification too.

Absolutely hilarious. Of course you can’t lie about your degree. I’m pretty sure if you also said you had a first to get a job or promotion you could get the sack for fraud. Fine you got A in school but university is a big step up from school.

I’ve never heard something so ridiculous.

I’ve decided I’d like to have ten years experience as a doctor. I mean I don’t but it will make me feel better to tell people I do 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

*I just feel like I’m smarter than what my degree classification shows•

I’m really hoping it wasn’t an English degree!? ;)