AIBU to still regret getting a 2:1 instead of a first?

[onedayillmoveon]

It’s been 10 years since I graduated from university and I still can’t shake off the regret that I got a 2:1 and not a first. I know that a 2:1 is perfectly fine for the vast majority of jobs and nothing to be ashamed of, my more and more people have gotten firsts for the past 20 years or so. When I graduated in 2016, about 33% of humanities graduates from my uni got firsts. I just felt so stupid, incapable, inadequate….. I know people say that grades and numbers can’t define us, but I sort of did let it.

I still can’t shake off this horrible regret that I didn’t get one. I got a high first in my second year and was so pleased, I genuinely loved my subject and had applied myself. In my final year (which largely determines degree class where I went), I became quite depressed and stressed. I could never focus and never really adequately prepared for my exams. I just can’t stop wishing that I had pulled myself together in some way.

Some of you, if you read this far, might think, “well if you have a decent job, nobody gives a damn what degree you got”, and yes, fair. Yet there are certain supposedly ‘elite’ jobs where a first is strongly preferred, and I think not getting one ruined my chances of those.

Anyway, if anyone else has ever felt the same way, or knows someone who does, and wants to share ideas or experiences, maybe that will be helpful.

OP I was 2 points away from a 2:1. Was I disappointed? of course I was but I knew I did my best at the time, and what I lacked in grades I more than made up for it from the amazing memories and life long friendships I made.

I didn’t let that put me off though, in fact it made me more determined. I applied for my first job in Aug the year I graduated and by Sept I had secured my first job in a very niche and highly regarded industry where I still am to this day (25+ years later). I was told they had received hundreds of applications at the time, and I found out that 1 of the 3 people from my degree who got the First had also applied – surely by grades alone they should have got the job not me with my measly 2:2 degree.

What I do remember was as a 21 year old, I knew I knew nothing so I put my ego aside and told the interview panel that I was there to LEARN. Years later I am now the hiring manager, and I have hired career changers who didn't even have the relevant degree let alone the grade. I'm looking for good communicators, those who can handle constructive feedback, are team players and most of all possess a willingness to learn. You can apply these qualities to any industry. Having a degree is a bonus of course as it shows an aptitude for learning but it's not enough. It got me to the interview but it wasn't what got me the job. And I think herein lies the problem of today’s graduates.

OP, I think you need to refocus your attention on building your confidence, a 2:1 from Cambridge is an amazing achievement - you’ve since built up years of work experience which counts more than the grade you got 10 years ago. Maybe you are looking for answers why your life hasn’t turned out the way you had hoped? know that its never too late to make a positive change and be proud of how far you have come, life is a constant work in progress, and as cliche as it sounds it really is the journey not the destination that counts.

They were extremely twattish and unprofessional and I did not get the offer.

I hope you went on to better things with better people.

A friend of mine missed a 1st, & was refused from his first choice of masters for this reason, so went elsewhere and is now a Professor at the uni that turned him down. 🖕🏼

Good for him! Where is he a professor?

> was intimidated by the competition

So you'd succeeded: you landed an upper echelon job surrounded by top class people. A first would have given you the same, so not made any difference.

I don’t really want to say as there probably aren’t that many places where a 1st in a masters is a course requirement.

What job would you ideally like to have had @onedayillmoveon ?

I used to want to be a barrister, but now not sure what ideal would be. I’m currently a secondary school teacher.

Succeeded? I never applied so I couldn’t be rejected, but I’m not sure I’d have succeeded.

And the fact you didn’t get a first prevented you from pursuing a career in law?

It dissuaded me from applying to chambers in London, because many of them seemed to hire exclusively candidates with firsts.

So you didn’t even apply
despite fact that there was no pre req to have a first
i know two barristers (my brother and cousin). Both got 2.1s

Sounds like you held yourself back rather than your lack of first

“Many” not all.

So you scuppered your own opportunities rather than the fact you got a 2.1 @onedayillmoveon

You could see it that way, but I just didn’t want to spend years investing in pupillage applications when I might never get one. I could’ve spent five years working as a paralegal (nothing wrong with that, but I didn’t want that as my career) and never make it at the Bar.

If you don’t mind sharing, how old are your cousin and brother? Just asking because the Bar has changed in terms of the pupillage paper sift in the past 20 years.

Your caution and fear of failure held you back. Not the 2.1. And there is something quite tragic about this.

Eh? It takes about 4 hours to write a good pupillage application, not a year. You were already on the GDL so could have applied to see how you got on but, as others have said, you were too worried about failing to do so. I'm not trying to be unkind but that's probably a good sign that the Bar wasn't (and isn't) for you anyway so maybe it's a good thing.

And to answer your question, albeit to someone else, above - in my chambers we have multiple junior (0-10y call) tenants with 2:1s.

@Wingwalk When I was talking about years, I didn’t mean the act of completing application forms, but of the time spent gaining experience (mooting, observing in court if possible… paralegal work while waiting to get pupillage). I knew of people who worked for years but didn’t get pupillage.

Yes, since if I do have this fear of failure, the Bar isn’t for me. Everyone loses cases at some point.

Your disappointment with where you are in life has nothing, absolutely nothing, to do with fact you didn’t get a first @onedayillmoveon