Those of you with a degree. Does it matter what grade you have? 1st, 2:1, 2:2 or a 3rd?

[WallOfSilence]

I am just wondering as when I started 3 years ago, a mature student with a very young family I knew I wouldn't get a 1st as I hadn't all time & energy it required of me. However I have enjoyed doing my degree & have today got some results in.

I finish in May & I have another set of exams & a dissertation to have done by then.

My average today is 52.. a 2:2. I would give anything for a 2:1 even.. but that's 8 more marks I need & I'm not sure how to do this in the next semester without throwing my life under a train & locking myself in the attic like a hermit.

Anyway, those of you who have graduated, did it matter what grade you got? Were you just happy to have gained a degree or were you disappointed if you didn't get a 1st class?

I am gutted tbh... I know I have worked hard and I also know I can put my all into this next term.. but will it be enough?

Do any of you know anyone who pulled it back in the last semester?

I think you get a BA Hons whatever (unles yu get below a 3rd?).
For the jobs I applied for, generally you needed a 2.1 to get an interview. Having said that once most people start work it matters very little what their degree is in, what mark it was and where it was from.
Good luck!

Hi WallofSilence and well done on getting this far... Nearly there now!

You get an Honours Degree if you get a Third or above. In the past, it used to be possible to get a Pass degree if your average was between 35% and 40%. but most institutions have dropped this now. In some places you get a Pass without Honours if you don't choose to do a dissertation (my SIL did this for her nursing degree) or you might get it if you are prevented from sitting some of the necessary credits by some unavoidable problem (like illness) - sometimes this is called an Aegrotat Degree.

When you graduate, they will just call out your name, not your result. They normally do it in batches, so there will be someone up on the stage (who might be the Dean, or Head of School/Department) who'll say something like 'I present these candidates for the degree of Bachelor of Arts in Advanced Spaghetti Weaving', and will then proceed to read out the names of all the graduands in Advanced Spaghetti Weaving, who will then trot up onto the stage and be duly clapped, shaken by the hand and presented with a certificate. It'll be fun!

I don't want to pee on your parade, but my own view is that if your average is currently 52% with one semester to go, then you are probably looking at a 2.2 overall. But it depends how many of your final-year credits you still have to sit (Are all your exams in June, or did you do some final-year exams in January?) and also on the weighting of those credits (Do final-year marks count double?). It's not normally a straightforward calculation. If you still have all your final-year modules to work into the equation then it might be more than possible...

A 2.2 is not a bad degree at all and although it feels as if it matters quite a lot right now, it will not matter a jot in a year's time. You might need a 2.1 for some postgrad courses (and you're unlikely to get funding for postgrad work in the arts and humanities without a First) but otherwise you should see it as a good honours degree.

Do you have an idea of what you want to do next?

I was kind of hoping to apply for the MA course, but if I can't do that without a 2.1 then I don't know what I'm for doing.

I have to do final exams & get my dissertation marked, so hopefully that will pull me up.

Thanks for the encouragement everyone.. it's nice to hear.

Agree with Custy and Kathy, btw, about employers looking at your degree result in conjunction with other factors. I also think that the fact that you're not 21 and wet behind the ears is probably an advantage! (Though of course I luurve my 21-year-old wet-behind-the-ears students too...)

It will depend what you want to do with it - a city law firm for example will simply bin any cvs under a 2:1. But this was an arbitrary rule of thumb to help narrow down th ecvs for review. When I was a trainee the firm I was at had hundreds (if not thousands) of applications for 60 places.

Are your final exams for the whole of your final year? Or just this 2nd semester? Is the 52 that you have so far a straight average or is it weighted in any way? Do you know how your marks will be weighted in the final calculation of your mark?

If you want to apply for an MA, you will need to consider how you will fund it. I have persuaded the University to accept students who don't have a 2.1 before (although a 2.1 would normally be needed), so don't give up without talking to someone first. Funding might be an issue, but it would depend on the Research Council that you'd be applying to. Also, some universities have their own schemes which tend to be more sympathetic than the Research Councils. Some might only pay fees, rather than fees plus living expenses, but you might be able to work around that. Or you could do the MA part-time. There are all sorts of possibilities.

Hang on in there...

Erm.. I am not sure how the marks will be averaged. I just took the 3 results & averaged them.

So I'm not sure if the results from the 2nd semester will be averaged or added to the 1st sem & averaged.

I must find that out.

fwiw I know my tutors know how hard I work, they give me responsibilities like being class rep & going in to show newbies about.. so I do know that when it comes to getting references they will do good by me.

WoS
Good for you for going back to education.
Fwiw I got a 2:1 and at the time it felt very significant, but 11 years later I know that it's my skills and experience and demeanour which count when I go for a job interview.
I came out of uni thinking 'right, I've got a 2:1 so it should be easy to get a well paid job' - I thought my result meant it should all be handed to me (hahaha - I was 22 so forgive me). Of course, not so and I felt quite deflated. With your grades you could get a 2:2 or scrape a 2:1 but don't beat yourself up if it's the former. I remember my house mate at uni saying in front of a friend who was a cert for a 2:2 'I'm not coming to graduation if I get a 2:2' She was so sure she'd get a 2:1 and it was a horrid thing to say. And guess what?! She got a 2:2.
Both she and my other friend are fine, but my housemate handled her result really badly because she seemed to think a 2:2 was the end of the world.
A potential employer is more interested in the fact you went at all, and the fact you went as a mature student shows you are conscientous and hard working.
Put what hours in you can and don't berate yourself if you don't get a fabled 2:1. You've made the effort and that's what will count in the long term.

Also, I agree, many postgrad courses insist on higher grades, but given your standing in the eyes of your tutors I'm sure they'd give you an excellent reference. Good luck!

Hi wallofsilence
I have already left a silmiar message but I'm doing an MSc, despite only getting a 3rd for my degree. I emailed the course leader and told her all of the problems that I had during my degree. She was very sympathetic, I didn't even have an interview for the course. You can but ask. Good luck!

Another lecturer here. You really need to find out exactly how your degree result will be calculated - ask a sympathetic/approachable lecturer. In my dept, you get considered for a 2.1 once your average reaches 58, so depending how it is worked out at your place, the mountain might not be as high as you think it is...

If you want to do an MA, you would normally need a minimum of 2.1 - but a lot of admissions tutors will be flexible for mature students. A good result in your dissertation would also go a long way towards showing that you have the potential to succeed in graduate study, so it is really worth putting your heart and soul into that. IME, a lot of students really want to give the dissertation their best shot anyway, and get loads out of doing it.

Good luck! let us know how you get on...

Aw thanks, all of you!!

I have just been talking to 2 girls off my course & one of them is in the same boat as me. tbh I am a bit peeved as she has no family to look after, no house to clean & she hardly ever attends any lectures & she's moaning about the unfairness of it all. Dh has just said to me "You see..you got the same as her & you had the kids to look after, the house to sort etc" And I also cared for his grandmother who has dementia..

Thanks for all the advice. I am going to e-mail my course co-ordinator either tonight or I will speak to him tomorrow & see what he says. A few of the guys on the course failed a module last semester so they won't be graduating in July and unless I can pull my socks up I might not be either!!

My degree is a joint one but more geared towards one subject, the one I want to do my MA in. I did have a chat with one of the lecturers (she would be on the interviewing panel) and she said she could see no problem in me getting a place providing I didn't totally flop.. but for my own peace of mind I would like to do well.

I know I'm going to sound preachy here, but I can say, hand on heart, I have never missed a lecture, I have never been late in handing in coursework, I have never asked for an extension.... I am crap at referencing & crap under the pressure of the exam hall... but two of the exams last semester really buggered me up. I did well(ish) in the coursework & then the lousy exam scores dragged me down.

I am going to knuckle down & do really well in the coursework.

One of my subjects is psychology, but I am more interested (and better at) the other subject. The psychology lecturer said that we can either do his essay question or e-mail him & arrange to do an essay in conjunction with our other subject... do you think I should do this if I stand the chance of gaining a better mark?

I don't know if anyone else has said this, but if you might want to do a PGCE later you do need a 2:1 (I think).

Other than that I don't think it matters that much (although I suppose a 3rd is best avoided if poss!)

My god I would hope an employer would look at the whole story.

Anyone who attempts a degree as a returning mature student with a young family is showing some serious serious effort. Bloody well done. Really it's an amazing achievement.

My employer does not accept anyone with less than a 2:1.

Depends if you want to work for that sort of firm, I guess

I got a 2:2 and I am entitled to write BA (Hons) after my name should I so desire. I was actually shell-shocked about finishing once I'd written my final exam (which oddly, I enjoyed) since I produced my daughter 1/2 way my course at one university, swapped university and did a mixture of part-time/full-time studying combined with paid work/childcare. Eventually I decided I had to apply myself to it properly and finished the damn thing. I sat there outside my university actually wondering what to do instead of rushing home to console myself/celebrate as most people would have done.

It's not made any difference to me (just got my first perm job in a role fairly unrelated to my degree) but if it's any comfort, I know several people who got 3rds and are comfortably paid - around 35k, working for a national charity. In roles that do not need a degree per se, but having one opened their personal career doors a bit wider than they might otherwise have done .

I might add, I have no idea what overall mark I got - it's not on my transcript and frankly, I can't be bothered to ask. 2:2 is the bit that counts.

If you can arrange to do an essay in your stronger subject (this is presumably also the one you'd do the MA in?), then I would go for it, yes.

Also, get advice NOW from tutors on exactly how you went wrong in the exams, and focus on improving those aspects of your performance in preparing for your final exams.

If pressure gets to you in the exam room, these are my tips: plan/make notes for all your answers at the beginning of the exam; manage your time really carefully to make sure you finish the paper; take short breaks (they can't refuse you a loo break) to clear your head and do some deep breathing; remind yourself every 15 minutes that what they are testing is your ideas, your ability to synthesise information, your ability to make an argument/analysis/evaluate evidence - not your ability to reproduce things you have learned. Lots of anxious candidates take refuge in spewing out info they've revised, and it's a big mistake, you don't get many marks for that.

I think it is a big deal at the time when you are a student but then you come out into the real world and realise that in the most part a degree just gets you in the door, experience after uni matters more. DP has a 2.1 and a MSc and works alongside people who have worked for that company since leaving school and are at the same grade or even MD level they are just good company players.

I got a 2.1 which I have needed for several jobs (bizarrely when I think about it) and postgrad (in fact it was barely sufficient for my current postgrad which I got on the back of my MPhil).

However, 2 of my college friends have good PhDs after getting 2.2s and 3 others who left with 2.2s have really good careers - 2 of them have really fantastic careers - both really interesting and highly paid - waaaaay better paid than those in research. And I remember how disappointed they both were at the time. They sure have had the last laugh on us. Can't identify them on here - but I would love to be born again as one of them in particular - I would love his job!

Can be tricky with postgrad though - especially the funding. Not impossible though if you're determined and can sell the idea.

Zazette, that's a really good idea about finding out from tutors now how I went wrong in their exams, though the 2 I did badly in were psychology & in one inparticular I had had a very rough evening with my parents the day before & I know my mind wasn't on the task at hand But I am going to try & do the referencing better in the essay.

My other course isn't really classed as academic, it is writing for newspapers & it involves a very different typr of coursework & exam, a style I am far better at. Though, again, this time it was an academic exam as it was set by an outside examining board & I bombed.. passing only by a hairs width.

You are all really lovely & encouraging. Thank you so much, all of you.

Just to add, my last bf had a 2:2 and did a Masters (with full funding). However he did an engineering degree and he'd applied early.

I echo everything that Zazette has said, and would add that if you want to do the MA but you end up getting a 2.2, don't be afraid to push and to ask for 'special consideration'. I know it can be hard/embarrassing to say 'please take my personal situation into consideration', but it's worth it if it gets you where you want to be. Also, if academics from your department are on your side, then make use of that... ask them to speak for you with any relevant university committees. The people in the Postgrad Admissions Office (or whatever) may put your application on the 'not suitable' pile because of your overall mark, but the academics who will actually be teaching you should have the power to pull your application off that pile and onto the 'accept' pile. (Well, at least... I've done that, so if I can, I assume anyone can!)

Good luck.

Agree Ellbell.

Also don't be afraid to spin your results in whatever way makes them look best ('my average mark overall was 52 but my average mark in subjects most closely relating to the programme for which I am applying was (eg) 62' etc)

On the MA programme I teach, a 2.2 is our minimum requirement but we have what we call an 'access route' for people who have done less well or don't have a first degree, where we look at their work experience and get them to write an essay. So it is not unusual for people with 2.2s or less to do postgrad.